Constantinople, siege of (1453). Constantinople (now Istanbul) was essentially all that remained of the Byzantine empire by 1450. It had almost fallen to the Ottoman Turks several times before, but in 1451 the new sultan, Mehmet II, made it his priority. He captured outlying centres and in 1452 built the fortresses of Rumeli Hisar on the Bosporus and Kilitbahir and Cimenlik on the Dardanelles, isolating the city. The Byzantines sought western intervention, the Emperor Constantine XI and the patriarch even agreeing to end the religious schism with Rome. Venice and others promised support but the Genoese colony opposite Constantinople remained neutral.
The siege began on 6 April with 80, 000 Turks and 120 ships blockading the city. The Byzantines, commanded by a Genoese mercenary, Giustiniani Longo, had only 7, 000 troops, including western volunteers, and 26 warships, to defend 4 miles (6.4 km) of land and 10 miles (16 km) of sea walls. The inlet known as the Golden Horn was shut by a boom, so its walls were unguarded. The city was protected on its landward side by the 1, 000-year-old walls, the largest ever built. The Turks had enlisted a Hungarian cannon expert, Urban, whose services had been too expensive for the Byzantines. The latter had firearms and cannon, but their recoil was too much for the walls.
For the first fortnight the Turks assaulted the land defences, breaching the outer walls, but could still not get inside. The Ottoman navy also suffered reverses, but Mehmet turned the Golden Horn on 22 April by dragging some ships overland and launching them inside it. A Byzantine attempt to fire them failed and the walls along the inlet had to be garrisoned, stretching the defenders too thinly. The Turks kept piling on the pressure, they could take the losses, but the Byzantines refused to capitulate, praying that help would arrive. Mehmet's grand vizier even advised withdrawal on 25 May but on the 28th the inner wall was finally broken by Urban's bombards. At 01.30 on the 29th the attack began and at dawn the janissaries assaulted the temporary repairs. One group entered by a side gate and gained control of a section of the wall while the janissaries finally forced their way through the breach. Longo himself, the inspiration behind the defence, was wounded and, as the defence collapsed, the emperor died fighting at the breach. Western help never arrived.
Constantinople during the siege of 1453.
(Click to enlarge)
Bibliography
- Runciman, Steven, The Fall of Constantinople (Cambridge, 1965)
— Stephen McCotter
