Real History of Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan | The Great Seljuk Empire
We will discuss the second and possibly one of the greatest Sultans of the Mighty Seljuk Empire in this article. Alp Arslan, Mazikert's conqueror. His full name, "Diyā ad-Dunyā wa ad-Dîn Adud ad-Dawlah Abu Schujā' Mohammed ibn Dawûdand," is generally referred to as the "Heroic Lion" in Turkish, but is more generally known as the "ALP Arslan."
Reign
He was the son of Chagri, the first sultan of the kingdom, one of the founding rulers of the Self-Empire. Alp Arslan was trained from a very young age in sword combat, riding, and marksmanship, and in the war with Dandanaqan, he proved his skills as a young man. He was also acutely interested in politics and knew the challenges that the Seljuk Empire had to face, as it was before.
He chose Chaghri's other son, Suleiman to take the next line in the throne. Tughril had no direct heir, so he appointed Alp Arslan, and some of the prominent of the wazirs opposed. And it proved accurate as civil wars were fought for the possession of the throne after Tughril 's death. Tughril 's cousin, Qutalmish, surrounded the capital with his armies, represented the greatest threat. Everybody went to Alp Arslan for aid, realizing that the capital was at serious risk, who defeated Qutalmish with ease and killed the threat with his great fighting abilities. Shortly after, Alp Arslan climbed to Sultan's tronum and made his grand vizier Nizam UL Mulk.
Real History of Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan | The Great Seljuk Empire
He set his sights on Eastern Anatolian regions as his first business order. He conquered with his son Malik Shah and won every battle easily. He went on the conquest with him. His conquest won him a different title, the Abbasid Caliph's 'Father of Conquests.' When he returned from great conquests, he was regarded with a stunning betrayal, because in his absence one of his brothers, "Quvert." Alp Arslan was quick to overcome the rebellion and was very merciful when, after being defeated, he forgave his brother for his serious treason.
Alp Arslan now started another expedition towards Georgia. He swiftly won every battle he was in and quickly brought peace and stability to the bordering regions. He made his way to the Holy Lands of Jerusalem, Medina, and Mecca bringing peace and prosperity to the regions and kept making his way to Egypt. All this expansion of the Turk empire greatly disturbed Emperor Romanos Diogenes, the ruler of the great byzantine empire. Who ordered his armies to march to Aleppo? He met with a lot of resistance by the Turk forces and had to retreat to Afyon. This angered Romanos and he made his way to Euphrates River.
Alp Arslan had almost reached Damascus with his troops, meanwhile, when he learned of the plan to attack Romanos. He ended the expedition immediately and came back to protect his homeland. For a hundred and fifty 000 heavily blind foot soldiers he caught up in Malazgirt in the huge, Byzantine army. While the subject army consisted of only 100,50,000 men, mostly horseback archers. Alp Arslan sent an envoy for the common good to Ramanos offering peace. Romanos ignored the bid. In Malazgirt 1071 a great war began. The Byzantine army was again rapidly defeated by Alp Arslan and Romanos Diogenes was arrested. This battle eventually proved that the Turks can't be banished from Anatolia. The war was won, but ALP Arslan's role in stabilizing the area took several years and years.
Death
Another threat arose after the battle as the Karakhanids started attacking the Seljuk borders. Alp Arslan went to attack the Berzem castle accompanied by his Son Malik Shah and Nizam Ul Mulk. He was quick to eliminate the threat and won the battle. After the battle, he was very merciful again and was talking to the commander when he fatally stabbed him with a poisoned arrow hidden in his clothes. Alp Arslan’s Son Malik Shah ascended the throne of the Sultan after his death.
