Sunday, May 29, 2016

The Fall of Constantinople

On May 29, 1453, after a 6 week siege, an Ottoman force of 50,000 - 80,000 conquered the city of Constantinople with around 50,000 residents & 7,000 soldiers. Dunno why it took such a long siege with those odds...
The Ottoman forces included about 10,000 Janissaries (Christian slave soldiers) and were led by Sultan Mehmed II and, after conquering the city & Constantine XI, moved the Ottoman capitol to the town & renamed it Istanbul. It was considered the end of the Roman Empire after about 1,500 years. The Ottoman Empire crapped out about 450 years later at the end of WWI.

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