The Old Wall & Chain: 1453's Battle for Byzantium

There seems to be a common theme throughout the urban history of the world:  walls.  It came to the point where my AP World teacher in high school wanted to rename the course “AP Walls.”  Walls surround cities across the globe as a means of protecting the people and containing power.  While some walls are better known than others, such as the Great Wall of China, the walls of Jericho, or the walls of Troy (located in Turkey!), there are some majestic walls here in Istanbul too. 

Walls surrounded this city for hundreds of years, going back to its Byzantine days.  Walls were erected under Constantine, whom the city was named after, in the early 300s.  As the city expanded, Emperor Theodosius built another layer of stone walls to further defend the city from foreign threats.  These walls kept the city safe and proved to be successful for hundreds of years.  The Byzantine Empire expanded and contracted often throughout its existence, but with its base at Constantinople, these walls snuggled the people in comfortably and gave hope for the Empire’s survival. 

Constantinople was almost always safe.  Even though the extremities of the Byzantine Empire were stripped from it by invaders and tenacious tribes, Constantinople was a constant for the Byzantines, as it was the beating heart of a culture thousands of years old.  With that pedigree, though, Constantinople was highly coveted.  Anyone who conquers Constantinople would be credited with taking down the Roman Empire.  Numerous invaders throughout time attempted to steal it, but it could not be penetrated, save for the Latin Crusaders of 1204 whose occupation did not last long.  For any fans of “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” it’s just like the walls of Ba Sing Se.

However, a very special, talented, and brilliant 19-year-old had his eyes on this jewel.  Feeling destined, he made it his mission to snatch this city from the Byzantines, a means of accomplishing the dreams of his forefathers and reaching ultimate glory in the name of Islam.  I refer to the one and only Mehmed II, who upon assuming the position of Sultan, did everything in his power to claim Constantinople for his Empire.

Mehmed II, in Istanbul Naval Museum

The Ottomans (and Islam) had been putting pressure on the Byzantines for years.  There was even a prophecy going back to Mohammad’s day that Islam would conquer Constantinople eventually under the leadership of a “rightly guided one.”  Mehmed felt it was his time to shine, so upon claiming the throne, he set a plan in place.  Now, his father and grandfather each had tried to break Constantinople’s walls and obliterate the Byzantine Empire for good; Sultan Bayezid I even built a fortress on the Bosporus to control aid and trade and to isolate the Byzantines.  

Meanwhile, the Ottomans had gained territory both west and east of Constantinople; they had taken most of Anatolia as well as Bulgaria and the Balkans, sandwiching the Byzantines into discomfort.  The Byzantine Empire was shrunk into basically just Constantinople by the time Mehmed rolled around.  To further encroach and intimidate, the resolute Mehmed built a fortress of his own, making a strong statement that conquest was imminent.

Rumeli Hisar

Peak of the Byzantine Empire, mid 500s under Justinian

So much was riding on this.  Rome had been a civilization for centuries, and even though the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, the East survived well into time.  

The Byzantines even called themselves Romans, keeping Roman greatness and grandeur alive.  If Constantinople fell, the Roman Empire would officially be gone forever.

Byzantine in purple. Much smaller than before

Even with the Ottomans close, the Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos wasn’t afraid.  Prior to the siege, Mehmed, fluent in Greek, repeatedly wrote him, offering the Emperor refuge on a Greek island where he could continue to rule in exchange for Constantinople’s surrender.  The Emperor was not willing to give up, however, replying,” “To surrender the city to you is beyond my authority or anyone else’s who lives in it, for all of us, after taking the mutual decision, shall die out of free will without sparing our lives”

Doesn't this feel like a Homeric Epic?  Royalty sassing each other, lust after land, desire to break the walls of a great city.  Awesome.

As a last Hail Mary before conquest, the Emperor ordered a chain tied around the Golden Horn to prevent the Ottoman Navy from advancing into the city.

The actual chain... like the Fleetwood Mac song.

From the Istanbul Archaeological Museum

And then… 5 April 1453.  After years of preparation and anticipation, with advanced weapons technology and 60,000 soldiers, the Ottoman Turks attacked.

The Byzantine Walls were massive architectural phenomena, containing three layers between a moat and the city.  They were forty feet high and fifteen feet thick.  No one had ever broken through these walls in a thousand years of history.  It was Mehmed’s dream, but at first he experienced great difficulty.  The Ottomans spent weeks firing their cannons at the walls, but they wouldn’t budge.  

Ships moved onto land.

Meanwhile, on the evening of April 21-22^nd, they rolled their ships onto land, advancing further into the city.  Citizens of the city shrieked with terror, and at this point, the walls looked like they were ready to fall.  Finally, on 29 May 1453, after firing cannonball after cannonball on the same spots, the walls were breached.  

Another prophecy said that before the city's fall, a lunar eclipse would take place.  Well, a few days after an eclipse…this happened:

From Panorama 1453

From Panorama 1453

Panorama 1453

For the first time, Constantinople’s walls were wide open, like a black hole breathing soldiers in.  Constantine was not going to let it go without a fight, though.

Prior to confronting the Ottomans soldiers, the fearless Emperor gave a powerful speech, inspiring his troops to fight to the fullest to defend their home.  

Given the Byzantine position as the child, preserver, and avenger of glorious ancient civilizations, the Emperor encouraged his troops to gallantly “hurl…javelins and arrows against them…so that they know they are fighting…with the descendants of the Greeks and Romans.”

Constantine's spirit resonates here.

Constantine XI Palaiologos

Constantinople was massacred for the next three days.  The last recorded words of the Emperor were: “The city is fallen, and I am still alive.”  He died in the siege, his body lost to time.  Legend has it that the walls swallowed his body and that one day, he will return to take back his city.  How fitting, moreover, that the last Emperor of the Byzantine civilization was named Constantine, the same name of the man who founded this illustrious and (up until now) impenetrable city.

Once on the other side of the walls, the Sultan’s flag flew proudly on a tower.  This was a symbol of change underway.  With the Byzantine defeat, Constantinople was about to have a massive identity shift.  Churches that stood for centuries dedicated to the Christian God were converted into mosques devoted to Allah.  The center of global Christianity would soon become the capital of an Islamic Empire and the center of the religion.

 

This didn't have minarets originally...

   

         With this conquest, the Byzantine Empire was destroyed, and with that, so was the Roman presence on Earth.  The Empire going back to Caesar Augustus finally met its maker.  Mehmed II had now achieved the dreams of his forefathers, taking this gem as his own.  History now gives him the title “Mehmed the Conqueror.”

            I think this story is one of the most interesting and important in all of history.  It represented the permanent destruction of Rome, the greatest civilization in history, as well as solidified the Ottoman Empire’s place in the world.  Now, it had taken the greatest city on Earth, destroyed the amazing civilization, and it proved it was legitimate and could compete with anyone else. 

            We are still affected by the conquest of Constantinople.  After this, western powers stopped traveling on the Silk Road, relying instead on the sea to reach the East, ultimately leading to the discovery of the Western Hemisphere.  

^from this to eventually this

                                             ---->

The fall of the Byzantines also represented the end of the Middle Ages.  And to this day, Istanbul has mosques all over.

            When you visit these walls, you can feel the history attached to them.  You can see how old they are.  It’s amazing they are still here, watching over Istanbul.

Casually hanging out in 1453

Here's a great documentary that contains more information on this amazing event:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFUU1hd1XLQ

Sources:

Fleming, K. E. “Constantinople: From Christianity to Islam.” The Classical World 97.1 (2003): 69-  78. Web.

Herrin, Judith.  “The Siege of 1453.” Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. N.p.: Penguin, 2008. 310-20. Print.

MacDonald, William. “Constantinople, 1453.” Archaeology 6.3 (1953): 131. Web.

Runciman, Steven. The Fall of Constantinople, 1453. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1965. Print.

Toynbee, Arnold J. “The Ottoman Empire in World History.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 99.3 (1955): 119-26. Web.

http://platos-academy.com/constantine-xi/