The Red Apple: The Fall of Constantinople 1453
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On Easter Monday in 1453, an Ottoman army led by the young and ambitious Sultan Mehmed II arrived at the gates of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. This marked the beginning of a siege characterized by the determination of leaders, a city with extraordinary fortifications, and the most extensive siege artillery the world had seen to this day. The fall of Constantinople was a true watershed in history. It cemented the position of the Ottoman empire as the major power in the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean and it ended the long chapter of Roman history for good. The Roman Empire had in some ways outlasted the so-called fall of Rome in 476AD almost for a thousand years as it continued to exist as what we nowadays call the Byzantine Empire. Up to this day thousands of pages have been written on the fall, or conquest, of Constantinople, and barely any other siege in history has received more attention by scholars and history buffs alike. In this video we tell the story of the staggering siege of Constantinople by weaving together the insights of the most recent scholarly literature. This required - given the many controversies about this siege - quite a lot of reading.
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Chapters:
Intro 00:00-01:25
Blinkist 01:25-02:30
Chapter 1: Longing for the Red Apple 02:30-06:08
Chapter 2: The Wrong Apple to Pick? 06:08-14:24
Chapter 3: The Ottoman Giant 14:24-19:06
Chapter 4: Rolling Thunder Over the Red Apple 19:06-23:18
Chapter 5: Quick Victory 23:18-28:08
Chapter 6: The Tide Turns 28:08-32:46
Chapter 7: Assaults for Days on End 32:46-38:20
Chapter 8: Mind Games 38:20-40:40
Chapter 9: The Fall of Constantinople 40:40-45:00
Chapter 10: Epilogue 45:00-47:47
Bibliography:
Babinger, F., Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, Princeton 31992.
Harris, J., Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium, Hambledon 2007.
Harris, J., The End of Byzantium, London 2011.
John W. Barker, s. v. “Constantinople” in: Clifford J. Rogers (ed), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval
Warfare and Military Technology, 2010.
Lilie, R.-J., Geschichte des oströmischen Reiches. 326-1453, München 62014.
Melville-Jones, J. R., The Siege of Constantinople 1453: Seven Contemporary Accounts, Amsterdam
1972.
Meuthen E., Der Fall von Konstantinopel und der lateinische Westen. In: Historische Zeitschrift 237/3
(1983), pp 1-35.
Nicol, Donald M., The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge 1993.
Nicolle, David, John Haldon, and Stephen Turnbull. The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman
Conquest of Byzantium. Oxford and New York 2007.
Pears, Edwin. The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks, New York 1968.
Philippides, M./Hanak W. K., The Siege and Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Historiography,
Topography and Military Studies, Farnham 2011.
Runciman, Steven. The Fall of Constantinople: 1453. Cambridge, Cambridge 1965.
Todt, K.-P., Von Kanonen zerschossen, von Janitscharen erstürmt: Die Eroberung Konstantinopels
durch die Osmanen, in: Antike Welt, Vol. 40, No. 6 (2009), pp 27-32
Click the link blinkist.com/sandrhomanhistory to start your free 7 day trial with Blinkist and get 25% off of a Premium membership. Edit: If you like the video, please leave a comment and a like to please the almighty algorithm!
great animations and art in this one. you're definitely still improving your videos on all ends which is always appreciated.
The implement and pliging at the end is bs. It is Christian sources only mention that. It didn't happen. Those are Catholic church organization propaganda. To justify a Crusade. The independent Muslim sources mentioned the opposite. Only few thousand rich and top government related individuals lost their property and money and killed and some sold. The civilians of those that males that didn't join the fight where safe. Also most of the inhabitants where put around and in Hagi Sofia, had been spired. Rape is prohibited in Islam. Also civilians and even animals is not allowed to harm in Islam. Especially women, children and the old.
Actually the answer of Constantine to the request to turn over the city and accept a ruling position in Morea, under the Sultan, was: "The city is not mine to give".
@@ailediablo79 Turkish bullshit. Go to Diablo. Επισημασμένη απάντηση AileDiablo AileDiablo πριν από 23 λεπτά @FLORATOSOTHON Christian bs. He was a bad ruler and a tyrant and arrogant with his walls. FLORATOSOTHON @AileDiablo Turkish bullshit. Go to Diablo.
@@FLORATOSOTHON i am not Turkish. The implement and pliging at the end is bs. It is Christian sources only mention that. It didn't happen. Those are Catholic church organization propaganda. To justify a Crusade. The independent Muslim sources mentioned the opposite. Only few thousand rich and top government related individuals lost their property and money and killed and some sold. The civilians of those that males that didn't join the fight where safe. Also most of the inhabitants where put around and in Hagi Sofia, had been spired. Rape is prohibited in Islam. Also civilians and even animals is not allowed to harm in Islam. Especially women, children and the old.
Imagine you’re a 15th century soldier patrolling walls and see wholeass ships casually crossing from land into the golden horn
Yeah...slaves were very amirable people...
@@obiwankenobi2083 soldiers fighting an ancient battle are alot more admirable than anything you and your cheeto dusted fingers have ever done or will do.
@@obiwankenobi2083 Slaves?? In East Rome? lol...
@@obiwankenobi2083 jesse wtf are you talking about
@@szarekhthesilent2047 every country ever had used slaves inculding the greek byzantines
"God forbid that I should live as an Emperor without an Empire. As my city falls, I will fall with it. Whosoever wishes to escape, let him save himself if he can, and whoever is ready to face death, let him follow me." -Constantine XI Palailogos Last Roman Emperor.
where was that recorded though?
This brand of ruler is truly dead in modernity
@@TaRAAASHBAGS Stalin didn't leave Moscow either, when Germans where 70km away from it. Many commanders didnt leave their soldiers when death was approaching. There are many ppl like this, there just isnt as much war as it used to be.
@@TaRAAASHBAGS That’s what democracy brings.
@@DerWeisskunig Especially when that democracy becomes oligarchy.
This siege has all the elements of an amazing action drama series. So many great characters, the history, the drama, great speeches, and tragic ends. I don't know why no has done such a series yet.
Turks did some films but from european perspective it is a siege they don't want to remember
@@froststorm3290 there was a western one I remember watching ~10 years ago, however (as expected) it was romanticized on a crazy level. The ottomans were portrayed as cruel barbarians attacking the main civilization of the world and they were looking like trolls. The ending was literally this message: ´We were killing 10000's of ottomans and were going to win, if this one guy at the walls did not sell us out...´' which is very unrealistic. There was no way out for (back then) Constantinople.
Another Crusade!! :D
Rise of Empires: Ottoman TV series
@@froststorm3290 Turkish films are garbage far away from historical truth.
The last Roman emperor died as an emperor should; a sword in his hand without fear, side by side with his soldiers. A worthy end to the greatest empire the world has ever seen.
2,000 years they lived by the sword, and they died by the sword. Roman.
Real hero half serbian
A great man to be sure. Rest In Peace.
@@NB-kq7lm yes yss jesus was 75% serbian we know, đukanovic taught you well
@@mihovilraboteg6160 Jesus was a jew and konstantin mother was serbian princess. Serbian stokavian speaking croatinas also have serbian orgin from catholic serbs
Really good story telling coupled with an interesting art style and animations, well done. Incredibly detailed video regarding the siege.
Giustiniani brought 700 soldiers, Byzantine soldiers numbered 10000. Constantin XI had to let him do his way, and when he got hit, took his army and church's gold with him and let the door open. Constantin XI is the real hero! As king he made a last stand!
I really enjoyed the video...perfect and unbiased to the last detail. I actually feel sorry for Constantinople..reminds of Jerusalem. Always in war and saw many atrocities. Actually they even both suffered from crusaders at one point. I'm not taking any side, but whoever was the victor, I feel sorry for the population (Greek and Palestinian).
they forgot to mention he was just 21yrs old when this happened, and they forgot to mention the support of his step-mother who was spying for him.. his mother was an esoteric Christian too, she was the one pushing him that he will be the conqueror of Constantinople according to her visions
@@c0nstantin86 Giustiniani was an expert in siege warfare, its very different from normal battle on war-field ... if it was hand to hand battle, the Ottomans would have wont the same day even if they have less soldiers than the Byzantines .. the Ottoman's have the Jernissaries who are dangerous then have the brave Sipahi divisions! they are brutal in field battle
It's not a story it's a history.. 21 years old boy with huge balls conquered that city beside destroying few kingdoms ... fact
You left out arguably the best part of Mehmed becoming Sultan at 12. The empire was at war (a crusade no less) from most Eastern powers (Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Lithuania, etc.). After some failed expeditions in 1442, there was a truce signed that was to last 10 years, as well as making peace in Anatolia with the other beyliks, Murad thinking things would be fine for the time decided to abdicate at that time. However, the eastern powers knowing after the truce they’d just be invaded again and emboldened by the fact a 12 year old was in charge of the Ottoman Empire decided to approach the pope to sanction a crusade. Mehmed knowing he’s too young to lead the empire through that (and probably with some pushing from his viziers) wrote a letter to his father that said, “if you are the Sultan come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan, I hearby order you to come and lead my armies.” It was the ultimate, “dad come help” in history.
the turks had young leaders a lot of the time. Killij Arslan led the sultanate of rum against the crusaders during the first crusade as a 16-17 year old.
that's kind of adorable
True story. It's ashame how the Ottomans declined after being so resilient in it's formation. That's another story for another Day
@@derekmcmillian6557 hahahaha shame ye ok, the only shame is that the turk is still in anatolia
@@HarrDarr were soon we will be in vatican 🇹🇷☪️💪☝️
“The city has fallen, and I am still alive!” The last roman emperor charged into the ottoman lines and was never seen again, fading into history. To think that a little village in Italy could shape the world to this extent. It all came to this
Like straight out of a book, movie or video game but this was real life. Its truly amazing.
I'm more impressed with Osman, a bey of a small region in anatolia kickstarted one of the greatest empires in history and reshaped history. They even took Constantinople which no one managed to do until that point and never lost control of it.
@@Maynard0504 the whole history of the Turk peoples is very long and interesting. The house of Osman is the brightest period for them and I always felt admiration for the Islamic states. The Ottoman Empire was by far the most successful of them. I cited the end of Constantine XI and the fall of Rome (the real Roman Empire) because of what it represents for us in the west and not only in the west. The end of a long era, the remains of ancient classical greatness fading into history, sparking a new one while disappearing.
@@alessandrobenvenuti6551 As a Turk I should say neither Ottoman nor Roman Empire was good for its people. People were ruled by emperors, that is all! Yet, the former represents east and the latter represents west!
@@sinnyawesome7037 of course. The past is a different place. They were both places where common people suffered much more than common people suffer now. But back then they were some of the most advanced civilizations, and they have been for a long time before decaying. Eastern Rome took 1000 years to fall after 476 ad, but it was the envy of the world for some time. We should take history for what it is, not judging using our way of seeing things. It’s much more interesting like that for me
"Or I will conquer Constantinople or Constantinople will conquer me." Mehmed, the conquer
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
He just wanted to be another Julio Ceasar ... he achieved it though, not the greatest expansion under any Ottoman Sultan was under Suleiman The Magnificent
@@TsarOfRuss I think historians might differ with this view
@tsar5501 Selim The Grim was better than Suleiman
@@lastword8783 how??
Constantine XI is impossible to hate. He was given a choice between surrendering and having Balkan lands to his name as a vassal or fighting to the death. He decided to be the man who did everything he could to keep the city rather than the coward who gave it up just to save his own life.
Do you mean it's impossible to hate Constantine?
@@greasyflab3180 thanks I'll fix it.
Just another ruler who decided to let thousands die before he gave away his power.
@@molybdaen11 i know you are a person who doesn't care about his nation and would run away but i would stay and fight for my country what the thousands did was brave die for there homes is great honorable way to die
@@ghostofathens6600 You can do nothing for your nation when you are death.
Giustiniani is an extremely underrated historical figure. According to some sources, he traveled to Constantinople at his own expense with his men, fought a war that wasn't his and died like a martyr, retreating only after receiving a deadly wound. A hero, from beginning to end
Don't get it twisted lil bro, he only did it for the money and the experience.
A man named Justinianus died defending Constantinople in 1453? Its like Romulus Augustulus being the last western emperor
@@nicolascataldo69420 46:20🖕 he did defending Constantinople he ran like a littlpussye
He was a mercenary. Fought for gold and the hand of the princess. Once he lost, he ran like a coward instead of dying with a sword in his hand. He was no hero, nor a merthyr. He was nothing more than a power hungry man.
@@bambusbjorn3756 ran like a coward? He was shot by a crossbow. Try fighting with a bolt lodged in your body. It's literally impossible. He fought until he couldn't anymore, and retreating was his only option. And hand of what princess? He was never promised any princess. And Crowley writes in his book that he funded the expedition with his own money from his own initiative, so no generous reward was involved either
I love this content! On such a under-represented period of history, I appreciate the amount of detail and research into the early modern era you put in. I'm just the average viewer, but cmon, keep working, it's amazing!
You are kidding right??? There is a vid on the fall of Constantinople every other mounth on youtube
@@ouss I meant his channel in general.
As we can see yet again, reinforcements or lack there of are the deciding factor in sieges. Amazing video!
That's like saying the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere is the deciding factor in humans continuing to exist. Not necessarily wrong, but also not quite correct.
Battle of Alesia decisively proves you wrong.
I'm a big boy now. I can watch this without crying for at least the first ten minutes.
it's not that bad. just a bit of good ol drama
I love how you people, cry over this when it’s just the final nail in the coffin after 1204
@@comradekenobi6908 I'm not a big enough boy to watch that fully.
@@johntitor1256 your are a liar John
@@comradekenobi6908 And you are a bold one.
What I find interesting is that the idea of carrying ships through land was not an unprecedented tactic by the 15th century. The Slavs had done the exact same thing in 626 AD when they sieged Constantinople. Turkopol soldiers (turkish mercenaries in crusader armies) had used the tactic against Seljuk turks in Nicosia at 1097. And Seljuk turks used it against the Venetians in the Corinthian Isthmus on 1339. So it makes me wonder if Mehmed or his advisors had read about these battles in history books and were inspired by them. And I also wonder if any of the seasoned veterans on the byzantine side were also aware of these earlier battles, and were worried about such a possibility.
Some said the advisor got a dream. And behold, there was a strong wind during that time.
That Idea was notting new,was done Many Times over,over. But the Historians on Booth sides made it a big deal,that at the time it was not big deal,or new. Blame the Historians.
Mehmed was an avid reader and could read and speak ancient Greek. He probably knew of the Diolkos in Corinth, where the ships where pulled over the isthmus. Maybe he also read the various crusader accounts of the siege on Nicaea or even Anna Komnene's account of the life of Alexios Komnenos, though I find that less likely.
its was done by the romans for trade reason
if he knew of that strategy, he would've done that earlier, legend said he got the idea in a dream, the idea itself is not new, but to be able to transfer 80 warship over a hill in one night unnoticed is crazy
I was wondering when you were going to make this one :) The Great (and staggering) Siege of Malta next pls!
Malta will come this year but there are few other sieges that we want to cover first though! After all, Mehmed tried to conquer more than just Constantinople ;)
@@SandRhomanHistory let's gooooooooooooo
@@SandRhomanHistory Mehmed the II
@@SandRhomanHistory I am glad to hear that, will be looking forward to all of them :)
One if the most underrated parts about the battle of Nándorfehérvár/Belgrade was that, the christian army managed to beat THIS mehmed and THIS army, not just an everyday turkish raid. I believe, that if there was a "battle of giants" in the 15th century europe, and not to mention balkans, it has to be 1456
i asked the experts and declare this video a certified banger. Your siege stories (and overall video making skills) are truly impressive!
Napoleon’s brother Joseph-whose activities mostly consisted of being told by his brother, the emperor, to which kingdom had he been installed as ruler that day-wrote Napoleon a letter when it was clear the Coalition would prevail and Paris would fall. He suggested to Napoleon if he must lose he should fall in combat defending his city; like Constantine XI did in Constantinople. Easier said than done but it may have saved Napoleon some boredom in exile.
there is no proof that costantine xi died in battle during the siege though
@@theoneandonlyhooda Yeah exactly he could have as easily been been stabbed on by fleeing crowds trying to escape himself but people like a good story 🤦
Was this in 1814 or 1815?
As a Genoese, I pay very much respect to the Byzantines in their Last Stand, even more epic than Thermopylae. Mehmed II was a military genius, although this could have been an easy victory for him. It was not so easy thanks to many citizens of the Republic of Genoa (mainly from Chios island), who tried their best to defend the allied city. Galata people were civilians, they could not fight the Emperor's war, but if Venice and other European countries had done even 1/10 of what Genoeses did those days, Constantinople would be saved. This siege was however the most epic episode of War History!
Its epic for only the con people of tantine desert christian fallowers, they are not even a native aryan nordic people they are not pagan.. they are christian.. plus the constantine is the fake name given to that land
@Emanuele Fioretino, it was the walls which made it difficult. Any group of motivated men would have been able to defend it.
@@williamdavis9562 I respect your opinion, but I don't agree, because they were too few to defend all the walls, Ottomans had vast superiority in artillery and navy and two of the most relatively "recent" attempts taking the city (the 4th Crusade and the Byzantines regaining the city decades later) were successful without any terrible issue. Such an enormous city very scarcely populated is an easier prey with respect to the city it was centuries before, especially the city in Roman era which those huge walls were designed to
@@emanuelefiorentino8831 That city had been defended many times against larger armies with fewer men. If what you are saying is true, the defenders would not have been as confident as they were and the attackers not nearly as nervous. People fail to realize how impregnable those walls seemed for the attack technology of the time. The defenses of that city were a technological marvel and the entire planet knew about it. To lose that city to the technology of that time a lot of things had to happen. 1. The defenders had to screw everything up. 2. The attackers not only needed massively overwhelming force but also the perfect tactics and strategy to pull it off. Both these things happened and the attackers still had a hard time pulling it off. That is how powerful the engineering of the defenses of that city were.
@@williamdavis9562 The weak point in your argument is the number 1. Assuming they were only humans who cannot be immune to fear of death and were outnumbered 11:1, many of them were civialians embracing weapon and the morale of defenders can not be never good since the city were at economical and cultural collapse way before the siege (the Megadux itself preferred the Ottomans to the Pope), they objectively tried their best. The only source describing defenders acting bad were Venetian ones, clearly not trustable since they gained depicting archenemy Giustiniani and genoeses as evil traitors with no virtue. The fault in Costantinople fall was entirely of European nations (except some spanish, genoese, russian and papal men) doing really nothing. All sources tell this, both greek and turkish. The Ottomans even praised Giustiniani as the hero he was. Not a superman, since fled after being hitten many times to death, but definitively a real hero for what he has done in his life
The narration and the music are masterpieces as usual...
Rome lives on in our hearts.
And in our culture. and laws! there's probably even more...
@@clintmoor422 well, language would be another one. Also pretty much all rulers in Europe from the Holy Roman emperors to the russian Tsars saw themselves as the rightful heirs of the Roman empire.
@@clintmoor422 Food! Don't forget the food!
Well said Napoleon, you could have done it on your own. The overthrow of a king and a establishment of a chaotic republic turned into an empire that has a big impact on history and today. Isn't it familiar?
@@clintmoor422 holy roman empire? every heard of it? 1806?
I'm a Turk. We don't really know what happened to Constantine as there are no true first hand witnesses that we know off. But if he did die fighting (which is likely) he definitely was admirable. Friend or Foe, always need to respect a man that is ready to die for his nation.
nation? which nation? He died for his empire, and throne if he did so. Don't be an idiot by poison of anachronism.
@@iiilker1989 his city then.
@@Ahmed-iam better :) nation means less then property.
@@iiilker1989 he died for his natiom yes!!!! Read about his last speech.....
7:00 R.I.P to the stern, bald man with the long beard. Distinguished instructor and officer of various key decisive battles(seen in your other vids) only to meet an inglorious end as an envoy.
Organizing all the logistical stuff to conquer Constantinople just half a century after the catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Ankara at the hands of Tamerlane is truely impressive
20 years later Trebizond, the hardest castle on Anatolia to conquer.60 years later, they went deep in Iran and the year later; Syria, Hejaz, Egypt, walking through Sinai Desert. All of these regions are logistics nightmare for invaders. Ottoman logistics was crazy good.
was more impressive was a defense of some warriors against sheer numbers of invaders...that is IMPRESSIVE.
@@obiwankenobi2083 Defending and shooting arrows behind huge walls are pretty easy. It's not impressive compared to transporting war ships through land and hills. By the way, Ottomans were much smaller and much less populated when Byzantine-Ottoman wars first began.
@@ikielinsesi1843 nope.
@@szarekhthesilent2047 that's a really detailed and hard to doubt argument. I'm convinced.
The greatest vid I ve seen on the siege of Constantinopel. You provided us so much more details and insights a about this historical event, which is covered by many other historical channels. Well done!!!!
Excellent and comprehensive writing and narration as always, and I see your animator has been working overtime. A video worthy of one the most famous sieges of all history. Where's the terrified peasant tho :|
"Not even your dream's can't reach where my power reaches " -Mehmet the conquerer
❤ “Not even your dream’s can’t reach where my power reaches” Fatih Sultan Mehmet Han.
Can't reach 🤣
@@shravyaamin8346 they can't reach intelligibility
@@koontz1154he already did you son of bitch That's why he was always Victorious
This is the first I'm finding your channel and you are an absolutely amazing presenter. This is so well researched and carefully explained. Instant sub, keep being awesome!
47 mins felt like 10. Never bored. Good job SnadRhoman, subscribed!
Amazing video, guys! Really, one of your bests. Keep going with the amazing job!
Your work is unrivaled, Thank you! This and Total war before it went high fantasy are a big fix for me.
Didnt have tome to finish this when it was posted, now I can finally say that I think youve outdone yourself, this might be the best so far.
I want to say thank you for putting so much effort into these videos. KZheads monetary policy puts quantity over quality and yet you make incredibly good content and research it thoroughly, i guess thats the good part about sponsors.
45:37 Actually Mehmnet II *stopped the sack after only two days*. I'm guessing the comment in the documentary here, is based on the common Muslim rights to sack for 3 days after taking a city, but as mentioned earlier, even the church treasures was already melted down into portable gold and silver to pay the troops defending the walls. Mehmet found a soldier in the Hagia Sophia trying to destroy the floor of the great building, and almost killed the soldier with his scimitar, when he answered "For the FAITH!" when asked what he was doing to the floor of what Mehmet wanted to make into a mosque.
Finally someone who's open minded
Yes this is why I truly love early Islam; I remember reading how after Islam captured Jerusalem from Rome; and the Prophet left everything intact even their church and allowed the Romans to leave with anything they could carry including gold and silver.
All armies at that time, had right to plunder, enslave (and partial massacre) defenders if they don't surrender city during the siege. It is common procedure because capturing fortified cities and castles is very hard and time-consuming until 19th century. On the other hand, all eyewitness Ottoman sources said that a large amount of booty was obtained from the city of Constantinople which proves that the city wasn't impoverished as claimed. For similar reason, Mehmet the Conqueror executed chief minister Loukas Notaras ,who surrendered to Ottomans during capture of city, on the grounds that Notaras presented a great treasure of precious jewels to Mehmet the Conqueror. Mehmet the Conqueror saw these presented jewels as vile bribes and he said to Notaras that "You're not a human, you're a dog! you are sneaky and dishonest; You had such treasures, why didn't you help your king, your lord and your city and homeland? And now you are trying to deceive me and avoid the punishment you deserve, with the cunning and footwork you have been accustomed to doing since you were young..." Then he executed Loukas Notaras with his sons.
It is documented that it was 3 days of slaughter.
@@user-ts5wk3ed4x It isn't slaughter, it is pillage, resisting civilians also slaughtered though, number of killed civilians recorded as 4,000 in some sources in Siege of İstanbul.
Çandarlı Halil Pasha (I don't speak turkish but the ı at the end of his family name isn't pronounced the same as i from what little I know) also has one of the most awesome message replies we have from history, like the Zaporozhian Cossack message to the Ottoman sultans later, except real. Constantine XI sent a letter to the Ottomans upon the final ascension of Mehmed II. It was basically a taunt that demanded that Orhan Çelebi, who was a cousin and rival for the Ottoman throne who was in Constantinople as a hostage to keep him out of Ottoman politics, be given more money or be returned. Which was silly, it was a common "Byzantine" strategy of trying to sew internal discord to weaken their enemies. So Halil got pissed and sent the following reply to the demand: "You stupid Greeks, I have known your cunning ways for long enough. The late sultan was a lenient and conscientious friend to you. The present sultan Mehmed is not of the same mind. If Constantinople eludes his bold and impetuous grip, it will only be because God continues to overlook your devious and wicked schemes. You are fools to think that you can frighten us with your fantasies when the ink on our recent treaty of peace is barely dry. We are not children without strength or sense. If you think that you can start something, do so. If you want to proclaim Orhan as sultan in Thrace, go ahead. If you want to bring the Hungarians across the Danube, let them come. If you want to recover places that you lost long since, try it. But know this: you will make no headway in any of these things. All that you will do is lose what little you have."
Sorry, I wrote this very early on and you mention Orhan. I still think the letter Çandarlı sent back is incredible though.
Damn Constantine was already murdered verbally before the siege
@@Tinil0Çandarlı always opposed the conquest of Constantinepol, worrying about the future of the Ottoman Empire.executed after the conquest!!!!! The conquest of Constantinople was inevitable and it eventually became Istanbul!!!!! so where are you from bro
The visuals and storytelling keeps getting better every video, keep it up bro!
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
Don't cry because it's over smile because it happened. R.I.P. Roman Empire.
I love how you people, cry over this when it’s just the final nail in the coffin If you want TRUE TRAGEDY I suggest to look up 1204
@@comradekenobi6908 simply debtor reclaiming debts, not tragic, rather inspiring
@@eminkurtovic5477 yeah sure
@@comradekenobi6908 the TRUE TRAGEDY is how they were killing each other for 100's of years before they ever needed to start begging for help...
@@9and7 lol
moving artillery Most people - hundreds of oxen Sandrhoman - hold on, I'll get my donkey
that donkey is everywhere
Incredible video as usual!
thank you!
@@SandRhomanHistory i love you
Thank you for your work, very well done and narrated quite fluently!
Great topic and as always the animations & storytelling in your videos are amazing!!
Η Κωνσταντινούπολη είναι Ρωμαίικη - Ελληνική!
that Europe sign post in the intro is so funny because the Ottoman capital at the time was Adrianople which is west of Constantinople
Extremely, extremely good, very well produced, loved to listen wand watch. Thanks!!
I actually visited the St. Romanus gate a few days ago... just after this video was posted and walked the length of the walls south to the "Golden Gate" close to the shore. Was amazing. Truly amazing.
These siege videos are always the best 👌
Thanks, more to come! Out of the next three videos, two will be sieges.
@@SandRhomanHistory Yea, those few special sieges are material for some great action movies
Wonderfully told! I knew about this siege, but you really fleshed out the story. The story of the defenders was epic if they had gotten an support at all they would have won.
I visited Istanbul for a few weeks and was amazed by the history that was available to all those who choose to see it. In reality 2 weeks is not enough time to see it all.
Calling it that shows how you have zero historical integrity
We've been waiting for this for a long time SRH. Thank You for this staggering video.
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
Such a powerful and emotive moment in history. Especially glad to see it covered by you!!! Love the art style most of all
A sad moment too. I am muslim and you'd think I think this would be a glorius moment. Before this video I thought that. But now I realized it's just dirty politics and a greedy emperor not wanting to coexist in peace. So many men, women, and children killed for the greed of one man. Just sad to see.
@@skyhappy oh it is incredibly sad I agree. I do not respect Mehmed either
@@skyhappy You're making the mistake of reading the history with the 21st centuries perspective. It is a glorious victory.
@@barca8341 At what cost? He lost thousands or tens of thousands of men. No one benefited except Mehmet and his looting army. Much more people suffered than benefited.
@@skyhappy Are you sure youre Muslim? You're probably a muslim that lives in west. They didn't die, they martyred. And looting was very common in literally every army and mehmed stoped looting in the 2nd day or the 3rd day im not sure. Everyone benefited it. Istanbul's geographical position helped us take the bosphorus and the tax money that came from there. Remember ottoman empire was rich because of the economic roads. Also ottoman empire carried jihad which is something that is ordered to all muslims. The way you're thinking is so absurd. What do you mean who benefited from it? Literally all the muslim world benefited from it, our prophet literally said “One day Constantinople will be conquered. Great is the commander who will conquer it. Great are his soldiers." Even only this is a great reason alone.
Nice. Better video than the one on Kings&Generals!
Or love them both equally!
And also much more detailed and professional.
Way better! Kings and generals barely take two minutes to talk about the siege itself...
@@mariushunger8755 that's because this is a 40+ min video. Kings and Generals makes shorter content. it's like comparing a short 5 min video of dingos to an hour long BBC Earth documentary. Apples and oranges.
Fair points. But I like this detailed video a lot more. It even provides sources which is something good to have especially for additional reading.
This was absolutely top quality
I’m less than half of the duration of the video, and already impress by the facts of the siege you are telling, that I didn’t hear or read before. Great work, and great video.
It was a Great Epic Battle, many parts i didn't known i was amazed to learn about it. I learned with other Historical KZheadrs but were not as close in the details as SandRhoman History. Wow, i didn't know mehmed was so cruel, never heard about the empaling part, neither that orhan hanged himself
That kind of cruelty was pretty customary for the age and day. Nothing out of the ordinady.
depends on the source I suppose.
Mehmed zalim değil yalan söylüyorsunuz hepiniz. Size bunu diyen yalancı.
Man ottomans were especially brutal even for those days!! I read a book on the battle of malta and lepanto and those people were just insanely inhuman. Makes the invasion of Lybia look like a fairytale
@@ArtilleryAffictionado1648 If your book is of western origin then it is no wonder that the ottomans are portrait as evil barbarians.
Johannis Grande looks like a dwarf from Lord of the Rings; probably why he was such a good miner. Also, this channel should have many times the number of subs it has
Outstanding episode and immensely gripping!
fantastic video, well researched i enjoy when youtubers actually Source/Reference their videos
Love the siege videos 🤙
While full of vivid imagery and heroism on both sides, it is important to remember how one-sided the siege was. Constantinople was less than a shell of its former glory, and had long been humiliated and sucked dry by the Christian West. "Better the Turkish turban than the Papal tiara" was a by-word among the Orthodox for centuries after the siege.
And you can imagine why, if west christians would help the history would be different, at least keeping the ottoman fleet as unintended submarines
I wouldn't say so. It still had its incredible walls. The city wasn't crumbling just no longer in its hayday. The crusaders betraying Constantinople and sacking the city certainly didn't help but with its fortifications, position etc it was still an impossible city to take for basically every other army in the world except for maybe with an incredibly long siege (in a scenario in which no help comes from friendly nations to lift the siege.) Which is another thing. The Ottomans had to rush this siege because a long siege would inevitably invite a large army from a Christian alliance coming to try and lift the siege. P.s there is also a Dutch saying "Liever Turks dan Paaps" (I'd) rather be Turkish than Papal/rather have the Turk than the Pope (as my liege)". Protestants would wear necklaces with crescent moons and those words. Because they heard that Christians in the Ottoman empire had religious autonomy esp compared to how oppressive Spain was to any non Catholic, It was also a FU to the Catholic Church and the Catholic Spaniards that had invaded and occupied them and were heavily persecuting Dutch protestants
@@godofchaoskhorne5043 Interesting, thanks! Yes, the walls stood, but when you have one defender every 3 yards or so on the parapets, defeat was a matter of days against a vast army with a navy and super-cannon.
@@elduquecaradura1468 I mean they sacked the city themselves too. Not really any different from the Ottomans
@Iam Ilyass You are conflating very different peoples and cultures over centuries into the word “Turk”. This is a 20th century nationalist invention.
Awesome way of telling the story, your great at this man! keep it going!
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
Does it more Staggering... Thank You once again.
I remember watching a documentary where it was mentioned that some of the Ottoman tunnels had been discovered by a Scotsman. He used to put barrels of water behind the wall and look for little waves caused by vibrations from the digging.
what's a Scotsman even doing all way over there what a legend
@@apmac6723 They actually answered that question in the documentary, haha. Scots seem to have worked as mercenaries all over the world at that time.
The fall of Constantinople was one of the reasons why the Spanish and Portuguese started exploring west and crossing the Atlantic to not have to deal with the ottomans. It was in 1492 that Columbus crossed the Atlantic
Your videos are always top tier in quality
I see the quality of the video has improved, good job
Those four Genovese ships were truly badass
For real
Not so badass if they fail too stop the OTTOMAN TURKS 🇹🇷☪️💪☝️
@@islammehmeov2334 islam are you stupid my child?
Ouch, now I'm crying. I have always been amazed by the resistance of the last siege of Constantinople and the fall of the Roman Empire. Great video.
☪☪☪🏳☝
Great documentary, thank you for this 👍🏾
I absolutely love your work SandRhoman History
I feel sorties are the most underrated part of a siege. This might not be the best example but the US in Afghanistan used lots of little based and then highly mobile armored personal carriers, humvees, and helicopters to control or at least harass and make their presence known in hostile territory. Forts themselves aren't really keeping control
Yes yes, it's based to millions of dollars of machinery to terrorize illiterate pre-industrial peasants
And they still lost
Yeah, well, that's the thing about a fort: By having a place you can withdraw to, you can raid boldly and with impunity. The enemy literally needs to catch you in the act, and guarding against that requires far more troops than you have in the fort.
The us had forts (military bases) and they also made many sorties. Still a military failure.
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
And so it has come to an end, the history of Rome lasting more than 2000 years has finally ended. The Phoenix can at last rest in heaven. Ironic, the Roman Emperor Constantine declared the city as a new Roman capital and the Byzantine Emperor Constantine was also it last Emperor. This is great video, the artworks and narration are even better then before. Love it!
Thank you for your time 🥰
Remarkable telling. Thanks for sharing with the world
I think you portrayed well the savagery of the times and war in general, something that other channels don't usually do
Giovanni was an amazing leader, he did a job rarely seen in history as marvelous and tragic.
If he would alive,the city wiuld not fallen
Greatly told 👌🔥
One helluva video my man !!! Keep on going !!!
This siege reminds me of the battle of Blackwater, the big chain and all that stuff, even the city’s layout looks like the King’s landing when you look at it reversed.
Saddest death in anime
Thanks for sharing your expertise on this topic.
S+ tier video man. I wish I had these kind of animations and visuals back in school. I learned so much, subbed and going to watch many more of yours. Thank you.
I love that there is no hero or villain in real life. There is no plot Armor, both sides come up with equally genius strategies and yet it's a wonderful story.
waht do yo umean? Of course there are heroes and villains but most of the times its difficult to identify them
@@TheGoldenrun example?
The easiest possible example is Hitler. A pure villain. Not crazy, not idiot, just villain. As of heroes the greek history has so many examples that it is easy to find for yourselves. Of course I dont mean mythology, i mean heroes that in the moment of truth they put their lives in the front to save everyone else. Leonidas of Sparta, the last Emperor of Byzantine(the one the video is talking about) and pöenty more. If you disagree it would be beneficial to analyze the meaning of word hero, greek concept btw
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
Wow, someone be blocking my comments.
14:58 They had Farmland *inside* the walls? That is like the defenders ultimate dream! It makes any starving out realy, realy hard. If you were building foritificaitons, you usually tried to pick the minimum amount of coverd area. And thus the Farmland usually fell outside the wall. But these walls existed anyway and moving them was too expensive. So that allowed this imporpable scenario. 29:00 IIRC, the Byzantines did that in the 1st Crusade as well And of course it was something the Vikings had to do to cross from the Baltic Sea to the black sea.
Centuries of Greek mismanagement depopulated the city to the point areas that used to be gardens, fora, and even buildings, had been torn down and the land used for farming because the city had so little safe hinterland.
This is not Age of Empires, farms don't produce food continuously. Harvest happens at most 2 times for some crop types.
@@eminkurtovic5477 Centuries of byzantine decline, loss of territory and a plague decimated the population. There was not a lot they could do, given the abysmal state of their remaining holdings.
@@kagtkalem7115 1. I know 2. I am pretty sure I said as much
@syrtar Your only comment is that you got nothing to say. Sounds like a pointless exercise to me.
Amazing detailed video!
I really love all these type of videos on KZhead I have this dream that you all will eventually work together on projects! Please do something with Historions Craft Invicta Kings and generals History dose Many more but I think you all could do a lot of high quality projects and we’d see some amazing Outcomes
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
I am Bulgarian. This was so interesting to watch, Gosh what a struggle! Respect to the Greek defenders, for putting up a Herculean resistance to the Ottoman Turkish. How many assaults these brave defenders endured is truly remarkable and pushed Mehmed to his very limits. Even after his genius idea of transporting the ships to the Golden horn on land&building pontoons to transfer cannons across the Golden horn, he still couldn't defeat the Greeks ! Constantinople was truly the hardest city on the planet to conquer.
You are right great respect too the Roman Empire and one of there great EMPEROR BASILE THE BULGAR KILLER
But he conquered
What an amazing, brave defence behind the highest walls of history has ever seen. Greeks weren't so brave when Turks catched them in open fields
@@ikielinsesi1843 but Greeks defeated the Turks despite being outnumbered in 1821-1830 war , in so many battles.
@@aleksk4151 Yeah with the help of British,Russian,French Empires behind them. How brave!
The truth about Emperor Constantine Palaiologos was that when the Gates of Romanos fell he rushed in immediately with his personal Guard (at that time mostly consisted of German mercenaries) to fall on the invaders with full force .He died in battle crying out "So many enemies and not even one of my people to take my head" Hellenics always considered the remains of fallen heroes as sacred so that's why the only thing worrying him was the retrieval of his arms and corpse .He not even once considered retreat he fought to the end among those willing to remain loyal to the Greatness of Byzantium(aka Eastern Roman Empire).
Great video, as always.
I like that you include your bibliography, that makes it academic
R.I.P. Roman Empire 😭
F
RIP
RIP 27BC-1453AD
RIP Bozo . Smoking on that Constantine pack .
@@hmmm3210 rip the Sick man of Europe 1444-1923
The fall of Constantinople was one the most tragic events in all of history.
Not really no. It's just the fall of the city. The same thing happened all throughout history
@@zombieoverlord5173it loooks like u dont really understand constatinople
@pixelated8875 The EasternRoman empire was already a shell of its former self, as was Constantinople. It was a crucial moment in history but hardly tragic. It was simply empire conquer enpire
@@zombieoverlord5173 the siege of constatinople marks the end of the roman empire
@pixelated8875 Hardly a clear cut end. Many say it's 476 that marks the end of the Roman Empire and call the Eastern half Byzantine. But like I said the Eastern Roman Empire was already a shell of it's former self and it's hardly tragic
Excellent as usual!
march of the conquest ottoman conquered with this march direction costantiane i want you to listen the spirit of the turks in the war kzhead.info/sun/orqYdZegnHeEZH0/bejne.html
Great video thanks guys
The Dardanelles Gun was cast in bronze in 1464 by Munir Ali with a weight of 16.8 tonnes and a length of 5.18 m (17.0 ft), being capable of firing stone balls of up to 0.63 m diameter (24.8 in).[1] The powder chamber and the barrel are connected by the way of a screw mechanism, allowing easier transport of the unwieldy device. Such super-sized bombards had been employed in Ottoman warfare[5] and in Western European siege warfare since the beginning of the 15th century.[6] According to Paul Hammer and Gábor Ágoston, the technology could have been introduced from other Islamic countries which had earlier used cannons.[7] The Ottoman army successfully deployed large bombards at the siege of Salonica in 1430, and against the Hexamilion wall at the Isthmus of Corinth in 1446.[5] At the siege of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottomans employed a number of cannons, anywhere from 12 to 62. They were built at foundries that employed Turkish cannon founders and technicians, most notably Saruca, in addition to at least one foreign cannon founder, Orban. Most of the cannons at the siege were built by Turkish engineers, including a large bombard by Saruca, while one cannon was built by Orban, who also contributed a large bombard.[8][9] Orban was from Brassó, Kingdom of Hungary, before working for the Ottoman army in 1453.[10] Ali's piece is assumed to have closely followed the outline of the large bombards used at the siege of Constantinople.[10] Along with other huge cannons, the Dardanelles Gun was still present for duty more than 340 years later in 1807, when a Royal Navy force appeared and commenced the Dardanelles Operation. Turkish forces loaded the ancient relics with propellant and projectiles, then fired them at the British ships. The British squadron suffered 28 casualties from this bombardment.[4] A spheric round made of full iron, 63 centimetres (25 in) of diameter, has a weight of 1,027.5 kilograms (2,265 lb). In 1866, on the occasion of a state visit, Sultan Abdülâziz gave the Dardanelles Gun to Queen Victoria as a present.[10] It became part of the Royal Armouries collection and was displayed to visitors at the Tower of London and was later moved to Fort Nelson, Hampshire, overlooking Portsmouth.[11] Gotta love wikipedia.
As the embers of one empire fades The embers of the other empires starts to set everything around it a blaze Me
Yep. Like the Spanish in South America.
great video, I read Gibbon's lengthy treatment of the seige, enjoy seeing it depicted
Great video!! Thank you
This is all around a fittingly epic end to the greatest empire the world should ever see. The defenders held their ground against staggering odds while mehmed had well earned his price with a display of his formidable tactical mind.
NO! Not this video! I dreaded and looked forward so much to this. Never ceases to make me sad. To see the fall of such a beautiful City, the last part of the Eternal Empire.
It was an Amazing episode thanks a lot
Exceptional 👏👏👏
thanks!!!