Battle of Dyrrhachium

Timeline

1. 1081Dyrrhachium · AlbaniaRobert Guiscard claimed rights to the Byzantine throne in the name of the deposed empress Maria of Alania, crossed from Italy with a Norman fleet, and captured and besieged Dyrrhachium, a key town on the eastern Adriatic coast.
2. 1081Outside Dyrrhachium · AlbaniaAlexios I personally led a Byzantine coalition drawn from the themes to the relief, and fought the Normans in a pitched battle outside Dyrrhachium. The Varangian Guard and Turkic mercenaries in the Byzantine line clashed fiercely with the Norman knights.
3. 1081Battlefield of Dyrrhachium · AlbaniaNorman cavalry charges and flanking maneuvers broke the Byzantine line, with many soldiers killed or captured. Alexios escaped only with the cover of his bodyguard, leaving the gateway to the empire's western defenses wide open.
4. 1081–1082Southern Balkan Peninsula · BalkansThe Normans pressed south toward Larissa and elsewhere, while Alexios turned to the Republic of Venice for help, promising trade privileges—sowing the seeds of the long Byzantine–Norman war to come.