The fall of Constantinople and the death of the Byzantine Empire. Capture of Constantinople
We bring to your attention material from the official website of the city of Istanbul, which outlines the Turkish version of the capture of Constantinople and the events preceding it.
The review emphasizes the humanity of the Ottoman conquerors, and also the fact that Constantinople, almost immediately before its conquest by the Turks, was repeatedly conquered by its own Christian allies.
The essay gives a different view from the usual one in Russia on the figure of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (i.e. Fatih) - Fatih Sultan Mehmet, who took Constantinople.
We also draw your attention to the fact that even today Turkish sources, when speaking about the history of Constantinople, usually use the name Istanbul. The original title of the article offered here sounds like “Istanbul and its conquest.” This of course does not sound entirely historical, but it is a generally accepted practice in Turkey.
Just like the Greeks, even now they try to avoid the name Istanbul, often using the name Constantinople, even when talking about events that occurred after the fall of Byzantium and the renaming of the city. (“Istanbul” is a corruption of the Greek “polis” - “city”).
In Russia, due to the strong influence of the Byzantine Greeks throughout Russian history, an exclusively one-sided interpretation of the events surrounding the fall of Constantinople is usually accepted.
The information vacuum for the Russian-speaking audience on this issue continues to exist. And in general, speaking of information sources, with the exception of the daily Russian broadcast of the Voice of Turkey radio and its website, as well as the rarely updated website of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, there are no non-tourist resources about Turkey in Russian, where the Turkish state offers its view on historical issues and politics for an audience in Russia. But there is also some movement towards development.
Turkish version of events conquest of Constantinople
Mehmed the Conqueror.
Mehmed the Conqueror. A 15th-century portrait attributed to the Turkish artists Sinan Bey, nicknamed Nakkaş (calligrapher), and his student Siblizade Ahmed.
This portrait is now kept in the museum of the former Sultan's Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, where it appears as “Mehmed II with a fragrant rose.”
During his reign, Mehmed II Fatih (the Conqueror) invited Italian artists to his court, in particular Gentile Bellini visited Istanbul in 1479.
This Venetian artist was sent to Istanbul by the Council of the Doges of Venice, having learned about the Sultan’s request made during the peace negotiations.
It is believed that in Istanbul, the Sultan apprenticed the already mentioned Sinan Bey and Siblizade Ahmed to Bellini. They mastered the technique of European portraiture.
Bellini himself painted a portrait of Mehmed II, but this portrait of Turkish artists “Mehmed II with a fragrant rose” also became famous.
This is a very popular and still widespread image in Turkey of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror with a flower, which, along with his military toughness, is believed to indicate his humanity and sophistication.
A few years later, in 1481, Sultan Mehmed II died at the age of only 49 years.
The Turkish publication writes:
« From the very beginning of the Muslim campaigns, Constantinople was considered a holy goal for Muslims. Over the centuries, Muslim Arabs and then Muslim Turks launched numerous campaigns against Constantinople and laid siege to the city. Centuries before the conquest of Istanbul, the Prophet Muhammad said that victorious armies would reach the gates of Europe, and hailed these glorious warriors and the victorious military leader. His words are the main motivation for the campaign against Constantinople, which was known among the Muslims as "Constantinia".
The first Muslim campaign against Byzantium was undertaken under Caliph Osman. Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, organized the first naval campaign against Constantinople. In 655, the Arab fleet defeated the Byzantine fleet off the coast of Phenicia and opened sea routes for Muslims.
The first siege of Constantinople by Muslims was undertaken in 668 when Muawiyah was caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. The siege lasted until the spring of 669, but the army stationed at Kadikoy was unable to conquer the city. Epidemics broke out, killing many soldiers, and the army was forced to return. Ebu Eyyup Al-Ansari, the flag bearer of the Prophet Muhammad, who participated in the campaign despite his old age, was killed during the siege and buried right outside the city walls.
In 673, Caliph Muawiyah sent a new fleet, which reached the Sea of Marmara in 674. However, the siege, which lasted seven years, ended in complete failure.
A second siege under Maslama bin Abd al-Malik, which lasted from August 716 to September 717, also failed. The army was weakened by weather conditions, famine, disease and attacks by Bulgarian gangs. Some historical sources say that at the request of Maslama, Emperor Leon III organized a mosque for Muslim prisoners of war, and after the siege was lifted, the emperor accompanied Maslama during walks around the city.
The last Arab siege was undertaken in 781-782. army under the command of Harun, son of the Abbasid Sultan Al-Mahdi. Harun defeated the Byzantine army in Izmit, reached Üsküdar and besieged the city. At the end of the siege, he signed an agreement with Byzantium and returned back. Thanks to the campaign, Harun, who later ascended the throne of the Abbasid state, received the title “Ar-Rashid” (“walking the straight path”). In addition to the campaigns and sieges mentioned above, many other campaigns were undertaken by the Muslim Arabs against Constantinople, but none of them ended in a siege.
Siege of Istanbul by the Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks were interested in Byzantium and Constantinople throughout the 14th century.
Long before the conquest of the city, all the settlements that make up modern Istanbul, except Surici, were part of the possessions of the Ottoman Empire. During this period, the Ottomans interfered in the internal affairs of the Byzantine Empire and supported one side in the internecine power struggle. In the period preceding the conquest of the city, they carried out various maneuvers in the outskirts of Constantinople.
Despite the fact that Ottoman troops reached the gates of Constantinople in 1340, this campaign did not end in a siege. The campaign launched by Sultan Murad I to Chatalca was stopped by a strong Christian union. The first major siege with the aim of capturing Constantinople was undertaken by Sultan Yildirim Beyazid. However, his army was unable to enter the city as a result of a treaty concluded with the emperor.
Sultan Yildirim Beyazid continued to take actions that influenced Constantinople. He managed to establish a Turkish quarter in the city, a mosque and a court in which cases of the Ottoman Turks were heard. He influenced the installation of emperors who looked after the interests of the Ottoman Empire, which is one of the most important factors influencing the course of the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans. The last attempt to besiege the city under Sultan Yildirim Beyazid was made in 1400. However, this action was suspended by the invasion of Timur.
The siege led by Musa Celebi, the son of Sultan Yildirim Beyazid, undertaken in 1411 also ended in failure. The emperor, concerned about the successes of the Ottoman army, turned for support to Mehmed Celebi, the brother of Musa Celebi, who was in Bursa, and the siege was subsequently lifted. During the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed Celebi, there were no campaigns against Constantinople.
The last siege of the period preceding the conquest of the city took place during the reign of Sultan Murad II. A carefully prepared siege with a detailed strategic plan, it was the city's most difficult siege. The siege began on June 15, 1422, with 10,000 cavalry blocking the roads connecting Constantinople with other cities. Emir Sultan, one of the most influential spiritual leaders of the time, arrived from Bursa and joined the siege with an army of hundreds of dervishes, which was enthusiastically received by the soldiers. Despite the fact that the attack launched on August 24th with the participation of Emir Sultan was very strong, the city did not surrender. The siege was lifted following the uprising of Prince Mustafa, brother of Sultan Murad II. Thus, the task of conquering Istanbul passed to the son of Sultan Murad II.
Conquest of Istanbul
Siege of Constantinople.
Siege of Constantinople.
April 22, 1453: In the early morning hours, the Byzantines were stunned and frightened to see Ottoman troops ferrying ships across the Galata Hill. Oxen dragged about 70 ships along wooden rails, and hundreds of soldiers balanced the ships with ropes. After noon, the ships were already in Khalich Bay (Golden Horn).
From a modern drawing.
Before the conquest, Byzantium lost its former strength and ceased to be a strong empire. The territory of the empire was limited to Constantinople, the fortress of Silivri, Viza and Mesimvria, located on the shores of the Sea of Marmara. Gradually, the Ottoman Turks surrounded these surrounding areas.
Small Byzantine villages located outside the city walls remained outside Ottoman possessions, not because they resisted the Ottoman Turks, but because the Ottomans did not take them seriously and considered them unimportant. They focused all their attention on Constantinople - their main goal. The reason for the failure of the last sieges was not the insufficiency of the army, but most likely the internal problems of the Ottoman Empire.
During this period, Byzantium was no longer the former powerful empire. The Byzantine emperors accepted Ottoman citizenship and paid tribute to it. Instead of Byzantine emperors, the Ottomans now dealt with petty feudal lords paying them tribute. Constantinople was considered more of a religious center than the capital of the empire. It was the last and strongest fortress protecting the Christian world from Islam and the Muslim army, and it could not be surrendered. Why, under the leadership of the Pope, new Crusades were undertaken.
However, for Byzantium, exhausted by Ottoman attacks and sieges, a more serious threat was posed by the split between Orthodoxy and Catholicism. This meant that Christian Europe could no longer defend orthodox Byzantium. In a desperate attempt to unite the two churches, the emperor and patriarch knelt before the Catholic Church at a church council convened in Florence in 1439. The Greek Orthodox Church also accepted the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church. The forced union of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches heralded a new period. Thus the strife between orthodox Orthodoxy and Catholicism, which had lasted for centuries, was temporarily suspended under the threat of the Ottoman Empire. However, this agreement was met with criticism and violent discontent by the residents of Constantinople, and the celebration held in the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in honor of the unification of the churches caused a wave of protests. The Byzantines did not want the presence of Europeans in Constantinople and the restoration of the Latin era.
A powerful army of crusaders, convened after the unification agreement concluded in Florence, captured Greece in 1443 and 1444. But in 1444, at the Battle of Varna, the Ottomans defeated the Crusaders. This is the last battle that determined the fate of Constantinople. Now, the conquest of the city became an inevitable goal for the young empire. The pain in the heart of the Ottoman domains had to be relieved, since Constantinople was the main link between Greece and Anatolia.
A year before the assault on Constantinople, careful and thorough preparations began. The giant cannons needed for the assault were poured out. In 1452, a fortress was built to ensure control of the strait, a powerful fleet consisting of 16 rowing galleys was formed, and the number of soldiers was doubled. Transport routes to Byzantium were blocked so that it would not be able to take advantage of the support. The indifference of Galata, which was at that time in the power of the Genoese, was also ensured.. On April 2, 1453, the advanced detachments of the Turks approached the city. So, the assault on Constantinople began.
Chronology of the siege of Constantinople:
Painting by Italian artist Fausto Zonaro “The Conquest of Constantinople.”
In the painting, Sultan Mehmed Fatih leads the transfer of warships overland for the final assault on Constantinople (1453).
In 1896-1909 Fausto Zonaro (1854-1929) was a court painter at the Ottoman court (with the title Ressam-ı Hazret-i Şehriyari), and during his years in Istanbul he painted a number of paintings on Turkish history.
April 6, 1453: Sultan Mehmed Fatih (the Conqueror) pitched his tent in front of the St. Roman Gate (today's Topkapi). On the same day, the city was completely blocked, starting from the shores of Halich (i.e. the Golden Horn Bay. Note..
April 6-7, 1453: Cannon fire began. Part of the fortress at Edirnekapi was destroyed.
April 9, 1453: Baltaoğlu Suleyman Bey launched the first attack to break into Halic Bay.
April 9-10, 1453: Part of the fortress on the shores of the Bosphorus was taken. Baltaoglu Suleiman Bey captured the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara.
April 11, 1453: The shelling of the fortress began. Cracks appeared in places. The continuous bombardment caused enormous destruction within the walls of Constantinople.
April 12, 1453: The Ottoman fleet attacked ships blocking the entrance to Halich. The taller Christian ships were able to achieve victory, weakening Ottoman morale. By order of Sultan Mehmed, the bombardment of the Byzantine ships blocking Halich began. One galley was sunk.
Night of April 18, 1453: The Sultan gave the order for the assault. The first, large attack lasted four hours, but was repulsed.
April 20, 1453: A battle began between three galleys hired by the Pope who approached Constantinople, a Byzantine ship loaded with food and weapons, and the Turkish fleet near Yenikapı. The Sultan personally went ashore and ordered Baltaoglu Suleiman Pasha to sink the ships at all costs. Although vastly outnumbered, the Ottoman fleet was unable to stop the massive enemy vessels. This failure diminished the enthusiasm of the Ottoman army. Ottoman soldiers began to leave the army. Soon the Byzantine emperor, taking advantage of the situation, proposed a peace agreement. With the support of Sadrazam Candarli Khalil Pasha, the proposal was rejected. The siege and shelling of the city walls continues.
During this chaos and weakening morale Sultan Mehmed received a letter from the sheikh and spiritual guide Akshemseddin, in which he tells him the great news of the conquest of the city. Armed with this moral support, Sultan Mehmed Fatih escalated the attack and decided to use the factor of surprise. Turkish troops will transport the warships located in Dolmabahce to Halic Bay by land!
April 22, 1453: In the early morning hours, the Byzantines were stunned and frightened to see Ottoman troops ferrying ships across the Galata Hill. Oxen dragged about 70 ships along wooden rails, and hundreds of soldiers balanced the ships with ropes. After noon, the ships were already in Khalich Bay. The unexpected appearance of the Ottoman fleet in the bay created panic among the Byzantines. Part of the Byzantine troops was moved to protect the city walls facing Khalich, which significantly weakened the defense of the fortresses on the land side.
April 28, 1453: An attempt to burn Turkish ships was repulsed by the Turks with bombard fire. A pontoon bridge was built between Ayvansaray and Sutlyudzhe, from where the Ottomans fired at the city walls overlooking the bay. All the walls on the bay side were besieged. A demand for unconditional surrender was sent to the emperor through the Genoese. If he surrendered, he could leave the city and go anywhere, and the lives and goods of his people would be spared. But the emperor rejected the offer.
7 May 1453: The assault on the walls near the Bayrampasha River by a 30,000-strong army lasted about 3 hours, but was repulsed.
12 May 1453: A surprise assault on the area between Tekfursaray (Blachernae Palace) and Edirnekapi was also repulsed.
16 May 1453: The Turks began to undermine the walls near Egrikapa, which met a tunnel dug by the Byzantines. An underground mine war took place. The assault on the chain at Khalich Bay, undertaken on the same day, was also defeated. The next day they made another assault, which was also repulsed by the Byzantines.
18 May 1453: The Turks attacked the wall at Topkapi with a huge wooden frame tower. The fierce battle continued until the evening. However, at night the Byzantines set fire to the tower and cleared the ditch filled with Ottomans. In the following days, shelling of the city walls continues.
25 May 1453: Sultan Mehmed Fatih, through Isfendiyar Beyoglu Ismail Bey, sent his last demand for surrender to the emperor. He promised that the emperor could get out of the city with his property and treasury, the residents could leave the city with their belongings, and those who remained could keep their property. But the Byzantines did not accept these conditions.
26 May 1453: There were rumors that if the siege continued, the Hungarians would mobilize their troops to support the Byzantines and that a fleet from European countries was approaching. Sultan Mehmed convened a military council. At the Çandarlı council, Khalil Pasha and his supporters, who were against the siege from the very beginning, wanted the siege to be lifted. Sultan Mehmed, Zaganos Pasha, his mentor Akshemseddin, Molla Gyurani and Molla Hüsrev opposed the idea of retreat. It was decided to continue the assault on the city. Zaganos Pasha was entrusted with the preparations.
May 28, 1453: A day of rest was declared so that the warriors could gain strength before the decisive battle. There was complete silence in the camp. Sultan Mehmed inspected the army and encouraged the soldiers before the big attack. And in Constantinople, in the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, a religious ceremony was held, in which the emperor called on all residents to take part in the defense of the city. This was the last rite of the Byzantines.
29 May 1453: The troops took up their combat positions. Closer to morning, Sultan Mehmed gave the order to attack. In Constantinople, soldiers took their places on the walls and breaches, while the inhabitants gathered in the church. The Ottoman army began its final offensive from two directions: from land and from sea. The offensive was accompanied by takbir ("praise and exaltation of Allah") and the beating of drums. The first attack was made by light infantry, after which Anatolian soldiers launched an attack. Three hundred Anatolians were able to break into the breach through a large gap in the wall, but were surrounded and killed. The next attack was carried out by the Janissaries, encouraged by the personal presence of Sultan Mehmed. The enemies came face to face. Ulubatli Hasan, who hoisted the first Turkish flag on the fortress wall, was killed. With the penetration of the Janissaries into the city through Belgradekapi and the capitulation of the defenders at Edirnekapi, the Byzantine defense fell.
The emperor, abandoned by soldiers, was killed in one of the street battles. Turkish troops, penetrating the city from all sides, completely crushed the Byzantine defense. Closer to noon, Sultan Mehmed Fatih entered the city through Topkapi and immediately drove up to the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, which he turned into a mosque. Thus another era was completed and another began.
Consequences of the conquest of Constantinople
The conquest of Constantinople had important historical consequences both for the Turks and the Islamic religion, and for the whole world. Therefore, many historians accept the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks as the end of medieval history.
With the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottomans established their dominance over the numerous independent Turkish principalities (beyliks) located in Anatolia. So the conquest Byzantine Empire contributed to the unification of Turkish communities living in Anatolia. The period of dominance of the Ottoman Empire in both Anatolia and the Islamic world begins with the conquest of Istanbul. Thus, the Ottoman principality turned into a world empire.
After the conquest, Ottoman Muslims played an important and dynamic role in shaping world politics. Muslims took a major part in all international events of the Old World.
For three centuries, European Christians sought to drive Muslims out of Asia Minor through the Crusades, and Istanbul served as their border point. After the conquest, Christendom eventually accepted the dominance of the Islamic world in Asia Minor and never mounted another Crusade. In reality, Muslims turned their attention to Europe. The conquest of Istanbul became a historical event, a certain turning point from which the long-term superiority of the Islamic world over Europe began.
The Fall of Constantinople is also considered a key historical moment foreshadowing the Renaissance. After its conquest, many Byzantine artists and philosophers emigrated to Rome, taking their works with them. These intelligentsia contributed to the revival of classical Greek culture and soon the Renaissance movement began in Europe.
Sultan Mehmed Fatih (Conqueror)
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror (Fatih) in the days of the capture of Constantinople (1453).
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror (Fatih) in the days of the capture of Constantinople (1453). Modern Turkish museum painting.
Very often, during the days of the conquest of Constantinople, Mehmed II is depicted by artists as a mature man, but one must remember that in 1453, when he conquered this city, Mehmed II was only 21 years old. In this image, age proportions are observed.
7th Ottoman Sultan. Born in 1432 and died in 1481. He ascended the throne twice: in 1444 and 1451. and ruled for 31 years.
Prince Mehmed's training began at a very early age. Prominent minds of that time, such as Molla Egan, Akshemseddin, Molla Gyurani and Molla Ayas, took part in his education and upbringing. In accordance with royal tradition, he was appointed governor of Manisa Sanjakbeylik Governorate to gain the necessary experience in public administration.
He studied mathematics, geometry, interpretation of the Koran (tefsir), hadith studies, Sharia law, Muslim dogma, philosophy and history. He spoke Arabic, Persian, Latin, Greek and Serbian. Prince Mehmed became a strong military leader and a broad-minded intellectual.
Fatih Mehmed, with a special interest in literature, took his rightful place among the famous poets of the time. Under the pen name "Avni" he wrote many ghazals for which he became famous among his literary contemporaries. The first diwan (collection of literary works) written in the palace is by Fatih Mehmed.
While the young Prince Mehmed was the governor of Manisa Sanjakbeylik Governorate, his father Sultan Murad II decided to retire, declaring him Sultan. The occupation of the throne by a young man opened up new horizons for action for European countries. Deciding to take advantage of the opportune time, they began to invade the Ottoman possessions. An army of crusaders was convened to oust the Ottoman Turks from Europe. In response to this, Sultan Murad II, becoming the commander-in-chief of the army, defeated the crusaders at Varna. After the Battle of Varna, Sultan Murad II returned and took control of the throne again. Sultan Mehmed was sent to Manisa, where he continued to study with the prominent minds of the time.
After the death of his father, Sultan Mehmed came to the capital Edirne to take the throne for the second time. From the very first of his reign, he began to implement his plans for the conquest of Constantinople. First, on the European side, he built a fortress opposite Anadolu Hisar, known as Rumeli Hisar. According to his plan, gigantic cannons never seen before in Europe were cast. He formed a powerful fleet, and on the day of the offensive he decided to take command himself.
After the conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed turned his attention to expanding his possessions to the Danube River and solving the Serbian problem. He was able to convince Serbia to accept Ottoman citizenship. Then he took the trading port of Caffa and Amasra, which was the main naval base, from the Genoese. He also captured Sinop and conquered Trabzon, putting an end to the Principality of Jandarogullar and the State of Pontus. Sultan Mehmed then took the island of Midilli, took possession of Bosnia-Herzegovina and united the Balkan countries south of the Danube River.
He took Konya and Karaman from the Karamanli dynasty and turned them into the province of Karaman.
Then Mehmed took the island of Egriboz from the Venetians, put an end to the principality of Alaiya (Alanya), won a war with Uzun Hassan, the ruler of Ak Koyunlu, and finally annexed Anatolia to the possessions of the Ottoman Empire.
Later he headed to the West and conquered several Genoese fortresses and made the Crimean Khan a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
Then he captured Albania and annexed Otranto, located in southern Italy, to the possessions of the Ottoman Empire.
The panicked Pope called on European countries to undertake a new crusade, which Europe did not dare to do.
In the spring of 1481 he set out on a new campaign and died in the Gebze region. Some researchers suggest that he was poisoned.
Sultan Mehmed Fatih as a statesman and scientist
Sultan Mehmed Fatih (the Conqueror) received a rigorous, comprehensive education, and from early childhood he prepared to become the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. He possessed outstanding military talents and superbly controlled a well-disciplined and well-organized army. He kept his offensive plans strictly secret and hid them even from those closest to him. He was the first sultan to highly value artillery. Before the conquest of Constantinople, cannons were used exclusively as a means of intimidating the enemy (with the roar of a shot). No one thought about their destructive power and what important role they will be able to play in the battle. Taking into account their potential, Sultan Mehmed focused on preparing many bombards of unprecedented sizes at that time. He independently carried out ballistic calculations for them and calculated the resistance.
He sought to create a world empire and spent his entire life campaigning to achieve this goal. During his 32-year reign, he conquered 17 states, including 2 empires, 6 principalities and 5 duchies. He made the Black Sea Turkish, conquered the entire Balkan Peninsula and several islands in the Aegean Sea. He increased the Ottoman Empire's possessions, which he inherited from his father Sultan Murad II, by 2.5 times.
In addition to his conquests, Sultan Mehmed Fatih ranks important place in the history of the Ottoman Empire in terms of structural and political reforms carried out at the state level. With the code of laws Kanun-name, he regulated the activities of the military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious systems of the government. Being an open-minded and broad-minded ruler, he patronized the development of culture and art. He also demonstrated rare religious tolerance. For example, after the capture of Constantinople, Mehmed Fatih summoned Italian humanists and Greek scientists to his palace and was the only one who stood up for orthodox Orthodoxy. In addition, the Patriarch occupied a position equal in level to the vizier. Sultan Mehmed asked Patriarch Gennady II to write a book about the principles Christian faith and translate it into Ottoman Turkish.
Over the course of a century, 8 madrassas built near the Fatih Mosque were considered the main educational institutions Ottoman Empire. From time to time, the Sultan gathered the “ulema,” recognized and authoritative experts on Islam, and listened to their discussions about theological positions. He patronized the development of science and treated scientists with the greatest respect. Under the reign of Sultan Mehmed Fatih, sciences such as mathematics, astronomy and theology reached their apogee.”
Introductory note, notes and descriptions for website illustrations
Constantinople fell on May 29, 1453. Mehmed II allowed his army to plunder the city for three days. Wild crowds poured into the broken “Second Rome” in search of booty and pleasure.
Agony of Byzantium
Already at the time of the birth of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, the entire territory of Byzantium was limited only to Constantinople and its environs. The country was in agony, or rather, as historian Natalya Basovskaya correctly put it, it was always in agony. The entire history of Byzantium, with the exception of the first centuries after the formation of the state, is an ongoing series of dynastic civil strife, which was aggravated by attacks from external enemies who tried to seize the “Golden Bridge” between Europe and Asia. But things got worse after 1204, when those who went to Once again On reaching the Holy Land, the crusaders decided to stop at Constantinople. After that defeat, the city was able to rise and even unite some lands around itself, but the residents did not learn from their mistakes. The struggle for power flared up again in the country.
By the beginning of the 15th century most of The nobility secretly adhered to the Turkish orientation. Palamism, which was characterized by a contemplative and detached attitude towards the world, was popular among the Romans at that time. Supporters of this teaching lived by prayer and were as distant as possible from what was happening. The Union of Florence, which declared the primacy of the Roman Pontiff over all Orthodox patriarchs, looks truly tragic against this background. Her acceptance meant complete dependence Orthodox Church from the Catholic one, and the refusal led to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the last pillar of the Roman world.
Last of the Komnenos line
Mehmed II the conqueror became not only the conqueror of Constantinople, but also its patron. He preserved Christian churches, rebuilding them into mosques, and established connections with representatives of the clergy. To some extent, we can say that he loved Constantinople; under him, the city began to experience its new, this time Muslim, heyday. In addition, Mehmed II himself positioned himself not so much as an invader, but as a successor to the Byzantine emperors. He even called himself “Kaiser-i-Rum” - ruler of the Romans. Allegedly, he was the last of the line of the once overthrown imperial dynasty of the Komnenos. His ancestor, according to legend, emigrated to Anatolia, where he converted to Islam and married a Seljuk princess. Most likely this was just a legend that justified the conquest, but not without reason - Mehmed II was born on the European side, in Andrianople.
Actually, Mehmed had a very dubious pedigree. He was the fourth son of the harem, from his concubine Huma Khatun. He had zero chance of power. Nevertheless, he managed to become a sultan; now all that remained was to legitimize his origin. The conquest of Constantinople forever secured his status as a great legitimate ruler.
Constantine's insolence
Constantine XI himself, the Emperor of Constantinople, was to blame for the deterioration of relations between the Byzantines and the Turks. Taking advantage of the difficulties that the Sultan had to face in 1451 - the rebellions of the rulers of the unconquered emirates and unrest in the troops of his own Janissaries - Constantine decided to show his parity in front of Mehmed. He sent envoys to him with a complaint that the sums promised for the maintenance of Prince Orhan, a hostage at the court of Constantinople, had not yet been paid.
Prince Orhan was the last living contender to succeed Mehmed to the throne. The ambassadors needed to carefully remind the Sultan of this. When the embassy reached the Sultan - probably in Bursa - Khalil Pasha, who received it, was embarrassed and angry. He had already studied his master well enough to imagine what his reaction would be to such insolence. However, Mehmed himself limited himself to coldly promising them to consider this issue upon returning to Adrianople. He was not affected by the insulting and empty demands of the Byzantines. Now he had an excuse to break his oath not to invade Byzantine territory.
Mehmed's lethal guns
The fate of Constantinople was not determined by the rage of the Ottoman soldiers, whose influxes the city fought off for two whole months, despite a clear superiority in numbers. Mehmed had another ace up his sleeve. Three months before the siege, he received a formidable weapon from the German engineer Urban, which “pierced any walls.” It is known that the length of the cannon was about 27 feet, the thickness of the barrel wall was 8 inches, and the diameter of the muzzle was 2.5 feet. The cannon could fire cannonballs weighing about thirteen hundredweight over a distance of about one and a half miles. The cannon was pulled to the walls of Constantinople by 30 pairs of bulls, and another 200 people supported it in a stable position.
On April 5, on the eve of the battle, Mehmed pitched his tent right in front of the walls of Constantinople. In accordance with Islamic law, he sent a message to the emperor in which he promised to spare the lives of all his subjects if the city was immediately surrendered. In case of refusal, the residents could no longer expect mercy. Mehmed received no response. Early on the morning of Friday, April 6, Urban's cannon fired.
Signs of doom
On May 23, the Byzantines managed to taste victory for the last time: they captured the Turks who were digging tunnels. But it was on May 23 that the last hopes of the residents collapsed. By the evening of that day, they saw a ship quickly approaching the city from the Sea of Marmara, pursued by Turkish ships. He managed to escape pursuit; under cover of darkness, the chain blocking the entrance to the Golden Horn was opened, allowing the ship into the bay. At first they thought it was a ship from the rescue fleet of the Western Allies. But it was a brigantine that twenty days ago set out in search of the Venetian fleet promised to the city. She went around all the islands of the Aegean Sea, but never found a single Venetian ship; Moreover, no one even saw them there. When the sailors told the emperor their sad news, he thanked them and began to cry. From now on, the city could only rely on its divine patrons. The forces were too unequal - seven thousand defenders against the hundred thousandth army of the Sultan.
But even in faith the last Byzantines could not find consolation. I remembered the prediction of the death of the empire. The first Christian emperor was Constantine, son of Helen; so will the last one. There was another thing: Constantinople will never fall as long as the moon shines in the sky. But on May 24, on the night of the full moon, a total lunar eclipse occurred. We turned to the last protector - the icon of the Mother of God. She was placed on a stretcher and carried through the streets of the city. However, during this procession, the icon fell from the stretcher. When the procession resumed again, a thunderstorm with hail broke out over the city. And the next night, according to sources, Hagia Sophia was illuminated by some strange radiance of unknown origin. He was noticed in both camps. The next day the general assault on the city began.
Ancient prophecy
Cannonballs rained down on the city. The Turkish fleet blocked Constantinople from the sea. But there still remained the inner harbor of the Golden Horn, the entrance to which was blocked, and where the Byzantine fleet was located. The Turks could not enter there, and the Byzantine ships even managed to win the battle with the huge Turkish fleet. Then Mehmed ordered the ships to be dragged overland and launched into the Golden Horn. As they were being dragged, the Sultan ordered all the sails to be raised on them, the rowers to wave their oars, and the musicians to play fearsome melodies. Thus, another ancient prophecy came true, that the city would fall if sea ships sailed on land.
Three days of looting
Rome's successor, Constantinople fell on May 29, 1453. Then Mehmed II gave his terrible order, which is usually forgotten in stories about the history of Istanbul. He allowed his large army to plunder the city with impunity for three days. Wild crowds poured into the defeated Constantinople in search of booty and pleasure. At first, they could not believe that the resistance had already stopped, and they killed everyone who came across them on the streets, without distinguishing men, women and children. Rivers of blood flowed from the steep hills of Petra and stained the waters of the Golden Horn. The soldiers grabbed everything that glittered, stripping vestments from icons and precious bindings from books and destroying the icons and books themselves, as well as breaking out pieces of mosaics and marble from the walls. Thus, the Church of the Savior in Chora was plundered, as a result of which the already mentioned, most revered icon of Byzantium, the Mother of God Hodegetria, which, according to legend, was painted by the Apostle Luke himself, perished.
Some residents were caught during a prayer service in the Hagia Sophia. The oldest and weakest parishioners were killed on the spot, the rest were captured. The Greek historian Ducas, a contemporary of the events, talks about what is happening in his work: “Who will tell about the crying and screams of children, about the screams and tears of mothers, about the sobs of fathers, who will tell? Then the slave was mated to the mistress, the master to the slave, the archimandrite to the gatekeeper, gentle young men to maidens. If anyone resisted, he was killed without mercy; each, having taken his captive to a safe place, returned for the booty a second and third time.”
When the Sultan and his court left Constantinople on July 21, the city was half destroyed and blackened by fires. Churches were looted, houses were devastated. Driving through the streets, the Sultan shed tears: “What a city we gave up to robbery and destruction.”
Ottoman Empire. Capture of Constantinople
At the turn of the 20-30s of the 15th century. The Ottoman state, having recovered from external blows and internal upheavals, again switched to an active policy of conquest. In June 1422, Sultan Murad II made an attempt to finally crush the Byzantine Empire. (True, the emperor’s power by that time extended only to Constantinople itself and minor territories around it.) The Byzantine capital attracted the Turks with its most profitable geographical location, but of no small importance for the Sultan was the desire to raise the prestige of the Ottoman state in the Muslim world and to frighten Europe by crushing the bastion of Eastern Christianity.
However, the siege of Constantinople by the troops of Murad II did not bring glory to the Sultan. The defensive structures of the Byzantine capital were a very serious obstacle; the walls of the city, which had withstood the onslaught of formidable opponents more than once in the past, were difficult to crush. In addition, the Turks did not have siege weapons. The Sultan could not blockade the city from the sea without having a sufficient fleet. And yet, on August 24, 1422, Murad II sent his troops to storm the city. The fierce battle took place at a time when Emperor Manuel II was dying. Nevertheless, the defenders of Constantinople showed organization and courage. Even women and children participated in the defense of the city walls. The battle went on all day. Having failed to achieve success, Murad II withdrew his troops from the walls of Constantinople.
The reasons for the failure of the Turks were different - the obvious unpreparedness of the Ottoman army to storm such a formidable stronghold, and, perhaps to the greatest extent, the news of Mustafa's performance in Anatolia, behind whom stood the beys of Karaman and Germiyan. Murad II managed to put an end to the rebels quite quickly, but he did not return to the walls of the Byzantine capital, sending his troops on a predatory campaign through the lands of the Peloponnese.
After the restoration of Ottoman power in all Anatolian beyliks, except Karaman, the Sultan concentrated his troops in Rumelia. Another streak of Turkish success in South-Eastern Europe began. In 1424, the Byzantine emperor again recognized himself as a tributary of the Sultan. In 1430, the troops of Murad II captured Thessalonica for the second time - largest city and the port of the Byzantines on the Aegean Sea, in 1431 they captured Ioannina in Epirus; The Sultan ordered to immediately populate Ioannina with Turks. Both of these events, especially the fall of Thessalonica, made a great impression on Western Europe and reminded of the Ottoman danger. Nevertheless, the unification of the forces of the European powers against Turkish expansion was prevented by their constant struggle among themselves, which sometimes pushed the warring countries towards an alliance with the Turks. “... The stronger Murad’s enmity with the Venetians, the more zealously the Genoese took his side.” These words of K. Marx characterize the position of many European states in the face of Ottoman aggression. True, the fear of the Turkish invasion forced the European states to make a decision on a crusade against the Ottomans in 1439 at the Council of Florence, at which the unification of the Greek (Orthodox) and Latin (Catholic) churches was proclaimed. However, this campaign was never organized, and the Turkish onslaught South-Eastern Europe was getting stronger. A particularly great threat loomed over the Hungarian lands, but the internecine struggle of the feudal lords prevented the organization of an effective defense of Hungary from the Turkish invasion.
Meanwhile, Murad II carried out a number of important reforms that contributed to the strengthening of the Ottoman state and its military power. He made arrangements for the regular recruitment and training of the Janissary corps. The organization and equipment of cavalry units and artillery were also improved. The Sultan paid a lot of attention to creating a strong fleet. The timar land tenure system, the improvement of which was also the subject of concern for Murad II and his entourage, continued to be a means of creating a social support for the Sultan’s power.
In 1440, the Turks made a campaign in Serbia. During this campaign, Turkish troops destroyed the Danube fortress of Semendriya, built by the Serbs with the permission of the Sultan himself. After this, the Turks besieged Belgrade, but the six-month siege was unsuccessful due to the inaccessibility of the city's defenses.
At this moment, the governor of Transylvania, Janos Hunyadi, led an active fight against the Turks. Standing at the head of the Hungarian people's militia, supported by Czech troops, in 1441-1442. won victories several times in battles with the Sultan's army. Particularly significant was the defeat of the Turks in the battle of Vozag (1442), where their army was completely defeated, and 5 thousand prisoners fell into the hands of the winners. The Sultan was forced to make peace with the Hungarian king Vladislav in July 1444, who recognized the independence of the Serbian lands bordering Hungary. But the peace, concluded for 10 years, was broken in the same year. Bloody battles began again between the troops of Janos Hunyadi and Murad II. In November 1444, the Hunyadi army, having marched through the lands of Bulgaria, approached Varna.
The situation in the Ottoman state at this moment was unusual. Sultan Murad II, having decided to retire from state affairs, left for Bursa, announcing that he was transferring the throne to his fourteen-year-old son Mehmed. Probably, this kind of interregnum, which made it possible to count on some weakening of power and order in the Ottoman state, strengthened the determination of Hunyadi and his associates. But when news of his movement towards Varna reached the Ottoman capital, the young Sultan Mehmed II and his entourage persuaded Murad II to take command of the army into his own hands. On the ships of the Genoese, the Sultan's forty thousand army was quickly transported to Rumelia. On November 10, 1444, the battle of Varna took place. The Turks were outnumbered by more than twice the forces of Janos Hunyadi, and his troops were completely routed. Hunyadi managed to escape and began to once again gather strength to fight the Turks.
The Turkish sultans sought to completely conquer the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. They chose the colonization of the South Slavic regions as one of the means of consolidating their power in the conquered lands. Already Sultan Murad I began in the second half of the 14th century. to populate Northern Thrace, Northern Bulgaria and Macedonia with Turkic tribes from Asia Minor. This policy was carried out systematically by the successors of Murad I. At the end of the XIV - first half of the XV century. many Turkish settlements were formed in the valleys of the Maritsa and Danube, on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, as well as in many other fertile coastal areas of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The Turkish conquest brought ruin to the Balkan peoples. Travelers who visited the Balkans in the 15th century noted that in the lands conquered by the Turks the population was in poverty, the area of cultivated land was very small, Agriculture was in obvious disrepair. One of them, Bertrandon de la Broquiere, said that during his trip to the Balkans, villages in the Edirne region were abandoned by residents, and travelers had nowhere to even stock up on provisions.
The Turks called Christians “giaurs” (“infidels”). They tried to forcibly convert them to Islam; they were forbidden to carry weapons, ride horses, or have houses higher and more beautiful than those built by the Turks. Testimony from “guiaurs” was not allowed in court proceedings. The Turkish conquerors relied on those Bulgarian, Serbian and Bosnian feudal lords who saved their possessions by completely submitting to the Sultan. Many of them converted to Islam. Over time, the Turkic Slavs formed a significant layer of Turkish feudal lords in the Balkans.
K. Marx more than once emphasized the ruinous nature of the Turkish campaigns, the robbery and robbery committed by the conquerors. He wrote that the Turks “put cities and villages to fire and sword” and “rage like cannibals.” K. Marx, in particular, noted the cruelty of Turkish soldiers during the capture of Thessalonica, wrote that in the Peloponnese Turkish troops in 1446 mercilessly killed civilians and ravaged the region. He also drew attention to the fact that the conquerors, who mercilessly destroyed or enslaved the bulk of the conquered population, behaved differently towards the rich residents, sometimes trying to make them their accomplices. This was the case during the capture of Thessalonica, when Murad II “ransomed the rich inhabitants from his own soldiers, and left the poor in slavery.”
The Varna disaster not only brought the Balkan peoples under Turkish rule for many centuries, but also finally decided the fate of Byzantium and its capital. Further Turkish campaigns of conquest in the Balkans sharply increased the danger of a Turkish invasion of Central Europe.
The enemy forces were generally strikingly unequal. There were more than 20 Turks for every armed defender of the city. The military leaders of Constantinople racked their brains over solving the most difficult problem - how to stretch the defense forces along the entire line of fortifications, the total length of which was about 52 kilometers. Hoping that the Turks would not storm the city from the Sea of Marmara, the Byzantines allocated the smallest number of soldiers to protect the sea walls of the city. The defense of the coast of the Golden Horn was entrusted to Venetian and Genoese sailors. In the center of the defense, at the gate of St. Roman, there were detachments of Italian mercenaries, mainly Genoese. The remaining sections of the city walls were defended by mixed detachments of Byzantines and Latin mercenaries. The city's defenders were armed with spears and arrows, arquebuses and stone-throwing weapons. They had practically no artillery, because the few guns that were found in the capital of Byzantium turned out to be unusable: when firing, these guns had such recoil that they caused serious damage to their own walls and towers. The garrison of the city, as subsequent events showed, had high fighting qualities. In the first days of the siege, while the Turks were preparing to storm the fortress walls, Byzantine soldiers made sorties and entered into fierce battles with the Turks, trying to prevent them from installing battering guns and other siege equipment. But soon the emperor gave the order not to leave the city and to devote all his efforts to preparing to repel the assault.
On the morning of April 6, everything was ready for the attack. The Sultan's parliamentarians conveyed his message to the defenders of Constantinople, in which Mehmed offered the Byzantines voluntary surrender, guaranteeing them the preservation of life and property. Otherwise, the Sultan did not promise mercy to any of the city’s defenders. The offer was rejected. Then the Turkish cannons, which at that time had no equal in Europe, thundered. The words of the 15th century Byzantine historian who described these events. Kritovula: “The guns decided everything” does not seem like an exaggeration. Turkish batteries were placed along the entire siege line. However, although Turkish artillery continuously bombarded the city in the first days of the siege, it only managed to partially destroy individual fortifications. Not only the power of the famous walls of Constantinople affected, but also the inexperience of Mehmed’s artillerymen. Urban's huge cannon, which terrified the defenders, exploded; its creator himself was wounded in the explosion.
On April 18, Mehmed ordered the assault to begin. At dawn, the warriors rushed to the holes in the walls made by cannonballs. Filling the ditches with brushwood, sandbags and the bodies of the dead, the Turks rushed forward. The Byzantines threw stones at them, doused them with boiling tar, and hit them with arrows and spears. The fight was brutal. One of the eyewitnesses of the siege of Constantinople, Nestor Iskander, author of “The Tale of Constantinople, its foundation and capture by the Turks,” described it this way: “From the noise of firing cannons and arquebuses, from the ringing of bells and the cry of fighting people, from... lightning flashing from weapons, from the crying and sobbing of the city residents, wives and children, it seemed that heaven and earth united and shook. It was impossible to hear each other: the screams, crying and sobbing of people combined with the noise of battle and the ringing of bells into a single sound, similar to strong thunder. From the multitude of fires and firing of cannons and arquebuses, thick smoke covered the city and the troops; people could not see each other; many suffocated from gunpowder smoke.”
The very first hour of the assault showed that, although the number of defenders of Constantinople is small, each of them intends to fight without caring about their own lives. The Turkish assault troops had to retreat. Thus, despite the enormous numerical superiority, the siege turned out to be a very difficult task for Mehmed’s troops.
However, another disappointment awaited the Sultan. On April 20, the Turks, unexpectedly for Mehmed, also lost the naval battle. Three Genoese galleys - the same ones that were sent to Constantinople with weapons and food by the Pope - as well as a large Byzantine cargo ship, sailing with a cargo of grain and having barrels of “Greek fire” on board, entered into battle with the Turkish squadron. In an unequal battle they managed to win. The Turks lost many ships, burned by "Greek fire". The ships of the Genoese and Byzantines managed to overcome the sea cordon of the Turks, enter the Golden Horn and connect with the emperor's squadron stationed there. Attempts by the Turks to break into the bay were unsuccessful. The Sultan, watching the naval battle from the Bosphorus shore near Pera, was furious. The commander of the Turkish fleet, Baltaoglu, was almost executed, but was still punished with canes and deprived of all ranks and property.
After these events, Mehmed resorted to a maneuver that had a great influence on the further course of the siege. He ordered some of his ships to be delivered by land to the Golden Horn. For this purpose, a huge wooden flooring was built. It was laid right at the very walls of Galata. Over the course of one night, along this deck, thickly greased, the Turks dragged 70 heavy ships on ropes to the northern shore of the Golden Horn and lowered them into the waters of the bay. On the morning of April 22, a Turkish squadron appeared in the waters of the Golden Horn before the eyes of the city’s defenders. No one expected an attack from this side, sea walls were the weakest point of defense. In addition, the Byzantine ships standing guard at the entrance to the bay were under threat. From now on, the emperor's fleet had to deal with the Sultan's squadron, which was numerically superior to it, which was no longer hindered by the barrage chains.
Greek and Latin naval commanders decided to try to burn the Turkish fleet. A Byzantine ship under the command of the Venetian Cocco secretly approached the anchorage of the Turkish squadron. But Mehmed was warned about the enemy's plan by the Genoese of Galata. Cocco's ship was fired upon and sunk. Some of the brave souls from his crew who escaped by swimming were captured by the Turks and executed in full view of the city’s defenders. In response, the emperor ordered 260 captured Turkish soldiers to be beheaded and their heads displayed on the city walls.
Meanwhile, the situation in the camp of the defenders became more and more deplorable. And it was not just a lack of soldiers and food. The emperor surrounded himself with Italian military leaders, pinning all his hopes on mercenaries. The population was irritated by the fact that foreigners were actually in charge of the capital. Bloody battles arose in the Byzantine capital between traditional rivals - the Venetians and Genoese. Added to all this was the irritation of the Byzantine clergy with the emperor, who encroached on church property in search of funds necessary for defense. Defeatism began to grow among the courtiers. Some of Constantine's associates advised him to capitulate, but the emperor was adamant. Constantine sought by personal example to raise the morale of the besieged and rally their ranks. He toured the fortifications, checked the combat effectiveness of the troops, and tried in every possible way to cheer up the soldiers.
At the beginning of May, artillery shelling of the city intensified. Urban's giant cannon has returned to service. After repairs, it again became the main destroyer of the land walls of Constantinople. On May 7, Mehmed’s troops stormed these walls in one of the defense areas for several hours. The attack was repulsed.
In mid-May, the Turks began to undermine the walls of the city. The Sultan continued to look for new means of siege. One of them appeared near the city walls on May 18.
The events of this day were vividly described by an eyewitness, the Byzantine historian George Franzi, who later survived Turkish captivity: “The Emir (Sultan Mehmed II - Yu.P.), amazed and deceived in his hopes, began to use other, new inventions and machines for the siege. From thick logs he built a huge siege engine, with numerous wheels, very wide and high. He covered it inside and out with triple ox and cow skins. On top it had a tower and coverings, as well as gangplanks raised up and down... All sorts of other machines were also moved to the walls, which the human mind could not even imagine and which were never built to capture the fortress... And in other places The Turks built platforms with a great many wheels, and on top of these platforms - something like towers... And they had a lot of cannons; they were loaded so that they all fired at the walls at the same time. First, however, the Turks fired from that terrible siege engine and demolished to the ground the tower that was near the gate of St. Roman, and immediately dragged this siege engine and placed it on top of the ditch. And the battle was destructive and terrible; it began before the sun rose and continued all day. And one part of the Turks fought fiercely in this battle and dump, and the other threw logs, various materials and earth into the ditch... having piled all this, the Turks paved a wide road for themselves through the ditch to the wall. However, our people courageously blocked their path, often threw the Turks off the stairs, and chopped up some wooden stairs; Thanks to our courage, we repeatedly drove away the enemies that day, until the first hour of the night.” In the end, the furious attacks of the Turks fizzled out. New units, which the Sultan threw into battle several times, could not break the amazing tenacity of the city’s defenders.
The Turks were constantly trying to dig under the walls of Constantinople. For this purpose they used the Serbs. However, the Byzantines managed to find out about the Turks' idea, and they began to dig countermines. They managed to enter a tunnel dug by the Serbs and set fire to the wooden posts supporting the roof. When the roof collapsed, many Turks died. On May 23, the Byzantines managed to capture several Turkish diggers and, under torture, force them to indicate all the places where the besiegers had dug. All discovered tunnels were destroyed. This was perhaps the last success of the besieged.
The last days before the assault, which was to decide the fate of the city, were full of incredible tension. The Turkish troops were terribly tired, and the very feeling that a huge army could not cope with a handful of defenders of the Byzantine capital could not help but demoralize them. Perhaps this was one of the reasons that prompted the Sultan to enter into negotiations with the emperor a few days before the assault. Mehmed suggested that he agree to an annual tribute of 100 thousand gold Byzantines or leave the city with all its inhabitants. In the latter case, they were promised no harm.
At a council with the emperor, both proposals were rejected. The Byzantines would never have been able to collect such an incredibly large tribute, and the emperor and his entourage did not want to cede their city to the enemy without a fight.
Soon the Sultan held a council at his headquarters. The Grand Vizier Khalil Pasha even decided to propose peace and lift the unsuccessful heavy siege. But the military leaders and most of those close to him insisted on the assault. According to George Franzi, one of the Sultan’s military leaders, Sagan Pasha, argued that Constantinople had nowhere to expect real help, because among “Italian and other Western rulers... there is no unanimity. And if, nevertheless, some of them, with difficulty and numerous reservations, came to a consensus, then soon their union would lose strength: after all, even those of them who are bound by an alliance are busy stealing what belongs to another - each other lie in wait and beware." These words indicate that the Sultan and senior dignitaries were well versed in the foreign policy situation. Mehmed supported those of his assistants who insisted on continuing the siege. Moreover, he announced the decision to prepare for a decisive assault.
The defenders of Constantinople immediately learned of this. Arrows with notes containing a message about the council at the Sultan's headquarters flew into the city. This was done by soldiers from the detachments of the Sultan’s Christian vassals. Soon the first signs of an impending assault appeared - gun fire sharply intensified.
On May 28, the Sultan toured the troops and reviewed the final preparations for the assault. The troops, who had been constantly preparing siege equipment, materials for filling ditches and putting weapons in order, rested that day. An unusual silence reigned outside the walls of Constantinople.
It became clear to the residents of Constantinople that the hour of difficult trials was approaching. During the day, a large procession with icons, in which the emperor participated, passed through the city. In its ranks there were both Orthodox and Catholics. Church bells rang alarmingly. The fortifications were consecrated to the sound of their ringing. People gathered their last strength to repel the enemy. The townspeople seemed to have forgotten all the disputes and strife. At sunset, crowds of people headed to the Church of St. Sophia, the threshold of which the Orthodox Greeks had not crossed for five months, not considering it possible to attend the liturgy desecrated by the Latins. But at these hours in the cathedral nearby, supporters and opponents of the union fervently prayed. All the military leaders and nobles came here after consulting with the emperor. Almost all night in churches people prayed for the salvation of the city. The few defenders of the capital took up positions on the walls in anticipation of a difficult and bloody battle.
In the evening of the same day, the Sultan announced that the decisive assault would begin the next morning. Bonfires lit by the besiegers the night before the battle surrounded the city. Music and drums thundered in the Turkish camp. Mullahs and dervishes aroused the fanaticism of the soldiers; crowds listened to the reading of the Koran around the fires. Military leaders
Few facts of world history have evoked such a large number of responses and even detailed narratives from contemporaries and descendants as the fall of The Byzantine (Greek) Empire and the Turkish conquest of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.
...This event turned out to be not only the most important in political and military history Europe, but, to use a common modern term, iconic. When on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, hordes of Turks burst through a hole in the wall into the “royal city,” “new Rome” (as the Byzantines called their capital) and scattered throughout the city, it is unlikely that any of them thought about anything other than looting and robbery. But for the Byzantines and residents of other Christian states it was a cosmic catastrophe. The fall of Constantinople symbolized the end of the thousand-year history of the main Orthodox power, almost the end of the world, at best the beginning of a new and completely different, worse era. After all, the Byzantine (Greek) civilization was not replaced by something better.
Monument to the last emperor Byzantium - Constantine Palaiologus 9/2/1404-29/05/1453
Since the fall of Constantinople, a tragic date for every Greek, for 565 years, our greeting, all the Greeks of the world, has been the words: “See you in Constantinople.”
Sooner or later this meeting will come true!
Every year on this day from the time I turned 18, tragic images of the last day of the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine (Greek) Empire grow in me. A story of unparalleled heroism and betrayal, retribution for the Florentine schism. The Greeks angered the Lord! For their disunity and vanity.
...We have lost our Motherland, our main city of all Greeks in the world, which for us, of course, is Polis -
Constantinople. ...We'll be back. Sooner or later it will happen!!! ...See you in Constantinople. Θα βλεπόμαστε στην Κωνσταντινούπολη.
Nikos Sidiropoulos
May 29 started early in the morning final assault on Constantinople. The first attacks were repulsed, but then the wounded Giustiniani left the city and fled to Galata. The Turks were able to take the main gate of the capital of Byzantium. Fighting took place on the streets of the city, Emperor Constantine XI fell in the battle, and when the Turks found his wounded body, they cut off his head and hoisted it on a pole. For three days there was looting and violence in Constantinople. The Turks killed everyone they met on the streets: men, women, children. Streams of blood flowed down the steep streets of Constantinople from the hills of Petra into the Golden Horn.
The Turks broke into men's and women's monasteries. Some young monks, preferring martyrdom to dishonor, threw themselves into wells; the monks and elderly nuns followed the ancient tradition of the Orthodox Church, which prescribed not to resist.
The houses of the inhabitants were also robbed one after another; Each group of robbers hung a small flag at the entrance as a sign that there was nothing left to take from the house. The inhabitants of the houses were taken away along with their property. Anyone who fell from exhaustion was immediately killed; the same thing was done with many babies.
Scenes of mass desecration of sacred objects took place in churches. Many crucifixes, adorned with jewels, were carried out of the temples with Turkish turbans dashingly draped over them.
In the Temple of Chora, the Turks left the mosaics and frescoes untouched, but destroyed the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria - her most sacred image in all of Byzantium, executed, according to legend, by Saint Luke himself. It was moved here from the Church of the Virgin Mary near the palace at the very beginning of the siege, so that this shrine, being as close as possible to the walls, would inspire their defenders. The Turks pulled the icon out of its frame and split it into four parts.
And here is how contemporaries describe the capture of the greatest temple of all Byzantium - the Cathedral of St. Sofia. “The church was still filled with people. The Holy Liturgy had already ended and matins was in progress. When noise was heard outside, the huge bronze doors of the temple were closed. Those gathered inside prayed for a miracle, which alone could save them. But their prayers were in vain. Very little passed. time, and the doors collapsed under blows from outside. The worshipers were trapped. A few old people and cripples were killed on the spot; the majority of the Turks were tied or chained to each other in groups, and shawls and scarves torn from women were used as fetters. Many beautiful girls and boys, as well as richly dressed nobles, were almost torn to pieces when the soldiers who captured them fought among themselves, considering them their prey. The priests continued to read prayers at the altar until they were also captured..."
Sultan Mehmed II himself entered the city only on June 1. Escorted by selected troops of the Janissary Guard, accompanied by his viziers, he slowly rode through the streets of Constantinople. Everything around where the soldiers visited was devastated and ruined; churches stood desecrated and plundered, houses uninhabited, shops and warehouses broken and plundered. He rode a horse into the Church of St. Sophia, ordered the cross to be knocked off it and turned into the largest mosque in the world.
Cathedral of St. Sofia in Constantinople
Immediately after the capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II first issued a decree “providing freedom to all who survived,” but many residents of the city were killed by Turkish soldiers, many became slaves. To quickly restore the population, Mehmed ordered the entire population of the city of Aksaray to be transferred to the new capital.
The Sultan granted the Greeks the rights of a self-governing community within the empire; the head of the community was to be the Patriarch of Constantinople, responsible to the Sultan.
In subsequent years, the last territories of the empire were occupied (Morea - in 1460).
Consequences of the death of Byzantium
Constantine XI was the last of the Roman emperors. With his death, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Its lands became part of the Ottoman state. Former capital Byzantine Empire, Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire until its collapse in 1922 (at first it was called Constantine and then Istanbul (Istanbul)).
Most Europeans believed that the death of Byzantium was the beginning of the end of the world, since only Byzantium was the successor to the Roman Empire. Many contemporaries blamed Venice for the fall of Constantinople (Venice then had one of the most powerful fleets). The Republic of Venice played a double game, trying, on the one hand, to organize a crusade against the Turks, and on the other, to protect its trade interests by sending friendly embassies to the Sultan.
However, you need to understand that the rest of the Christian powers did not lift a finger to save the dying empire. Without the help of other states, even if the Venetian fleet had arrived on time, it would have allowed Constantinople to hold out for a couple more weeks, but this would only have prolonged the agony.
Rome was fully aware of the Turkish danger and realized that all of Western Christianity might be in danger. Pope Nicholas V called on all Western powers to jointly undertake a powerful and decisive Crusade and intended to lead this campaign himself. From the moment the fatal news arrived from Constantinople, he sent out his messages calling for active action. On September 30, 1453, the Pope sent a bull to all Western sovereigns declaring a Crusade. Each sovereign was ordered to shed the blood of himself and his subjects for the holy cause, and also to allocate a tenth of his income to it. Both Greek cardinals, Isidore and Bessarion, actively supported his efforts. Vissarion himself wrote to the Venetians, simultaneously accusing them and begging them to stop the wars in Italy and concentrate all their forces on the fight against the Antichrist.
However, no Crusade ever happened. And although the sovereigns eagerly caught reports of the death of Constantinople, and writers composed sorrowful elegies, although the French composer Guillaume Dufay wrote a special funeral song and it was sung in all French lands, no one was ready to act. King Frederick III of Germany was poor and powerless because he had no real power over the German princes; neither from political nor from financial side he could not participate in the Crusade. King Charles VII of France was busy rebuilding his country after a long and ruinous war with England. The Turks were somewhere far away; he had more important things to do in his own home. England, which suffered from Hundred Years' War even more than France, the Turks seemed an even more distant problem. King Henry VI could do absolutely nothing, since he had just lost his mind and the whole country was plunging into the chaos of the Wars of the Roses. None of the kings showed any further interest, with the exception of the Hungarian king Ladislaus, who, of course, had every reason to be concerned. But he had a bad relationship with his army commander. And without him and without allies, he could not dare to undertake any enterprise.
So although Western Europe and was shocked that the great historical Christian city was in the hands of infidels, no papal bull could motivate her to action. The very fact that the Christian states failed to come to the aid of Constantinople showed their clear reluctance to fight for the faith if their immediate interests were not affected.
The Turks quickly occupied the rest of the empire. The Serbs were the first to suffer - Serbia became a theater of military operations between the Turks and Hungarians. In 1454, the Serbs were forced, under the threat of force, to give up part of their territory to the Sultan. But already in 1459, all of Serbia was in the hands of the Turks, with the exception of Belgrade, which remained in the hands of the Hungarians until 1521. The neighboring kingdom of Bosnia was conquered by the Turks 4 years later.
Meanwhile, the last vestiges of Greek independence gradually disappeared. The Duchy of Athens was destroyed in 1456. And in 1461, the last Greek capital, Trebizond, fell. This was the end of the free Greek world. True, a certain number of Greeks still remained under Christian rule - in Cyprus, on the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas and in the port cities of the continent, still held by Venice, but their rulers were of a different blood and a different form of Christianity. Only in the south-east of the Peloponnese, in the lost villages of Maina, into the harsh mountain spurs of which not a single Turk dared to penetrate, was a semblance of freedom preserved.
Soon everything Orthodox territories in the Balkans ended up in the hands of the Turks. Serbia and Bosnia were enslaved. Albania fell in January 1468. Moldavia recognized its vassal dependence on the Sultan back in 1456.
Many historians in the 17th and 18th centuries. considered the fall of Constantinople to be a key moment in European history, the end of the Middle Ages, just as the fall of Rome in 476 was the end of Antiquity. Others believed that the mass flight of Greeks to Italy caused the Renaissance there.
DEATH OF THE GREAT EMPIRE. THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Gumelev Vasiliy Yuryevich
Ryazan high airborne command school name of the General of the army V. Margelov
candidate of technical sciences
Abstract
The paper considers the main events of the siege the Ottoman Turks of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which led to the fall of this city and throughout the Empire.
The fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was the final defeat of Byzantium, which completed the death of the great empire. The death of the Byzantine Empire was truly of world-historical significance, and the leading geopolitical position of Western European countries in the modern world is, to a certain extent, a direct consequence of those distant events.
The advance of the Ottoman Turks to Constantinople in January - March 1453 is presented as shown in Figure 1.
1 – Constantine XI sends ships to the Aegean Sea for purchases and military equipment (winter 1452/53); 2 – raids of the Byzantine fleet on the Ottomans;
3 – Constantine XI repairs the fortifications of Constantinople (winter 1452/53); 4 – the Turks are repairing the road to Constantinople for the passage of artillery (winter of 1452/53); 5 – the Turks begin to build siege lines around Constantinople; 6 – Mehmed II returns to Edirne; 7 - 700 Genoese soldiers arrive in Constantinople under the command of John Giustiniani Longo, Constantine XI appoints him commander of the land defense line (January 29, 1453); 8 – the Ottoman vanguard brings up artillery from Edirne (February 1453); 9 – foreign merchant ships flee from Constantinople (February 26, 1453); 10 – the Turks seize Byzantine possessions on the coast of the Black and Marmara seas (February – March 1453); 11 – the fortresses of Selymbria, Epibates, Studium, Therapia resist the Ottomans; 12, 13 – the Turkish fleet departs for the Bosphorus and transports troops from Asia Minor (March 1453); 14 – Mehmed II leaves Edirne with Janissary regiments (March 23, 1453)
Figure 1 – Advancement of the Ottoman Turks to Constantinople in 1453
Before the start of hostilities, the sultan invited the emperor to capitulate on conditions that were very honorable and personally beneficial for the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI. But the emperor, heir to the valor of the ancient Romans and descendant of Slavic princes, proudly refused - he did not trade his homeland.
In March 1453, the Turks managed to take a number of the most important Byzantine fortifications on the Black Sea coast. But according to:
“Selimvria bravely defended itself until the capital was captured.”(Figure 1, item 11)
Although the Turks blocked the Byzantine-Romans' access to the sea in many places, they, with the support of their Italian allies, continued to dominate the sea and devastated the Turkish coast with their ships.
The Venetians actively helped the Byzantines in this.
In early March, Turkish troops camped outside the walls of Constantinople, and in April they began intensive engineering work around the perimeter of the besieged city. Sultan Mehmed II set out from his capital with his palace regiments on March 23, 1453 (Figure 2) and from the beginning of April personally led the Turkish troops that began the siege of Constantinople. By this time, the capital of the Romans was already surrounded by land and sea.
The balance of forces was dismal for the Byzantines - the great city was fighting against the Sultan's army of about eighty thousand soldiers, not counting the numerous hordes of Turkish militias. It was surrounded by walls some 25 km long, which had to be protected by less than 7 thousand professional soldiers of various nationalities and from thirty to forty thousand poorly trained citizen militias.
Figure 2 – Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror sets out from Edirne for the siege of Constantinople. Painting by an unknown European artist.
The Greek fleet defending Constantinople consisted of only twenty-six ships. Of these, only ten belonged to the Romans themselves, the rest of the ships were mainly Italian. The fleet was small in number and consisted of ships different types, did not have a unified command and did not represent any serious force.
The Ottoman Turks had a clear overwhelming advantage in the fleet (its number - according to some estimates, about four hundred ships - and quality) and artillery. During the siege of Constantinople, the Turks were able to organize its massive use, ensuring timely production and delivery to required quantities cannonballs and gunpowder.
Despite such an overwhelming numerical and qualitative advantage, the troops of Sultan Mehmed II faced a very difficult task. Constantinople was defended by the decrepit, but repaired and still powerful Theodosian Walls, 5630 meters long, which were erected from 408 to 413. The reconstructed section of the Theodosian Walls is presented in accordance with Figure 3.
Figure 3 – Reconstructed section of the Theodosian Walls
A wide ditch was dug in front of the wall. The Theodosian wall (the internal wall in the city’s fortification system), twelve meters high and five meters wide, was fortified every fifty-five meters with a hexagonal or octagonal tower twenty meters high, total of which there were up to a hundred. The lower tier of the towers was adapted for a food warehouse.
In addition to Feodosieva, there was also an external city wall, which was smaller than the internal one both in height and width. Of the ninety-six towers of the outer wall, ten were drive-through towers.
The location of the opposing sides' troops is presented according to Figure 4.
Figure 4 – Disposition of Turkish and Byzantine (Roman) troops during the siege of Constantinople
Turkish artillery in the 15th century was the same as in other European countries. Large guns were mounted in sloping trenches with massive wooden blocks as shock absorbers. Aiming such guns was difficult and time consuming. The giant cannons of the Hungarian Urban were located as part of artillery batteries, which included much smaller cannons. Between the batteries and the walls of Constantinople, the Ottomans built a protective rampart with a ditch in front of it. They installed a wooden palisade along the top of the shaft (Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Ottoman artillerymen place a huge cannon in position before the siege begins (March 1453). Artist K. Hook
The shelling of the Theodosian walls by the artillery of Sultan Mehmed II is presented according to Figure 6.
“And the Turks threw the city into confusion with their bombards: with noise and roar they hit the walls and towers with them... And the battle did not subside either day or night: fights, skirmishes and shooting continued all the time.”
Figure 6 – Shelling of the walls of Theodosius by the artillery of Sultan Mehmed II. Artist P. Dennis
The Turks constantly stormed the city walls. During the assaults, some of the soldiers and engineering departments The Turks tried to fill up the ditches, but to no avail:
“During the whole day the Turks filled up the ditches; We spent the whole night pulling out earth and logs from them: and the depth of the ditches remained the same as before.”
While the Byzantines and Italian soldiers (mercenaries and volunteers) fought bravely on the city walls, the Italian merchants living in Constantinople betrayed both. They entered into negotiations with Sultan Mehmed II (tyrant - as Michael Duca called him). Merchants tried to save their property at any cost:
“And the Galatian Genoese, even before the arrival of the tyrant, who was still in Adrianople, sent ambassadors, proclaiming sincere friendship for him and renewing the treaties written earlier. And he answered that he was their friend and had not forgotten his love for them, just so that they would not find themselves helping the city.”
Meanwhile, the siege of Constantinople dragged on. This clearly did not strengthen the morale of the Ottoman army. Certain difficulties began to arise with supplying the army. But On April 22, the Ottomans managed to drag their warships by land around the massive iron chain blocking the Golden Horn Bay. At this time, Turkish artillery fired diversionary fire along the chain at the entrance to the bay.
On April 28, Venetian and Genoese ships in the besieged city attacked the Turkish fleet in the Golden Horn at night. The attackers failed to burn the Turkish fleet - the Turks repelled the attack and inflicted heavy losses on the Italian sailors. The attempt to destroy the Turkish fleet was quite predictable and therefore the Ottomans were vigilant and ready to repel the attacks of the besieged. It is also possible that the Turks were warned about the planned night attack, since there were many people in Constantinople who sympathized with the Ottomans. And the work with agents behind enemy lines was always well done by the Turks.
After this unsuccessful night attack on the Turkish ships, as reported by Sfrandzi:
“The king and the whole city, seeing this, fell into great confusion of spirit, for the king was afraid of our small number.”
The length of city walls requiring active defense has increased significantly.
At the same time, Turkish miners made several attempts to place mines under the city walls. But the underground mine war ended in favor of the besieged. They attacked enemy miners, blew up and flooded passages dug by the Turks with water.
But not everyone in the besieged city withstood the hardships of war:
“And some of ours - rebellious and inhuman people, seeing that we were weakening, and finding that the moment was favorable for vile aspirations, began to organize riots and riots every day...”
Despite all this, the foreigner, the courageous warrior John Giustiniani Longo, leader of a detachment of volunteers from Genoa, continued to honestly fulfill his soldier’s duty:
“... with his word, advice and deed he showed himself to be terrible for the enemy: every night he fired and made forays against the enemies and captured many of them alive, and finished off others with a sword.”
His men regularly made daring forays and attacked the besiegers outside the city walls.
On May 27, the Turks launched another assault on the city. The Ottoman troops marched on the walls in several waves, replacing each other, in order not to give the besieged any respite.
While repelling the next onslaught of the Turks, John Giustiniani was mortally wounded and died. But according to the Byzantine author, Giustiniani deserved his disgrace. For what? The mortally wounded officer, most likely in a state of severe pain shock, left his defense area only to die peacefully. And the author considers this an unworthy and despicable act. How real officer Giustiniani must was to die only on the battlefield.
For some reason, such concepts of military honor in our strange times are considered wild and inhumane (brutal - such a very fashionable word has now appeared). But during a mortal fight, they are the ones who are correct.
So, on May 29, 1453, through a breach in the wall on the fifty-third day of the siege, Turkish soldiers broke into Constantinople, they robbed and killed its inhabitants.
The Turks captured all the walls of the city “except for... the towers... where the sailors from Crete stood. For these sailors fought bravely until the sixth and seventh hour and killed many of the Turks. ... One Turk made a report to the emir about their bravery, and he ordered that, by mutual agreement, they should leave and be free ... they barely persuaded them to leave the tower.".
The capital of the Byzantine Empire fell, and the empire itself ceased to exist. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, arms in hand, continued to fight the enemy who had burst into the city. His fate is not known for certain; his body has not been found. But, apparently, he died in battle as honorably as he lived. In Figure 7, the artist depicted Constantine XI with a raised sword, with a Turkish saber already raised above his head from behind.
According to eyewitnesses, many residents of Constantinople continued to offer serious resistance to the Ottoman troops that broke into the city for a long time.
Figure 7 – The last battle of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI. Artist K. Hook
On the same day, Sultan Mehmed II entered Constantinople, accompanied by troops (Figure 8). At the end of the day, Mehmed II, accompanied by the supreme ministers, imams and a detachment of Janissaries, drove up to the Hagia Sophia. At his direction, the Supreme Imam ascended the pulpit and announced: there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. Hagia Sophia became the Hagia Sophia mosque for many centuries. The Turks later added minarets to the cathedral. It is currently a national museum.
Figure 8 – Entry of Mehmed II into Constantinople. Artist Zh.Zh. Benjamin-Constant
Before the assault, Sultan Mehmed II promised his soldiers three days to plunder the city, but he stopped the outrages by the evening of the first day (although, citing a number of sources, the author of the work claims that the Sultan kept his word - and Turkish soldiers plundered Constantinople for the three he promised day).
Interesting, if this word is appropriate in this case, is the fate of the Byzantine admiral Luke Notaras. It was he who said during the Turkish siege: “It is better to let a Turkish turban reign in the city than a papal tiara.”
But an admiral, if he really is an admiral, during a war should defend his homeland to the last drop of blood, and not cynically calculate which enemy is more profitable to lie under.
After the capture of the city, Luka Notaras went to serve the Turks. Sultan Mehmed II made him governor and then executed him along with his relatives in early June.
The reason for this was that Notaras allegedly did not hand over the entire treasury of the Byzantine emperor to the Sultan. Sfrandzi, with poorly concealed gloating, reports on how Sultan Mehmed II dealt with the defector.
The Sultan ordered all the rich Genoese merchants living in Constantinople to be captured and sent as rowers to the galleys. We are talking about the very merchants who, behind the backs of the city’s defenders, bargained with Mehmed II on how to preserve their wealth after the expected fall of the city. During the bargaining with the Turks, they probably bought their safety through betrayal.
The actions of Mehmed II were logical as a soldier and therefore understandable: he honorably released the courageous Cretan sailors who offered furious resistance to the Turks and did not want to surrender even after the fall of the city. Well, the Sultan acted shamelessly with people without conscience.
Most of the defenders were exterminated, about sixty thousand inhabitants of the city were sold into slavery. Constantinople, which the Turks had long called Istanbul, became the capital of the Ottoman state. Then the Sultan imposed a universal tax on the population of Constantinople, and took one hundred of the most beautiful young men and women into his harem (the Sultan was a sodomite and pedophile).
Although the Orthodox patriarchs were restored again in Turkish Constantinople, they found themselves in a situation that the Russian people could not come to terms with. The law (firman) on freedom of religion was issued by Sultan Mehmed II in 1478.
The fall of Constantinople for the Russian Church was the impetus that led to the establishment of its actual independence from the Patriarchs of Constantinople.
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