The Ottoman Turks Conquest of Constantinople

The Ottoman Turks conquest of Constantinople came about in 1453 AD. Constantinople which was once known as “the city of the world’s desire,” but by the middle of the 15th century, it had deteriorated into a shadow of its former self. During the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD, roving Crusaders devastated the city and it never fully recovered. Despite what appeared to be a hopeless scenario, the Eastern Romans, now known as the Byzantines, were able to retake control of the city and still maintained territory in sections of Greece and Western Anatolia.

Even though the Romans were able to reclaim some of their land and authority, they were besieged on all sides by hostile nations, including a particularly dangerous foe in the Ottoman Turks. The Turks are supposed to have arrived in Anatolia in several waves from Central Asia as early as 900 AD. Following the Mongol conquest in the 1200s, a tremendous inflow of new people populated the land. The early Ottoman Empire would emerge as a new power in the region during this turbulent and chaotic period.

The Ottomans soon absorbed the remaining Roman land in Anatolia, while also making significant inroads in Greece and the Balkans. By 1450, the Roman half of the empire had shrunk to Constantinople and a few tiny territories around Athens. The Ottomans and Romans were both aware that an attack on Constantinople was impending. The Ottomans assembled a formidable force of almost 60,000 troops. In a desperate attempt to avoid ultimate defeat, the Romans raised what little resistance they could and sent out a message begging the Christian kingdoms of Europe to come to their rescue.

The Only Hope for the Romans

Constantinople was no stranger to siege or battle. The city had been repeatedly attacked by both its Muslim neighbors to the east and its Christian neighbors to the west. Despite being attacked at least 36 times in its history, it was able to repeatedly push back hostile armies. This was due to two significant characteristics that the city possessed. The Theodosian Walls and its geography.

The walls are named after the Roman Emperor Theodosian, who erected them. These walls, built in 413 AD, effectively turned Constantinople into a fortress. Forces approaching the city would have been greeted with a 7-meter-deep ditch close to the city walls, allowing defenders to hurl numerous projectiles at anyone who advanced. The attackers would thereafter have been challenged with scaling three sets of walls that grew progressively taller and more defended. The third and last wall was more than 5 meters thick and impenetrable Medieval Age siege weaponry.

Constantinople was also situated at the tip of a small peninsula, making land-based confinement of the city impractical. The port utilized by Constantinople could also be sealed off by a massive chain dragged across the opening of the harbor, preventing any invading ships from entering. These near-impenetrable defenses have served the Romans for generations, repelling all kinds of former foes. Nonetheless, the Ottomans threw a new and lethal weapon into the mix.

The Power of Gunpowder 

By the early 1400s, the Ottoman Empire controlled one of the world’s most powerful armies. The Turks had made significant advances in the use of gunpowder and could build ridiculously enormous guns known as bombards. The weapons of battle were so enormous and powerful that it took hours to reload them once they had been fired. Despite their awkward character, their impact on the stone walls of cities and castles was horrifying.

The majority of the Ottoman force was made up of well-trained and well-equipped warriors. The majority of them had fought in the different Balkan wars against Christian nations. The renowned Janissaries made up a sizable portion of the Ottoman army. For centuries, the Janissaries were among the most feared and revered military units, with a well-deserved reputation for bravery and battle expertise.

At the Battle of Varna in 1444, the Ottomans crushed a Crusader army sent against them in an attempt to drive them out of Europe. This overwhelming victory ensured that the Romans would be fighting the Turks alone, without assistance from fellow Christians. Except for a few troops from the Italian City States, the Romans had to fend for themselves.

Desperation and Despair

Despite the fact that Constantinople was one of the most important cities in Christian history, the other Christian nations in Europe showed little interest in assisting the Romans in their fight against the Muslim Turks. It is vital to recall that for centuries, Catholic Western Europe and Orthodox Eastern Europe have been at animosity. While there have been examples of the two factions cooperating, both sides frequently held negative thoughts of one another or even deemed the other sect overtly heretical.

Relations between Orthodox and Catholics had been icy at best and mindlessly violent at worst since the Great Schism in 1054. After all, it was fellow Christians who sacked and nearly destroyed Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade all those years ago.

For many European rulers, sending military aid to the Romans would have been extremely impractical. Petty battles and disputes plagued the monarchs of Castile, France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire. Diverting huge numbers of troops to a distant country would have merely left them vulnerable to attack from hawkish neighbors waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. Aside from religious issues, most Catholic troops refused to aid the Romans for practical reasons rather than holding grudges.

The Arrival of Turks at the Gates of Constantinople

In April of 1453, the Ottomans arrived outside the Theodosian Walls. They immediately began erecting artillery batteries and bombarding the Roman defenders. At first, it appeared that the walls would be able to withstand another siege, but after the enormous bombards, whose primary goal was to punch through Constantinople’s high walls, began to fire, it was evident that the Ottomans had the upper hand.

The walls were gradually razed to the ground. When the walls were ultimately breached, the Ottoman army charged towards them. Numerous efforts to seize the city were thwarted by the outnumbered and outgunned defenders. At night, the Romans made every effort to restore any damage they could. In many situations, the makeshift stockades and barriers were far more effective than the walls themselves at absorbing cannon balls first. Despite their best efforts, however, the Roman soldiers and militia were just postponing the inevitable.

The Golden Horn

With the attack on the fortifications taking longer than predicted, Mehmed II, the Ottoman leader, looked to the front of the sea for advancement. In mid-April, three ships from Genoa, sent by the Pope, carrying grain and provisions, were able to breach the Ottoman blockade and offer much-needed assistance to the Romans, who were severely short on food.

Mehmed and his officers devised an operation that would allow Ottoman ships to get under the massive chain that was draped over the city’s harbor. Mehmed pulled 70 ships overland with the help of oxen and troops, landing a substantial chunk of his navy directly into the city’s harbor and lifting the chain. The rest of the Ottoman navy came in, opening a second front in the siege.

The defenders, already low in manpower, had little alternative but to move forces away from the Theodosian Wall and into the seawall to help repel attacks there. Only a few days later, Mehmet, authorized a full-fledged assault on the city.

The Final Assault

By the end of May, the Ottomans had launched an all-out assault on Constantinople. The Roman troops were now so helpless and weakened that they were defending specific portions of the city with women and children. Despite the enormous number of men storming the walls, the Romans thwarted the first two efforts to seize the city. The Ottomans finally broke through on the third attempt, led by the powerful Janissaries. The Janissaries swept away the tenacious resistance at the city’s gate and raised an Ottoman banner, signaling the remainder of the army to enter.

Sultan Mehmed II

Sultan Mehmed II, often known as Mehmed the Conqueror or Mehmed Fatih (the Arabic phrase for “the Conqueror”), was the Ottoman Empire’s most powerful and influential king. Mehmed II, who was born in 1432, succeeded to the Ottoman throne at the age of 19 after his father, Murad II, died in 1444. His military skill and strategic insight left an enduring imprint on world history.

Sultan Mehmed II is best remembered for his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, which effectively ended the Byzantine Empire and established the Ottoman Empire as a prominent power in the region. The siege of Constantinople, which had resisted multiple attempts for decades, came to an end dramatically when Sultan Mehmed’s army penetrated its impenetrable walls. This victory not only increased the Ottoman Empire’s territorial possessions but also established Istanbul (then Constantinople) as the new capital.

Mehmed II was a strong ruler. Besides his military accomplishments, he instituted administrative changes that contributed to the efficient governing of the large Ottoman Empire. He promoted economic development, fostered the arts and sciences, and aimed to make Istanbul a thriving capital. During Mehmed’s reign, the Topkapi Palace, a magnificent building that would serve as the imperial palace for several centuries, was also completed.

Mehmed II was admired for his tolerance toward many ethnic and religious groups within the Ottoman Empire, in addition to his military and administrative achievements. Being a devoted Muslim, he permitted Christians and Jews to worship freely, contributing to the empire’s cultural variety.

The death of Mehmed II in 1481 marked the end of an era, but his legacy lived on. His conquests and administrative reforms greatly changed the Ottoman Empire’s destiny, leaving an indelible mark on the geopolitical environment of the time. Mehmed the Conqueror is renowned in Ottoman history for his military skill, strategic foresight, and contributions to the empire’s cultural and administrative growth.

Constantine XI Palaiologos

Constantine XI Palaiologos was the last Byzantine Emperor to reign. He rose to the throne during a turbulent moment in Byzantine history. In the face of Ottoman expansion, the Byzantine Empire, long a dominant force in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Christian world, was progressively declining.

Despite his efforts to rally Western powers’ backing, including appeals to Pope Nicholas V and European leaders, Constantine XI was left with few resources and troops.

The fate of Constantine XI Palaiologos during the fall of Constantinople is unknown. He perished in combat, according to several reports, battling heroically to the last, while some legends claim he was last seen dashing into the midst of the conflict, never to be seen again. His reputation as the last Byzantine Emperor represents the end of an era and his valiant stand is remembered as the closing chapter in the Byzantine Empire’s long and illustrious history.

The Outcome

The conquest of Constantinople would effectively end the final remnant of the Roman Empire. For generations, the Romans in the east would cling tenaciously to their history while being gradually dismantled by devastating civil wars and expansionist rivals. Many historians believe that the capture of Constantinople signified the end of the Medieval Era and the beginning of the Early Modern Era.

The Ottomans would soon become the world’s largest and most powerful Muslim empire, posing a constant and dominating danger for the rest of Europe for the next 300 years. Mehmet would be renowned as “the Conqueror” for his stunning triumph at Constantinople, which established a solid and obvious precedent for future Ottoman rulers.

Except for Venice, the Ottomans swiftly cut off most of Christian Europe from the rich trade networks that stretched eastward into China and India. As a result, powers such as Spain and Portugal were compelled to search west for overseas ways into these territories. This, of course, would inadvertently result in the Age of Discovery and European colonization of the Americas, yet another world-changing event. This would make many of the Ottomans’ future adversaries immensely wealthier and more powerful than ever before.

Constantinople would remain the Ottoman Empire’s capital, and it would enjoy yet another golden age during the height of Ottoman power and glory in the 16th and 17th centuries. Despite no longer being the political capital of modern-day Turkiye, Constantinople, now Istanbul remains Turkiye’s cultural and commercial center.

Legacy

Today, the Roman Empire, particularly the Byzantine Empire, has a small but devoted following of fans who are obsessed with everything about this extraordinarily unusual and intriguing empire. While many people believe that the Roman Empire fell apart in the fifth century AD, it survived and, at times, thrived in the east for a further ten centuries.

While most of Europe was in the grip of a Dark Age following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantines were nevertheless continuing on Rome’s legacy. They were at the vanguard of numerous scientific advancements and cultural triumphs. We would know so little about the Romans today if it weren’t for the Byzantines. The Byzantines went out of their way to safeguard and maintain so many historical records from the Roman Empire, not just from the days preceding Rome’s fall, but also from the early Republican period.

Around the world, the capture of Constantinople is viewed in a variety of ways. It is usually regarded as a tragedy in the West. Not only did this signify the definitive demise of the Roman Empire, one of the “cultural mothers” of the Western World, but it also marked the end of one of Christianity’s last strongholds after standing firm against Muslim attack for so long.

In Turkiye, the city’s fall is viewed considerably more positively. Many Turks regard the town’s capture as the “true” beginning of the Ottoman Empire.

Every May 29th, the Turks hold large festivities across the city to commemorate their magnificent victory.

Modern Day Constantinople

After the conquest of Constantinople, the Turks named the City as Istanbul. Today, Istanbul is Turkiye’s largest metropolis, functioning as the country’s economic, cultural, and historical center. The city spans the Bosporus Strait, located in both Europe and Asia, and has a population of over 15 million people, accounting for 19% of Turkiye’s total population. Istanbul is the most populous metropolis in Europe and the world’s 15th largest.

Map of Modern Day Turkiye, formerly Turkey

The city of Istanbul is famous for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture. Despite its Turkish-ness since 1923, it has many ancient, Roman, Byzantine, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish monuments.

In the city, there are various old monuments. The Obelisk of Thutmose III (Obelisk of Theodosius) is the oldest. It was erected to the south of the seventh pylon by Pharaoh Thutmose III (r. 1479-1425 BCE) and was made of red granite. It originated from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor.

Politically, Istanbul is recognized as Turkiye’s most important administrative region. In the run-up to the 2019 municipal elections, Erdogan declared, “If we fail in Istanbul, we will fail in Turkiye.” The Istanbul election held significant political, economic, and symbolic significance for Erdogan, whose election as mayor of Istanbul in 1994 served as his launchpad.

Conclusion:

The fall of Constantinople would mark the end of one of the world’s greatest empires and the beginning of another. The unforeseen effects of this event led to European colonization of the Americas and global supremacy that lasted nearly 300 years.

It would also mark the beginning of the Medieval and Modern eras. The age of armored knights and feudalism was drawing to a close. Surprisingly, the Middle Ages began and ended with the fall of the Romans.

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