Brief history of the reign of Emperor Alexius I of Byzantium:

Alexius I will be known primarily for two things. First is the extensive building program he embarked upon during his reign. He was truly a magnificent builder. This, however, pales in comparison to his most lasting feat. Alexius I will be long remembered for ending the Turkish threat.

In 1099, the Turks launched an offensive against the Byzantines. Sultan Suleyman I commanded the attack on Georgia while his son Osman commanded the attack in Lesser Armenia. The result was disastrous for the Turks.

In Lesser Armenia, Osman had his personal unit of elite bodyguards together with his brother’s unit. Accompanying them was a unit of mounted archers. The Byzantine commander, Romanus Maniakes, knew that he needed to force the enemy into a disadvantageous position. With this in mind, he positioned his infantry and archers (one unit each) upon a wooded hill. When Prince Osman and his brother attacked, they found that their Calvary was ill-equipped to conduct maneuvers in the woods. Osman’s brother died and Osman himself was forced to withdraw after it became apparent that the Byzantine infantry clearly held the advantage. The archers had already won the archery duel by this time.

The attack on Georgia was an even bigger disaster. It started well as the Turks initially seized the high ground but they ceded that advantage early in the battle and never recovered. Sultan Suleyman took his youngest son with him and proceeded to lose him in battle. It seems that the impetuous youth thought he could bypass the Byzantine infantry and attack the archers from Trebizond without repercussion. His error cost more than his life. His father saw him imperiled and desperately sought to save him. The Byzantine lines wavered and it looked like he might succeed but his son was cruelly cut down (by the very Trebizond archers he had sought to decimate no less) and fresh troops were tossed into the fray. Suleyman was seperated from the rest of his army and was slain by a flight of arrows. Had he not lead a charge to save his son, history might have turned out differently. As it stood, fate had decreed that the Turks were repulsed on all fronts and that a young and untested Osman I would lead a now humbled and humiliated empire.

Osman did a credible job as Sultan. He wrested control of Lesser Armenia from the Byzantine and seemed ready to redeem his father’s errors. He personally conducted a spirited defense of Rum and repulsed a Byzantine counter-offensive despite the fact that at one point he was surrounded by 150 enemy soldiers without the benefit of any living bodyguards. This all came to a crashing halt after Alexius I took an alternative route in destroying the Turks. In the final year of his reign Alexius ordered three assassins to kill the still youthful Osman. Two of them never returned. Osman had yet to produce a male heir so his death splintered the Turks into bickering factions that no longer posed a threat. ( funny how the point of a knife accomplished what 100 swords could not)