Byzantine-Seljuk Wars

The Byzantine-Seljuk wars were a series of conflicts fought through the Middle Ages between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire, later joined by the Sultanate of Rum and other Turkic powers. Beginning in 1048, the wars shifted the balance of power in Asia Minor, Armenia and Syria, and helped spark the Crusades. The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 is widely regarded as the wars turning point, opening Anatolia to large-scale Turkish settlement and raiding. Fighting continued, drawing in the Byzantine successor states of Trebizond and Nicaea as well as the Crusader states on the Byzantine side, until the collapse of the Sultanate of Rum in 1308. The wars established Seljuk rule and Turkic settlement across eastern and central Anatolia. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/