how What are we learning today? They are not such very ancient events nor of such a sort as to be forgotten through the lapse of time. Orthodox leaders voted in favour of union, but the people of Constantinople were adamantly against it and rioted in response. After the initial assault, the Ottoman army fanned out along the main thoroughfare of the city, the Mese, past the great forums and the Church of the Holy Apostles, which Mehmed II wanted to provide as a seat for his newly appointed patriarch to better control his Christian subjects. Girolamo Minotto[el; es; fr; it] and his Venetians were stationed in the Blachernae Palace, together with Teodoro Caristo, the Langasco brothers, and Archbishop Leonardo of Chios. The Christian troops of the Ottoman Empire attacked first, followed by successive waves of the irregular azaps, who were poorly trained and equipped and Anatolian Turkmen beylik forces who focused on a section of the damaged Blachernae walls in the north-west part of the city. The army defending Constantinople was relatively small, totalling about 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were foreigners. [32]:388 The Greek houses nearest to the walls were the first to suffer from the Ottomans. This item is an extract from the detailed account of an Arab envoy to Constantinople in the late 10th century. [note 8]. Elementary, Intermediate Tests and High School Regents Examinations . The dwindling Byzantine Empire came to an end when the Ottomans breached Constantinople's ancient land wall after besieging the city for 55 days. It can serve as a formative or final assessment in a unit on medieval Islamic civilization, an introduction to DBQs and DBQ writing, or a class activity to help teach the fall of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire, or the Ottoman Empire. "[31]:152, Looting was carried out on a massive scale by sailors and marines who entered the city via other walls before they had been suppressed by regular troops, who were beyond the main gate. [93] Many feared other European Christian kingdoms would suffer the same fate as Constantinople. The rest surrendered or committed suicide by jumping off the city walls. Document 1 . This was once thought to be the origin of the Ottoman millet system; however, it is now considered a myth and no such system existed in the fifteenth century. The Capture of Zara III. He then ordered a muezzin ascend the pulpit and sound a prayer[89][90] The Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque, but the Greek Orthodox Church was allowed to remain intact and Gennadius Scholarius was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople. In its own time, the Empire ruled from Constantinople (or "New Rome" as some people call it, although this was a laudatory expression that was never an official title) and was simply considered as "the Roman Empire." Witnessing a Ghazi wildly hammering at the marble floor, he asked what he was doing. [31]:15051 Byzantine historian George Sphrantzes, an eyewitness to the fall of Constantinople, described the Sultan's actions:[87][88]. [3][pageneeded][46][47][note 9], With Giustiniani's Genoese troops retreating into the city and towards the harbour, Constantine and his men, now left to their own devices, continued to hold their ground against the Janissaries. [20]:374 His 27 feet (8.2m) long cannon was named "Basilica" and was able to hurl a 600lb (270kg) stone ball over a mile (1.6km). In 'The History of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ', Edward Gibbon had a controversial theory. The Fall of Constantinople Primary Source Analysis. The section in the book that I cited talks about the military aspects of the siege and several tactics used in the battle. [110][bettersourceneeded] They brought to Western Europe the far greater preserved and accumulated knowledge of Byzantine civilization. [20]:304 The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while the remainder of the Byzantine Empire splintered into a number of successor states, notably Nicaea, Epirus and Trebizond. This chain, which floated on logs, was strong enough to prevent any Turkish ship from entering the harbour. [12] The vast majority of the citizens of Constantinople (30,000-50,000) were forced to become slaves. According to Steven Runciman most of the elderly and the infirm/wounded and sick who were refugees inside the churches were killed, and the remainder were chained up and sold into slavery. [24] The city was further depopulated by the general economic and territorial decline of the empire, and by 1453, it consisted of a series of walled villages separated by vast fields encircled by the fifth-century Theodosian Walls. [note 7] The Byzantines intercepted the first tunnel on the night of 16 May. The First Payment 2. [note 10]. The Summons to Alexis 2. You will protest that the Turks moved from Asia to Greece a long time ago, that the Mongols established themselves in Europe and the Arabs occupied parts of Spain, having approached through the straits of Gibraltar. . Another strategy employed by the Byzantines was the repair and fortification of the Land Wall (Theodosian Walls). This fleet narrowly escaped prior to the Ottoman navy assuming control over the Golden Horn, which was accomplished by midday. The Walls of Constantinople, especially the Theodosian Walls, were some of the most advanced defensive systems in the world at the time. Updates? The fall of Constantinople was a major turning point in history, as it marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. Other potential claimants, such as the Republic of Venice and the Holy Roman Empire have disintegrated into history. Media related to Fall of Constantinople (1453) at Wikimedia Commons. 60,000-80,000 in total (modern sources)[4][5]. If you know of any primary sources in English please post them for me!! Long before the fall of Constantinople, Demetrius had fought for the throne with Thomas, Constantine, and their other brothers John and Theodore. Ottoman Empire annexes the remaining Byzantine territories with some exceptions; Constantinople becomes its new capital. Recent studies and Ottoman archival data state that there were some 50,00080,000 Ottoman soldiers, including between 5,000 and 10,000 Janissaries,[3][pageneeded] 70 cannons,[41]:139140[40][pageneeded][42][pageneeded] and an elite infantry corps, and thousands of Christian troops, notably 1,500 Serbian cavalry that ura Brankovi was forced to supply as part of his obligation to the Ottoman sultan[1][2] just a few months before, Brankovi had supplied the money for the reconstruction of the walls of Constantinople. Constantinople, from letters sent to the Austrian Emperor, 1554 to 1562 "The sultan's hall was crowded . You all know very well that our forefathers secured this kingdom that we now hold at the cost of many struggles and very great dangers and that, having passed it along in succession from their fathers, from father to son, they handed it down to me. These walls had never been breached in the thousand years since their construction. by coachallam. Constantine XI only agreed to pay higher tributes to the sultan and recognized the status of all the conquered castles and lands in the hands of the Turks as Ottoman possessions. [71] According to historian Philip Mansel, widespread persecution of the city's civilian inhabitants took place, resulting in thousands of murders and rapes. by DRM_peter Posted on January 20, 2014. Fall of Constantinople By 350 A.D., Constantinople was one of the world's greatest capitals. View Constantinople DBQ.docx from HIST 1110/07 at Kennesaw State University. Rumours of Constantine XI's survival and subsequent rescue by an angel led many to hope that the city would one day return to Christian hands. While Mehmed II had been steadily preparing for the siege of Constantinople, he had sent the old general Turakhan and the latter's two sons, Ahmed Beg and Omar Beg, to invade the. Mehmed stripped Baltoghlu of his wealth and property and gave it to the janissaries and ordered him to be whipped 100 times.[26]. They are also said to have been executed. The Byzantine Empire through Primary Sources DOCUMENT 4 Laws of Justinian (529-534CE) Besides the Hagia Sophia the other major accomplishment of the Roman's (of Byzantine Empire) during the reign of Justinian was the Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian's Code).Which took centuries of built up Roman law and codified/standardized it for the empire. Before his death, Notaras supposedly said that Him who was crucified for us, died and arose and urged his horrified sons to reject the advances of Mehmed and not fear the outcome. [74], According to Nicolas de Nicolay, slaves were displayed naked at the city's slave market, and young girls could be purchased. [20]:378 For 36 hours after the war council decided to attack, the Ottomans extensively mobilized their manpower for the general offensive. The unique . He graduated from the University of Chicago in 2021. According to the legend, the priests will appear again on the day that Constantinople returns to Christian hands. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He also began to view himself as Kayser-i Rm (Caesar of Rome), the inheritor of the Roman Empire and all its historical lands. 197-205. A devastating blow to Christendom, the loss of Constantinople led Pope Nicholas V to call for an immediate crusade to recover the city. The imperial efforts to impose union were met with strong resistance in Constantinople. [31]:92, To the left of the emperor, further south, were the commanders Cataneo, who led Genoese troops, and Theophilus Palaeologus, who guarded the Pegae Gate with Greek soldiers. The society that developed in the eastern Roman Empire after the west fell. [69]:37. Stephanie's History Store. Some suggest that the fall of Rome and the state of America now, are very similar in social, political, and economic aspects. In Egypt good tidings were proclaimed, and Cairo decorated to celebrate this greatest of conquests. The Sharif of Mecca wrote to Mehmed, calling the Sultan the one who has aided Islam and the Muslims, the Sultan of all kings and sultans,. How did the Ottoman Empire, as led by Suleiman the Magnificent, gain, consolidate, and maintain power? "[101], The news spread rapidly across the Islamic world. Why. With this conquest, a new group of people came in with a different religion known as Islam. In the following eleven centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once before: the Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. When the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, the capitol city of the Eastern Roman Empire, a new country was later developed known as Turkey. Thereafter, there was little peace for the much-weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins, Serbs, Bulgarians and Ottoman Turks. [40]:40 It has also been claimed that Constantinople was "the best-defended city in Europe" at that time. After conquering the city, Mehmed II made Constantinople the new Ottoman capital, replacing Adrianople. Emperor Constantine deemed it necessary to ensure that the Blachernae district's wall was the most fortified because that section of the wall protruded northwards. Latent ethnic hatred between Greeks and Italians, stemming from the events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1182 by the Greeks and the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, played a significant role. After pausing to reposition his cannon, Mehmed reopened fire and thereafter maintained daily bombardment. Constantine. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. The Discussion after the Arrival of Alexis. When the Venetians retreated over to their ships, the Ottomans had already taken the walls of the Golden Horn. A small group reached the top of a tower through another gate but were nearly eliminated by the defenders until Giustiniani was mortally wounded by Ottoman gunfire while on the ramparts. [32][pageneeded][31]:85 Further undermining Byzantine morale, seven Italian ships with around 700 men, despite having sworn to defend Constantinople, slipped out of the capital the moment Giustiniani arrived. Rome's leader was overthrown, causing the Roman Empire to fall. Finally, the last wave consisting of elite Janissaries, attacked the city walls. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, reestablishing the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty. On 2 June, the Sultan found the city largely deserted and half in ruins; churches had been desecrated and stripped, houses were no longer habitable, and stores and shops were emptied. Byzantine Empire. Believing that the Byzantine defence was already weakened sufficiently, Mehmed planned to overpower the walls by sheer force and started preparations for a final all-out offensive. However, Constantines capacity to defend his city was hampered by his small fighting force. Now devoid of both a long-standing buffer against the Ottomans and access to the Black Sea, Christian kingdoms relied on Hungary to halt any further westward expansion. This allowed the sultan to send in another Janissary regiment and take the inner wall at the Gate of St. Romanus. SS.912.W.2.1 Locate the extent of Byzantine territory at the height of the empire. He is famously reported to have been moved to tears by this, saying, "What a city we have given over to plunder and destruction. 1. Students will read about the sack of Constantinople and its effects on the Byzantine Empire at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and analyze it by answering 9 questions to get a first hand look at what happened in the city when it was razed . Mehmed cut him down with his Kilij: Be satisfied with the booty and the captives; the buildings of the city belong to me.[79], During the festivities, and as he had promised his viziers and his other officers, Mehmed had the wretched citizens of Constantinople dragged before them and ordered many of them to be hacked to pieces, for the sake of entertainment.[80][81], Byzantine historian Doukas claims that, while drunk during his victory banquet, the Sultan ordered the Grand Duke Loukas Notaras to give his youngest son to him for his pleasure. Finally, the sea walls at the southern shore of the Golden Horn were defended by Venetian and Genoese sailors under Gabriele Trevisano. [43], After these inconclusive attacks, the Ottomans sought to break through the walls by constructing tunnels to mine them from mid-May to 25 May. Constantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 330 under Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Mehmeds strategy was straightforward: he would use his fleet and siege lines to blockade Constantinople on all sides while relentlessly battering the walls of the city with cannon. It is estimated that perhaps 60 million people lived within its borders. a year ago. Split Rome and made Constantinople the capital of the Eastern part of the empire As the Roman empire crumbled, what did Constantinople do? Even France, once a fervent participant in the Crusades, became an ally of the Ottomans. 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