The Hellenistic period covers the period of Mediterranean history between the rise of Alexander the Great in 336 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire as signified. Music, TV radio, books, film, art, dance photography. Weve noticed youre adblocking. We rely on advertising to help fund our award winning journalism. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. I/51DMQT48CCL._AC_.jpg' alt='Empire Earth Art Of Conquest Download Italy Music' title='Empire Earth Art Of Conquest Download Italy Music' />Thank you for your support. Fall of Constantinople Wikipedia. Conquest of Constantinople. Part of the ByzantineOttoman Wars and Ottoman wars in Europe. The last siege of Constantinople, contemporary 1. French miniature. Belligerents. Commanders and leaders. Conquest of Constantinople Part of the ByzantineOttoman Wars and Ottoman wars in Europe The last siege of Constantinople, contemporary 15th century French miniature. Empire Earth Art Of Conquest Download Italy Music' title='Empire Earth Art Of Conquest Download Italy Music' />Strength. Byzantines. Land forces Naval forces Ottomans. Land forces f 5. Naval forces Casualties and losses. Unknown but heavy2. More specifically, the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynastyThe Venetians decided to make a peace treaty with the Ottomans in September 1. Doge was on good terms already with the Ottomans and they did not want to ruin a relationship. They also did not want the Ottomans to interfere with their trade in the Black Sea and Mediterranean. The Venetians efforts mainly included giving Constantine XI ships and a total of 8. February 1. 45. 3. The Venetians also promised that a larger fleet would arrive to save Constantine, this fleet would be full of ammunition, fresh soldiers and supplies. This fleet arrived too late. The Kingdom of Sicily mainly donated ships and a few soldiers, it was not official however, and was done by several Cardinals. The Genoese captain Giovanni Giustiniani Longo was wounded in battle, but managed to escape, he died during the early days of June 1. By nationality, there were 5,0. Greeks and 2,0. 00 foreigners, mostly of Genoese and Venetian origin. Figures according to recent estimates and Ottoman archival data. The Ottoman Empire, for demographic reasons, would not have been able to put more than 8. Figures according to contemporaneous WesternChristian estimates5 2. The Fall of Constantinople Greek, Halsis ts Knstantinoupoles Turkish stanbulun Fethi. Conquest of Istanbul was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire on 2. May 1. 45. 3. The Ottomans were commanded by the then 2. Ottoman Sultan. Mehmed the Conqueror, who defeated an army commanded by Byzantine Emperor. Constantine XI Palaiologos. The conquest of Constantinople followed a 5. April 1. 45. 3. The capture of Constantinople and two other Byzantine splinter territories soon thereafter marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, a continuation of the Roman Empire dating to 2. BC, an imperial state lasting for nearly 1,5. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Muslim Ottoman armies thereafter were left unchecked to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear. After the conquest, Sultan Mehmed II transferred the capital of the Ottoman Empire from Edirne to Constantinople. It was also a watershed moment in military history. Since ancient times, cities had used ramparts and city walls to protect themselves from invaders, and Constantinoples substantial fortifications had been a model followed by cities throughout the Mediterranean region and Europe. The Ottomans ultimately prevailed due to the use of gunpowder which powered formidable cannons. The conquest of the city of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire2. Late Middle Ages which also marks, for some historians, the end of the Middle Ages. State of the Byzantine EmpireeditConstantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 3. Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. In the following eleven centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once during the Fourth Crusade in 1. The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while the remaining empire splintered into a number of Byzantine successor states, notably Nicaea, Epirus and Trebizond. They fought as allies against the Latin establishments, but also fought among themselves for the Byzantine throne. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1. Thereafter there was little peace for the much weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins, the Serbians, the Bulgarians, and, most importantly, the Ottoman Turks. The Black Plague between 1. Constantinople. 3. The city was severely depopulated due to the general economic and territorial decline of the empire, and by 1. Theodosian walls. By 1. 45. 0 the empire was exhausted and had shrunk to a few square miles outside the city of Constantinople itself, the Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara, and the Peloponnese with its cultural center at Mystras. The Empire of Trebizond, an independent successor state that formed in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, also survived on the coast of the Black Sea. PreparationseditWhen Sultan Mehmed II succeeded his father in 1. Hamburg Eddh Aerosoft Fsx more. Christian possessions in the Balkans and the Aegean. This optimism was reinforced by friendly assurances made by Mehmed to envoys sent to his new court. But Mehmeds actions spoke far louder than his mild words. Beginning early in 1. Ottoman fortress on the Bosphorus,3. European side several miles north of Constantinople, set directly across the strait from the similar fortress, Anadolu Hisar, which his great grandfather Bayezid I had previously built on the Asian side. This pair of fortresses gave the Turks complete control of sea traffic on the Bosphorus 2. Genoese colonies on the Black Sea coast, from reaching Constantinople. The new fortress was also known as Boazkesen, which held the dual meanings strait blocker or throat cutter, emphasizing its strategic position. In October 1. Mehmed ordered Turakhan Beg to lead a large force into the Peloponnese and remain there to keep Thomas and Demetrios from assisting their brother Constantine XI Palaiologos during the impending siege of Constantinople. Byzantine Emperor. Constantine XI swiftly understood Mehmeds true intentions and turned to Western Europe for help but now the price of centuries of war and enmity between the eastern and western churches had to be paid. Since the mutual excommunications of 1. Pope in Rome was committed to establishing authority over the eastern church. Nominal union had been negotiated in 1. Second Council of Lyon, and indeed, some Palaiologoi emperors Latin, Palaeologan had since been received into the Latin church. Emperor John VIII Palaiologos had also recently negotiated union with Pope Eugene IV, with the Council of Florence of 1. Bull of Union. These events, however, stimulated a propaganda initiative by anti unionist Orthodox partisans in Constantinople the population, as well as the laity and leadership of the Byzantine Church, became bitterly divided. Latent ethnic hatred between Greeks and Italians, stemming from the events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1. Greeks and the sack of Constantinople in 1. Latins, played a significant role. Finally, the attempted Union failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church. The Byzantine Empire in the first half of the 1. Thessaloniki was captured by the Ottomans in 1. A few islands in the Aegean and the Propontis remained under Byzantine rule until 1. In the summer of 1. Rumel Hisari was completed and the threat had become imminent, Constantine wrote to the Pope, promising to implement the Union, which was declared valid by a half hearted imperial court on 1. December 1. 45. 2. Although he was eager for an advantage, Pope Nicholas V did not have the influence the Byzantines thought he had over the Western kings and princes, some of whom were wary of increasing Papal control, and these had not the wherewithal to contribute to the effort, especially in light of the weakened state of France and England from the Hundred Years War, Spain being in the final part of the Reconquista, the internecine fighting in the German Principalities, and Hungary and Polands defeat at the Battle of Varna of 1. Although some troops did arrive from the mercantile city states in the north of Italy, the Western contribution was not adequate to counterbalance Ottoman strength. Some Western individuals, however, came to help defend the city on their own account.