Siege and fall of Constantinople, 2 April-29 May 1453

By 1453 Constantinople was the only remnant of the Byzantine Empire, left as an hostile fortress in the heart of the Ottoman Empire. The great walls of Constantinople were still the strongest in Europe, and their failure was one of the earliest triumphs of gunpowder artillery.The Ottoman sultan, Mahomet II, hired a Hungarian gun-founder, who made him a over sixty guns, including eleven larger guns that proved to be key to the siege. Only ten days into the bombardment (11 April), the Ottomans made the first break, collapsing a tower at the gate of St. Romanus. This breach then became the focus of the fighting, but was held by determined fighting until 29th May, when a Turkish column found a lightly defended and badly maintained postern gate and broke into the city. The already battered defenders of the breach heard the fighting behind them in the streets, and their resistance collapsed. The last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine, died in the fighting, and the last remnant of the Roman Empire was destroyed.
Crescent Dawn – The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age, Si Sheppard. A detailed account of the great expansion of the Ottoman Empire in its first three centuries, from its origins as one of many small powers in Anatolia to almost its peak, ruling much of the Balkans, the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa, and threatening to break out into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Covers Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa, the defeat of the Mamluks and the long wars with the revived Persians, as well as the rise of Ottoman naval power. Ends with a look at the Portuguese entry into the Indian Ocean, and the European search for Prestor John, a mythical Christian ruler eventually merged in the western mind with the rulers of Ethiopia, part of a wider attempt to find allies against the Ottoman power (Read Full Review)
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How to cite this article: Rickard, J. (11 October 2000), Siege and fall of Constantinople, 2 April-29 May 1453, https://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_constantinople1453.html

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