Constantinople: The Byzantine Empire

Constantinople, a city founded by Constantine The great, as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world. By 1453 more than one hundred and fifty thousand Ottoman Turks, lead by Sultan Mehmed II, had taken the city, claimed it for Islam, renamed it Istanbul and ended the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople had fought many battles, and defeated many sieges. This time the Ottoman army was well prepared, and it was too much for the greatest metropolis of the time to with stand. The siege lasted from April 6 to May 29, 1453 this was one hundred years after a devastating black plague that killed half of Constantinople and previous attacks from the Latin’s, Bulgarians, and the one who finished them off Ottomans.

Constantine The Great may have built Constantinople, but it took the place of a Greek city-state that had been around for much longer. The small city on the Hellespont gave its name to the empire, Byzantium. In Greek Byzantion, was constructed in 657 B.C.E. and long after that the empire built around has been called the Byzantine Empire ever since. In 196 C.E. Byzantium was burned to the ground in a dynastic dispute. In the very same year roman emperor Septimius Serverus began the reconstruction of the city and named it Augusta Antonina (Ehrlich, B. "Istanbul." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.) Septimius Serverus doubled the city’s size and 3 small walls around the city. Overall the city was revitalized, with new roads official buildings, public baths, and other improvements to the city. The city grew and thrived as a new metropolis under the Roman Empire, and by 326 Constantine The Great noticed.

He officially named it the capital on N...

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...the front lines and the rest took up the rear of the army, with this the jannisaries gained political importance and began to be the forte of the military. So with a strong infantry the ottoman army was preparing to take the great metropolis.

The ottomans also had many forms of artillery at the battle of Constantinople, all of which were necessary to break through the thick walls. With the massive walls of Constantinople something more than siege towers would be needed to get past. The ottomans main artillery was gun wagons, top arabalari, were kept near the sultan. They would be used to support the Jannisaries in their head on charges. A common tactic would be to rush the cavalry on the side and send the jannisaries up the middle, then wheel them both to the side to create a path for the artillery (http:// www.theottomans .org/english/campaigns_army/index_3.asp).