ORDER OF BATTLE // January 1, 1329
Battle of Pelekanon
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 12,000 estimated
Byzantine Empire
4,000
Medium-confidence figure
Ottoman Beylik
8,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Pelekanon was fought between a Byzantine expeditionary force under Andronikos III Palaiologos and John Kantakouzenos and an Ottoman army under Orhan Ghazi, with the Byzantines committing approximately 4,000 troops against an Ottoman force roughly twice that size. The Byzantine army was defeated, and the engagement carried immediate strategic consequences: no further attempt was made to relieve the Byzantine cities in Anatolia that were under Ottoman siege. The battle thus effectively ended Byzantine efforts to contest Ottoman expansion in the region, leaving those besieged cities without hope of imperial rescue and accelerating the Ottoman consolidation of Anatolian territory during the broader Byzantine–Ottoman wars.
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