Danke Herr KaLeun.
29th May 1453: Constantinople falls
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On the 29th May 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks. This event is seen by many as the end of the Middle Ages.
The siege began in February when the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI found himself attacked by 150000 men under the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror. Despite only having 10000 men, the 25 foot walls and many towers kept the besiegers out. It was only after Mehmed had 70 of his ships carried overland so as to bombard the city from a second side that things became untenable for the defenders. Until now the seaward side had been protected by a large boom.
After a day of heavy fog, the besiegers doubled their efforts, beginning with a three day bombardment, then assault. The defenders morale was low, as they believed omens had forseen the fall of their city. The Romanus gate was breached and the Emperor captured and beheaded.
The Byzantine empire was over after 1123 years and Constantinople was never again to be a Christian city. The Muslim Turks would expand further over the years and even threaten Vienna and Western Europe. It would fall to Austria to halt their expansion and save Christianity West of it. -
Truly a sad day for Roman history lovers.
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@rjpeters70:
Absolutely sad. I was shocked at how much the Ottomans destroyed the murals and frescos inside the Hagia Sophia when I visited.Â
Unfortunately, they were hardly unique in this kind of behaviour. Vandalism and looting by conquerors happens a lot in warfare. The word vandalism itself originated in the sack of Rome by the Vandals in 455 AD.
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That reminds me of when I toured the Acropolis in Athens. The Parthenon was used as a military garrison site by the Ottomans and was fairly well destroyed during a battle with the Venetians in 1687. There is a lot of reconstruction going on there, but it was sad to see that the Parthenon was there for almost 2000 years before it was partly destroyed by war.
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This could make for an interesting poll: if you could go back in time and save one thing that was destroyed in war, what would it be?
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Go for it Marc.
I cannot think of anything, but I would give it some thought. -
Ohh, ye guys talking about Istanbul… 8-)
good ol’ Byzantine… :-D
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@CWO:
This could make for an interesting poll: if you could go back in time and save one thing that was destroyed in war, what would it be?
The Great Library of Alexandria. Poll closed. Nothing else is close. (At least in my opinion, and if what they say about it is at least half true).
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@CWO:
This could make for an interesting poll: if you could go back in time and save one thing that was destroyed in war, what would it be?Â
The Great Library of Alexandria. Poll closed. Nothing else is close. (At least in my opinion, and if what they say about it is at least half true).
I agree that its loss was catastrophic…but was it lost in a war? I thought it had been burned down by a Christian mob at the instigation of someone who was later canonized as a saint.
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@rjpeters70:
My understanding was that Caesar’s men burned it down on accident when Paraoh’s men were trying to seize Alexandria from Caesar and Cleopatra, before Ptolemy was killed. Â
Ah. Okay, thanks for the info.
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Had Constantinople not held back the Ottomans as long as did, the reach of the Turks could have been vast.
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