1037-1194 CE
From 1037 to 1194 CE, the Seljuks rode out of the Central Asian steppe to become the sword arm of Sunni Islam — Tughril Beg entering Baghdad as the caliph's protector, Alp Arslan shattering Byzantine power at Manzikert and opening Anatolia to Turkish settlement. For a generation they united the Islamic heartland from the Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean, until succession wars fragmented the sultanate and Crusader and Khwarezmian alike carved pieces from its corpse.