In 1453 the great city of Constantinople fell. This was a key event of that period, which actually meant the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire. Constantinople was captured by the Turks. After this military success, the Turks established total dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since then, the city remained the capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1922.
On the eve of the fall of Constantinople
By 1453 Byzantium was in decline. She lost many of her possessions, becoming a small state, whose power, in fact, extended only to the capital.
Byzantium itself only nominally remained an empire. By 1453, the rulers of even its individual parts, which still remained under its control, were actually no longer dependent on the central government.
The Byzantine Empire by that time was already over a thousand years old, during which time Constantinople was captured only once. This happened in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade. The Byzantines managed to liberate the capitalonly twenty years later.
The empire itself in 1453 existed surrounded by Turkish possessions. The Palaiologos who ruled the state were in fact the rulers of a dilapidated city, which many abandoned.
In Constantinople itself, in times of prosperity, about one million people lived, and by the middle of the 15th century, no more than 50 thousand inhabitants remained. But the empire still continued to maintain its authority.
Background to the siege of Constantinople
The Turks, who surrounded the Byzantine Empire from all sides, were Muslims. They saw in Constantinople the main obstacle to strengthening their power in the region. The time has come when they began to consider the capture of the capital of Byzantium as a de facto state necessity in order to prevent the start of another crusade against the Muslims.
The growing power of the Turkish state was the cause of one of the key events of 1453. The first attempt to conquer Constantinople was made by Sultan Bayezid I back in 1396, when he besieged the city for 7 years. But as a result, he was forced to withdraw his troops after Emir Timur attacked Turkish possessions.
All subsequent Turkish attacks on Constantinople ended in failure, mainly due to dynastic conflicts. Due to the divergence of political and economic interests, the neighboring countries failed to create a powerful anti-Turkish coalition in the region. Although the strengthening of the Ottoman Empire seriously worried everyone.
Siege of the Byzantine capital
Under the walls of Constantinople in 1453 the Turks came again. It all started when the advance detachments of the Turkish army headed for the city on April 2. At first, the inhabitants waged a guerrilla war, but the approach of the main Turkish army forced the Romans to retreat to the city. The bridges over the moats were destroyed and the city gates closed.
On April 5, the main Turkish army approached the walls of Constantinople. The very next day the city was completely blocked. First of all, the Turks began to attack the forts, which posed a serious danger to them. As a result, Turkish artillery destroyed them in just a few hours.
Most of April was spent in prolonged contractions, but they were all minor. The Turkish fleet approached the city on April 9, but was repulsed and forced to return to the Bosphorus. Two days later, the attackers concentrated heavy artillery under the walls of Constantinople and began a siege that lasted a month and a half. At the same time, they constantly had problems, as too heavy guns kept sliding off the platforms into the spring mud.
The situation was radically reversed when the Turks brought two special scorers under the walls of the city, who began to destroy the walls of Constantinople. But due to April mud, these powerful cannons could only fire seven rounds a day.
Offer to surrender
A new stage of the siege of the city began in the second half of May, when the Sultan offered the Greeks to capitulate, promising an unhindered exit for everyonewishing from the city along with the property. But Emperor Constantine was categorically against it. He was ready to make any concessions, up to paying tribute in the future, but not to surrender the city itself.
Then Mehmed II appointed an unprecedented ransom and a huge annual tribute. But Constantinople did not have such funds, so the Greeks refused, deciding to fight for the city to the very end.
Storm
On May 26, a heavy bombardment of Constantinople began. Turkish artillerymen equipped special platforms on which they installed heavy guns to fire directly at point-blank range on the walls.
Two days later, a rest day was announced in the Turkish camp to gain strength before the decisive attack. While the soldiers were resting, the Sultan was planning an offensive. The decisive blow was struck in the area of the Lykos River, where the walls were already almost completely destroyed.
The Turkish Navy planned to land sailors on the coast of the Sea of Marmara to storm the walls, diverting the Greeks from the main attack. On the night of May 29, the troops of the Turkish army went on the offensive along the entire front line, in Constantinople, everyone was alerted. Whoever could carry weapons took up defensive positions near the breaches and on the walls.
Emperor Constantine personally took part in repulsing enemy attacks. The losses of the Turks turned out to be too heavy, besides, in the first wave of attackers there were a large number of bashi-bazouks, the Sultan sent them to the walls so that at the cost of their lives they would weaken the defenders of Constantinople. They enjoyedladders, but in most places the bashi-bazouks were successfully repelled.
City surrendered
Eventually the Turks broke through the walls, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was one of the most significant events of that period in history. There were too few defenders, and they had practically no reserves to somehow close the gap.
And all the new detachments of the Janissaries came to the aid of the attackers, with whom the Greeks were unable to cope. Trying to repel the onslaught, Konstantin with a group of loyal supporters rushed into a daring counterattack, but was killed in hand-to-hand combat.
According to the surviving legend, the emperor tore off the signs of royal dignity before his death, rushing into battle like an ordinary warrior. Many of his comrades-in-arms died with him. 1453 was a tragic year in history for the great city of Constantinople.
The Hundred Years' War
There was another important event in history that took place in 1453. The Hundred Years War, which lasted 116 years, finally ended just then.
The Hundred Years War is a series of armed conflicts between England and France, the reason for which was the claims to the French throne of the British Plantagenet dynasty.
The result of the war was disappointing for the British, who lost almost all their possessions in France, with the exception of Calais.
What else happened at that time
From the notable events of 1453, it is also necessary to highlight the recognition of the Austrianprinces of a new title. From that moment on, their possessions become an archduchy, and the princes, accordingly, receive the title of archdukes. In Russia, internecine wars ended this year. And in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), a university was opened, which is considered the oldest in Turkey.
