How many times was constantinople attacked

When this huge artillery piece was actually cast and constructed in faraway Adrianople, it had to be hauled more than a hundred miles to the besieged city. Hundreds of Turkish soldiers and teams of oxen dragged it there, moving two and a half miles every day. When it finally had been dragged and put into position, the sight must have been awe-inspiring, and clearly very bad news for the defenders of Constantinople. With deafening thunder, the cannon fired. In fact, the cannon could only be fired seven times each day, because it needed to be cooled off in between or risk exploding.

In addition to this monster, guns were many other smaller cannons that continued the bombardment that had begun. This was the sound of a military revolution, making stone walls and towers and battlements largely obsolete.

Learn more about the fall of the Roman Empire. So, the defenders were delighted when some reinforcements from the West actually did arrive in spite of the theological differences. These reinforcements came from the Italian commercial city-state of Genoa, and among their number was an expert in fortifications.

That Genoese fortifications expert, remarkably, helped the Byzantines to rebuild or reinforce crumbling parts of the city wall by night after they had been pounded by cannon during the day. During the night, the damage of the day would be made good. Further Genoese ships actually managed to break through the Ottoman blockade and reach the harbor, bringing reinforcements and supplies.

In an amazing military feat, the Ottomans actually lifted some of their own ships out of the water and rolled them over land and surrounding mountains for around two or three miles. They used logs as rollers, and by brute force transported them over the terrain. This is a transcript from the video series Turning Points in Modern History. Watch it now, Wondrium. Next, they set the ships down on the water on the far side of the chain that had been drawn across the entrance of the harbor at Golden Horn.

The Ottomans had circumvented that famous defense. To demoralize the defenders and to stir fear inside the city, the Turks also impaled prisoners within sight of the walls. The Byzantines responded by throwing Turkish prisoners to their deaths from the ramparts. After long weeks of siege, after the relentless pounding of the cannon that had been set up and directed by the Hungarian professional Orban, the walls at last broke.

The city was about to be taken. Through it all, Emperor Constantine refused to surrender and rallied both local inhabitants of the city and Latin Christians from Venice and Genoa, who were merchants who had worked in the city, all fighting together in defense of the beleaguered metropolis.

When the walls were breached, Emperor Constantine did something dramatic. With that, he tore off the emblems of his imperial rank, which marked him as the emperor, and like an ordinary soldier rushed into the thickest part of the fighting, and he was never seen alive again. The city of Constantinople fell on May 29, The Sultan Mehmet entered Hagia Sophia, what had been a church, and now turned it into a mosque.

Geometric designs were painted over the famous mosaics of Hagia Sophia, and verses of the Koran were placed where earlier holy icons had been hung.

On the third day of the conquest, Mehmed II ordered all looting to stop and sent his troops back outside the city walls. The capture of Constantinople and two other Byzantine splinter territories soon thereafter marked the end of the Roman Empire, an imperial state that had lasted for nearly 1, years.

The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Islamic Ottoman armies thereafter were left unchecked to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear.

Constantinople was transformed into an Islamic city: the Hagia Sophia became a mosque, and the city eventually became known as Istanbul.

The conquest of the city of Constantinople, and the end of the Byzantine Empire, was a key event in the Late Middle Ages, which also marks, for some historians, the end of the Middle Ages. The Walls of Constantinople. Yet in , they fell to the Ottoman Turks.

Skip to main content. Search for:. Key Points The restored Byzantine Empire was surrounded by enemies. It would ultimately become the Ottoman Empire. The west would only provide the east with help against the Turks if the east converted from Orthodox to Catholic Christianity. This sparked riots among the eastern Orthodox populace, who hated the western Catholics for the sack of Constantinople.

Meanwhile, the Ottomans defeated most of the empire except for Constantinople. The east ultimately capitulated and accepted Catholicism, but it was too late. Constantinople was transformed into the Islamic city of Istanbul. Terms Ottoman Empire A large empire that began as a Turkish sultanate centered on modern Turkey; founded in the late 13th century, it lasted until the end of World War I.

On the third day after the fall of our city, the Sultan celebrated his victory with a great, joyful triumph. He issued a proclamation: the citizens of all ages who had managed to escape detection were to leave their hiding places throughout the city and come out into the open, as they to were to remain free and no question would be asked. The attackers were violently repulsed by the skilled Varangian guardsmen and though there were opportunities to counterattack the crusaders, the Emperor Alexius III fled the city instead.

The following day the citizens proclaimed Isaac and Alexius IV co-emperors and the siege was lifted. Though Alexius IV had achieved what he wanted, he found it difficult to uphold his promise to pay the crusaders. Alexius III had taken a sizeable portion of the royal treasury when he fled and the years of decline had also depleted the treasury. Alexius IV took to requisitioning as many sculptures as he could and melting them down to pay the crusaders.

The frantic efforts of Alexius IV to attain all the money he could did not endear him to the public and before long he was deposed by Alexius V. Alexius had not made the agreement with the crusaders and made it known that he would not be paying them. The crusaders had pledged support to Alexius IV, whom they believed to be the rightful emperor.

When Alexius IV was murdered the crusaders were faced with a leader who had killed a man they supported and they were also left with absolutely no money. The crusaders faced utter ruin if they did not act and so by March of they again besieged Constantinople.

The assault of the city was greatly aided by the assaults of the previous year. The crusaders had established camps all around the city and were well supplied after settling in for the better part of a year. The crusaders already had access to the Golden Horn and the damage to the walls had not been repaired during the unstable year. The citizens who had so often aided in the defense of the city were exhausted from the turmoil and divided in their loyalties.

The crusaders were able to attack the sea walls near Blachernae and gained access to the neighborhood. From Blachernae the crusaders were able to gain access for the rest of their army and raid southeast to the main city. Several fires tore through the city as a result of the sieges and ultimately left 35, people homeless.

Emperor Alexius V fled the city after the crusaders took Blachernae and the crusaders pillaged the city for days. They reportedly raped and killed thousands of people and looted everything from homes to churches. Many priceless works of art were melted down and distributed however the Venetians kept many items intact and relocated them to Venice.

With the looting of the city, the crusaders were able to fully recover from their financial problems. The Latins set up an empire of their own in the city which would last for almost sixty years.