The expansion of the Seljuk in Asia Minor and the Levant at the expense of the Byzantine Empire

Abstract

The Byzantine-Seljuk Wars were a series of decisive battles that shifted the balance of
power in Asia Minor and Syria from the Byzantine Empire to the Seljuk Turks.
Riding from the steppes of Central Asia, the Seljuk Turks replicated tactics
practiced by the Huns hundreds of years earlier against a similar Roman opponent
but now combining it with new-found Islamic zeal; in many ways, the Seljuk Turks
resumed the conquests of the Muslims in the Byzantine-Arab Wars initiated by the
Rashidun, Umayyad and Abassid Caliphate in the Levant, North Africa and Asia
Minor. The war's outcome was determined as much by the weakness of the
Byzantines as the strengths of the Seljuks. Nonetheless, the latter, just like the Arabs
many years earlier, failed to destroy the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks,
having originated from the steppes, possessed many advantages. At the battle of
Manzikert, the Byzantine heavy cavalry was defeated using simple hit and run
tactics, with the faster light cavalry of the Turks outflanking and outmanoeuvring
the exhausted cavalry. Asia Minor was not completely overrun by the Turks after
Manzikert but the resulting chaos that followed was easily exploited - Turkic
soldiers had been used as Mamluks by the Arabs before seizing power themselves
- the same occurred in Asia Minor, with Byzantine factions inviting Turkic
mercenaries to garrison towns. As Imperial rule was re-imposed in Byzantium,
these factions, which were secured by Turkic soldiers, became part of the Seljuk
Turk domains. Some Greeks fled conquered areas, others stayed to become secondclass citizens in an Islamic world (though under Islamic rule were protected
provided they paid the jizyah tax). More importantly, others converted and were
assimilated into the settling population of Turks. Orthodox churches were replaced
with Mosques and the crippling Imperial taxes levied by the government and the
accompanying Church were lowered.