Otto II's troops had marched on Constantinople-controlled…

The Buyid emir has embellished Baghdad with numerous public buildings, including the famous public hospital Bimaristan-i Al-Adudi (it will be destroyed in the Siege of 1258).

'Adud al-Dawla keeps his court in Shiraz, visiting Baghdad frequently and keeping some of his ministers here.

One of these is a Christian, Nasr Ibn Harun.

The 'Abassid Caliphate has enjoyed prosperity under the liberal rule of 'Adud al-Dawla; there have been no more sectarian disturbances during his reign.

Duke Manso I of Amalfi finally deposes Pandulf II of his rule in Salerno in 982.

By 982, the entire area once ruled by Pandulf has collapsed, weakening Otto II's position against Constantinople, which still claims sovereignty over the Lombard principalities.

The lack of singular leader to prevent their advances into Lombard territory allows the Eastern Romans to make inroads further north.

Otto II has attempted on several occasions to reunified the Lombard principalities politically and ecclesiastically into his Empire after Pandulf's death.

Though he unsuccessfully besieged Manso I in Salerno, Otto II ultimately obtains the recognition of his authority from all the Lombard principalities.

With his authority reestablished over the Lombard princes, Otto II turns his attention towards the threat from Muslim Sicily.

Since the 960s, the island had been under Muslim rule as the Emirate of Sicily, a state of the Fatimid Caliphate.

The ruling Kalbid dynasty had conducted raids against Imperial territories in southern Italy.

The death of Pandulf in 981 had allowed the Sicilian Emir Abu al-Qasim to increase his raids, hitting targets in Apulia and Calabria.

As early as 980, Otto II had demanded a fleet from the city of Pisa to help him carry out his war in southern Italy, and in September 981, he had marched into southern Italy.

Needing allies in his campaign against the Muslims and the Empire, Otto II reconciles with Manso I, granting imperial recognition of his rule over Salerno.

Otto II moves his army westward after celebrating Easter in Taranto, defeating a Muslim army in early July.

Emir Abu al-Qasim, who has declared a Holy War (jihad) against the Empire, retreats when he notices the unexpected strength of Otto II's troops when the Emperor is not far from Rossano Calabro.

Informed of the Muslim retreat, Otto II leaves his wife Theophanu and young son Otto III (along with the Imperial treasury) in the city and marches his army to pursue the Muslim force.

Al-Qasim, unable to flee back to his stronghold in Sicily due an imperial naval blockade, faces the Imperial army in a pitched battle south of Crotone at Cape Colonna on July 14, 982.

After a violent clash, a corps of Otto II's heavy cavalry destroys the Muslim center and pushes towards al-Qasim's guards, with the Emir killed during the charge.

Despite the Emir's death, the Muslim troops do not flee the battlefield.

The Muslims regroup and manage to surround the Imperial soldiers, slaughtering many of them and inflicting a severe defeat upon the Emperor.

According to the historian Muslim Ibn al-Athir, Imperial casualties number around four thousand.

The Lombard Princes Landulf IV of Benevento and Pandulf II of Salerno, German Bishop Henry I of Augsburg, German Margrave Gunther of Merseburg, the Abbot of Fulda, and numerous other Imperial officials are among the battle's casualties.

The imperial defeat shocks the political makeup of Southern Italy.

With two Lombard princes dead, the Principalities of Capua and Benevento pass to younger branches of the Landulfid family.

Though the Muslim troops are forced to retreat to Sicily after their victory, the Muslims remain a presence in southern Italy, harassing the Eastern Romans and Lombards.

The Ottonian defeat, the worst in the history of the Empire at this time, greatly weakens Imperial power in southern Italy.

The forces of Constantinople join forces with those of the Muslims and regain possession of Apulia from Ottonian forces.

The Zubu had begun paying tribute to the Khitan Empire after a campaign in 924 when the Khitan subdued the Zubu and other Turkic peoples in the region of what is now Eastern Mongolia or southeastern Russia.

Liao emperor Shengzong leads an expeditionary force against the Zubu in 983 after the Zubu killed their own khan and began to act in defiance of the Khitan.

Imperial authority in Slavic territory around the year 982 had extended as far east as the Lusatian Neisse River and as far south as the Ore Mountains.

Following Otto II's defeat at Stilo in 983, the Lutici Federation of Polabian Slavs revolt against their German overlords, sparking a great revolt known as the Slawenaufstand.

The Polabian Slavs destroy the bishoprics of Havelberg and …

…Brandenburg.

According the German chronicler Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, the decades-long forced Germanization and Christianization of the Slavs associated with these two churches was the reason for their destruction.

Thietmar blames the uprising on maltreatment of the Slavs by the Germans: "Warriors, who used to be our servants, now free as a consequence of our injustices."

In the Obotrite territories along the Elbe River, the Luticians initiate a revolt aiming at the abolishment of feudal rule and Christianity, drawing on considerable support by the Obodrite populace and their leader Mstivoj.

In part, the Obrodite revolt is successful: the princely family, though in part remaining Christian, dissolves Christian institutions.

Soldiers from the Northern March, the March of Meissen, the March of Lusatia, as well as from the Bishop of Halberstadt and the Archbishop of Magdeburg, join forces to defeat the Slavs near Stendal.

Nevertheless, the Empire is forced to withdraw to the western banks of the Elbe river.

The successes of the Empire's Christianization policy towards the Slavs are nullified, and the political control over the Billung March and the Northern March (territories east of the Elbe) is lost.

Otto I's life work of converting the Slavs is thus undone a decade after his death.

The Slavic territories east of the Elbe will remain pagan for over a century before further missionary work resumes: it will not be until the twelfth century that the churches of Havelberg and Brandenburg will be reestablished.

The Danes, taking advantage of the Slavic revolt, invade the March of Schleswig along the Empire's northern border while the Sorbian Slavs invade and conquer the March of Zeitz, wresting it from Saxon control.