15,697
edits
Changes
→The Fall of Constantinople (1453)
====The Fall of Constantinople (1453)====
By 1453 the Byzantine Empire was splintered and there were three so-called Empires that were, in reality only minor statelets. One was the city of Constantinople, its hinterland and some Aegean islands. The Ottoman Empire had expanded into Europe by the 1450s and it was a powerful military state. The Ottomans had besieged Constantinople is the past but had failed to overcome its apparently invincible ramparts.<ref> Philippides, Marios and Walter K. Hanak, [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071RR7SPD/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B071RR7SPD&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=efeec868927c19355c051e66a76a7116 The Siege and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 ] (Ashgate, Farnham and Burlington 2011), p. 56</ref> Sultan Mehmet I was determined to take the city which was a Christian enclave in his Empire and he feared that it could be used to attack his realm. Then Mehmet wanted the prestige of capturing the famed city of Constantinople. By the 1450s the city was only a shadow of its former glories. The Black Plague had decimated the population and the city was largely uninhabited. It was reckoned that there were only 50-60,000 citizens within the famous Theodosian Walls.<ref>Phillpides et al, p. 89</ref>
The Emperor was Constantine XI Palaiologos and he had little power and even fewer resources. He was widely esteemed and regarded as a brave monarch, but he was hopelessly outnumbered by the Turks. He had scarcely any men with which to defend the walls of the city. The Emperor was dependent on the services of some mercenaries and volunteers from all over Europe and especially Italy. The Genoese contributed ships and men to the defense of the city. Sultan Mehmet assembled a huge army, of 60,000 men that possessed massive cannons. Despite the weakness of the city it was still regarded as the best-defended city in Europe. The Ottomans besieged the city for fifty-three days and blockaded Constantinople by land and sea. The defenders fought valiantly against the Turks and threw back several assaults. The Ottomans used their heavy cannons to breach the walls and they swarmed into Constantinople. There followed a great massacre and the death of the Emperor in battle. The Italians who fought the Byzantines survived the siege managed to bring many citizens of Constantinople with them to Italy.
