The Fall of Constantinople: A Captivating Guide to the Conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks that Marked the end of the Byzantine Empire

By Captivating History

Explore a major turning point in the history of Europe and the Middle East

The fall of Constantinople was an event that had great repercussions across both East and West. Why did it happen? How did it happen? And what was the aftermath?

In this book, you'll discover the most scintillating and relevant details—forlorn love, codified fratricide, and more—of the fall of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire.

The Fall of Constantinople: A Captivating Guide to the Conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks that Marked the end of the Byzantine Empire includes topics such as:

• The Gateway to the West
• God Wills It: Knights of the First Crusade
• Broken Promises: The Fourth Crusade
• Schisms in the Church
• Preparation: The Big Guns
• Constantinople: The Final Stand
• The aftermath
• And much, much more!

 

Get the book now to learn more about the Fall of Constantinople!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Captivating History
• Release date: Sep 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215535189

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Introduction

The Byzantines lived and thrived around Constantinople (and other parts of the empire) all the way until 1453 AD. To add some perspective, the Western Roman Empire really started to fall around the time of Theodosius I, around 395 AD. (Most historians use 476 AD as the official fall date, but there are others). In other words, the Byzantines ruled their chunk of the world for more than 1000 years. They were around for Charlemagne, and for the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD. Just a year before the Byzantine Empire fell, Leonardo de Vinci was born. And a year before that, Christopher Columbus. In fact, the Byzantine Empire outlived Joan of Arc.

In this book, we’ll be wading through the most scintillating and relevant details—forlorn love, codified fratricide, and more—of the fall of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. However, before we begin, there are a few things about Byzantium you should probably know.

When In Rome

Rome. Was it city? Or was it the empire that stretched from the British Isles to the Middle East? As with many regimes in the ancient world, the Byzantine Empire rose from the ashes of an old one, the Roman Empire. Think Julius Caesar, chariot races, and the aqueduct system. Invading tribes tore the already internally divisive Rome into pieces. The city of Rome itself was sacked in 476 AD, and the empire collapsed into warring kingdoms. But that’s only half the story.

In 305 AD, over a hundred years before the Germanic mercenary Odoacer deposed the young Western Emperor at Ravenna, the Roman Empire had expanded to the edges of the known world. It had already destroyed its greatest foe, Carthage, leaving Rome as the undisputed seat of power in the Mediterranean—until Diocletian made a fateful decision.

An empire of that size doesn’t need enemies to have problems. The sheer size of the empire made it an administrative nightmare. How, without any communication faster than foot traffic, could the rulers attend to the rebellions, barbarians, and aqueducts in an empire that covered 4.4 million square kilometers? So, to break this proverbial elephant into two still large, but more manageable, chunks, the Emperor Diocletian decided to split the Roman Empire in two. There would be a Western Empire centered in Rome and an Eastern Empire, later centered in the Greek town of Byzantium, located at Hellespont,