On August 26, 1071, near the fortress town of Manzikert in eastern Anatolia, a single day's fighting would reshape the entire Eastern Mediterranean world. The Battle of Manzikert stands as one of history's most consequential military encounters, marking not merely a battlefield defeat but the beginning of the end for one of the world's most enduring empires. This catastrophic confrontation between Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes of the Byzantine Empire and Sultan Alp Arslan of the Seljuk Turks would open the gates of Anatolia to Turkish settlement and ultimately lead to the transformation of Asia Minor from a Christian heartland into the core of the Ottoman Empire See more