THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE -THE SIEGE



Image = Aya_sofya, Hagia Sophia The Holy wisdom of God, Constantinople


Following his accession to the Ottoman throne, Mehmed had been applying pressure on Constantinople and the Byzantines by building forts along the Dardanelles. On 5 April, he laid siege to Constantinople with an army numbering 80,000 to 200,000 men. The city was defended by an army of 7,000 of whom 2,000 were foreigners. According to Islamic tradition, before the beginning of hostilities, the Sultan demanded the surrender of the city, promising to spare the lives of its inhabitants and respect their property.

In a proud and dignified reply the Emperor rejected Mehmed's demand and almost immediately the Ottoman guns began firing.

The siege began with heavy Ottoman artillery firing at the city's walls while a smaller Ottoman force captured the rest of the Byzantine strongholds in the area. Ottoman attempts to blockade the city completely failed at first owing to the boom blocking the entrance to the Golden Horn thus allowing four Christian ships to enter the city.
The continuous bombardment soon brought down a section of the walls near the Gate of Charisius, north of the Emperor's position.

When night fell, everyone, who was available, rushed to repair the damage. Other units began attempts to mine weak sections of the wall and on the port area a first attempt by the Ottoman fleet to test the defenders' reaction failed.

While the Ottoman troops were trying to fill the foss (a ditch dug as a fortification having a parapet of the excavated earth in front of it), particularly in areas in front of the weak sections of the walls which were now constantly bombarded.

The Ottoman guns did not stop pounding the walls until the end of the siege and heavy damage was inflicted. At the same time, the defenders did their best to limit the damage. They hanged bales of wool, sheets of leather. However, nothing could really help.

The section of the walls in the Lycus valley, near the Emperor's position, was heavily damaged. The foss was almost filled by the bodies of the besiegers.

Behind it, the defenders erected a stockade and night after night men and women came from the city to repair the damaged sections.

The first assault was launched during the night of April 18, 1453. Thousands of men attacked the stockade and attempted to burn it down

Giustiniani, his men, and their Greek comrades fought valiantly. They were well armed, protected by armor, and fighting in a restricted area. After four hours of bloody struggle they succeeded to repulse the enemy.

On Friday, 20 April, in the morning, four large vessels loaded with provisions for the city appeared in the sea of Marmora, near Constantinople. Three of them were Genoese and one, a big transport, was Greek.

Baltoghlu dispatched immediately his fleet to attack and capture the ships. The operation seemed easy and soon the ships were surrounded by the smaller Ottoman vessels.

Everyone in the city, who was not busy with the defence, rushed to the sea-walls to watch the spectacle.

The Sultan on horseback, his officers and a multitude of soldiers, as well rushed to the shore to watch the battle. Excited and unable to restrain himself, screaming orders at Baltoghlu, the young Sultan rode into the shallow water.

During the fighting, the big ships continued pushing the smaller ones, and helped by the wind they were now close to the south-eastern corner of the city. Then the wind dropped and the current began pushing them towards the coast on which stood the Sultan and his troops.

The fighting raged on, with the Christian sailors hurling stones, javelins and all sorts of projectiles, including Greek Fire, on the enemy crews. Eventually the four vessels came so close to each other that they became bound together, forming a floating castle.

Around sunset the wind rose and the big ships, pushing their way through the mass, and the wrecks, of the enemy vessels, hailed by thousands of people who were standing on the walls, entered the Golden Horn.

The next morning Baltoghlu was dismissed by the Sultan, who was so furious that he ordered the beheading of his admiral, and the unlucky admiral was replaced by a favorite of Mehmed, Hamza Bey.

This event convinced the Sultan and his commanders that the city had to be more tightly besieged and that the naval arm of the besieged had to be neutralized.

Mehmed's ingenious plan, formulated before the events of April 20, consisted in bringing part of his fleet into the Golden Horn. Indeed, thousands of laborers had been building, for some time, a road overland from the Bosphorus, alongside the walls of Pera, to a place called Valley of the Springs, on the shore of the Golden Horn, above Pera.

On April 22 to the horror of the besieged a long procession of ships, sitting on wooden platforms were pulled by teams of oxen and men, over the road, into the port area and about seventy boats entered the Golden Horn.

The leaders of the defence immediately held an emergency meeting. Various plans were discussed and it was finally decided they would attempt to burn the enemy boats, which were now in the Golden Horn.

After a succession of postponements, the attempt was carried out during the night of April 28. However, it had been betrayed by someone from Pera, and it failed miserably.

Hit by Ottoman guns the Christian ships suffered heavy damage and about forty sailors captured by the enemy were executed.

Despite this failure the situation in the Golden Horn became, more or less, stable. Superior naval training, and better naval construction, eventually prevented Hamza's ships from inflicting serious damage on the allied units.

However, the Sultan's idea was a military success. Indeed, in 1204 the Crusaders had assaulted the city from the sea-walls and the Greeks had not forgotten it. They feared a repetition of that assault.

On the land side the bombardment continued, more walls collapsed, and when night fell everyone rushed to close the gap, reinforce the stockades, and build here and there.

Moreover, food was wanting and the authorities did their best to distribute it equally. Worse still, help was not coming. Yet, everyone was watching and waiting for the sails of the Western ships to appear coming out of the Dardanelles.

In early May a fast boat was sent out, to seek the allied fleet in the Aegean and tell its commanders to hurry.

During the night of May 7 a new assault was launched against the damaged section, where Giustiniani stood. It failed again and then in the night of May 12 another came and it failed as well.

During that time mining and countermining continued. Sometimes fighting went on underground. Sometimes the tunnels collapsed and suffocated the miners. On 22 May, the moon rose in eclipse prophesying the fall of the city and a few days later Constantine received news that no Venetian relief fleet was coming.

On May 23 the boat that had been sent out to locate the Christian fleet returned to the city. Its crew brought the bad news. Nothing was in sight. The defenders were alone, no help was coming.

The men of the crew, obeying their duty, decided to return to the doomed city. Realizing that everything was lost

Constantine's chief advisors begged him to leave the city. He could still get out and seek help. His father Manuel II had done the same in 1399, at the time of the blockade of the city by Sultan Bayazid.

The Emperor refused to discuss the issue. He had already decided to stay in his capital, fight for it and perish in it if need be...

Meanwhile, rumors were circulating in the Ottoman camp about the Venetians finally mobilizing their fleet, or about the Hungarians preparing to cross the Danube.

The siege looks as if it was to go on without an end in sight.

The Sultan's Vizier Halil Chandarli, had strong reservations about the siege from the beginning. He was worried about western intervention and he looked upon the whole operation with anxiety.

During a meeting of the Sultan's advisors, held on May 25, the Vizir told Mehmed to raise the siege. Pursuing it might bring unknown consequences to Ottoman interests.

The Sultan, also depressed because of the prolongation of the operation, finally decided to launch a grand scale final assault on the city.

He was supported by younger commanders like Zaganos Pasha, a Christian converted to Islam. Halil was overruled and all present decided to continue the siege.

Meanwhile the artillery continued pounding the walls without interruption, and preparations for the big assault, which was to take place on Tuesday 29 May, were accelerated.

Material was thrown into the foss which faced the collapsed ramparts, and the scaling-ladders were distributed.

The Magistrates of Pera were warned not to give any assistance to the besieged.

The Sultan swore to distribute fairly the treasures found in the city and according to tradition the troops were free to loot and sack the city for three days.

He assured his troops that success was imminent, the defenders were exhausted, and some sections of the walls had collapsed.

It would be a general assault, throughout the line of the land-walls, as well as in the port area.

Then the troops were ordered to rest and recover their strength.

The Last days

In the city everyone realized that the great moment had come. During Monday, May 28, some last repairs were done on the walls and the stockades, and the collapsed sections, were reinforced.

Meanwhile, the bells of the churches in the city rang mournfully, and citizens and soldiers alike joined a long procession behind the holy relics brought out of the churches.

Singing hymns in Greek, Italian or Catalan, Orthodox and Catholic, men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, clergy, monks and nuns, knowing that they were going to die shortly, made peace with themselves, with God and with eternity.

When the procession ended the Emperor met with his commanders and the notables of the city. In a philosophical speech he told his subjects that the end of their time had come.

In essence he told them that Man had to be ready to face death when he had to fight for his faith, for his country, for his family or for his sovereign.

All four reasons were now present. Furthermore, his subjects, who were the descendants of Greeks and Romans, had to emulate their great ancestors.

They had to fight and sacrifice themselves without fear. They had lived in a great city and they were now going to die defending it.

As for himself, he was going to die fighting for his faith, for his city and for his people. He thanked the Italian soldiers, who had not abandoned the great city in its final moments.

He still believed that the garrison could repulse the enemy. They all had to be brave, proud warriors and do their duty.

He thanked all present for their contribution to the defence of the city and asked them to forgive him, if he had ever treated them without kindness.

Meanwhile the great church of Saint Sophia was crowded. Thousands of people were moving towards the church. Inside, Orthodox and Catholic priests were holding mass.

People were singing hymns, others were openly crying, others were asking each other for forgiveness.

Those who were not serving on the ramparts also went to the church, among them was seen, for a brief moment, the Emperor.

People confessed and took communion.

Then those who were going to fight rode or walked back to the ramparts.

From the great church the Emperor rode to the Palace at Blachernae. There he asked his household to forgive him and he bade the emotionally shattered men and women farewell, left his Palace and rode away, into the night, for a last inspection of the defence positions.

Then he took his battle position.

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