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Battle of Manzikert
Byzantine Side

I, Roman Diogenes, to the Roman Empire

The place I come from is older than Rome. This dead place

I came to revive. As I remembered the times when we ruled the Known World, I felt uneasy and vowed to bring the Muslims under my command! However, just saying it was not enough; action had to be taken. We did! I arranged a huge army consisting of some other Turkic nations and Elite Byzantine soldiers I had collected. That day I said to myself:
"Jesus Christ will arrange a place for me next to him in heaven when I destroy the Muslims who speak dog language." 
Hearing this, my vizier said to me:
"Do you want to be God's wife or something, sir?" he said, a little jokingly. I am:
"Yes, I want to be God's spouse, Sebastian, if this is the holiest position I can be!" I said. 

Alparslan was fighting the Fatimids in the south. Even the pope could not stop us after we defeated the Seljuks, the most powerful Sunni state. Even thinking about the lands we would gain made me excited. Baku, Mosul, Baghdad, Tabriz, Hamadan, Isfahan, Rey, Merv, Tashkent, Transoxiana... And of course, the red apple of every ruler is Jerusalem. We set off without any delay. We captured the cities that the Seljuks had previously taken from us. Then we made a plan to march on them. We opened our rich history and examined the plans of Alexander the Great. Because we didn't think they would attack us! When Alparslan came towards us, I started to get scared, or had we underestimated the military power of the Muslims? Then, as they approached, we learned their military strength, it was 50,000! Then I met with my commanders and said; If what they want is to commit suicide, let them commit suicide. 
We moved into battle position. Alparslan sent ambassadors to us more than once. They were afraid! I could have sworn! When they offered me peace, I said that peace would only be with Rey. Then I cracked a harsh joke:
-Isfahan or Hamadan is more beautiful? 
+Isfahan is more beautiful sir
-Then this year we will winter in Isfahan and our animals will winter in Hamadan! 
+Your animals may winter in Hamadan, but I don't know where you winter.

NOTE: The accuracy of the above speech text is not certain. Similar conversations are mentioned in some sources.
Was I acting a little too confident? 
Not all of them could come to the war. Most of them probably drowned in rivers. At least it seemed that way for a while. They attacked us as if it were logical. We attacked them with all our strength, but unfortunately we could not catch up with them. When I was in the middle of my army, I felt like no one heard me. My army was already dispersed. Unlike us, they were very organized. At that moment I felt like we might be in a trap. I panicked, I tried, but I couldn't get it together. Then enemy soldiers came from the sides and the rear. They trapped us, only the Varengian guards remained around me, and I surrendered. 

 

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Author: Hüseyin Emre Eken

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