From Constantinople to Istanbul:
The Fall of The Byzantine Empire
There was a period in the past when many of us loved many of the empires, ranging from the Romans to the Ottomans. I don’t know about you, but I was and still am.
Because of this, allow me to make an important point. I will be focusing on several key events that came to be in the downfall of Constantinople, the last bastion of the Romans in what we now know as the Middle East.
As the Ottoman Empire was rising to its heyday, one of its major competitors in the West started to grow weaker by the day. I am referring to the eastern branch of the Roman Empire which in fact is the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire, which existed from 330 AD until its fall in 717 AD, was a bastion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It was known all over the Mediterranean and even further as a place of commerce, art, and culture.
Like all great empires, it had its fair share of downfall too. The capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 brought an end to its illustrious journey. In this blog, we will discuss the transition of Constantinople from being the last stronghold of the Romans to being the head of the Ottoman Empire. Such things as economical troubles, political problems, military difficulties — these are some of the factors which made the Romans lose this battle and the empire as a whole.
The Last Days of Byzantium: A Weakened Empire
Constantinople stood as a strong representative of Christendom for centuries. Its strategic position on the Bosporus Strait made it a trade hub. Throughout history, this location was important as it linked Europe and Asia. We all know about its legendary walls that held off countless sieges. By the mid-15th century, the Byzantine Empire was what could only be described as a shadow of its former self.
Internal Division
One of the primary problems facing Byzantium was internal division. The empire had seen countless civil wars over the centuries. It was often between rival family members within the imperial family. These wars weakened the central authority and made it difficult to build a unified defense against external threats. Near the end, Constantinople was isolated and surrounded by enemies.
Religious disagreements also made things worse for their stability. The Byzantine Church split from the Roman Catholic Church to the Great Schism in 1054. This split created a big divide between the two branches of Christianity. So, when the Byzantines needed help from the West to fight off the siege of the Ottoman Empire, they got very little support from their fellow Christians.
Military Decline
The Byzantine Empire had a strong and powerful military in the Mediterranean region. They were able to defend themselves with their skilled soldiers, strong city walls, and smart political deals. By the 1400s, things had drastically changed and not in the favour of the Byzantines. At that time, they couldn’t afford the large armies or the advance equipment they once had. One of their best army was the Varangian Guard and they weren’t as strong as they used to be because of the lack of the treasury.
While all this was happening inside the empire, the Byzantines were also facing a new and dangerous enemy that was expanding fast: the Ottoman Turks. Inside the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmed II was the successor of his father (Sultan Murad II) and became the seventh Ottoman Sultan in 1451. He was brilliant and had built a mighty army. Perhaps the greatest advantage The Ottomans had over the Byzantines was gunpowder and advanced weapons. Some could say that their army was more disciplined and skillful.
The Perfect Storm for Conquest
The problems facing the Byzantine Empire were undeniable, but they had survived countless threats before.
So, what made the fall of Constantinople inevitable in 1453?
The answer lies in an assortment of external pressures, Ottoman expansion, and the resolve of Sultan Mehmed II, known as “Mehmed the Conqueror.”
Mehmed II was an interesting individual, well educated, polyglot, and interested in Islamic culture as well as Western culture.
He was ambitious, and resolute and his aim was the establishment of the Ottoman Empire as a world power.
The Rise of the Ottoman Empire
By the middle of the 1400s, the Ottoman Empire was growing stronger and bigger. It started in the late 1200s and quickly spread across parts of Anatolia (Turkey) and into the Balkans (Europe). Using both smart deals and military force, the Ottomans were able to take over new lands and gain control of nearby territories. But Constantinople was still a problem for them. It was an important city as it was the bridge between Anatolia and the Balkans.
Mehmed II’s desire to take the city was not just because of ambition but also because it had been something his ancestors had tried to do for hundreds of years without success. By capturing Constantinople he could get the control of an important trade center and that would also show the world that the Christian Byzantine Empire was at last defeated by the Islamic Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman Siege Tactics
Mehmed displayed both intelligence and strategic planning right from the beginning of the siege. His fleet laid siege to the city from the sea and built a fortress on the European side dubbed Rumeli Hisari which effectively severed the supply lines from Constantinople.
Mehmed had commanded a man named Urban to build weapons of mass destruction, well in his case massive cannons that had never been used anywhere in the world.
These types of cannons were able to hurl heavy stone spheres over extremely long distances and were known as Great Bombards.
There are a few historians who argue that these weapons were the most advanced that the Ottoman Empire had, which finally made it possible for the empire to hungrily seek out its greatest conquest – the city of Constantinople.
Now, the Byzantines also had some defending measures, such as the famous chain that fortified the Golden Horn entrance and kept their enemies’ ships at bay. Finally, defeat for Constantinople indirectly depended on how many people were willing to defend the city, in this case, around 7000 or so, while the Ottoman forces amassed anywhere between 80,000 to 100,000. The time for war was drawing near for the Byzantines and the siege day was the turning point. Everything changed on that day.
The Siege of Constantinople
Constantinople’s siege started on the 6th of April, 1453, rather silently as there isn’t much documented in history about the operations. The Ottoman army invested a lot of time and resources into strategically destroying the walls of the city. The defenders, who were made up of 800 Venetian soldiers and 700 Genoese ones, were put in an extremely dangerous situation since they could not see how much longer the city would resist. After all, these pounding walls now became shadows of perspectives.
Morale within the city was losing strength just as quickly as the walls surrounding them. It was common knowledge that without assistance coming from external actors, the battle was all but lost. The attempts to gain support through messages and requests for it to the Pope as well as to the kings of Europe, had failed or were done far too late to matter. The Ottoman Empire, after nearly fifty-three days of brutal battles on 29th May 1453, launched their final attack.
The whole of Istanbul’s siege witnessed this one to be the largest, marking a period where Mehmed’s forces attacked on both land and sea simultaneously. The defenders were completely drained and sustained more losses than were expected and could not resist the invasion. The Theodosian Walls, which were extremely fortified structures and the reason for the containment of so many previous invasions finally could not hold strong. When the Ottomans gained entry into the city, Emperor Constantine XI desperately tried to attack Ottoman soldiers but was soon overwhelmed and died during the commotion. Byzantine Empire ceased to exist.
A New Era Under Ottoman Rule
Following the capture of Constantinople, Mehmed II began using the city as his seat of power, and the change from Constantinople to Istanbul was underway. It was stated that he had the will to strive for the development of the city into the political and economic capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul.
