Byzantine annexation of Armenia

1045

Constantinople absorbed the Bagratid kingdom of Ani after the last Armenian king was browbeaten into ceding it. The annexation was short-sighted: within twenty years the poorly defended Armenian plateau would fall to the Seljuks, opening the road to Manzikert and the loss of Anatolia by Byzantium. Tens of thousands of Armenians were displaced westward, creating diaspora communities that would outlast the empire itself.