ORDER OF BATTLE // October 24, 1081
Battle of Dyrrhachium
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 35,000–40,000 estimated
Byzantine Empire
20,000–25,000
Medium-confidence figure
Duchy of Apulia and Calabria
15,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
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.
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