War · 1453 CE
The fall of Constantinople
Constantinople (Istanbul, Türkiye)
On 6 April 1453 the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II laid siege to Constantinople with perhaps 50,000–80,000 troops and about 70 cannon, including a giant bombard cast by the engineer Orban, against some 7,000–8,000 defenders. After 53 days his forces broke through the 5th-century Theodosian Walls on 29 May; the last emperor, Constantine XI, died in the fighting, and Mehmed made the city his new capital.
Why it mattered
The conquest ended the Byzantine Empire, the last remnant of the Roman Empire after nearly 1,500 years, showed that gunpowder artillery could breach the strongest walls, and is often taken to mark the end of the Middle Ages.
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