April 5, 1453 Christian capital Byzantine Empire, the city of Constantinople was besieged by the Seljuk Turks, under the leadership of Sultan Mehmed II, both from the sea and from land.
Mehmed II sent parliamentarians to the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Dragash Palaeologus with a proposal to surrender Constantinople, but was refused. On April 6, 1453, hostilities began.

Constantinople from all sides it was surrounded by fortress walls up to 5 meters high, from the north the banks of the capital are washed by the waters of the Golden Horn, from the east and south - by the Sea of ​​Marmara, and the western fortifications of the capital, especially powerful, passed overland and were protected by a wide (up to 20 meters) a moat filled with water, up to 7 meters deep. Constantinople also had a second row of fortress walls up to 10 meters high with 13-meter watch towers, and behind them a third row of fortress walls 12 meters high with 23-meter towers. A powerful artillery bombardment of Constantinople lasted for a week, up to a hundred cannonballs a day were fired from cannons of various calibers around the city.


On April 18, 1453, the Turkish army moved to storm the fortifications, but the attack was repulsed.

On April 20, three Genoese and one Byzantine ships were approaching Constantinople with weapons and food, which were extremely lacking in the defending capital, but they were surrounded by dozens of Turkish ships, which tried to set them on fire or board them. 2-fleet-konst

The excellent training and discipline of the Christian Greek sailors prevailed over the enemy. The Turkish fleet was defeated in a battle at sea.

Despite the numerical superiority, the Turks were unable to capture the ships with weapons and food, which escaped from the Turkish encirclement and entered the Golden Horn, locked by an iron chain that was held on wooden rafts.

One end of the chain was attached to the wall of Constantinople, and the other to the wall of the Genoese fortress of Galata on the opposite side of the Golden Horn.
Sultan Mehmed II was enraged , but immediately invented a new strategic military move, which significantly complicated the situation of the besieged Constantinople.

Mehmed II ordered to build a road with wooden runners and carts, on which the Turks dragged many of their ships on April 22 to the Golden Horn. Got stuck naval battle, once again showing the superiority of the Byzantine fleet, the Turkish ships retreated but remained in the bay and threatened the city from the north.

The Turks installed cannons on the rafts and fired at the city from the side of the bay.

Constantinople was a city with over a million inhabitants. There are not very many such cities even now, and in the Middle Ages there were simply no cities with a million inhabitants anywhere in the world. By medieval standards Constantinople was the most big city the world.

In early May, food shortages in Constantinople became palpable. The emperor again raised funds from churches and private individuals, bought up all the food available and distributed a modest but sufficient ration to each family.

Emperors Constantine and Justinian before the Mother of God

The nobles offered 88 the Eastern Roman emperor Constantine to leave the capital, and he answered them: “ Koliko of the tsars were formerly less, great and glorious, so they suffered and grew older for their fatherland; Am I not going to eat the last of this? Neither, my lords, nor, but let me die here with you. "

On May 7 and 12, 1453, the Turks again stormed the fortress walls the Byzantine capital, which were increasingly destroyed due to continuous shelling. With the help of experienced miners, the Turks dug tunnels under the walls of the city, but the besieged dug counter tunnels and blew up the Turkish passages, burned wooden supports and smoked the Turks out of the passages with smoke.

The Turks besieged Constantinople for two months. Such a long time was enough to destroy the fortress walls and crush the inhabitants of the city.

The last Byzantine emperor Constantine Palaeologus asked for Christian help from the Pope, but he demanded in return for the unification of the Western and Eastern Christian churches under the rule of Rome. Konstantin refused.

May 23, 1453 the defenders of Constantinople saw on the horizon a Byzantine brigantine pursued by Turkish ships.

The inhabitants of Constantinople had a hope that, at last, the long-awaited help came from the Western Roman Empire, from the Pope. It was the same brigantine that 20 days ago went in search of allied ships - Romans, Venetians and Genoese, now she came back with nothing.

Byzantium's allies were playing a double game , not wanting to openly declare war on the Turkish sultan and counting on the strength of the fortress walls and the resilience of the military garrison of Constantinople.
The Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, thanked the Venetian sailors, who were not afraid to break through to Constantinople to tell him this important but sad news, wept, realizing that from now on there were no earthly hopes for salvation.

May 24, 1453 there was a total lunar eclipse, perceived by the inhabitants of Constantinople as an unfavorable omen.

The next morning was completed procession across Constantinople with the image of the Heavenly Patroness of the City of St. Constantine - Hodegetria, but suddenly a thunderstorm began, the holy icon fell from the stretcher, hail and a heavy downpour stopped the procession.

The next day, Constantinople was shrouded in thick fog, and at night both the inhabitants of the city and the Turks saw mysterious light around the dome of Hagia Sophia.

Fall of Constantinople (1453) - the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks, which led to its final fall.

Day May 29, 1453 is undoubtedly a turning point in the history of mankind. It means the end of the old world, the world of Byzantine civilization. For eleven centuries, a city stood on the Bosphorus, where a deep mind was the subject of admiration, and the science and literature of the classical past were carefully studied and cherished. Without Byzantine researchers and scribes, we would not know much about the literature of ancient Greece today. It was also a city whose rulers for many centuries encouraged the development of a school of art that has no analogy in the history of mankind and was a fusion of the unchanging Greek common sense and deep religiosity, which saw in a work of art the embodiment of the Holy Spirit and the sanctification of the material.


In addition, Constantinople was a great cosmopolitan city, where, along with trade, the free exchange of ideas flourished and the inhabitants considered themselves not just some kind of people, but the heirs of Greece and Rome, enlightened by the Christian faith. The wealth of Constantinople was legendary at that time.


The beginning of the decline of Byzantium

Until the XI century. Byzantium was a brilliant and powerful state, a bulwark of Christianity against Islam. The Byzantines courageously and successfully performed their duty until, in the middle of the century, from the East, along with the invasion of the Turks, new threat from the side of Islam. Western Europe, meanwhile, went so far that it itself, in the person of the Normans, tried to carry out aggression against Byzantium, which was involved in a struggle on two fronts just at a time when it itself was experiencing a dynastic crisis and internal turmoil. The Normans were driven back, but the cost of this victory was the loss of Byzantine Italy. The Byzantines also had to forever give the Turks the mountainous plateaus of Anatolia - the lands that were for them the main source of replenishment of human resources for the army and food supplies. V better times its great past, the prosperity of Byzantium was associated with its domination over Anatolia. The huge peninsula, known in antiquity as Asia Minor, was one of the most populated places in the world during the time of the Romans.

Byzantium continued to play the role of a great power, while its power was actually undermined. Thus, the empire found itself between two evils; and this already difficult position of hers was further complicated by the movement that went down in history as the Crusades.

Meanwhile, the deep old religious differences between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, inflated for political purposes throughout the eleventh century, steadily deepened, until by the end of the century there was a final split between Rome and Constantinople.

The crisis came when the Crusader army, carried away by the ambition of their leaders, the jealous greed of their Venetian allies and the hostility that the West now felt towards Byzantine Church, turned to Constantinople, captured and plundered it, forming the Latin Empire on the ruins of the ancient city (1204-1261).

4th crusade and the formation of the Latin Empire


The Fourth Crusade was organized by Pope Innocent III to liberate the Holy Land from the Gentiles. The original plan of the Fourth Crusade provided for the organization of a sea expedition on Venetian ships to Egypt, which was supposed to become a springboard for an attack on Palestine, but then it was changed: the crusaders moved to the capital of Byzantium. The participants in the campaign were mainly French and Venetians.

The entry of the crusaders into Constantinople on April 13, 1204 Engraving by G. Dore

April 13, 1204 Constantinople fell ... The fortified city, which withstood the onslaught of many powerful enemies, was first captured by the enemy. What turned out to be beyond the strength of the hordes of Persians and Arabs was succeeded by the knightly army. The ease with which the crusaders took possession of the huge, well-fortified city was the result of the acute social and political crisis that the Byzantine Empire was going through at that moment. A significant role was played by the fact that part of the Byzantine aristocracy and merchants were interested in trade relations with the Latins. In other words, a kind of "fifth column" existed in Constantinople.

Capture of Constantinople (April 13, 1204) troops of the crusaders was one of the epoch-making events in medieval history. After the capture of the city, massive robberies and murders of the Greek Orthodox population began. About 2 thousand people were killed in the first days after the capture. Fires raged in the city. The fire destroyed many monuments of culture and literature that had been stored here since ancient times. The famous Constantinople Library was especially badly damaged by fire. Many valuables were taken to Venice. More than half a century ancient city on the Bosphorus cape was in the power of the crusaders. Only in 1261 did Constantinople fall into the hands of the Greeks again.

This Fourth Crusade (1204), which transformed from a "path to the Holy Sepulcher" into a Venetian commercial enterprise that led to the sack of Constantinople by the Latins, ended the Eastern Roman Empire as a supranational state and finally split Western and Byzantine Christianity.

After this campaign, Byzantium itself ceases to exist as a state for more than 50 years. Some historians, not without reason, write that after the catastrophe of 1204, actually two empires were formed - the Latin and the Venetian. Part of the former imperial lands in Asia Minor were captured by the Seljuks, in the Balkans - by Serbia, Bulgaria and Venice. Nevertheless, the Byzantines were able to retain a number of other territories and create their own states on them: the Epirus kingdom, the Nicene and Trebizond empires.


Latin empire

Having settled in Constantinople as masters, the Venetians strengthened their trade influence throughout the territory of the fallen Byzantine Empire. The capital of the Latin Empire for several decades was the seat of the most noble feudal lords. They preferred the Constantinople palaces to their castles in Europe. The nobility of the empire quickly got used to Byzantine luxury, adopted the habit of constant festivities and merry feasts. The consumerist character of life in Constantinople under the Latins became even more pronounced. The crusaders came to these lands with a sword and for half a century of their dominion did not learn to create. In the middle of the XIII century, the Latin Empire fell into complete decline. Many cities and villages, devastated and plundered during the aggressive campaigns of the Latins, could not recover. The population suffered not only from unbearable taxes and extortions, but also from the oppression of foreigners, who with contempt trampled on the culture and customs of the Greeks. The Orthodox clergy led an active preaching of the struggle against the oppressors.

In the summer of 1261 Emperor Michael VIII of Nicea Palaeologus managed to conquer Constantinople, which entailed the restoration of the Byzantine Empire and the destruction of the Latin empires.


Byzantium in the XIII-XIV centuries

After that, Byzantium was no longer the dominant power in the Christian East. She retained only a reflection of her former mystical prestige. During the XII-XIII centuries, Constantinople seemed so rich and magnificent, imperial court so lush, and the marinas and bazaars of the city so full of goods that the emperor was still regarded as a powerful ruler. However, in reality he was now only a sovereign among his equals or even more powerful. Several other Greek rulers have already appeared. To the east of Byzantium was the Trebizond Empire of the Great Comnenos. In the Balkans, Bulgaria and Serbia took turns claiming hegemony on the peninsula. In Greece - on the mainland and islands - small Frankish feudal principalities and Italian colonies arose.

The entire XIV century was a period of political setbacks for Byzantium. The Byzantines were threatened from all sides - Serbs and Bulgarians in the Balkans, the Vatican in the West, Muslims in the East.

Position of Byzantium by 1453

Byzantium, which had existed for over 1000 years, was in decline by the 15th century. It was a very small state, the power of which extended only to the capital - the city of Constantinople with the outskirts - several Greek islands off the coast of Asia Minor, several cities on the coast in Bulgaria, as well as the Morea (Peloponnese). This state could be considered an empire only conditionally, since even the rulers of several scraps of land that remained under its control did not actually depend on the central government.

At the same time, Constantinople, founded in 330, throughout the entire period of its existence as the Byzantine capital, was perceived as a symbol of the empire. Constantinople for a long time was the largest economic and cultural center of the country, and only in the XIV-XV centuries. began to decline. Its population, which in the XII century. together with the neighboring inhabitants amounted to about a million people, now it numbered no more than one hundred thousand, continuing to gradually decrease further.

The empire was surrounded by the lands of its main enemy - the Muslim state of the Ottoman Turks, who saw Constantinople as the main obstacle to the spread of their power in the region.

The Turkish state, which was rapidly gaining power and successfully fought to expand its borders both in the west and in the east, had long sought to conquer Constantinople. Several times the Turks attacked Byzantium. The offensive of the Ottoman Turks on Byzantium led to the fact that by the 30s of the 15th century. from the Byzantine Empire, only Constantinople with its surroundings remained, some islands in the Aegean Sea and Morea - an area in the south of the Peloponnese. At the beginning of the XIV century, the Ottoman Turks captured the richest trading city of Bursa, one of the important points of transit caravan trade between East and West. Very soon they took two other Byzantine cities - Nicaea (Iznik) and Nicomedia (Izmid).

The military successes of the Ottoman Turks became possible thanks to the political struggle that took place in this region between Byzantium, the Balkan states, Venice and Genoa. Very often, the rival parties sought to enlist the military support of the Ottomans, thereby ultimately facilitating the expanding expansion of the latter. The military strength of the growing state of the Turks was especially clearly demonstrated in the battle of Varna (1444), which, in fact, also decided the fate of Constantinople.

Battle of Varna - the battle between the crusaders and the Ottoman Empire near the city of Varna (Bulgaria). The battle was the end of the unsuccessful crusade against Varna of the Hungarian and Polish king Vladislav. The outcome of the battle was the complete defeat of the crusaders, the death of Vladislav and the strengthening of the Turks on the Balkan Peninsula. The weakening of the position of Christians in the Balkans allowed the Turks to take Constantinople (1453).

Attempts by the authorities of the empire to get help from the West and imprisonment for this purpose in 1439 union with the Catholic Church were rejected by the majority of the clergy and people of Byzantium. Of the philosophers, the Florentine union was approved only by the admirers of Thomas Aquinas.

All neighbors were afraid of the Turkish strengthening, especially Genoa and Venice, which had economic interests in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, Hungary, which received an aggressive powerful enemy in the south, beyond the Danube, the John Knights, who feared the loss of the remnants of their possessions in the Middle East, and the Pope Roman, who hoped to stop the rise and spread of Islam along with the Turkish expansion. However, at the decisive moment, the potential allies of Byzantium found themselves in captivity of their own intricate problems.

The most likely allies of Constantinople were the Venetians. Genoa remained neutral. The Hungarians have not yet recovered from their recent defeat. Wallachia and the Serbian states were in vassal dependence on the Sultan, and the Serbs even allocated auxiliary troops to the Sultan's army.

Preparing the Turks for war

The Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror, declared the conquest of Constantinople as the goal of his life. In 1451, he concluded a treaty favorable to Byzantium with the emperor Constantine XI, but already in 1452 he violated it by capturing the Rumeli-Hissar fortress on the European coast of the Bosphorus. Constantine XI Paleologue turned to the West for help, in December 1452 he solemnly confirmed the union, but this caused only general discontent. The commander of the Byzantine fleet, Luca Notara, publicly stated that "he would prefer the Turkish turban to dominate the City, rather than the papal tiara."

In early March 1453, Mehmed II announced the recruitment of an army; in total he had 150 (according to other sources - 300) thousand troops, equipped with powerful artillery, 86 military and 350 transport ships. In Constantinople, there were 4973 inhabitants capable of carrying weapons, about 2 thousand mercenaries from the West and 25 ships.

The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who vowed to take Constantinople, carefully and carefully prepared for the upcoming war, realizing that he would have to deal with a powerful fortress, from which the armies of other conquerors had already retreated more than once. Unusual in thickness, the walls were practically invulnerable to siege engines and even standard artillery at that time.

The Turkish army consisted of 100 thousand soldiers, over 30 warships and about 100 small high-speed vessels. This number of ships immediately allowed the Turks to establish dominance in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

The city of Constantinople was located on a peninsula formed by the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Golden Horn. The city quarters facing the sea and the coast of the bay were covered by city walls. A special system of fortifications made of walls and towers covered the city from the land - from the west. The Greeks were relatively calm behind the fortress walls on the shores of the Sea of ​​Marmara - the sea current here was fast and did not allow the Turks to land troops under the walls. The Golden Horn was considered a vulnerable spot.


View of Constantinople


The Greek fleet defending Constantinople consisted of 26 ships. The city had several cannons and a significant supply of spears and arrows. Fire weapons, like soldiers, were clearly not enough to repel the assault. In total, there were about 7 thousand fit Roman soldiers, not including allies.

The West was in no hurry to provide assistance to Constantinople, only Genoa sent 700 soldiers in two galleys, led by the condottieri Giovanni Giustiniani, and Venice - 2 warships. The brothers of Constantine, the rulers of Morea, Dmitry and Thomas, were engaged in a quarrel among themselves. The inhabitants of Galata, an extraterritorial quarter of the Genoese on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus, declared their neutrality, but in reality helped the Turks, hoping to preserve their privileges.

The beginning of the siege


April 7, 1453 Mehmed II began a siege. The Sultan sent parliamentarians with a proposal to surrender. In case of surrender, he promised the urban population the preservation of life and property. Emperor Constantine replied that he was ready to pay any tribute that Byzantium could withstand, and to cede any territories, but refused to surrender the city. At the same time, Constantine ordered the Venetian sailors to march along the city walls, demonstrating that Venice was an ally of Constantinople. The Venetian fleet was one of the strongest in the Mediterranean basin, and this should have influenced the determination of the Sultan. Despite the refusal, Mehmed gave the order to prepare for the assault. The Turkish army had high morale and determination, unlike the Romans.

The Turkish fleet had its main parking on the Bosphorus, its main task was to break through the fortifications of the Golden Horn, in addition, the ships were supposed to blockade the city and prevent the allies from helping Constantinople.

Initially, success was with the besieged. The Byzantines blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn Bay with a chain, and the Turkish fleet could not approach the walls of the city. The first assault attempts failed.

On April 20, 5 ships with the defenders of the city (4 - Genoese, 1 - Byzantine) defeated a squadron of 150 Turkish ships in battle.

But on April 22, the Turks transported 80 ships on dry land to the Golden Horn. An attempt by the defenders to burn these ships failed, since the Genoese from Galata noticed the preparations and informed the Turks.

Fall of Constantinople


In Constantinople itself defeatist sentiments reigned. Giustiniani advised Constantine XI to surrender the city. Defense funds were plundered. Luca Notara concealed the money allocated for the fleet, hoping to buy it off from the Turks.

May 29 started early in the morning the last 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 in the streets of the city, Emperor Constantine XI fell in the battle, and when the Turks found his wounded body, they chopped off his head and put him on a pole. For three days there were robberies and violence in Constantinople. The Turks killed in a row everyone they met on the streets: men, women, children. Streams of blood flowed down the steep streets of Constantinople from the hills of Petra to the Golden Horn.

The Turks broke into monasteries and monasteries. Some young monks, preferring martyrdom to dishonor, threw themselves into wells; monks and elderly nuns followed the ancient tradition of the Orthodox Church, which prescribed not to resist.

The houses of the inhabitants were also looted one by one; each group of robbers hung out a small flag at the entrance as a sign that there was nothing to take in the house. The inhabitants of the houses were taken away along with their property. Everyone who fell from exhaustion was immediately killed; they did the same with many babies.

Scenes of mass abuse of shrines took place in churches. Many crucifixes, adorned with jewels, were carried out of the temples with Turkish turbans dashing on them.

In the temple of Chora, the Turks left intact the mosaics and frescoes, but destroyed the icon of Our Lady of Hodegetria - the most sacred image of it in all of Byzantium, executed, according to legend, by Saint Luke himself. It was brought here from the Church of the Virgin near the palace at the very beginning of the siege, so that this shrine, being as close to the walls as possible, would inspire their defenders. The Turks pulled the icon out of the setting and split it into four parts.

But how contemporaries describe the capture of the greatest temple in all of Byzantium - the Cathedral of St. Sofia. "The church was still filled with people. The Holy Liturgy had already ended and Matins were in progress. When a noise was heard outside, the huge bronze doors of the temple were closed. Those gathered inside prayed for a miracle that alone could save them. But their prayers were in vain. It didn't take long for the doors to collapse under impacts from the outside. The worshipers were trapped. A few old and crippled people were killed on the spot; most of the Turks tied or chained to each other in groups, and scarves and scarves torn from women were used as fetters. Many handsome girls and boys, as well as richly dressed nobles, were almost torn to pieces when the soldiers who had captured them fought among themselves, considering their prey. The priests continued to read prayers at the altar until they were also seized ... "

Sultan Mehmed II himself entered the city only on June 1. With an escort of a select group of the Janissary Guards, accompanied by his viziers, he rode slowly through the streets of Constantinople. Everything around, where the soldiers had been, was devastated and devastated; churches were desecrated and plundered, houses - uninhabited, shops and warehouses - broken and taken apart. He rode on horseback into the church of St. Sophia, ordered to knock off the cross and turn it into the world's largest mosque.



Cathedral of st. Sofia in Constantinople

Immediately after the capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II first of all issued a decree “granting freedom to all who survived”, but many residents of the city were killed by Turkish soldiers, many became slaves. For the early restoration of the population, Mehmed ordered the transfer of the entire population of the city of Aksaray to the new capital.

The Sultan granted the Greeks the rights of a self-governing community within the empire; the community was to be headed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, responsible to the Sultan.

In subsequent years, the last territories of the empire were occupied (Morea - in 1460).

The 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. The former capital of the 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 Venetian Republic was playing 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 another couple of weeks, but this would only have prolonged the agony.

Rome was fully aware of the Turkish danger and understood that the whole of Western Christianity could 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 fateful news came from Constantinople, he sent out his messages, calling for active action. On September 30, 1453, the Pope sent out a bull to all Western sovereigns announcing the Crusade. Each sovereign was ordered to shed his blood and his subjects for a holy cause, as well as to allocate a tenth of his income to it. Both Greek cardinal - Isidore and Vissarion - actively supported his efforts. Vissarion himself wrote to the Venetians, simultaneously accusing them and begging them to end the wars in Italy and to concentrate all their forces on the fight against the Antichrist.

However, no Crusade ever happened. And although the sovereigns eagerly caught messages about the death of Constantinople, and the writers composed sorrowful elegies, although the French composer Guillaume Dufay wrote a special funeral song and sang it in all French lands, no one was ready to act. King Frederick III of Germany was poor and powerless, since he did not have real power over the German princes; neither from the political nor from the financial side, he could not participate in the Crusade. King Charles VII of France was busy rebuilding his country after a long and devastating war with England. The Turks were somewhere far away; he had better things to do in his own home. England, which suffered from Hundred Years War even larger 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 plunged into the chaos of the wars of the Scarlet and White Rose. None of the kings showed their interest, with the exception of the Hungarian king Vladislav, who, of course, had every reason for concern. But he had a bad relationship with his army commander. And without him and without allies, he could not dare to undertake any venture.

Thus, although Western Europe and was shocked that the great historic Christian city was in the hands of the infidels, no papal bull could prompt her to act. The very fact that the Christian states failed to come to the aid of Constantinople showed their obvious unwillingness to fight for the faith if their immediate interests were not affected.

The Turks quickly occupied the rest of the empire as well. The Serbs were the first to suffer - Serbia became a theater of military operations between the Turks and the Hungarians. In 1454, the Serbs were forced, under the threat of the use of force, to give the Sultan part of their territory. But already in 1459 the whole of Serbia was in the hands of the Turks, with the exception of Belgrade, which until 1521 remained in the hands of the Hungarians. The neighboring kingdom of Bosnia was conquered by the Turks 4 years later.

Meanwhile, the last remnants 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 southeast of the Peloponnese, in the lost villages of Maina, into the harsh mountain spurs of which not a single Turk dared to penetrate, was there a semblance of freedom.

Soon all the Orthodox territories in the Balkans were in the hands of the Turks. Serbia and Bosnia were enslaved. Albania fell in January 1468. Moldova recognized its vassal dependence on the Sultan back in 1456.


Many historians in the 17th and 18th centuries. considered the fall of Constantinople 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 exodus of the Greeks to Italy caused the Renaissance there.

Russia - the heir of Byzantium


After the death of Byzantium, Russia remained the only free Orthodox state. The baptism of Rus was one of the most glorious deeds of the Byzantine Church. Now this daughter country was becoming stronger than its parent, and the Russians were well aware of this. Constantinople, as it was believed in Russia, fell as a punishment for its sins, for apostasy, agreeing to unite with the Western Church. The Russians vehemently rejected the Florentine union and expelled its supporter, Metropolitan Isidore, imposed on them by the Greeks. And now, having preserved their Orthodox faith untainted, they turned out to be the owners of the only state that survived from the Orthodox world, whose power, moreover, was constantly growing. "Constantinople fell," wrote the Metropolitan of Moscow in 1458, "because he departed from the true Orthodox faith. But in Russia this faith is still alive, - the Faith of the Seven Councils, which Constantinople handed it over to the Grand Duke Vladimir. On earth there is only one true Church - Russian Church ".

After marriage with the niece of the last Byzantine emperor of the Palaeologus dynasty Grand Duke Moscow Ivan III declared himself the heir to the Byzantine Empire. Henceforth, the great mission of preserving Christianity passed to Russia. “The Christian empires have fallen,” wrote the monk Philotheus in 1512 to his lord, the Grand Duke, or Tsar, Basil III, “instead of them there is only the state of our ruler ... Two Romes have fallen, but the third is standing, and the fourth will never happen ... You are the only Christian the sovereign in the world, the sovereign over all true faithful Christians. "

Thus, in the entire Orthodox world, only Russians have gained some benefit from the fall of Constantinople; and for Orthodox Christians of the former Byzantium, groaning in captivity, the knowledge that there is still a great, albeit very distant, sovereign of the same faith with them, served as a consolation and hope that he would protect them and, perhaps, someday come save them and give them back their freedom. The Sultan-Conqueror almost did not pay attention to the fact of the existence of Russia. Russia was far away. Sultan Mehmed had other concerns that were much closer. The conquest of Constantinople undoubtedly made his state one of the great powers of Europe, and from now on he was to play a corresponding role in European politics. He realized that Christians were his enemies and he needed to be vigilant so that they did not unite against him. The Sultan could fight Venice or Hungary, as well as, perhaps, with those few of their allies that the Pope could muster, but he could only fight one of them separately. No one came to the aid of Hungary in the fateful battle on the Mohacs field. No one sent reinforcements to Rhodes to the Knights-John. No one worried about the loss of Cyprus by the Venetians.

Prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

April 5, 1453 Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror spread out his camping tent on the European shore of the Bosphorus. The siege of the City began. That's right - with a capital letter. For the simple reason that Constantinople was the only one. The only real center of European civilization. His loss finally divided the course of history into "before" and "after".

There was a strange attitude towards this most important episode. They say, and so everything went to the fact that Constantinople would be captured by the Turks. Their darkness and darkness, and in the City they only know how to pray and perform religious processions. Anyway, the time of Byzantium had already come to an end - it had grown decrepit and possessed only a shadow of its former greatness.

Mehmed II Fatih. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

This, to put it mildly, does not correspond to reality. Even from a purely military point of view, the "doom" of Constantinople is a moot point. Beautiful songs about the invincible stern fighters of Islam and the pampered Greeks who do not know from which end to take up the sword are nothing more than the fruit of unscrupulous propaganda.

In reality, the capture of the City cost Mehmed II a very, very large blood. And this despite the fact that he took the preparation very responsibly.

So, Constantinople was isolated from the land side and from the Black Sea side, where the Sultan erected the Rumelikhisar fortress in the shortest possible time, which had an unofficial, but very characteristic name - Bogaz-kesen. That is, "Cutting the throat."

For the siege and assault, Mehmed prepared an army with a total strength of up to 150 thousand people, which included directly assault detachments, sappers and artillery. In those days, artillery was considered strong if there was one gun per thousand soldiers, firing 3 to 5 shots per day. The bombing of Constantinople was carried out daily for 6 weeks. From 100 to 150 shots were fired per day, and the bombards of the Hungarian engineer Urban were used quite effectively. In particular, "Basilica", which threw stone cores weighing half a ton at a distance of up to 2 km. In a word, everything was prepared skillfully, it's a sin to complain. The city with a population of 50 thousand and an army of no more than 10 thousand was to immediately fall at the feet of the Sultan.

Commons.wikimedia.org

But he didn't fall. If you draw up a schedule of battles from April 6 to May 29, it turns out that the Turks were defeated over and over again.

April 17-18- a night attack by the Turks, a four-hour battle. The positions were held, the attack was repulsed without loss and with great damage to the Turks.

20 April three Venetian galleys with weapons and gold, as well as one Greek ship with grain break into the besieged Constantinople. The commander of the Turkish fleet Baltoglu is losing this battle outright. The Sultan, in a rage, orders him to be flogged.

May 7. The Turks, with the help of artillery, make a significant gap in the area of ​​the gate of St. Roman. The use of the Hungarian bombard "Basilica" is almost virtuoso. But they cannot build on the success - the Greeks counterattack, the Turks flee.

16th of May. Greeks blow up a Turkish tunnel under the walls of Constantinople. The captured Turks taken in the underground battle surrender all the other mines. They explode or are flooded with water.

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After all these snaps on the nose, the "invincible" Mehmed the Conqueror takes a time out. His mood is depressed. First advisor to the Sultan, Ali Pasha, says: “Regarding this, I predicted from the very beginning how it would be, and often told you this, but you did not listen to me. And now again, if you want it, it would be good to leave here so that something worse does not happen to us. "

Nevertheless, on the night of May 28-29 an attack is prescribed. And at first it does not bring success to the Turks. Selected assault troops are ready to flinch. Some even run. However, reliable people stand behind them. Chaushi and ravdukhs - police and judicial ranks of the Ottomans. Who at this critical moment did not blunder: “They began to beat the retreating ones with iron rods and whips, so that they would not show their backs to the enemy. Who can describe the screams, screams and sorrowful groans of the beaten! "

But this does not bring success either. Assault squads still roll back. In the only place where several hundred Turks managed to break into the city through the gaps, they were simply surrounded and massacred to the last man.

The latter is thrown on the scales. This is what the Sultan promises to his "invincible" army, which seems to be a fervent believer and seems to be ready to fight in the name of the lofty ideals of Islam: “If we win, the salary that I pay will be doubled from today and until the end of life. And for three days the whole city will be yours. What you rob there - gold utensils or clothes, or prisoners, there will be men and women, children and babies, you are free to dispose of their life and death, no one will demand an answer from you. " The call to animal, base instincts is indeed the last resort. It does not smell of any ideals - only blood, violence, atrocity.

The last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire Constantine XI understood it perfectly. This is evidenced by his speech before the final assault on the City. “Those who go against us are like dumb animals. Let your shields and swords and spears be directed against them. Think so that you hunt many wild pigs so that your enemies know that they are not dealing with dumb animals like themselves, but with their masters and masters, with the descendants of the Hellenes and Romans. "

reproduction

The city was captured in the evening. The descendants of the Greeks and Romans could not keep him. A brutal force took over, interrupting the correct course of history and wiping out the last island of antiquity from the face of the earth, where a living European civilization was preserved until the last moment. The West will come to its values ​​again only after the Renaissance. Which would not be needed in the presence of Constantinople - the successor and heir of Greece and Rome.

Tuesday night May 29, 1453, in the second hour, along the entire perimeter of the walls of Constantinople, the storming of the Byzantine capital by the troops of the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II began.

The first to attack were the bashibuzuki (bashi-bozuk, baş - head, bozuk - spoiled, that is, "with a faulty head", "uncontrollable"), they were mercenary, irregular units of the Turkish army, armed with 3-meter spears, sabers and daggers ... Sultan Mehmed did not hope for their victory, but with their help he wanted to wear down the defenders of the city in a battle that lasted 2 hours.

Behind the Bashi-bazouks, a second wave of attack began, consisting of janissary. The fortress wall at the gate of St. Romanus was pierced by artillery and the Turks rushed into the gap with triumphant shouts. The Byzantines under the command of the emperor surrounded them and killed most of them, the attackers withdrew again. After a four-hour battle, elite regiments of the Janissaries went on the attack.
In the north-west of Constantinople, in the Blachernae area, in the city wall there was a well-disguised secret palace door - Kerko-port, which was used for night outings. At this time, the Turks discovered that Kerkoporta was not locked, and burst through it into the second line of defense and raised the Turkish flag.

In the battle, one of the main leaders of the defense, the Genoese Giustiniani, was mortally wounded. When the Genoese saw that their commander was being carried away through the gates of the inner fortress wall, they rushed after him in panic. The Greeks were left alone, repulsed several attacks of the Janissaries, but were soon thrown from the outer fortifications and killed. Meeting no resistance, the Turks climbed the inner wall and saw the Turkish flag on the tower above Kerkoporta.

Constantine returned to the gates of the inner fortress wall, through which Giustiniani was carried away, and tried to gather the Greeks around him. He was with him cousin Theophilus, faithful companion of John and the Spanish knight Francis. The four of us defending the gates of the inner fortress wall, they fell in battle.

The head of Emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus was brought to Sultan Mehmed, and he ordered it to be embalmed in order to carry it around the palaces of the Muslim rulers. Constantine's body, identified by shoes with two-headed eagles, was buried, the place fell into oblivion.


Constantinople fell, the Turks who burst into the city fought with the besieged troops remaining on the walls of the city. Until noon on May 29, Cretan sailors held their defenses in the towers, out of respect for their fortitude and courage, the Turks allowed them to board ships and leave the city.

Metropolitan Isidore, who commanded one of the Latin detachments, having learned that the city had fallen, tried to hide, changing his clothes, but was captured, remained unrecognized and was soon ransomed. The Pope proclaimed Isidore in partibus infidelium patriarch of Constantinople, and blessed him for a crusade against "the forerunner of Antichrist and the son of Satan," but the struggle was already over.

A whole squadron of ships filled with refugees from the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire left for the West. The Turkish fleet was inactive, the sailors, abandoning their ships, rushed to plunder Constantinople, but some of the Turkish ships blocked the exit of refugees, Byzantine and Italian ships from the Golden Horn.
The fate of the inhabitants of Constantinople was terrible. Children, old people and cripples were killed on the spot, young people were captured to be sold into slavery. Many Christians prayed in Hagia Sophia, the Turks broke down massive metal doors and burst into the temple of Divine Wisdom, tied up and led out the prisoners. In the evening, Sultan Mehmed entered the cathedral and released the remaining Christians and priests.

The fate of not only Christians was deplorable, but also the fate of Christian shrines. The Turks destroyed and burned icons, holy relics and holy books, plundered church utensils and precious icon frames. Of the great many Christian churches of Constantinople, not many have survived, perhaps at the request of the Christian vassals of Sultan Mehmed who participated in the siege. The Sultan intended to cleanse the city of the indigenous inhabitants and repopulate it, but he did not want to expel the Christians - Greeks, Italians from the city, the Ottoman Empire lacked sculptors, architects and scientists who knew European sciences and craftsmanship.

Fragment of a panorama dedicated to the fall of Constantinople

By the middle of the 15th century, the Byzantine Empire (or rather, what was left of it) looked like a kind of relic, a relic of the ancient world that had long since sunk. A small patch bridging the coast of the Bosphorus, several small enclaves in the south of Greece in the Peloponnese - that's all that remains of the once huge state, whose possessions stretched in three parts of the world. On the northern coast of Asia Minor, there was another public education formally related to Byzantium - the Trebizond Empire, formed after the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204. Weak, torn apart by internal strife and fell into dependence on its neighbors, this state will cease to exist in 1461.

A new force came from mountainous Asia Minor. At first, the inhabitants of the Balkans felt her presence, but soon an unpleasant chill swept across Europe. The state formation that took shape on the ruins of the Seljuk sultanate under the leadership of Osman I quickly began to absorb friends and enemies and, thanks to a sparing attitude towards the vanquished and religious tolerance, spread over most of Asia Minor. In 1352 the Ottomans first landed on the European coast of the Dardanelles. At first, the threat was not taken seriously - and in vain. Already in 1389 the Turks defeated the united Serb army in the Kosovo field. While Serbia was bleeding to death, Europe was arguing about the age-old questions: "What is to be done?" and "Who will lead?" The belated outcome of the debate was the Battle of Nikopol in 1396, essentially the last major crusade. The "national team" of Europe (and many generally preferred the role of spectators) was utterly defeated. The Balkans simply fell into the hands of the Ottomans - Byzantium was reduced to a tiny size, the Bulgarian kingdom was fragmented. The closest neighbor, the Kingdom of Hungary, was only gathering forces to resist aggression.

Tarnished gold

The seizure of Constantinople worried the rulers of the Muslim East from the period of the Arab conquests, that is, from the VIII century. The Turks called the capital of the Christian Empire nothing else but "Kizil-elma", "Red Apple", meaning the value of this still solid tidbit. Nineteen-year-old Sultan Mehmed II, poet and dreamer (in between inter-military affairs), having established himself on the throne in 1451, decided to finally get rid of such an annoying neighbor as the Byzantine Empire in the face of its tiny fragments. The position of the young sultan, who had recently taken the helm of the state after the death of his father Murad, was very precarious, and a convincing victory was necessary to increase, as they say now, political rating and his own prestige. There was no better candidate than Constantinople, which is actually in the middle of the Ottoman possessions. In addition, the Turks seriously feared that Venice or Genoa might use the convenient harbor as an anchorage or naval base for their fleet. Initially, the neighbors, and the Byzantine emperor, too, viewed Mehmed II as an inexperienced young man - this was their mistake. The "inexperienced" young man, who, by the way, (probably out of inexperience) ordered his younger brother Akhmet to be drowned in the pool, had very competent and warlike advisers - Zaganos Pasha and Shihab al-Din Pasha.


The last emperor of Byzantium Constantine XI, a monument in Athens

Emperor Constantine XI took rather rash diplomatic steps and began to seek concessions for Byzantium, hinting at the possibility of unleashing civil war inside the Ottoman state. The fact is that one of the pretenders to the throne, the grandson of Sultan Bayezid I Orhan, lived in Constantinople as a political emigrant. Such maneuvers of tiny Byzantium infuriated the Turks and further strengthened Mehmed in his desire to take possession of the ancient city. The young sultan took into account the mistakes of his predecessors - it was not the first time that the Turks besieged Constantinople. The last time this attempt was made by his father Murad II in the summer of 1422. At that time, the Turkish army did not have either a sufficient fleet or powerful artillery. After an unsuccessful bloody assault, the siege was lifted. Now, however, the future campaign was treated with the utmost seriousness and thoroughness.

By order of Mehmed II, the Rumeli-Hisar fortress, which in translation means "a knife at the throat", began to be erected by force on the European coast of the Bosphorus. Several thousand workers were herded to build this fortification. To speed up the process, stone from nearby dismantled Greek monasteries was widely used. The construction of Rumeli-hisar was completed in record time (no more than five months) by the spring of 1452. A garrison of 400 men was placed in the fortress, armed with impressive bombards, under the command of Firuz-bey. His duties included the collection of duties from ships passing by. Not everyone was ready for such changes - a large Venetian ship passing by the fortress refused to stop for inspection, after which it was immediately sunk by a large stone cannonball. The team was beheaded, and the dull captain was impaled. Since then, those who do not want to pay for the passage have noticeably decreased.

In addition to the newly-built fortress, a newly-minted Turkish fleet appeared in the Bosphorus - at first in small numbers: 6 galleys, 18 galiots and 16 transports. But its increase, given the resources of the Ottomans, was only a matter of time. The emperor, quite clearly understanding what threat the Turkish preparations were fraught with and against whom they were directed, sent a delegation to Mehmed II with the appropriate gifts - to find out the intentions. The Sultan did not accept them. The persistent Emperor twice sent ambassadors for "dialogue", but in the end, angry either by Constantine's obsession or by his lack of understanding, Mehmed ordered to simply behead the Byzantine "commission for the settlement of the crisis." This was the actual declaration of war.

It cannot be said that they sat idly by in Constantinople. At the very beginning of the Turkish preparations, embassies were sent to the West with requests for help. Having signed the Florentine Union with the Catholic Church in 1439 and recognizing the domination of the latter, Byzantium counted on the support of the Pope and other heads of state in Europe. This union itself, which actually subordinated Orthodoxy to the Holy See, was perceived by part of the clergy and the public far from unambiguously. This alliance was adopted in the face of an ever-growing threat from the East in the hope that in the event of direct aggression against Byzantium, "the West will help us." And now such a moment has come. Byzantine ambassadors pounded the doorsteps in the Pope's residence in the hope of getting some kind of guarantees. Indeed, Pope Nicholas V appealed to the European monarchs to organize another Crusade. But the enthusiastic appeals were met with little enthusiasm. Kingdoms large and small were absorbed in their own problems - no one showed a desire to fight because of "some Greeks." In addition, for a long time Orthodoxy was presented by the Roman Catholic ideology as a dangerous heresy, which also played a role. As a result, Constantine XI, in vain expecting help from the "Western partners", found himself face to face with a large Ottoman state, which in terms of combat power surpassed tiny Byzantium by an order of magnitude.

Sultan prepares

Mehmed spent the entire autumn of 1452 in continuous military preparations. Troops were drawn to the then Turkish capital of Edirne, and artisans throughout the country began to manufacture. While the practical component of the war was being created to the sound of blacksmith's hammers, the Sultan paid tribute to the theory: he carefully studied various treatises on the art of war, manuscripts and drawings. The famous Italian scientist and traveler Kyriako Pizzikolli, or Kyriako from Ancona, provided him with great help in comprehending the difficult science. Another "military expert" who provided the Turks with significant assistance in the future siege of Constantinople was the Hungarian cannon master Urban. At first, he offered his services to Constantinople, but the reward that was promised there did not suit him. According to one version, the Emperor was stingy, but rather, the extremely impoverished Empire simply did not have the means. Mehmed asked if the master could make a weapon capable of piercing the walls of Constantinople, and received an affirmative answer. The first cannons produced by Urban were tested near the Sultan's palace and, after successful tests, were sent to the armament of the Rumeli-Hisar fortress.

Preparations were also made in Byzantium. Constantinople, although it was considered by inertia to be a Great City, but rather overstayed and lost its former gloss. On the eve of the imminent siege, the exodus of the population began from the capital of Byzantium, and by its beginning no more than 50 thousand inhabitants remained in the once almost million city. By order of Constantine, the creation of food supplies began, the inhabitants of nearby villages were resettled to the city. A special fund was created, where funds and donations not only from the state, but also from individuals and, of course, the church, flocked. Many temples and monasteries donated expensive jewelry for minting coins.


Condottiere Giovanni Giustiniani Longo

From a military point of view, everything was unfavorable. First, the walls of Constantinople, although they had an impressive appearance, were dilapidated and required repair. The required number of soldiers was also not there - all that was left was to rely on mercenaries. Concerned about the sinking of their ship by the Turks, and most importantly, the threat of losing trade with the entire Black Sea, the Venetians sent small contingents of troops and equipment to Constantinople, while they themselves began to prepare a military expedition to help the Greeks. Unfortunately, the Venetian squadron arrived in the Aegean Sea too late - the city had already fallen. Genoa, the eternal commercial rival of the Venetian Republic, also took part in the military preparations. In January 1453, the then famous Condottiere Giovanni Giustiniani Longo arrived in the Golden Horn with a mercenary detachment of 700 people and large reserves of military equipment. Longo's professionalism and knowledge were so high that Constantine appointed him commander of the city's land defense. The Vatican also decided to benefit from this situation. Taking advantage of the predicament of the Greeks, Cardinal Isidore was sent to Byzantium with a proposal to go beyond the framework of the Union of Florence and unite both churches into one. A detachment of 200 archers brought with him was regarded as the vanguard of a huge army, and on December 12, 1452, a joint service with Catholics was served in the Church of St. Sophia. The population and part of the clergy reacted with doubt to such an idea, given the long-standing "favorable" attitude of the Vatican to Orthodoxy and its obvious self-interest in a difficult situation. Riots broke out in Constantinople. The promised help never came. As a result, to defend the walls with a total length of 26 km, Constantine XI had no more than 10 thousand people at his disposal, of which 3 thousand were foreign mercenaries. The naval forces of the besieged did not exceed 26 ships, of which only 10 were Greek. The once huge Byzantine fleet became, like the mighty empire itself.

By the beginning of 1453, Turkish preparations were in progress. Mehmed II himself planned to seize Constantinople in a short time, until Europe came to their senses and moved from "letters of support" to something more substantial. For this purpose, there was not only a large and rapidly forming land army but also the fleet. In addition, great hopes were pinned on the activities of the "field design bureau" under the leadership of Urban. True, the sultan wanted to capture the city in a relatively intact state and with a more or less preserved population as future subjects. The plans of the defending side were reduced to the maximum prolongation of the siege in the expectation that the Turks would not have enough resources and patience, but most importantly, high hopes were pinned on the help of Europe. As it turned out, these were vain hopes - only Venice equipped the fleet with an amphibious detachment, which arrived too late. Genoa, despite Longo's initiative, remained formally neutral. The nearest ground force in the person of the Kingdom of Hungary and the regent Janos Hunyadi demanded territorial concessions from the Greeks and was in no hurry to fight. Vassal to the Turks, the ruler of Serbia, Georgy, put up auxiliary contingents for the Turkish army. Back in the fall of 1452, the Turks invaded the Peloponnese and took control of the Byzantine enclaves there, ruled by the emperor's brothers Thomas and Demetrios. Constantinople was actually isolated - there was only the sea for communication with it.

At the end of the winter of 1453, Mehmed II arrived from Greece to Edirne, where the formation of the army was being completed. By different estimates, it numbered from 100 to 120 thousand people, including the janissary corps, regular and irregular units, as well as contingents from vassal states. Much attention was paid to the transportation of artillery, first of all, the products of the master Urban. To prepare for the transportation of huge bombards, a special engineering team of 50 carpenters and 200 excavators was created to arrange the road. Urban's main bombardment was pulled by a team of 60 oxen, assisted by 400 people.

Already in February 1453, the advanced Turkish detachments began to occupy, one after another, the Greek cities on the coast of the Marmara and Black Seas. Those who surrendered without resistance were spared their lives and even property. With these methods, the Turks stimulated the local population to change citizenship. Those who resisted were blocked and left for later. The Turkish fleet, numbering a total of more than 100 ships, mainly rowing, concentrated in Gallipoli, and in March moved to the near approaches to Constantinople, choosing as a forward base the Bay of Two Columns north of Galata. The Greeks were not yet afraid of Turkish ships, since the entrance to the Golden Horn was securely closed by a massive metal chain. In March, in the area of ​​the Rumeli-Hisar fortress, the crossing of the main forces of the Turkish army began: first, cavalry and janissaries, followed by infantry and carts. Everything that was possible for the defense of the city had already been done. Over the winter, the old fortifications were repaired, detailed lists of all those capable of holding weapons were created, however, when this information was brought to the emperor, he ordered to keep them in strict confidence, since the numbers were depressingly small. The defenders' forces were distributed in the most threatening directions, primarily in the gate areas. In less dangerous ones, they confined themselves to pickets and guards. The least defense was put up from the side of the Golden Horn, so far completely controlled by the Greeks and allies. The central sector of the defense with a detachment of 2 thousand mercenaries and Greeks was led by Giustiniani Longo. There was an operational reserve of one thousand soldiers. Constantinople possessed a large number of edged weapons, but there were few cannons.

On the walls!


Siege of Constantinople

On March 23, Mehmed II arrived with the main forces under the walls of Constantinople and camped about 4 km from the city. The artillery was concentrated in 14 batteries along the city wall. In the afternoon of April 2, the Greeks finally blocked the Golden Horn with a chain, and on April 6, Turkish troops began direct siege work no more than 1.5 km from Constantinople. The Rumelian (that is, the troops recruited in the Balkans) made up the left flank of the line, the Anatolian - the right. In the center, on the Maltepe hill, was the headquarters of the Sultan himself. Some of the elite units were in reserve in the camp. Christian sources, clearly exaggerating, asserted that at least 200 thousand Turks gathered under the walls of Constantinople, although more realistic estimates indicate 80 thousand soldiers and a large number of workers, whom the besieged, obviously, perceived as soldiers.

According to one version, before the start of a full-scale siege, parliamentarians were sent to Constantine XI with a proposal to surrender in exchange for preserving the life and property of the townspeople. The head of state himself had to leave his capital, and in this he would not be hindered. Konstantin said that he agreed to indemnity and the loss of any of his few territories, but he refused to surrender the city. On April 6, Turkish batteries opened fire on Greek positions. On April 7, the Turks launched an attack on the forward fortifications of the Byzantines, using mainly auxiliary infantry. The attackers captured several forts pushed forward. The prisoners captured there were demonstratively executed in front of the besieged. The insufficient number of guns among the Greeks did not allow them to conduct an effective counter-battery fight and focus on defeating the infantry. The fortress artillery, led by the Bocchiardi brothers, coped with this task successfully throughout the entire siege. In the early days of the siege, the defenders made several rather successful sorties, but soon Giustiniani Longo, believing that the losses in these actions exceeded the result, ordered to concentrate all efforts on protecting the outer perimeter.

There was a pause in the siege - the Turks reshuffled their artillery batteries, transferring some of them to the most suitable positions. On April 11, the Ottoman artillery resumed shelling, which now practically did not stop. At this time, the Hungarian ambassador arrived in the Turkish camp as an observer - "to understand the situation." According to historians of the time, the Hungarian even helped the Turks with advice on how to place the guns correctly. On average, the guns fired from 100 to 150 rounds per day, consuming up to half a ton of gunpowder. On April 12, the Turkish fleet tried to break through to the Golden Horn, but was repulsed by an allied squadron. The higher-sided ships of the Greeks and Venetians made it possible to fire more efficiently. On the night of April 17-18, the Ottomans launched a local night attack in the Mesoteikhon area, but after a four-hour battle, the besieged held their positions. The failed fleet of Mehmed II sent to capture the Byzantine Princes' Islands in the Sea of ​​Marmara. All of them, one by one, came under the rule of the Sultan, only the largest of the archipelago, Prinkipos, resisted the invaders.

In the meantime, Pope Nicholas V, whose admonitions did not bring significant results, provided Constantinople with all possible assistance, sending out three chartered Genoese galleys, loaded with weapons and various supplies. All the beginning of April, this detachment was waiting for a tailwind off the island of Chios. Finally, on April 15, he blew out, and the ships entered the Sea of ​​Marmara without hindrance. On the way, they were joined by a Greek ship loaded with grain, sailing from Sicily. On April 20, the flotilla was already in sight of Constantinople. Mehemed II immediately ordered the fleet commander, Admiral Baltoglu, to go to sea and intercept the enemy. Due to the strong southerly wind, the Turks were able to use only rowing ships, whose crews were reinforced by the Janissaries. To the sounds of trumpets and drums, the Turks went on the attack, having an overwhelming numerical superiority. However, a sharp and long braid ran into a sturdy stone. At a long distance, the Genoese and Greeks inflicted heavy damage on the enemy from the sides of their tall ships, and then Baltoglu ordered to board the galleys. The main attack was directed at the weakly armed Greek grain carrier. Its crew, under the command of Captain Flatanelos, bravely fought off attack after attack, and, according to eyewitnesses, they used the famous "Greek fire". In the end, the four ships moored against each other, forming a monolithic floating fortification. Towards evening, the subdued wind blew again, and at dusk, under the jubilant cries of the defenders of Constantinople, the flotilla entered the Golden Horn. The sultan was furious - Baltoglu was removed from all his posts and beaten with whips. Mehmed did not dare to execute the experienced military leader.

While battles raged on the sea, and whips were mercilessly whipping Baltoglu's back, the Turks decided to carry out a bold plan that brought them an important tactical advantage and influenced the course of the company. It is not known for certain who prompted Mehmed to equip a portage between the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn: was the idea born among the Turkish command itself, or was it suggested by the numerous European "business people" hanging around the Sultan's headquarters. In any case, the transportation of ships by portage was known in the East - in the XII, Salah ad-Din in this way transferred ships from the Nile to the Red Sea. On April 22, under the cover of shelling, the Turks began to drag their rowing ships along the portage to the Golden Horn. By noon, a whole flotilla of galliots was already at the side of the besieged city.

A secret meeting was immediately called on a set of measures to prevent the threat. The only correct decision the Venetians saw was the attack of enemy ships under cover of darkness. They decided to hide the plan from the formally neutrality of the Genoese ships and postponed the attack until April 24, since the Venetians had to prepare their ships, protecting them with bales of cotton and wool. However, by the 24th, the Genoese found out about the plan and were offended that they wanted to deprive them of glory. The attack was postponed until April 28, already with the involvement of the Genoese, but by this time only the deaf and dumb were not aware of this in the city. When the Allied flotilla finally attacked the Turks, who had significantly increased in numbers, for they did not experience a shortage of manpower, they were met by dense gunfire from the galliots and coastal batteries. Some of the besieged ships were sunk, some were forced to return. The next day, the Turks publicly executed all the captured sailors. In response, the Greeks beheaded the Turks who were in captivity. However, now the Turkish fleet is firmly entrenched in the Golden Horn. Part of it was in the Bosphorus, and the besieged constantly had to keep their forces at the chain. On May 3, a small Venetian brigantine with a crew of volunteers left Constantinople and went in search of the Venetian fleet, which was supposedly already nearby. The news of the preparations made by Venice was brought with them by the ships that had broken through.

Meanwhile, the situation of the besieged was getting worse. Turkish engineers built a pontoon bridge across the Golden Horn, which made it possible to transfer troops and artillery from one bank to another without hindrance. The bombardment continued as the repaired giant bombardment, Urban's Basilica, was re-pushed into position. This product possessed colossal penetrating power at that time and was capable of sending nuclei weighing half a ton over a distance of almost 2 km. In the area of ​​the gates of St. Romanus on May 7, the Turks with the help of the "Basilica" made a gap and even carried out a tactical breakthrough, which was hardly neutralized by a decisive counterattack.

Making extensive use of specially sent Serbian miners, the Ottomans began to dig tunnels. The besieged successfully opposed them. On May 16, one of the mines was blown up along with the sappers who were in it. On May 21, another mine was flooded with water. On May 23, in an underground battle, prisoners were captured, who indicated the location of all the other mines, which were soon destroyed. The Turks also used large siege towers sheathed with camel and buffalo skins. On May 18 and 19, during successful sorties, some of these towers were blown up and burned. Nevertheless, Constantinople was in a critical situation. Decrease personnel There was nothing to replace - during the repulse of attacks in the second half of May, the sailors had to be removed from the ships. The destruction of walls and towers was widened under continuous Turkish fire - the townspeople were still repairing the damage, but it became more and more difficult to do this. To top it all off natural phenomena influenced the morale of the city's defenders. On the night of May 24, a lunar eclipse occurred, and the next day the brigantine returned, sent in search of the Venetian fleet, which, of course, she did not find. The procession of the cross, which took place soon after, was forcibly terminated due to heavy rain and hail. Having information that the spirit of the defenders of Constantinople was falling, Mehmed II sent envoys to the city with the last offer of surrender. Constantine XI replied with a resolute refusal and a statement that he would perish along with his city. The Turks began to prepare for a general assault.

Storm

On May 26, Mehmed convened a council of war for a final disposition. It was solemnly announced to the army that an assault would soon be imminent, and the city would be given over to plunder for three days. This was greeted with the usual enthusiasm. Emboldened by the promise of rich booty, the soldiers began to prepare for the assault. May 28 was officially declared a day of rest and repentance. The Sultan toured his troops, encouraging them and talking with the soldiers. All major preparations were completed by one in the morning on May 29. The besieged also prepared, doing what was within their limited forces. The gaps in the walls were somehow repaired, the scarce reserves were redistributed. The most combat-ready units of the defenders in the amount of about 3 thousand people. were in the area of ​​the already heavily destroyed gate of St. Roman. Most of the firearms available in the city were also concentrated here.

About three hours before dawn, the Turkish line was lit up with artillery shots - the assault began. Irregular units - bashi-bazouks and volunteers - were the first to rush to the walls. They suffered huge losses, and after two hours the Sultan ordered them to retreat. In the predawn twilight, the Anatolian infantry was thrown into action, protected, unlike the bashi-bazouks, by armor and much more disciplined. And this time the attacks were repulsed. An attempt to land troops from ships in the Golden Horn on the fortress walls also failed. Then the Sultan threw his last but impressive argument on the scales - a fresh janissary corps. The Janissaries attacked calmly, without musical accompaniment, clearly observing the formation. Their onslaught was incredibly strong, but the defenders were not inferior to them in valor. Finally, in the midst of the attack, one of the Janissaries noticed that the door of the Kerkoporta, a small gate used to organize sorties, remained open in the wall and left unattended. About 50 soldiers made their way through it and raised a battle banner on the walls. Around the same time, another fatal accident played into the hands of the Turks. Reflecting the attacks of the Turks at the gates of Saint Roman, Longo was seriously wounded: a bullet fired from above pierced his shoulder, damaging his lung. The Condottiere asked to be taken to the rear for bandaging. The nearby Emperor Constantine pleaded with the Italian to stay in position, but it appears that Longo's spirit was undermined by injury. They carried him to the port. Giustiniani's soldiers, seeing that their leader was not with them, succumbed to panic and trembled. At the same time, a Turkish banner was seen on the wall. The Sultan and his commanders threw everything they had into the breakthrough. The line of defenders hesitated - panic arose and began to develop rapidly. A rumor spread that the Turks had broken through to the city through the Golden Horn.

The exact place of death the last emperor Byzantium has not been established, but there is an assumption that he fell in arms in the area of ​​the gate of St. Roman. Giustiniani Longo was in a bandage when he was informed of the breakthrough - he immediately ordered to recall his men with a trumpet signal. Ottoman troops flowed like a river into the city. The Italians managed to disconnect the chain blocking the exit from the Golden Horn, and gave way to the Venetian and Genoese ships, which were joined by several Byzantine ships. The centers of organized resistance were extinguished one by one. Bashibuzuki, sailors from ships immediately rushed to plunder everything that came to hand. They broke into the Hagia Sophia and began taking hostages among the noble citizens.


J.-J. Benjamin-Constant "Entry of Mehmed II to Constantinople"

In the afternoon of May 29, Mehmed II solemnly entered the defeated city. At the end of the allotted time, all robberies were stopped, and those who disobeyed the order were executed. It is believed that during the storming of Constantinople, much less civilians died than during the capture of it by the French knights in 1204. A new civil administration was appointed from among the Greeks. The sultan also announced that he would not interfere in the affairs. Orthodox Church... Mehmed II officially accepted the title of Sultan and ruler of the Romans, clearly hinting at the continuity of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire, which had existed for a thousand years, ceased to exist. Instead of a tiny archaic state, a new one appeared on the world stage. powerful force, Ottoman Empire, which made the European rulers shudder for more than one hundred years.

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