Pertempuran Bapheus

**Pertempuran Bapheus**(Turki: *Bafeus Muharebesi*, *Koyun Hisar Muharebesi*, *Koyunhisar Muharebesi*, *Yalakova Muharebesi*) terjadi pada 27 Juli 1302 antara tentara Utsmaniyah di bawah Osman I dan Tentara Bizantium di bawah George Mouzalon. Pertempuran tersebut berakhir dengan kemenangan penting Utsmaniyah, memperkuat Kesultanan Utsmaniyah dan menandai penaklukan terakhir Kekaisaran Bizantium oleh Turki. Menurut Halil İnalcık, Ottoman mencapai karakteristik dan kualitas negaranya setelah pertempuran ini

## Konteks Strategis
Osman I telah berhasil dalam kepemimpinan klannya di ca. 1282, dan selama dua dekade berikutnya melancarkan serangkaian serangan yang semakin mendalam ke wilayah perbatasan Bizantium di Bitinia. Pada tahun 1301, Ottoman mengepung Nicea, bekas ibu kota kekaisaran, dan mengganggu Prussa. Penggerebekan Turki juga mengancam kota pelabuhan Nicomedia dengan kelaparan, karena mereka berkeliaran di pedesaan dan melarang pengumpulan hasil panen.

Pada musim semi 1302, Kaisar Michael IX (memerintah 1294–1320) melancarkan kampanye yang mencapai selatan hingga Magnesia. Turki, yang terpesona oleh pasukannya yang besar, menghindari pertempuran. Michael berusaha untuk menghadapi mereka, tetapi dibujuk oleh para jenderalnya. Orang-orang Turki, yang terdorong, melanjutkan serangan mereka, mengisolasi dia di Magnesia. Pasukannya dibubarkan tanpa pertempuran, ketika pasukan lokal pergi untuk mempertahankan rumah mereka dan suku Alan juga pergi untuk bergabung kembali dengan keluarga mereka di Thrace. Michael terpaksa mundur melalui laut, diikuti gelombang pengungsi lainnya.

## Battle
To counter the threat to Nicomedia, Michael's co-emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328) sent a Byzantine force of some 2,000 men (half of whom were recently hired Alan mercenaries), under the *[[megas hetaireiarches]]* George Mouzalon, to cross over the Bosporus and relieve the city.

At the plain of Bapheus (; an unidentified site, perhaps to the east of Nicomedia but within sight of the city) on 27 July 1302, the Byzantines met a Turkish army of some 5,000 light cavalry under Osman himself, composed of his own troops as well as allies from the Turkish tribes of Paphlagonia and the Maeander River area. The Turkish cavalry charged the Byzantines, whose Alan contingent notably did not participate in the battle. The Turks broke the Byzantine line, forcing Mouzalon to withdraw into Nicomedia under the cover of the Alan force.

## Aftermath
Bapheus was the first major victory for the nascent Ottoman emirate, and of major significance for its future expansion: the Byzantines effectively lost control of the countryside of Bithynia, withdrawing to their forts, which, isolated, fell one by one. The Byzantine defeat also sparked a massive exodus of the Christian population from the area into the European parts of the Empire, further altering the region's demographic balance. Coupled with the disaster of Magnesia, which allowed the Turks to reach and establish themselves on the coasts of the Aegean Sea, Bapheus thus heralded the final loss of Asia Minor for Byzantium. The Ottoman conquest of Bithynia was nonetheless gradual, and the last Byzantine outpost there, Nicomedia, fell only in 1337.

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