Battle of Nicaea (The Demonic Plague)

The following page is under construction. Please do not edit or alter this article in any way while this template is active. All unauthorized edits may be reverted on the admin's discretion. Propose any changes to the talk page.

Battle of Nicaea
Part of the War of The Forsaken
; The old walls of Nicaea.
Date November 24th - November 25th, 1026 Location Nicaea Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	The Possessed
Commanders and leaders
John II Komnenos Nicholas Gabras	N/A
Strength
5814 infantry 76 Varangians Six trebuchets	Approx. 3000
Casualties and losses
372 infantry	Entire horde killed

Background

Nicaea (Greek: Νίκαια), located on the eastern shore of Lake Askania (Ασκάνια), had been captured by crusader forces from the Seljuq Empire on June 19th 1097. The crusaders left on June 26th for Jerusalem and Nicaea was handed over to Byzantine control.

Arrival of the Possessed

On November 21st 1126 the first sighting of an infected occurred just outside Nicaea. The city was immediately put on high alert with the army ready for an impending battle. Surely enough, on November 24th an entire horde of around 3000 infected arrived.

The battle

The Byzantine forces formed a defensive position. Archers positioned themselves atop the walls while the Varangian Guard stood outside the city walls as the front line, with half the main infantry stood behind them. A bloody battle ensued that would last just under two days. The Byzantine forces were well armoured which helped to prevent the infected from biting them. However, the large numbers of infected meant that they could overpower the Byzantine infantry. On the first night of fighting, 210 Byzantine soldiers and around 1260 infected had been killed.

On November 25th, the Byzantine forces killed the last of the infected, though having lost 372 men. By the time the next horde of infected would arrive the Bosporus Wall would be nearly complete.