Battle of Dyrrhachium

Significance

The Battle of Dyrrhachium on 24 October 1081 was a major engagement in the Byzantine–Norman Wars between the forces of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and the Norman army of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. Byzantine casualties recorded at 5,000 against a force of 20,000–25,000 indicate a substantial defeat for Alexios, who commanded a numerically superior army against Guiscard's approximately 15,000 troops. The outcome at Dyrrhachium bore directly on Norman ambitions to penetrate Byzantine-held territory in the Balkans, with Dyrrhachium serving as a critical Adriatic gateway into the empire's western provinces.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (9)