1453- The capture of Constantinople (Part 2)
1453- The capture of Constantinople (Part 2)
April 6, 1453-
The artillery guns of Sultan Mehmet II began to fire their first shots on the
walls of Constantinople.
May 14, 1453-
Even after the Ottomans fired “210 stone balls” on them, the city walls, though
weak, were still standing.
Walls of Constantinople- Source- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Walls_of_Constantinople.JPG/250px-Walls_of_Constantinople.JPG
Even before Mehmet’s army, Constantinople had
remained strong for a previous 23 sieges. Mehmet’s father himself had tried and
failed to take the city. The reason for the city still standing strong lay in its
geography as well as its ancient defense systems.
Defenses of the city
a. The Theodosian Walls.
Emperor
Constantine I had built his famous Constantine wall circa 324 AD as a form of fortification to protect Constantinople.
Soon after however, with improved weapons and technology, the walls failed to
serve its utility. Under Emperor Theodosius II (402 -450 AD), the Theodosian
walls were created, a massive and superbly built round of fortifications that
would protect Constantinople for years to come.
The structure of the walls.
The walls
broadly consisted of three layers.
The inner
most walls had a height of 36 feet and had 90 towers which could easily fire
upon the enemy. There was a wide strip of land (to be used as a kill zone)
between the innermost walls and the second layer of walls.
The second
layer of walls were 26 feet in height. The main reason for the decreasing
height was an unobstructed line of sight for the guards in the first layer of
walls. Again a wide strip of land was present
between the second and the third layer of walls.
The third
layer of walls (the outermost) were the shortest , had watchtowers and a 20
feet moat after the walls ended.
Thus, these
walls had effectively prevented the city from falling ever since their
construction. There were 13 gates in the outermost wall for citizens to enter
and exit the city.
b. The Golden Horn
The Golden
Horn is a part of Constantinople’s geographical advantage. It is a narrow channel of water, not unlike
the Suez Canal. With Constantinople on one side and Galata on the other, it
appears to be in the shape of a horn, hence the name. Since
the water body is so narrow and between two pieces of land, it was possible to
control the ships passing through the Golden Horn.
A cast iron
chain was placed between the two pieces of land. It was lowered when a friendly
ship was passing and was raised for enemy ships. Thus, the enemy navy would almost
form a bottleneck and it would be virtually impossible to pass through and
enter the Golden Horn.
Perhaps as
the Golden Horn provided a natural protection, the sea walls which protected
Constantinople, facing the Golden Horn were not as elaborate as the land walls.
Mehmet's genius and the breaking of the defenses.
These were
the two biggest advantages that Constantinople had when it came to its
defenses, and the very two that Mehmet would break to take the city.
Mehmet’s
army fired canons day and night on the outer walls. Yet, though weak, they were
still standing.
Ultimately,
Mehmet’s own genius broke this stalemate.
His large fleet of boats were useless if they couldn’t enter the Golden
Horn. The cast iron chain was the biggest obstruction to the navy. Mehmet’s solution
was simple- to go around it.
Mehmet asked for the creation of an overland
land route for the ships to go through Galata and into the Golden Horn without
encountering the formidable chain at all.
A rough sketch of the overland route used by Mehmet.
Constantine’s
army, already stretched thin, was stretched even further with the war now on
two fronts. Meanwhile, the land walls were getting weaker due to constant
firing and without many guards to defend the walls, they were bypassed on 29th
May 1453.
Constantinople
fell, an act which would not only impact the Ottoman Sultanate but the world at
large.
The
connector between Asia and Europe now in the hands of the Turks, the Europeans
were forced to look for sea routes to travel to Asia for the purpose of trade. Mehmet II made it difficult for them to pass through Constantinople without paying heavy duties. Thus began the Age of Exploration in Europe, leading to the arrival of the Europeans and
later of course the British in India via the sea.
Sources:
1. Crowley, Roger. 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. New York: Hyperion, 2005. Print.
2. https://www.historynet.com/ancient-history-walls-of-constantinople.htm. Accessed on 20th May, 2021.
3. https://www.britannica.com/event/Fall-of-Constantinople-1453 . Accessed on 20th May, 2021.
Comments
Post a Comment