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Conflict Middle East

Seljuk Turkish Conquests

1037 CE – 1092 CE · 55 years

Oghuz Turks under the Seljuk clan broke out of the steppes, shattered the Ghaznavids at Dandanaqan, seized Baghdad in 1055, and after Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to Turkic settlement, forging an empire from the Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean.

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Belligerents

The main peoples, kingdoms and states involved.

  • Seljuk Turks (Tughril, Alp Arslan, Malik-Shah I)
  • Ghaznavid Empire (Mas'ud I)
  • Byzantine Empire (Romanos IV Diogenes)
  • Abbasid Caliphate / Buyids

Key moments

Defining events in the Seljuk Turkish Conquests.

  1. 1040 Battle of Dandanaqan
  2. 1055 Capture of Baghdad
  3. 1071 Battle of Manzikert

Elsewhere in Middle East at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Middle East

Great Pyramid of Giza

2560 BCE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Egypt

Attested 3000 BCE – 2026 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Mediterranean Southern Route

331 BCE – 1500 CE

Landmark · Middle East

Petra

300 BCE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Persia

Attested 400 CE – 1914 CE

Trade route · Middle East

Maritime Silk Road – Red Sea Branch

200 BCE – 1500 CE

Landmark · Middle East

Dead Sea

3000 BCE – still standing

Polity · Middle East

Hadramaut

Attested 323 BCE – 1700 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 1037 CE and 1092 CE.

1038 CE Song-Western Xia Wars 1044 CE Pagan Empire Wars 1048 CE Byzantine–Seljuk Wars 1051 CE Kyiv Pechersk Lavra 1061 CE Norman Conquest of Southern Italy 1066 CE Norman Conquest of England

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Great Serpent Mound Landmark · Americas 300 BCE – 1070 CE Đại Việt Polity · East Asia 1054 CE – 1805 CE Mesoamerican Trade Network Trade route · Americas 1200 BCE – 1521 CE Viking Invasions Conflict · Europe 793 CE – 1066 CE Hai Gaon Figure · Babylonia (modern Iraq) 939 CE – 1038 CE Khajuraho Temples Landmark · South Asia 950 CE – 1050 CE
Image credits6 pictures from Wikimedia Commons
  • Great Pyramid of GizaDouwe C. van der Zee · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Flag of EgyptDerived from Part IV Article (223) of the Constitution of The Arab Republic of Egypt. Col… · Public domain
  • PetraAzurfrog · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Flag of Iran (official)SVG file: SiBr 4 Designer: Hamid Nadimi Construction: ISIRI · Public domain
  • Dead Seaلا روسا · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • HadhramautJialiang Gao www.peace-on-earth.org [ dead link ] · CC BY-SA 3.0