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1453: the Siege in Brief.
In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II, an ambitious 21-year-old Ottoman ruler, dreamed of conquering Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. To oppose him, Constantine XI, the Byzantine emperor, commanded a city and a few ruined, resource-depleted territories.
In January 1453, several hundred Genoese, Venetian, and Catalan mercenaries arrived to reinforce the 5,000 Byzantine defenders. Venetian ships secured the Golden Horn.
On March 23, Mehmed II departed from Edirne, his capital, with an army of 80,000 men, heading for Constantinople. The siege began on April 6, 1453, and would last 53 days.
From April 12 to May 29, 1453, the Basilisk and cannons bombarded the city walls: each shot raised dust and debris. The Byzantines cushioned the impacts by filling breaches with earth, fascines, and rubble until nightfall. The stone groaned, but the line held.
April 18, 1453: The first massive Ottoman assault occurred against the land walls, concentrating in the sector of the St. Romanus Gate. After several hours of fighting, the attackers were repelled by the defenders.
On April 20, 1453, three Genoese merchant ships sent by the Pope and one Byzantine ship, all laden with provisions, weapons, and soldiers, broke through the Ottoman blockade. After several hours of fighting at the entrance to the Bosphorus, they entered the Golden Horn to the cheers of the crowd.
Night of April 21-22, 1453: Amidst the smell of tallow, hulls slid over oiled logs behind Pera/Galata: by morning, dozens of Ottoman ships floated in the Golden Horn, behind the chain. The defenders had to stretch their meager garrison to also guard the sea walls.
On April 27, at midnight, Venetian galleys attempted to surprise the Ottoman fleet present in the Golden Horn. Informed of this attack by a spy, the Ottomans set an ambush and sank the Venetian ships.
On May 7, a new nocturnal assault by the Sultan’s army occurred against the St. Romanus Gate. The Ottomans were repelled by the Byzantines and their allies with heavy losses.
On the night of May 12, 1453, the Ottomans concentrated their massive assaults on the sector of the Blachernae Palace and the Charisios Gate. Another failure.
On the night of May 18-19, 1453, the Ottomans launched an assault tower against the walls in the St. Romanus sector. The Byzantine defenders resisted and set it on fire.
At dawn on May 29, 1453, the Ottoman Janissaries breached the walls at the St. Romanus Gate and the Kerkoporta. They killed Emperor Constantine XI and entered the City. Byzantine soldiers were massacred, and inhabitants were killed or taken prisoner for ransom or to be sold as slaves.
While the City was being overrun by Ottoman soldiers, several Byzantine and allied ships rescued inhabitants who had thrown themselves into the water to escape the massacres. These ships then escaped from the Golden Horn to seek refuge in Italy and the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea.
May 29, 1453: Sultan Mehmed II entered Constantinople victoriously and transformed the Hagia Sophia basilica into a mosque. A new era began.
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