BYZANTIUM CHRONICLES: Fall Of Constantinople

MEHMED II

Mehmed III was born on the 30th of march, 1432 in the capital city of the Ottoman empire. His father was Sultan Murad II (1404-1451). His father abdicated the throne to him between July 1444 and August 1444 when he was just 12 years old. The people and leaders of Constantinople celebrated his ascension to the throne, they believed a 19 year old Sultan will lead the Ottomans astray.

OTTOMAN PREPARATIONS

By early 1452, Mehmed II started the construction of a second fortress ( Rumeli Hisari) on the European side of the Bosporus. This fortress stood directly across the strait from the fortress built by his grandfather Bayezid I (Anadolu Hisari). This pair of fortresses ensured complete Ottoman control of the sea traffic at the Bosporus. In October, Mehmed II ordered Turakhan Beg, a top military commander, to station a large garrison in the Peloponnese to block Thomas and Demetrois, who were relatives of Constantine XI from sending him aid during the siege. He also ordered men to construct and strengthen the roads from Adrianiople (Capital of the Ottoman Empire). He also commissioned 50 carpenters and 200 artisans to fasten the bridges to enable them cope with the huge cannons they had just acquired.

THE GOLDEN HORN

The Golden horn used to be a harbor where ships offloaded their goods and anchored. This horn was not exclusively for trade as it was the weakest part of Constantinople as any attacker that breaches it is considered to have infiltrated Constantinople. The Byzantines made use of a huge chain (Boom) The chain was arranged in a way that allowed for it to be tightened at any time needed.

HELP FOR CONSTANTINOPLE

Constantine XI, having seen the plans of Mehmed II. He turned to Europe for help. Now, due to the great Schism of 1054, the Roman Catholic (West) had split up with the Orthodox (East) and instead of the west lending help to their Christian brothers in the East, Pope Nicholas V saw this as a great opportunity to push for the unification of the churches, but this did not sit well with the people of Constantinople. This disagreement made the west pull back from sending support.

Some help came from Genoa, Giovanni Guistiniani was a war specialist and he came with 400 men from Genoa and 300 men from Genoese Chios. Seeing that he was a great warrior, Constantine XI made him commander of the defence of the land walls.

ORBAN AND THE BASILIC

Mehmed was approached by a Hungarian engineer named Orbán. Orbán was an expert in gunpowder weaponry, a new technology which had only arrived in Europe during the 13th century. He offered to build a cannon for the Ottomans, a weapon more powerful than anything the world had seen before, with enough strength to shatter even the tallest fortified walls. Mehmed grabbed this opportunity, paying Orbán handsomely for his work.

Orbán built the cannon in three months. The weapon was named Basilic, and had the power to fire hefty cannonballs over a distance of more than a mile. It was so large that it needed 63 oxen and 400 men to drag it to Constantinople. It is important to note that Orban had offered the Basilic to Constantine XI, but he declined because of the cost of production.

THE BATTLE

The walls of Constantinople were widely recognized . The walls spanned 4 miles and consisted of a double line with a moat on the outside. The high walls were as high as 40 feet with the base at 16 feet. In the thousand years since it was built, it was never breached. Constantinople was confident that the walls will once again save the city.

A Greek historian, Michael Critobulus quoted Mehmed's speech to his soldiers before the war;

"My friends and men of my empire! You all know very well that our forefathers secured this kingdom that we now hold at the cost of many struggles and very great dangers and that, having passed it along in succession from their fathers, from father to son, they handed it down to me. For some of the oldest of you were sharers in many of the exploits carried through by them—those at least of you who are of maturer years—and the younger of you have heard of these deeds from your fathers. They are not such very ancient events nor of such a sort as to be forgotten through the lapse of time. Still, the eyewitness of those who have seen testifies better than does the hearing of deeds that happened but yesterday or the day before".

The Ottoman besiegers vastly outnumbered the Byzantines and their allies. Between 60,000 and 80,000 soldiers fought on land, accompanied by 69 cannon. Baltaoğlu Süleyman Bey commanded a fleet stationed at Diplokionion with an estimated 31 large and midsize warships alongside nearly 100 smaller boats and transports. Mehmed’s strategy was straightforward: he would use his fleet and siege lines to blockade Constantinople on all sides while relentlessly battering the walls of the city with cannon. He hoped to breach them or otherwise force a surrender before a Christian relief force could arrive.

Constantinople had a military strength of 7,000 trained men and 30,000-35,000 civilian men. On April 6 the Ottomans began their artillery barrage and brought down a section of the wall. They mounted a frontal assault of the land walls on April 7, but the Byzantines repelled them and were able to repair the defenses. After pausing to reposition his cannon, Mehmed reopened fire and thereafter maintained daily bombardment.

On April 12 the sultan dispatched a contingent of troops to subdue two nearby Byzantine forts and ordered Baltaoğlu to rush the chain. The fleet was twice driven back, and Baltaoğlu retreated to Diplokionion until the night of the 17th, when he moved to capture the Princess Island southeast of the city at the same time that Mehmed’s land regiments assaulted the Mesoteichon section of the wall. Constantinople’s defenders once again held their ground, however, and Baltaoğlu’s success at the islands was irreparably marred by the revelation that three relief ships from the pope and one large Byzantine vessel had nearly reached the city unhindered. The Ottoman galleys were too short to capture the tall European warships, and, with the help of the Golden Horn fleet, the warships safely sailed past the chain. Upon hearing of his navy’s defeat, Mehmed stripped Baltaoğlu of his rank and arranged for his replacement.

Mehmed was determined to take the Golden Horn and pressure the Byzantines into submission. He angled one of his cannons such that it could strike the defenders of the chain and then began to construct an oiled wooden ramp upon which he intended to portage his smaller vessels from the Bosporus to the Golden Horn. By April 22 the ships had circumvented the chain in this way and, barring the chain itself, seized control of all the waters surrounding the city. The defenders attempted to attack the remainder of the Ottoman fleet in the Bosporus, but they were defeated.

Having encircled Constantinople in full, Mehmed continued his artillery barrage of the land walls through May 29. The Ottoman cannon created several breaches, but most were too narrow to send troops through. The city’s defenders continued to repair the walls at night and reinforced areas at the damaged Gate of St. Romanus and the Blachernae sector. In the early hours of May 29, Ottoman labourers filled the moat surrounding the city. Just before dawn, the sultan launched a coordinated artillery, infantry, and naval assault on Constantinople. Two attempts to rush the Gate of St. Romanus and the Blachernae walls were met with fierce resistance, and the Ottoman soldiers were forced to fall back. Mehmed ordered a third attack on the gate, this time with one of his own palace regiments of 3,000 Janissaries. A small group reached the top of a tower through another gate but were nearly eliminated by the defenders until Giustiniani was mortally wounded by Ottoman gunfire while on the ramparts. He was carried to the rear, and his absence sowed confusion and lowered morale among the ranks. This allowed the sultan to send in another Janissary regiment and take the inner wall at the Gate of St. Romanus. After this on the 29th of May CONSTANTINOPLE FELL

However the final whereabouts of Constantine XI is not certain as there is no credible information regarding his death. Some claim he ran away, other's claim his body was decapacitated, but most scholars agree that he must have died in battle.

VICTORY FOR THE OTTOMANS

Once Constantinople fell, Mehmed II allowed a three-day looting period. He moved the capital of the Ottoman empire to Constantinople, he also personally knocked down the pulpit of the Hagia Sophia and converted it to a mosque. Following the defeat, the rest of Europe, scared of the Ottomans completely taking over the Continent was faced with two options Crusade or Dialogue.

In conclusion, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked a pivotal moment in history, signaling the end of the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of a new era under Ottoman rule. The city's rich cultural and historical legacy was forever altered as the Ottomans, led by Mehmed II, triumphed over the once-mighty Constantinople. The fall had far-reaching consequences, influencing the balance of power in the region and triggering a wave of geopolitical shifts. Additionally, it played a significant role in shaping the Renaissance, as scholars and artists fled westward, bringing with them ancient manuscripts and knowledge that fueled a renewed interest in classical learning. The fall of Constantinople serves as a poignant reminder of the ebb and flow of civilizations and the enduring impact of pivotal events on the course of human history.

SOURCES;

Wikipedia

Britannica

World History Encyclopedia