Fall of Constantinople
After a siege of almost two months, the army of Sultan Mehmed II took Constantinople by storm; Emperor Constantine XI was killed and the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist.
- Date
- 29 May 1453exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Mehmed II the Conqueror, Constantine XI Palaiologos, Ottoman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Republic of Genoa, Republic of Venice
- Threads
- Europe and the Ottoman Empire: the end of the Middle Ages
- Also known as
- Взятие Константинополя; Осада Константинополя (1453)
The siege began on 6 April 1453. Against some 80,000 of the sultan’s troops the city was defended by only 7,000–8,000 Byzantines and Italians, among whom the Genoese Giovanni Giustiniani stood out. Heavy Ottoman cannon battered the ancient walls, and the sultan had part of his fleet dragged overland into the Golden Horn.
Mehmed II made Constantinople the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. The fall of Byzantium, heir to the Roman Empire, is regarded as one of the dividing lines between the Middle Ages and the early modern period; Greek scholars who fled to the West helped to revive interest in the classical heritage in Italy. The date is given in the Julian calendar.
Connections
Consequences
- Siege of Belgrade (1456)4–22 July 1456 · Balkans and Anatoliahaving taken Constantinople, Mehmed II moved against Hungary
Related events
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatoliathe city founded by Constantine fell to the Ottomans in 1453
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe sack of 1204 crippled Byzantium, which never regained its former strength and fell in 1453
- Battle of Castillon17 July 1453 · Western and Central Europetwo turning-point battles of 1453, both decided by artillery; that year is often taken as the end of the Middle Ages
- Marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologina12 November 1472 · Eastern EuropeSophia was a niece of the emperor who died in the fall of Constantinople
Same participants
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
- Travels of Marco Polo1271–1295 · East Asiavia Republic of Venice
Same place
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 5 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of Castillon17 July 1453
- Gutenberg Biblebetween 1454 and 1455
- Wars of the Roses22 May 1455 – between 1485 and 1487
East Asia
- Tumu Crisis1 September 1449
Latin America
- Reign of Pachacuti — birth of the Inca Empire1438–1471
- Construction of Machu Picchubetween 1420 and 1450
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Fall of Constantinople
- Wikipedia (Russian): Падение Константинополя (1453)
- Рансимен С. Падение Константинополя в 1453 году. — М.: Наука, 1983.
- Wikidata: Q160077