Reddit Reddit reviews 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

We found 8 Reddit comments about 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
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8 Reddit comments about 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West:

u/BERSERKER819 · 7 pointsr/TellMeAFact

Maybe not the greatest military victory in the sense of a single engagement with outstanding commanding and tactics, but the conquest (fall) of Constantinople was a hugely important and arguably "great" military victory. Let's set the scene: it is 1452, Sultan Mehmed II ascended to the Ottoman throne in the previous year. By this point, the Ottoman Empire has taken over all the land formerly controlled by the Byzantine Empire, on both the Asian and European (into Greece) sides, except for the city of Constantinople. This city, bridging Europe and Asia, on the Bosphorus straits, had been a thorn in the Ottoman side for years, this being their third major siege of the city. Mehmed begins building a fortress on the European side of the strait, Rumelihisarı, opposite to the previously built Anadoluhisarı on the opposite side of the strait. This effectively cut off the strait and inhibited any support coming from the Genoese colonies in the black sea. One story recounts of how a small ship carrying supplies to the city attempted to run through the "danger zone" but a giant block of stone, not even a cannonball, was fired from Rumelihisarı and suddenly there was no more boat. Nobody else tried to pass through the strait. Understanding the dire situation he was about to be in, Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, sought help from the West, contacting Pope Nicholas V in hopes of garnering support in case of a siege. As it turns out, there was too much bad blood remaining between the Eastern and Western Churches so the Pope didn't offer very much help to the Emperor so he was pretty much on his own, except for the few men who came on their own accord, including Giovanni Giustiniani who took control of the defense of the city, and the Venetian ships that were in the bay (aka the Golden Horn) at the time. Besides the few ships that were stationed in the bay, the defenders also built a chain across the mouth of the bay to inhibit any ottoman ships from entering and laying siege to the city from the water. There were about 7000 defenders for the city as opposed to somewhere upwards of 80000 men and over 100 ships for the Ottomans. Besides men alone, the Ottomans also brought an arsenal of cannons including one 27 foot long behemoth named "Basilica" that was able to fire a 600lb ball over a mile away (fun fact, it would take 3 hours to reload apparently). This was supposedly one of the biggest cannons ever made at the time. And this would have been necessary because the walls surrounding the city were regarded as some of the best ever built. Nobody figured that the walls would fall, some believed that Constantinople was the best defended city in the world.

Now the siege begins. The Ottomans have enough men to completely encircle the city where there is land, the defenders can't man the entire wall. All day every day Basilica fires upon the walls but because it is inaccurate and slow to fire, the walls are mostly maintained and repaired before any serious damage can be done. Because of the chain, the Ottoman ships couldn't make it into the Golden Horn for the entire beginning of the siege, but one night, the entire Ottoman fleet was beached and put on logs. The boats were sent over the coastal hill, back down the other side, and right into the bay, behind the defending fleet. Soon thereafter, in a desperate attempt to strike at the Ottoman fleet, the defenders attempted a daring night attack with the plan to sneak up on the Ottoman fleet and destroy it with Greek fire. The Ottomans were tipped off of the sneak attack prior and prepared accordingly, proceeding to cripple any semblance of a fleet the defenders had, and thereby gaining control of the Golden Horn. Back at the land battle, men were thrown wave-after-wave at the walls, all repulsed with great casualties. The Sultan decides to attempt sapping the walls. Tunnels were dug but were quickly intercepted and destroyed by the defenders' counter-tunnelers (led by a Scot). At this point, Mehmed was at his wit's end, he was ready to give up the assault and was advised so by one of his grand viziers. The other though, Grand Vizier Zaganos Pasha, a man known for his blood-thirst, supposedly gave such a stirring speech to the Sultan that all it would require to take the city is one last major frontal assault, that the Sultan assented and plans were begun to prepare for the big assault in the coming days.

It is now the night of May 28, 1453, the siege having begun 52 days ago. Knowing that the end was imminent, the defenders held one last major ceremony in St. Sophia, members of both the Latin and Greek churches attended. Soon after midnight, the assault began. A veritable torrent of men was sent against the wall, Christians conscripted to fight, Ottoman soldiers, the elite Janissaries, all died in droves in the attack. But recently a small section of the wall had been damaged and this allowed for the Ottomans to gain purchase. In the ensuing fight for the walls, Giustiniani was gravely injured so the few men that came with him attempted to carry their leader to safety, abandoning the wall, thereby eroding the confidence of the Greek defenders. Soon the Ottomans were able to take the rest of the fortifications and the defense fell. Some say the emperor shed his imperial regalia and led the troops in a final attack while others say he hanged himself when he saw that the walls had fallen. Mehmed enters the city through the "liberated" main gates atop his white charger resplendent in his Sultan outfit cutting a resplendent image against his newly conquered city. The attackers were allowed to plunder for 3 days after which order was restored, but not before the city was sacked and thousands of inhabitants were sold into slavery. Mehmed was able to protect some of the city, though, re-purposing St. Sophia into a mosque, Hagia Sophia, as it remains to this day.

That was a very short version of the story, if anybody is interested in learning more, I would recommend 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

u/Buildncastles · 2 pointsr/AskReddit

If you haven't already read it 1453 by Roger Crowley is a great read on this event.

u/ThrowThrow117 · 2 pointsr/MostBeautiful

Yeah it's a great book. It started me now on a whole path of reading about the Crusades.

This is the Amazon link... https://www.amazon.com/1453-Holy-Constantinople-Clash-Islam/dp/1401308503

u/DoctorTalosMD · 2 pointsr/ancientrome

I haven't encountered any novels about that particular event, but I can recommend some pretty good nonfiction!

Steven Runciman's book, while old, is a pretty good summary.

This one's a bit hyperbolic in my mind, but it does the job, and it is pretty well-written.

If you really get into it, Nicolas Barbaro's eyewitness account is absolutely fascinating, though it is his diary and translated from medieval Italian, so it's a bit clunky if you're looking for something that reads well.

u/narwhalsare_unicorns · 1 pointr/AskHistorians
  • I read a book about the fall of Constantinople. It had very interesting stories from both sides and gave a good context of the Byzantine history. If I recall correctly Constantine was sacked 2 times before being invaded by Turks. So Turks were mostly disappointed when they got in to city because it was just a shell of it's former glory days. How true is this? Was Constantinople really stripped away of all it's wealth by 1453? Also I am curious about what happened to the Justinian Statue. I think I read, it could have been melted down for scrap after the Ottoman occupation. Is there a reliable source for this?

  • How glamourous was the Constantinople when it peaked? I read depictions of white walls decorated with precious gems. Is this true?

  • Is the Basilisks and the snakehead statues that was located in the middle of the Hippodrome was gifts from other countries? They are still located in İstanbul in the ancient Hippodrome area but unfortunately the Snakeheads are in terrible condition. Although I was incredibly shocked when I heard that the Ancient Egyptian Basilisk was still in it's original condition, because it looked in pristine condition. Why wasn't these precious and foreign hallmarks weren't damaged during the sacks?
u/psicopbester · 1 pointr/history

Yeah, that is an amazing subject to study about this kind of topic.

This book is a fun, quick read on the subject.
https://www.amazon.com/1453-Holy-Constantinople-Clash-Islam/dp/1401308503

There are better and more in depth books out there, but this a nice way to learn a foundation on the subject.

u/CoconutMochi · 1 pointr/HistoryMemes

I read this book a few years ago regarding the final siege from the Byzantines' point of view and the whole thing was just depressing because I knew what was going to happen

u/zephid7 · 0 pointsr/DebateAChristian

> This is r/DebateAChristian. Perhaps you are laboring under the mistaken belief that you are on another sub-reddit.

No, I'm going off your flair. Plenty of bitter people around, but most of them have the courtesy to label themselves "Atheist" and "Anti-theist." My understanding was ignostics didn't debate theological crap without definitions involved.

Then again, I am an idiot.

>Are you capable of answering the question?

Well, you seem to want to talk to "Generic Christian Belief X Y Z" instead of me. In my belief, angels didn't set fire to anything, so no, angels wouldn't save raped Yazidi women or keep kids from being decapitated.

>I see. So it was a mistake to build the walls and it was a mistake to not strengthen the walls.

Pretty much. Theologically, they weren't being good Christians. Militarily, their walls were horrifically out of date. A mistake on multiple levels! :)

I only know that because I read a good history about the siege of Constantinople recently.