Conflict: First Crusade
Combatants: Crusaders vs. Turks
Location: Turkey
Outcome: Crusader victory
After investing the city of Nicaea, Byzantine emperor Alexis I (Alixes Comnenus) led his Crusader army southeastward through Turkey. The left column of the Crusader army, led by the Norman Bohemond, was attacked by cavalry under the command of Kilij Arslan. The entire Crusader column would have likely faced destruction had not the right hand column arrived, six hours later, to assault the Turks from the rear. Caught between the two columns, the Turks were driven to rout. Pursued by the Crusader knights, the Turks suffered as many as 30,000 casualties. The Crusaders had lost some 4,000 men.
Points of Interest:
After Dorylaeum, the Crusaders would afterward push on to Antioch with little opposition.
Bohemund would become the first ruler of the Principality of Antioch in this Crusade.
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Riley-Smith, Jonathan (2005). The Crusades. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.