Beginnings of an Empire Reborn
Part Two: Battle of Manzikert
On the 26th of August, Roman and Seljuk forces met for the first time. Three days prior, Romanos IV's host was able to march into Manzikert unmolested as the Seljuk garrison had long abandoned the city. Rather than holding up in the city and facing a possible prolonged siege, the Basileus opted to immediately march out into the mountain passes. First blood was drawn by the Seljuk, whose mobile horse archers decimated several foraging and scouting parties before the Romans could draw into battle lines. Alp Arslan is quoted as stating, "Then we are also approaching them," when a subordinate reported the movements of the Romans. Seljuk forces planned to rely on their Parthian tactics of hitting and withdrawing with their mobile horse archers, a strategy which had killed many a Roman as far back as Crassus' failed invasion of Syria at Carrhae over a thousand years prior.
Romanos, despite the urging of Andronikos Doukas and several of his mercenary captains, was not drawn into battle. Heeding the warnings of Nikephoros Bryennios and both John and Alexios Komnenos, the Romans maintained their defensive posture across the plain. Romanos knew Arslan would have to approach his force or admit defeat and withdraw into Mesopotamia, but he feared the resolve of his force. Despite restraining his forces and limiting losses to only foraging and scouting parties, he was outnumbered 3 to 1. Even if he held the defensive advantage, no man was willing to face his death and wait around for its inevitability. If Arslan held out long enough, many would desert and the army would surely be lost. Romanos needed a miracle to force battle and decisively win.
The royal retinue withdrew from the field and left Bryennios in command of the army, giving command to hold the ground and not pursue the Seljuk. Nikephoros, loyal and steadfast, followed his order and patrolled the ranks to maintain cohesion and discipline. Romanos met with John and Alexios of the Komnenoi, who were given command of the wings, to discuss a plan of action. The three of them all agreed that the army would certainly be crushed if the Seljuk pressed battle. They also, however, agreed that if Alp Arslan remained skirmishing that they could hold the pass so long as moral remained steadfast. Whether Arslan realized his superior position remained to be seen.
Alexios spoke first, "The sun recedes my Basileus, the men will need to withdraw soon."
"We cannot show weakness and give the Seljuk an opening," responded Romanos.
"We equally cannot keep the force together if we force them to face down the enemy all day and not bloody their weapons."
Romanos frowned and sighed. His options were running thin.
"John, ride to Andronikos. Tell him to ready the path to withdraw to the camp."
"Shall we begin fortifications?"
"No, we will march out before the sun rises. We need to move quickly to avoid falling to the Seljuk horse."
The two cousins nodded, bowed, and moved to ready the host. Pitched battle would be avoided this day. Alp Arslan indeed knew full well the superiority of his position to the Romans. Fearing a trap, however, he did not give chase to the Romans as the sun waned and night approached. Opting to keep his troops' morale high, and to avoid unnecessary death, the Seljuks too returned to camp for the night.
The Romans rose early and again left their camp as dawn broke. In a stroke of later recognized genius, Romanos ordered the camp broken down and moved further into the pass. Early in the morning, still before noon, the Romans deployed into battle lines again. Songs and chants kept morale high and the men eager for battle. The force was arrayed, again, at the entrance to the plains, but a kilometer closer to the pass. This maneuver was noted by few, if any, of the Seljuks. Much like Julius Caesar in his fight with the Optimates, Romanos continued to show force against a superior host while maneuvering to favorable terrain.
Alp Arslan decided to test the Roman resolve. This day, when the Romans began to withdraw, he sent two detachments of horse archers to harass their retreat. Ready for this, John Komnenus rode his Thessalians out to meet the Seljuk cavalry. Engaging just after the Seljuks reached the Roman line, the Thessalians covered the retreat of the heavy infantry enduring many, but not catastrophic, causalities. For three more days the Romans and Seljuks arrayed their forces, but neither side committed to pitched battle. The fighting, for the time, remained between Seljuk and Roman cavalry forces with the Seljuks holding the upper hand.
Fortunes would soon change, however, with the unexpected arrival of a certain man that Alp Arslan had not counted on.
As the Romans returned to camp on the night of August 30th, worse for wear as losses amongst the Thessalians had reached their highest, they were greeted by two Pecheneg riders from the pass. The duo introduced themselves as forward scouts of Joseph Tarchaniotes. His forces were delayed by the Manzikert garrison that had abandoned the city. Without communicating a plan with the Sultan, the garrison had withdrawn and aimed to take Tarchaniotes by surprise. As far as Arslan was aware, the Manzikert garrison had simply surrendered to the Basileus. The lack of coordination and support led to the garrison troops delaying, but ultimately failing, to thwart Tarchaniotes advance. They were able to capture or kill many of his scouting and foraging parties, but were eventually forced into a pitched battle. The battle was a decisive Roman victory. Few dead and hundreds wounded within Tarchaniotes' force, but every Seljuk in the field was put to the sword.
His timely arrival swelled the Roman ranks to nearly 50,000 again, and they were now almost on equal footing with the Seljuk force. Romanos' withdrawing tactic had also positioned the field of battle further into the pass, where the Seljuk cavalry would be far less effective. The uneven ground and narrowing flanks prevented any massed cavalry charge, and bottlenecked skirmishing forces. The time for pitched battle was upon the Romans, but the odds still remained in the Sultan's favor for the time. Romanos sent the scouting duo back to their commander with orders to hold in the pass for the night and to maneuver to the north in the morning. The Romans would again rally into battle formation, this time armed with the knowledge of reinforcements in their rear, and would draw the Seljuk attention away from Tarchaniotes maneuver to the north. The clock was ticking and the time for bloody work was fast approaching.
At dawn, on the 31st day of August, in the year 1071, Roman bishops prayed with the Basileus and his retinue in front of the army. Communion was given, with Frankish Catholics allowed their own rites and respects, and the Turkic mercenaries invited to take part in bread and water. The army deployed into their formations. Romanos IV Diogenes held the center, John Komnenus the left wing, Nikephoros Byrennios the right wing, and Alexios Komnenus moved to command of the rear guard. Andronikos Doukas, though thoroughly angered, accepted Alexios' field promotion and relocated his retinue to the front. Romanos, now bolstered by Tarchaniotes' arrival, acted upon Byrennios' warning believing the now bolstered host enough to deter a mutiny.
Across the broken field, the Seljuk force likewise deployed for battle. The dreaded Turkoman and Arab horse archers deployed in advance of the main body, a foreboding sight indeed. Alp Arslan, dressed in funeral white, rallied his forces with a grandiose speech. His attire marking his willingness and accepting of death emboldened his forces resolve. With a single horn blow, the Seljuks began their advance.
Romanos signaled his wings to march forward, with the center trailing just behind, forming a shallow crescent. This movement matched the traditional Arab and Turkic battle formation. The Romans aimed to quickly nullify the Seljuk skirmishers, either by maneuver or the sword. Holding the superior number, the Seljuks were more than willing to take the bait and press forward. Turkic mercenaries under Byrennios were the first to engage, being countered by the Arab wing of the Sultan's skirmishers. Although the engagement was indecisive, the Turkic mercenaries proved their loyalties and did not break under Arab hails of arrows. Both sides suffered light losses, but the maneuvering of the Romans was a tactical victory as the Arab cavalry was forced to break off their attack due to the broken ground and a nearby stream.
The opposite side of the field saw Roman light Thessalian cavalry pressing the Turkoman wing into a melee. The Seljuks were far more successful on this wing as the already thinned Thessalians were unable to force a pitched engagement. With scores dead, and scores more unhorsed, the Romans were forced to surrender this section of the field to the Seljuk forces, enduring further losses in their withdrawal. John Komnenus rode forward with a retinue of Cataphracts and Pontic heavy cavalry to draw the Turkoman cavalry away from their Thessalian prey. The bid worked and the Turkomans changed targets. Although slower and equally unable to force a melee, the heavier cavalry was more than able to withstand the arrow fire until the Thessalians were back to safety.
At this point the main bodies of the Roman and Seljuk forces were nearly in skirmishing range. Both cavalries withdrew to conserve manpower and tactical use. The Romans, being able to secure their southern flank with the Turkic mercenaries and Bryennios' wing, shifted the Seljuk forces up hill. Thinking the Romans to be making a blunder, ceding higher ground and placing a stream behind them, the Seljuk left was the first to charge forward. Bryennios used his skirmishers and Frankish mercenaries to slow the Seljuk advance enough to bring his wing into a solid defensive formation. Allowing the Seljuks to crash into them, the Romans dug in and held their ground.
Romanos, trusting Bryennios, continued marching his center force forward and advanced his skirmishers. Ignoring the pitched melee, the Roman skirmishes left their flank exposed in order to tie up the rest of the Seljuk force. Over the next hour Bryennios' force held their ground and the southern side of the battle turned into a brutal hand-to-hand battle. At this point Alp Arslan ordered his heaviest infantry from Syria and Baghdad to push back Romanos' skirmishers and envelop the Roman right. Almost as if he was able to see exactly where the battle was at, Tarchaniotes' force arrived in the Seljuk rear on the north side of the field.
The Pecheneg mercenaries quickly galloped down the foothills into the Seljuk right, in tandem with John Komnenus committing his wing to melee.
Being pinned between Cataphracts and Roman regulars on one side, and Pecheneg riders on the other, the Seljuk right was quickly crumbling. As more and more Romans came down the hill, the wing collapsed. Alp Arslan and his Mamluks rode forward to break through the Romans and open up a route away from the melee. Although initially successful, with many Seljuks avoiding envelopment and the Maluks cutting down many Romans, Alp Arslan was wounded by an arrow. Most scholars give credit to the Pecheneg riders, but in the disarray of melee and retreat it could easily just have been accidental friendly fire. In either event, the Mamluks and Sultan withdrew leaving the rest of the wing to their fate. More than two thirds of the Seljuks escaped envelopment, but the remaining troops were cut down like wheat at harvest.
Seeing the opportunity to end the Seljuk threat for good, Romanos ordered the center to charge the Seljuk center. The center forces were not equally matched, with the Seljuks nearly outnumbering Romanos by two. Nevertheless, the Varangians led the way into the Seljuks. The shock of their ferocity did not result in many deaths, but opened the formation for more and more Romans to pour in. With the center now in brutal pitched battle, and the Seljuk right decimated and in retreat, Bryennios' forces on the Roman right began to gain ground and push back the enemy. Despite incurring fewer losses than the Romans, the Seljuk left began to withdraw for fear of envelopment. The unnamed Seljuk officer would be lost to history, but his choice to retreat certainly saved many of his people's lives. Bryennios' beleaguered forces were unable to give chase, but his Turkic mercenaries were redeployed to support Romanos with skirmishing fire.
The annals of history are unable to reach consensus on what exactly occurred next among the retreating Mamluks. Some scholars argue betrayal, others simple miscommunication in the heat of battle. Regardless of the exact details, the wounded Alp Arslan found himself separated from the majority of his guard and unable to withdraw from the battle. Electing to rally his center and force the Romans to withdraw, he led what Mamluks were still with him into the center. Nearly half of the remaining Seljuk right followed their Sultan into a renewed assault in the center. Being even further outnumbered now, the Basileus watched as his center's initial successes ground to a halt. Romans and mercenaries alike were being cut down by Seljuk steel. The commander of the Varangians was cut down and his head held on spear point. Morale wavering, Romanos ordered his retinue into the fray. Under the Icon of St. Michael, the Emperor of the Romans, Basileus Romanos IV Diogenes rode into the Seljuk horde.
The sun rose high in the sky over the battlefield. Blood spilled by cold metal seeped into the earth. The screams and chaos of war filled the air. Two monumental forces clashed for dominance of Anatolia. Over a hundred thousand souls were risked in the bitter gamble for dominance.
Rallied by their Basileus and the Icon of St. Michael, the Roman center reformed and held back the Seljuk forces. Casualties mounting and exhaustion setting in, both leaders found themselves in a precarious situation with both being risked in direct combat. The Romans, beginning outnumbered, had proven tactically superior this day outmaneuvering the Seljuks in crucial moments and taking a flank by surprise. The Seljuks, for their part, limited losses on both flanks and still held a strong position in the center with forces reorganizing in the rear. The Roman left under the combined forces of John Komnenus and Joseph Tarchoniotes reformed and pressed downhill against the Seljuks. Bryennios on the right had suffered heavy casualties and was preoccupied solidifying his position. However, his mercenary cavalry remained sound and pressed against the Seljuk left. Nearly enveloped in the center, Romanos fought bravely and desperately against his foe.
The battle raged with neither side truly gaining an upperhand for another hour. Fortunes changed when the standard of Alp Arslan fell. Fearing their Sultan dead, many of his troops began to withdraw in earnest, ceding key ground in the center. Seizing upon the opportunity, Tarchaniotes led the remaining Pecheneg mercenary cavalry on a wide flank of the Seljuks. He aimed to run down as many withdrawing troops as possible to force a general rout or surrender. His bid paid off as the frontline quickly crumbled and many Seljuks throwing down their weapons in retreat. As the dust settled and the Romans reorganized, Romanos declared victory and ordered the army to break off engagement.
Searching through the dead, a junior officer from House Iasites discovered the mangled corpse of Alp Arslan. He was surrounded by many dead Romans and his body was grievously wounded. It is unknown whether he was struck down by a Roman or trampled by his retreating forces. Romanos ordered his body recovered and cleansed. In the aftermath of the battle Alp Arslan's corpse was sent back with several Seljuk captives to Baghdad as part of the peace treaty.
Romanos was quoted as saying, "Had I captured him, I may have brought him to Constantinople for public execution or torture. But he fought with his men until the bitter end, as any good Godly leader should. In death, I pity him."
The Roman army spent two weeks recovering in and around Manzikert, securing the border, before marching to Constantinople victorious.
The result of the Battle of Manzikert (1071)
Roman Losses:
- 4,000 to 5,000 dead
- 4,000+ wounded
Seljuk Losses:
- 5,000 to 6,000 dead
- 3,000 captured
- 3,000+ wounded
- Alp Arslan killed
