In the 40s of the 11th century, Armenia fell under the rule of Byzantium. However, this control was short-lived. Soon, the Seljuk Turks, Central Asian nomadic tribes, appeared in Armenia, quickly taking over vast territories and creating a major power.
The Seljuk Turks undertook their first campaign against Armenia in 1048. The Seljuk plundering army, without encountering serious resistance, occupied and devastated many regions of the country. In 1049, the Seljuks again invaded Armenia, exterminating tens of thousands of people and devastating many villages.
They captured and completely destroyed the trading city of Artsn, located near Karin, putting its population to the sword. In the same year, during a battle that took place in Basen, the Byzantine troops suffered a heavy defeat. The Seljuks plundered and mercilessly destroyed a large number of cities, settlements, and villages.
After the battle in Basen, Byzantium, frightened by the Seljuk danger, somewhat softened its policy towards Armenia: it eased the tax burden, allowed a number of large Armenian feudal lords to return to their homeland, returned their estates to them, and eased religious persecution.
With this belated attempt, it tried to use the forces of the Armenians to prevent the further advance of the Seljuks. Byzantium also pursued a similar policy towards Georgia.
The third Seljuk campaign was carried out under the leadership of Sultan Tughril Bek in 1054. The Sultan’s troops scattered throughout the country and devastated many areas. In some places, they were given heroic resistance – the troops of the Vanand king Gagik, having entered into battle with the Seljuk hordes, threw them back from the approaches to the city of Kars. Even more stubborn was the resistance of the inhabitants of Manazkert.
Having fortified their city, the people of Manazkert fought for about a month not for life, but to the death with the huge army of Tughril-bek. Kars and Manazkert stood firm and did not surrender, but the country was subjected to terrible destruction and plunder.
As a result of repeated Seljuk invasions, some Armenians migrated to other countries, many left the plains and moved to the mountainous regions; the Armenian population of the fertile regions thinned out significantly, and their defense capability weakened.
A new major campaign was made by Tughril-bek’s successor, Sultan Alp-Arslan in 1064. In a short time, he managed to subjugate the kingdoms of Lori and Syunik, capture and ravage Ani (1064), and the Ararat plain.
Gagik, the king of Kars, also declared his submission to Alp Arslan. Thus, in 1064-1065, the Seljuk sultan captured the Ararat region, Syunik, as well as Aghvank and Eastern Georgia. In 1071, Alp Arslan undertook a campaign in Southern Armenia and the eastern provinces of Byzantium.
In August of the same year, in the bloody battle of Manazkert, the huge Byzantine army suffered a major defeat and, having suffered heavy losses, fled. The Battle of Manazkert had a fatal significance for Armenia. According to the peace treaty concluded after it, the central regions of Armenia, as well as a number of eastern regions of Asia Minor, went to the Seljuks. Thus, the Seljuk power was established over most of Armenia.
During the reign of Alp Arslan’s successor, Melik Shah (1072-1092), the Seljuk state became even stronger. However, two or three decades after the death of Melik Shah, it disintegrated into a number of independent principalities-emirates, which waged frequent internecine wars.
The Ani, Dvin, Kars, Khlat, and Karian emirates were formed in Armenia. Over time, the nomadic Seljuks settled in these mainly flat areas of the country, displacing many of the indigenous inhabitants from their native regions.
The surviving Armenian principalities in Vanand, Syunik, Lori, and elsewhere waged an unequal struggle against the Seljuk emirates in the 11th-13th centuries. The Sasuya and Akhta-Morok principalities managed to maintain their independence, and the Syunik and Vanand kingdoms, after a long struggle, fell under the rule of the Seljuks. Most of the Lori principality was annexed to Georgia in 1110-1123.
During the period of Seljuk rule, the Armenian people were in an extremely difficult situation. Fertile fields turned into pastures, agriculture and gardening largely gave way to nomadic cattle breeding, and many cities were destroyed, including Ani, Dvin, Karin, and Van. The economic and cultural life of the country was dealt a severe blow.
