The Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople. Fall of Constantinople, and the Byzantine Empire (1453)

Source: Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate

The Christianization of the colossal Roman Empire in the 4th century turned it into a worldwide stronghold of Christianity. In fact, almost the entire Christian world fit within the boundaries of the state, which included all the countries of the Mediterranean basin and far beyond its borders, owned both the Black Sea and Britain. Being in fact so great, the empire, both before and after the victory of Christianity, theoretically claimed to be universal. Divine services remind us of this ancient doctrine. The words of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: We still offer this verbal service about the universe to You - they mean the subject of prayer is not cosmic or geographical, but precisely political - “universe” was one of the official names of the empire. The beginning of Christianization coincided with the founding of a new capital on the Bosphorus.

The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great, on the site of the ancient city of Byzantium, built the New, or Second Rome - Constantinople, which the Slavs later called Constantinople. In 330, the city was solemnly consecrated, and in the Greek Menaion there is a service on May 11 - in memory of the birthday, or renewal, of Constantinograd. Already after the death of the City of Constantine in 1453, in the West they began to call the power that had this City as the capital, Byzantium, according to the ancient name of the City. The “Byzantines” themselves never called themselves that: they called themselves Romans (this is how the Caucasian Greeks are still called) and their state - Roman. The posthumous renaming of it is doubly pejorative. The West denied her a Roman name and heritage, because they wanted to usurp both in the empire of Charlemagne, and later in the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." And at the same time, the West, in whose history the Middle Ages were a dark time of barbarism, denied “Byzantium” an independent cultural meaning: for it, it was just a mediator for the transmission of the ancient heritage to the West. In fact, “Byzantium” (the West only began to understand this at the end of the 19th century) created the greatest culture that grew on ancient soil (the Church, unlike sects and heresies, never rejected antiquity indiscriminately), absorbed some Eastern influences, spiritualized by the faith of Christ and brought wondrous spiritual fruits - theology, worship, art. The God-inspired creation of the Christian state, Christian society, Christian culture went against the elements of this world, all human infirmities and sins, and in severe opposition to external destructive forces.

In the 5th century, the migration of peoples led the empire to the first catastrophe: the German barbarians captured not only Rome (which many perceived as a sign of the end of the world), but the entire western part of the empire. The Roman power survived thanks to the strength of its eastern part.

In the VI century, under St. Justinian the Great, the empire regained Italy, Latin Africa, part of Spain. The victory over the barbarians was a victory for Orthodoxy, since the Germans were Arians.

In the 7th century, the empire survived the Persian conquest of Syria, Palestine and Egypt; the capital itself was under siege. Emperor Heraclius, by exerting all his strength, crushed the power of the Persians, returned to Jerusalem the Cross of the Lord, captured by them as a trophy, but turned out to be powerless before the new conqueror - the Arabs. In a short time, the lands that had just been returned from the Persians were lost. The ease of conquest is explained by the fact that the Monophysites in Egypt and Syria were burdened by the power of the Orthodox empire. In the 7th-8th centuries, the Arabs continued their conquests, and the capital itself was repeatedly under siege.

In the 7th century, the empire had another enemy: the Slavs crossed the Danube and occupied the entire Balkan Peninsula. The empire did not have enough military strength to withstand the dangers, but it had spiritual weapons at its disposal: those who were enemies were captivated into obedience and enriched with all the spiritual wealth of Christianity. Yesterday's conquerors adopted the Greek language, the language of the Church and culture, and became loyal subjects of the empire. However, the missionaries of Constantinople, the saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius laid the foundation for the Slavic church culture, which became an exact reproduction of the Greek prototype. By the beginning of the 11th century, the empire had regained a lot: its lands included the Balkans from the Danube and the Drava, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, and southern Italy. But by the end of the same century, the Seljuks captured all her possessions in Asia.

By that time, the West had already destroyed church unity with the East. The ecclesiastical rupture of 1054 was preceded and predetermined by the political rupture of 800, when the Pope proclaimed Charlemagne Emperor of Rome. The pressure from the West was increasing. In order to receive assistance in repelling the Western danger, the Constantinople government was forced to conclude an agreement with the pioneer of capitalism - the Venetian Republic, according to which Venice received great privileges on the territory of the empire, to severe and lasting damage to the Byzantine economy and trade.

The loss of territories effectively turned the empire into a Greek state, but the ideology of Roman universalism remained intact. Almost every emperor resumed negotiations on a union with the Western Church, but since neither the rulers, nor the clergy, nor the people wanted to deviate from Orthodoxy, the negotiations always came to a standstill.

The Crusades created a new situation. On the one hand, they allowed the restoration of the power of the Orthodox power in western Asia Minor. On the other hand, the states created by the crusaders in Syria and Palestine were very hostile to the Greeks, who were portrayed as the main culprits for the failures of the crusaders, and the aggressiveness of the West against the Greeks was growing.

The West - Venice and the crusaders - managed to crush the empire in 1204. Constantinople was burned and captured, and the conquerors wanted to divide the territory of the empire among themselves. The years of Latin rule on the Bosphorus (1204-1261) were the time of the systematic removal from the recent cultural capital of the world of all the shrines, riches and valuables that survived the first days of plunder. Much was simply barbarously destroyed. In 1453, the Turks had very little booty left. The year 1204 added the most important psychological factor to the religious reasons for the division: the West showed its face as an evil rapist and barbarian. Naturally, the victors tried to subjugate the Greek Church to the pope: a Latin patriarch sat in Hagia Sophia, and in the occupied lands (in some places, for several centuries: in Crete, Cyprus), the Greeks were forced to live in the union regime. Fragments of the Orthodox empire remained on the periphery, and Nicaea in Asia Minor became its main center.

The first emperor of the Palaiologos dynasty, Michael VIII, regained Constantinople. After decades of Latin rule, it was the shadow of the former city. Palaces lay in ruins, churches lost all their decoration, miserable residential quarters were interspersed with wastelands, orchards and orchards.

The liberation of the capital increased the aggressiveness of the West. Michael did not find any other means to prevent the threat of the conquest of the empire by the Catholics, except to conclude an ecclesiastical union with Rome. Ultimately, it did nothing for him. Western states gave up their aggressive intentions for a very short time, but among the subjects of Michael the union caused almost universal rejection, and the emperor, together with the Uniate Patriarch of Constantinople John Vekk, needed extensive repressions against the opponents of the union. Despite Michael's determination to assert the union by any means, Pope Martin IV excommunicated him from the Church for infidelity to the union! The union lasted eight years and died with Michael (1282).

Defending himself against the West, Michael VIII actively influenced European politics and had some military and diplomatic success. But in his activities, the empire has exhausted its last strength. After him, the decline of the Orthodox empire begins.

But, surprisingly, in a state of ever-expanding political, military, economic, social decline, the Eastern Empire not only did not wither spiritually, but, on the contrary, brought the most mature, beautiful and perfect fruits. Many faces, many written and artistic creations will remain unknown to us - their memory perished in the fire of conquest. Much remained and remains unknown simply because after the catastrophe there was no one to assess how this lost society lived. Only at the end of the nineteenth century did the world appreciate external forms his worldview is “Byzantine art”. Only in the middle of the 20th century did the Orthodox (and non-Orthodox) world begin to study the spiritual, mystical and theological pinnacle of Hesychasm. The critical edition of the chief teacher of hesychasm, St. Gregory Palamas, has not yet been completed. Tens of thousands of handwritten pages of his contemporaries still remain completely unpublished... The weaker the Roman power became, the more undeniable was its spiritual influence everywhere in the Orthodox world - in Russia of St. Alexis, in Serbia Stefan Dushan, in Bulgaria St. Euthymius ...

For centuries, the empire stood at the crossroads of the world, on the way from Europe to Asia and from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, spiritually nourishing both the Orthodox and even the non-Orthodox world and protecting the Christian world from Asian conquerors. Now her ministry was coming to an end. By 1300, the Turks had conquered her rather large and rich possessions in Asia Minor, except for a few cities that were captured during the 14th century. In the middle of this century, the Turks stepped into Europe. By the end of it, the Turks had already destroyed Bulgaria, dealt a mortal blow to Serbia on the Kosovo field (1389) and captured most of the European possessions of the empire, including the second city, Thessaloniki.

With the empire, of which only the capital, the distant Peloponnese and several islands remained, they were no longer considered. In Moscow, which has always been loyal and recognized the primacy of the Tsar of Constantinople (they prayed for him in Russian churches), Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich ordered to stop the commemoration of the emperor, saying: "We have a church, but there is no king." In defense of the imperial ideology, Patriarch Anthony IV of Constantinople took the floor, writing to the Grand Duke: “I grieve, hearing some words spoken by your nobility about my most sovereign and holy autocrat and tsar. For they say that you prevent the metropolitan from commemorating the divine name of the tsar in diptychs, an absolutely unacceptable thing ... This is not good. The holy king has a great place in the Church; he is not like other princes and local rulers, for from the beginning the kings approved and determined piety throughout the universe, and the kings gathered ecumenical councils, and what concerns right dogmas and Christian living, what the divine and sacred canons say, they approved and legitimized to love and honor ... why they have great honor and a place in the Church. And although, by the permission of God, tongues surrounded the region and the land of the king, but even now the king from the Church has the same consecration and the same rank and the same prayers, and he is anointed with the great Myrrh and consecrated king and autocrat of the Romans, that is, all Christians, and in every place and by all patriarchs and metropolitans and bishops, the name of the king is commemorated, where only Christians are named, which none of the other rulers or local rulers has in any way, and has such power in comparison with all that the Latins themselves, who have no communion with our Church, also give him the same obedience as in ancient days, when they were one with us. Orthodox Christians owe him much more with this... It is impossible for Christians to have a Church and not have a tsar. For the kingdom and the Church have much unity and commonality, and their mutual separation is impossible. These are the only kings that are rejected by Christians – heretics… My most sovereign and holy autocrat, by the grace of God, is the most Orthodox and most faithful and intercessor of the Church, defensor and protector, and it is impossible for there to be a bishop who does not commemorate him. Hear also the supreme Apostle Peter, speaking in the first of the epistles: Fear God, honor the king (1 Pet. 2:17). He did not say: kings, so that no one would think that it is said about the so-called kings of individual nations, but: king, indicating that there is one universal (katholikos) king ... For if some other Christians appropriated the title of king, then all such ... illegal ... For what fathers, what councils, what canons speak of them? But they cry out for the natural king, above and below, whose statutes and decrees and commands are loved and honored throughout the universe, whom Christians everywhere commemorate” 1 .

At that time, Manuel Palaiologos (1391-1425), one of the noblest sovereigns, reigned. Being a theologian and scientist by vocation, he spent his time in a humiliating and fruitless search for a way out of the stalemate of the empire. In 1390-1391, as a hostage in Asia Minor, he had frank conversations about faith with the Turks (who treated him with deep respect). From these discussions arose “26 dialogues with a certain Persian” (as the archaic literary style required to call the Turks), and only a few dialogues are devoted to polemics with Islam, and most of them are a positive exposition of the Christian faith and morality. The work has been published only in a small part.

Manuel found solace in writing church hymns, sermons and theological treatises, but this did not obscure the terrible reality. The Turks stepped into Europe far to the north and west from the encircled Constantinople, and it was just right for Europe to show reasonable selfishness by defending the Eastern Empire. Manuel traveled to the West, reached distant London, but nowhere received anything but sincere sympathy and vague promises. When all the possibilities were already exhausted, the news reached the emperor, who was in Paris, that the Providence of God had found an unexpected means: Timur inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turks (1402). The death of the empire was delayed for half a century. While the Turks were restoring their strength, the empire managed to free itself from the tribute that was paid to the Turks and return Thessalonica.

After the death of Manuel, the last generation of Palaiologos came to power. Under his son, John VIII, the situation became more and more formidable. In 1430, Thessalonica fell again - now for almost five centuries. The perilous danger forced the Greeks again (for the umpteenth time!) to negotiate a union with Rome. This time the union effort produced the most tangible results. And yet it can be argued that this time the union was doomed to failure in advance. The parties did not understand each other, representing two different worlds - both in the theological and in the church-political aspects. For Pope Eugene IV, the union was a means to restore and establish the shaken papal authority. For the Greeks, it was a tragic attempt to preserve everything as it was before - not only the empire, but also the Church with all her heritage of faith and ritual. Some of the Greeks naively hoped that at the Council of Florence there would be a “victory” of Orthodox Tradition over Latin innovations. It didn't happen, and it couldn't happen. But the real result was not a simple capitulation of the Greeks either. The main goal of the pope was not the subjugation of the Greeks, but the defeat of the opposition of the Western episcopate, which in large part rebelled against papal omnipotence and tried to subordinate the pope to the council. In the face of a formidable enemy in the West (many sovereigns stood behind the rebellious bishops), it was possible to make some compromises with the East. Indeed, the union signed on July 6, 1439 was of a compromise nature, and the question was “who will win” in its practical application. Thus, the union stipulated the “preservation of all rights and privileges” of the four Eastern patriarchs, but the pope tried to test the Greeks “for strength” and declared his readiness to appoint a new Patriarch of Constantinople. The emperor firmly objected that it was not the job of the pope to make such appointments. The Pope wanted St. Mark of Ephesus, a firm defender of Orthodoxy, who had not signed the union, to be handed over to him for trial and reprisal. Again followed a firm declaration that it was not the job of the pope to judge the Greek clerics, and Saint Mark returned to Constantinople in the imperial retinue.

The conclusion of the union in the form in which it was developed and signed was possible only because the Greeks did not have internal unity. The representative Greek delegation at the council - the emperor, Patriarch Joseph II (who died two days before the signing of the union and was buried after him, jointly by Greeks and Latins), a host of hierarchs (some of them represented three Eastern patriarchs) - showed a motley spectrum of views and moods. Here was the adamant warrior of Orthodoxy, St. Mark, and the hierarchs, who up to a time defended Orthodoxy, but later were shaken either by the skillful dialectic of the Latins, or by the rude and tangible pressure of strangers or their own, and “humanists”, more occupied with ancient philosophy than with Christian theology, and fanatical patriots ready to do anything to save the empire from Muslims.

The views and activities of each of those who signed the union are subject to a special study. But the circumstances are such that they do not allow to call together all of them and those who followed them "Catholics" or even "Uniates". John Eugenikus, brother of Saint Mark, calls John VIII a "Christ-loving king" even after he signed the union. A strictly anti-Catholic author, Archimandrite Ambrose (Pogodin), speaks not of falling away from Orthodoxy, but of “humiliation of the Orthodox Church” 2 .

For Orthodoxy, compromise is impossible. History says that this is not the way to overcome dissent, but the way to create new doctrines and new divisions. Far from actually uniting East and West, the union brought division and strife into the Eastern Church at a critical hour in its history. The people and the clergy could not accept the union. Under their influence, those who put them under the Bull of the Union began to renounce their signatures. Of the thirty-three clerics, only ten did not withdraw their signatures. One of them was Protosingel Gregory Mammi, who later became Patriarch of Constantinople and in 1451, under pressure from the Anti-Uniates, was forced to flee to Rome. Constantinople met the siege and fall without a patriarch.

At first, one could think that the political calculations of the supporters of the union were correct - the West moved on a crusade against the Turks. However, the time when the Turks would besiege Vienna was still far away, and the West as a whole was still indifferent to Byzantium. Those who were directly threatened by the Turks took part in the campaign: the Hungarians, as well as the Poles and Serbs. The crusaders entered Bulgaria, which had already belonged to the Turks for half a century, and were utterly defeated on November 10, 1444 near Varna.

On October 31, 1448, John VIII Palaiologos died, who did not dare to officially declare the union. The throne was occupied by his brother, Constantine XI Palaiologos Dragas, who signed with two family names - paternal and maternal. His mother, Elena Dragash, was a Serbian, the only Slav who became Empress of Constantinople. After the death of her husband, she became a monk with the name Ipomoni and was glorified as a saint (Comm. 29 May, the day of the fall of Constantinople). She was the last empress because she outlived her daughter-in-law empresses.

Constantine XI, born February 8, 1405, was the eldest surviving son of Manuel II. But his claim to the throne was not undeniable. In the Eastern Empire, there was no law of succession to the throne, and it was up to the reigning emperor to determine the heir. If he did not have time to do this, according to the custom that existed at that time, the Empress Mother decided the issue. Elena-Ipomoni blessed her fourth (there were six in total) son to ascend the throne. Konstantin was a man of noble soul, a stern and courageous warrior, a good military leader. We know little of his interests in science, literature and art, although the court at Mystra in the Peloponnese, where he stayed before he took the royal crown, was the center of the most subtle culture. Union remained the main problem. Church disputes in Constantinople reached such intensity that Constantine did not want to be crowned king by Patriarch Gregory III, not recognized by anti-Uniates. The crown was brought to Mistra, and the coronation was performed on January 6, 1449 by the local metropolitan. In the summer of 1451, an imperial ambassador was sent to Rome, who, in particular, delivered to the pope a message from the “meeting” (synaxis) of bishops and other opponents of the union, who suggested that the pope cancel the decisions of the Council of Florence and take part in a new Ecumenical Council, this time in Constantinople. This is very revealing. The emperor, who officially adheres to the union, cooperates with its opponents, who, entering into his position, do not declare their “assembly” a cathedral (synod).

At the same time, the Orthodox, rejecting the concluded union, take a constructive position and are ready for new negotiations and discussions. However, not all Orthodox were so optimistic. The Pope did not want to hear about the revision of the union. His ambassador, Cardinal Isidore, arrived in Constantinople (a former metropolitan of the Russian Church, deposed by Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich for proclaiming a union and escaping from a Moscow prison). The Metropolitan Cardinal succeeded in obtaining permission to commemorate the pope and proclaim the union bull at a solemn service in Hagia Sophia. This, of course, embittered the confrontation between opponents and supporters of the union. But even among the latter there was no unity: many hoped that if the City survived, then everything could be reconsidered.

In 1451, Mehmed II the Conqueror, a capable ruler, an excellent military leader, a cunning politician, a monarch who loves science and art, but extremely cruel and completely immoral, occupied the Sultan's throne. He immediately began to prepare for the capture of the City of St. Constantine. Having landed on the European coast of the Bosphorus, which still belonged to the empire, he began to destroy the Greek villages, capture the few cities remaining from the Greeks and build a fortress equipped with powerful cannons at the mouth of the Bosphorus. The exit to the Black Sea was blocked. The supply of grain to Constantinople could be stopped at any moment. The conqueror attached special importance to the fleet. More than a hundred warships were prepared for the siege of the City. The land army of the Sultan was at least 100 thousand. The Greeks even claimed that there were up to 400 thousand soldiers. The striking force of the Turkish army was the Janissary regiments. (Janissaries are the sons of Christian parents, who were taken from their families in infancy and raised in the spirit of Islamic fanaticism).

The Turkish army was well armed and had an important advantage in technology. The Hungarian cannon master Urban offered his services to the emperor, but, without agreeing on a salary, ran to the sultan and cast for him a cannon of an unprecedented caliber. During the siege, it exploded, but was immediately replaced with a new one. Even during the short weeks of the siege, at the request of the Sultan, the gunsmiths made technical improvements and cast many improved cannons. And those who defended the City had only weak, small-caliber guns.

When the Sultan arrived on April 5, 1453 under the walls of Constantinople, the City was already besieged both from the sea and from land. The inhabitants of the City have been preparing for a siege for a long time. Walls were repaired, fortress ditches were cleaned. Donations from monasteries, churches and private individuals were received for defense needs. The garrison was negligible: less than 5 thousand subjects of the empire and less than 2 thousand Western soldiers, primarily Italians. The besieged had about 25 ships. Despite the numerical superiority of the Turkish fleet, the besieged had some advantages at sea: the Greek and Italian sailors were much more experienced and courageous, and in addition, their ships were armed with "Greek fire", a combustible substance that could burn even in water and caused great fires.

According to Muslim law, if a city surrendered, its inhabitants were guaranteed the preservation of life, liberty and property. If the city was taken by storm, the inhabitants were exterminated or enslaved. Mehmed sent parliamentarians with an offer to surrender. The emperor, who was repeatedly offered by his close associates to leave the doomed city, was ready to remain at the head of his small army to the end. And although the inhabitants and defenders had different attitudes towards the prospects of the City and some preferred the power of the Turks to a close alliance with the West, almost everyone was ready to defend the City. Even for the monks there were fighting posts. On April 6, hostilities began.

Constantinople had, roughly speaking, a triangular shape. Surrounded on all sides by walls, it is washed by the Golden Horn from the north, by the Sea of ​​Marmara from the east and south, and the western fortifications passed by land. On this side, they were especially powerful: the ditch filled with water was 20 meters wide and 7 meters deep, above it were five-meter walls, then the second row of walls 10 meters high with 13-meter towers, and behind them more walls 12 meters high with 23- meter towers. The Sultan tried in every possible way to achieve decisive predominance at sea, but considered the assault on land fortifications to be the main goal. The powerful artillery preparation lasted for a week. Urban's big cannon fired seven times a day, in general, cannons of various calibers fired up to a hundred cannonballs a day through the city.

At night, the inhabitants, men and women, cleaned the filled ditches and hastily patched the gaps with boards and barrels of earth. On April 18, the Turks moved to storm the fortifications and were repulsed, losing many people. On April 20, the Turks were also defeated at sea. Four ships were approaching the City with weapons and provisions, which were very lacking in the City. They were met by many Turkish ships. Dozens of Turkish ships surrounded three Genoese and one imperial ship, trying to set them on fire and board them. The excellent training and discipline of the Christian sailors prevailed over the enemy, who had a huge numerical superiority. After many hours of battle, four victorious ships broke out of the encirclement and entered the Golden Horn, locked with an iron chain, which was held on wooden rafts and was attached at one end to the wall of Constantinople, and at the other - to the wall of the Genoese fortress of Galata on the opposite shore of the bay.

The Sultan was furious, but immediately invented a new move that greatly complicated the situation of the besieged. A road was built on uneven, elevated terrain, along which the Turks dragged many ships to the Golden Horn on wooden runners on special wooden carts built right there. This happened on April 22nd. A night attack on the Turkish ships in the Horn was secretly prepared, but the Turks knew about this in advance and were the first to start cannon fire. The ensuing naval battle again showed the superiority of the Christians, but the Turkish ships remained in the bay and threatened the City from this side. Cannons were installed on the rafts, which fired at the City from the side of the Horn.

At the beginning of May, the shortage of food became so palpable that the emperor again collected funds from churches and from individuals, bought up all the available food and arranged a distribution: each family received a modest but sufficient ration.

Again, the nobles offered Constantine to leave the City and, far from danger, rally the anti-Turkish coalition, in the hope of saving both the City and other Christian countries. He answered them: “The number of Caesars before me was former, great and glorious, having suffered so much and died for their fatherland; Am I not going to do this last pack? Neither, my lords, nor, but let me die here with you” 3 . On May 7 and 12, the Turks again stormed the city walls, which were increasingly destroyed by continuous cannonade. The Turks began to dig under the ground with the help of experienced miners. Until the very end, the besieged successfully dug counter-digs, burning wooden props, blowing up the Turkish passages and smoking out the Turks with smoke.

On May 23, a brigantine appeared on the horizon, pursued by Turkish ships. The inhabitants of the City began to hope that the squadron, which had long been expected from the West, had finally arrived. But when the ship safely passed the danger, it turned out that this was the same brigantine that twenty days ago had gone in search of allied ships; now she's back without finding anyone. The allies played a double game, not wanting to declare war on the sultan and at the same time counting on the strength of the city walls, greatly underestimating the unbending will of the 22-year-old sultan and the military advantages of his army. The emperor, thanking the Venetian sailors who were not afraid to break into the City to tell him this sad and important news, wept and said that from now on there were no earthly hopes left.

There were also unfavorable heavenly signs. May 24 The city was demoralized by a complete lunar eclipse. The next morning, a religious procession began around the City with the image of Hodegetria, the Heavenly Patroness of the City of St. Constantine. Suddenly the holy icon fell off the stretcher. As soon as the course resumed, a thunderstorm began, hail and such a downpour that the children were carried away by the stream; the move had to be stopped. The next day the whole city was shrouded in thick fog. And at night, both the besieged and the Turks saw some mysterious light around the dome of Hagia Sophia.

The newly approached came to the emperor and demanded that he leave the City. He was in such a state that he fainted. Coming to his senses, he firmly said that he would die along with everyone else.

The Sultan offered a peaceful solution for the last time. Either the emperor undertakes to pay annually 100 thousand gold pieces (an amount completely unrealistic for him), or all the inhabitants are removed from the City, taking their movable property with them. Having received a refusal and having heard the assurances of military leaders and soldiers that they were ready to start an assault, Mehmed ordered to prepare the last attack. The soldiers were reminded that, according to the customs of Islam, the City will be given for three days to be plundered by the soldiers of Allah. The Sultan solemnly swore that the booty would be divided among them fairly.

On Monday, May 28, along the walls of the City there was a big religious procession, in which many shrines of the City were carried; move united Orthodox and Catholics. The emperor joined the march, and at the end of it he invited military leaders and nobles to his place. “You know well, brethren,” he said, “that we are all obliged to prefer life for the sake of one of four things: firstly, for our faith and piety, secondly, for our homeland, thirdly, for the king as the anointed Lord's and, fourthly, for relatives and friends ... how much more - for the sake of all these four. In an animated speech, the tsar urged to fight for a holy and just cause without sparing life and with the hope of victory: "Your remembrance and memory and glory and freedom may abide forever."

After a speech addressed to the Greeks, he appealed to the Venetians, "who had the City as a second homeland", and to the Genoese, to whom the City belonged "as well as to me", with calls for courageous opposition to the enemy. Then, addressing everyone together, he said: “I hope in God that we will be delivered from His proper righteous rebuke. Secondly, an adamant crown has been prepared for you in Heaven, and in the world there will be an eternal and worthy memory. With tears and groans, Constantine gave thanks to God. “All, as if with one mouth,” answered him, weeping: “We will die for the faith of Christ and for our fatherland!” 4 . The king went to Hagia Sophia, prayed, weeping, and partook of the Holy Mysteries. Many others followed his example. Returning to the palace, he asked everyone for forgiveness, and the hall resounded with lamentations. Then he went to the walls of the City to check the battle posts.

Many people gathered for prayer in Hagia Sophia. In one temple, the clergy prayed, until the last moment divided by religious struggle. S. Runciman, the author of a remarkable book about those days, exclaims with pathos: “It was the moment when the eastern and western Christian Churches really united in Constantinople” 5 . However, the irreconcilable opponents of Latinism and the union could pray separately, in the many churches that were at their disposal.

On the night of Tuesday, May 29 (it was the second day of Peter's post), at two o'clock, the assault began around the entire perimeter of the walls. The bashi-bazouks, irregular units, were the first to attack. Mehmed did not hope for their victory, but wanted to use them to wear down the besieged. To prevent panic behind the bashi-bazouks were “blocking detachments” of the military police, and behind them were the Janissaries. After two hours of intense fighting, the bashi-bazouks were allowed to withdraw. Immediately the second wave of attack began. A particularly dangerous situation was created in the most vulnerable part of the land wall, at the gates of St. Roman. Artillery fired up. The Turks met with a fierce rebuff. When they were about to collapse, the cannonball fired from Urban's cannon shattered the barrier erected in the gaps in the wall. Several hundred Turks rushed into the gap with triumphant cries. But detachments under the command of the emperor surrounded them and killed most of them; the rest were pushed back into the ditch. In other areas, the successes of the Turks were even less. The attackers retreated again. And now, when the defenders were already tired of the four-hour battle, the selected regiments of the Janissaries, the favorites of the conqueror, went on the attack. For a whole hour the Janissaries fought to no avail.

In the northwest of Constantinople was the palace district of Blachernae. Its fortifications formed part of the city walls. In these fortifications there was a well-concealed secret door called Kerkoporta. She was successfully used for sorties. The Turks found it and found that it was not locked. Fifty Turks burst through it. When they were discovered, they tried to surround the Turks who had broken through. But then another fateful event happened nearby. At dawn, one of the main leaders of the defense, the Genoese Giustiniani, was mortally wounded. Despite Constantine's request to remain at his post, Giustiniani ordered that he be carried away. The battle went beyond the outer wall. When the Genoese saw that their commander was being carried away through the gates of the inner wall, they rushed after him in a panic. The Greeks were left alone, repulsed several attacks by the Janissaries, but in the end they were thrown from the outer fortifications and killed. Without meeting resistance, the Turks climbed the inner wall and saw the Turkish flag on the tower above Kerkoport. The emperor, leaving Giustiniani, rushed to Kerkoporte, but nothing could be done there. Then Constantine returned to the gate through which Giustiniani was carried away, and tried to gather the Greeks around him. With him was his cousin Theophilus, a faithful companion John and the Spanish knight Francis. Four of them defended the gate and fell together on the field of honor. The emperor's head was brought to Mehmed; he ordered to put her on the forum, then she was embalmed and taken to the courts of the Muslim rulers. The body of Constantine, identified by shoes with double-headed eagles, was buried, and centuries later his unmarked grave was shown. Then she fell into oblivion.

The city fell. The bursting Turks first of all rushed to the gates, so that Turkish units would pour into the city from all sides. In many places the besieged found themselves surrounded on the walls they were defending. Some tried to break through to the ships and escape. Some staunchly resisted and were killed. Until noon, the Cretan sailors held out in the towers. Out of respect for their courage, the Turks allowed them to board ships and sail away. Metropolitan Isidore, who commanded one of the Latin detachments, having learned that the City had fallen, changed his clothes and tried to hide. The Turks killed the one to whom he gave the clothes, and he himself was captured, but remained unrecognized and was ransomed very soon. The Pope of Rome proclaimed him Patriarch of Constantinople in partibus infidelium. Isidore tried to organize a crusade against "the forerunner of the Antichrist and the son of Satan", but it was already over. A whole squadron of ships full of refugees left for the West. For the first hours, the Turkish fleet was inactive: the sailors, having abandoned their ships, rushed to rob the City. But then the Turkish ships nevertheless blocked the exit from the Golden Horn to the imperial and Italian ships remaining there.

The fate of the inhabitants was terrible. No one needed children, old people and cripples were killed on the spot. All others were enslaved. A huge crowd prayed, shutting themselves in Hagia Sophia. When the massive metal doors were broken and the Turks burst into the temple of Divine Wisdom, they took the captives bound in strings for a long time. When in the evening Mehmed entered the cathedral, he mercifully set free the Christians who had not yet been brought out of it, as well as the priests who had come out to him from the secret doors.

Sad was the fate of Christians, sad was the fate of Christian shrines. Icons and relics were destroyed, books were torn from their precious frames and burned. Inexplicably, only a few of the great multitude of churches survived. Either they were considered to have surrendered to the mercy of the winner, or they were taken under the protection of the Christian vassals of Mehmed who participated in the siege, or he himself ordered to preserve them, as he intended, having cleared the City of the population, to repopulate it and give a place in it also to the Orthodox .

Very soon the conqueror became concerned about the restoration of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He nominated the monk Gennady Scholarius, who after the death of St. Mark of Ephesus, headed the Orthodox opposition to the union, as a candidate for the patriarchal throne. They began to look for Scholaria; it turned out that he was captured in Constantinople and sold into slavery in the then capital of the Sultan, Adrianople. In the new state system created by Mehmed, the metropolitan patriarch - and the defeated City soon became the new capital - received the position of "milet-bashi", "ethnarch", who led the Orthodox "people", that is, all the Orthodox of the Ottoman Empire, not only in the spiritual, but and secularly. But that's a completely different story.

A few years later, the last vestiges of the Eastern Empire ceased to exist. In 1460, the Turks took the Peloponnese, which was then called the Slavic name Morea. In 1461, the kingdom of Trebizond shared his fate.

A great culture has perished. The Turks allowed worship, but banned Christian schools. Not in the best position was the cultural tradition of Orthodoxy in Crete, Cyprus and other Greek islands that belonged to the Catholics. Numerous bearers of Greek culture, who fled to the West, were left with the fate of Catholicization and merging with the religiously dubious environment of the “Renaissance”.

But the Church did not perish, and the ever stronger Rus' became the new world stronghold of Orthodoxy.

In the minds of the Greeks, Constantine Palaiologos was and remains the personification of valor, faith and fidelity 6 . In the Lives of the Saints published by the "old calendarists", that is, by definition, the most extreme anti-Catholics, there is an image of Constantine, though without a halo. In his hand he holds a scroll: The flow is dead, the faith is kept. And the Savior lowers a crown and a scroll on him with the words: Otherwise, the crown of righteousness is kept for you. 7 And in 1992, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece blessed the service of Saint Ipomoni “as in no way deviating from the dogmas and traditions of our Most Holy Church.” The service includes a troparion and other hymns to Constantine Palaiologos, the glorious martyr king.

Troparion 8, tone 5

Thou hast accepted the feat of honor from the Creator, valiant martyr, Light of Paleologos, Constantine, Byzantium to the extreme king, the same, now dwelling in the Lord, pray to Him, grant peace to everyone and subdue enemies under the nose of Orthodox people 8.

NOTES

1 Miklosich Fr., Müller Ios. Acta et diplomata graeca medii aevi sacra et profana. Vindobonae, 1862. V. II. P. 190-192.

2 Archimandrite Ambrose. St. Mark of Ephesus and the Union of Florence. Jordanville, 1963, pp. 310, 320.

3 The Tale of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks // Monuments of Literature Ancient Rus'. Second half of the fifteenth century. M., 1982. S. 244.

In 2009, a panorama museum dedicated to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (Panorama 1453 Tarih Müzesi) was opened in Istanbul. An international team of artists led by Hashim Watandash worked on the panorama. The background, including the landscape and walls, was made by Ramazan Erkut, the human figures and horses were painted by graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts Yashar Zeynalov and Oksana Legka, and the subject plan, including the platform and 3D objects, was made by Atilla Tunzha.

Warspot offers to get acquainted with the results of their painstaking work and "visit" the walls of Constantinople at the very moment when the end was put in thousand years of history Byzantine Empire.

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The museum building, which is a squat round pavilion, is located near the Topkapı tram station, where the most fierce assault on the city took place in 1453. It was here, near the Topkapi or Cannon Gates, which in Byzantine times bore the name of St. Roman, the Turks managed to break into the city.

The museum exposition is located on two floors, of which the panorama itself completely occupies the upper one. At the bottom there are stands with various information, including maps, diagrams, engravings depicting the main participants and various episodes of the capture of Constantinople.

In the photo we see a map representing the disposition of the enemy forces. The defenders of the city took refuge behind its walls. The Turkish army is outside. Opposite the central area of ​​\u200b\u200bdefense is the headquarters of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih.

The panorama is a round platform with a diameter of 38 meters, covered with a 20-meter dome. The canvas with a total area of ​​2,350 square meters depicts approximately 9.5 thousand figures of battle participants, city defenders and attackers.

Its creators applied several technical innovations. This is the first panorama in which, thanks to the high dome, you can see the sky above your head. A low-lying visual platform enhances the effect of presence. The viewer, as it were, observes what is happening on the same level as the attackers.

The panorama reproduces the decisive moment of the assault on Constantinople, when on May 29, 1453, after a fierce battle that lasted several hours in the gaps, the Turks managed to break into the city.

Directly in front of us, riding a white horse, is depicted the young Sultan Mehmed II and his retinue. Behind the Sultan, reserve troops were built in several echelons, the tents of the Turkish camp are visible even further.

Sultan Mehmed II at that time was only 21 years old. The intransigence of the Sultan, who insisted on a decisive assault, contrary to the opinion of the retinue inclined towards a siege, ultimately led to victory.

The main forces of the Turks are attacking the city. The scene is depicted very dynamically and is accompanied by a powerful sound effect in which the roar of cavalry hooves, cannon shots, the cries of the combatants and the music of the military band merge into an endless rumble.

The Turkish army besieging the city consisted of 120,000 regular soldiers and another 20,000 horsemen of the bashi-bazouk militia. The composition of the army was very diverse and also included soldiers sent to the Sultan to help the Christian rulers of Serbia dependent on him.

In the foreground on the left we see a horseman, instead of armor, dressed in the skin of a leopard. His headdress and shield are decorated with the wings of birds of prey. Such horsemen were called "del" (literally - "mad"). Usually they were recruited from the natives of the Balkan regions subject to the Ottomans. Delhi fought in border conflicts, in which they were distinguished by "insane" bravery. Hussars originate from them.

The defenders of the city bravely defend themselves, hitting the attackers on the distant approaches to the walls with shots from cannons and throwing machines. They also successfully use the ancient Byzantine weapon "Greek fire", the smoke from which covered the sky that day. In the foreground, a vessel with Greek fire hits right in the middle of the column of advancing troops.

All the troops available to the Turks participate in the assault. The first attack was mainly attended by bashi-bazouks, who suffered heavy losses. After a two-hour battle, they were taken back, and the Anatolian Turks under the command of Ishak Pasha went on the attack. In several places they managed to push the defenders of the city and even break through the gap through the wall, but here, however, they were all surrounded and killed. Then the Sultan himself led the Janissary foot soldiers in the third attack. This time, after a stubborn battle, the Turks managed to break into the city.

Thanks to the descending relief, a wide panorama of the left flank of the Turkish army appears before our eyes. A fierce battle is also in full swing here, ditches in many places are covered with fascines and earth, the Turks with ladders approach the very walls, and the defenders manage to hold back their onslaught with the last of their strength.

The forces of the defenders of the city are depicted somewhat exaggeratedly numerous. In fact, against the 140,000th Turkish army, the Greeks were able to put up only 8,000 soldiers. These forces were barely enough to somehow occupy an extremely long line of defense. The defenders could concentrate troops in any large number only in the direction of the main attack.

On the eve of the decisive assault, Constantinople was subjected to heavy artillery bombardment. Large-caliber Turkish guns hit the city walls almost point-blank, firing more than 5,000 cores at them. Particularly heavy damage to the fortifications was inflicted in the area of ​​the gates of St. Roman. Of the 23 towers that were here, only 11 survived, many curtains turned into piles of stones.

The image shows the decisive moment of the battle - the breakthrough of the Turks for the second line of the walls of Theodosius, which put an end to the resistance of the defenders of the city. The fortifications were badly damaged by the bombardment, in several places the walls turned into piles of broken stone and brick, along which the columns of the attackers move forward. Where the walls survived, the Turks dragged assault ladders to them. New crowds of attackers are climbing up them. The red banner raised above the second wall indicates that the fortification has been captured. However, small groups of defenders still continue to offer hopeless resistance.

Here we see the last minutes of the defense of the city. The resistance of the defenders has already been broken. Crowds of attackers, foot soldiers and horsemen rushed into the huge gap in the wall. A fierce hand-to-hand fight is going on in the gap. From above, the defenders of the city bombard the attackers with arrows and darts. Others fell into despair and only look at the breaking through enemies, no longer offering resistance.

The assault on the city turned into huge losses for the attackers. In this fragment, we see the wounded or dying Janissaries, who are given all possible assistance. In the foreground, a water carrier is depicted giving drink to a mortally wounded warrior.

Gate of St. The novels make it possible to visualize the fortifications that surrounded the capital of Byzantium. These fortifications crossed the Bosphorus Cape from the Sea of ​​Marmara to the Golden Horn at a distance of 5.6 km. The first row of walls 5 m high protected a moat with water 20 m wide and up to 10 m deep. The second row, which was 2-3 meters wide and 10 meters high, was reinforced by 15-meter towers. The third row, the most massive, reached a thickness of 6–7 m and was protected by towers from 20 to 40 m high.

The bases of the walls went 10–20 m underground, which practically excluded the possibility of undermining. The walls were equipped with combat platforms, and the towers were equipped with loopholes through which the defenders of the city could fire at the attackers.

At the highest point of the panorama, on top of the northern tower, is the legendary Turkish giant warrior Hasan Ulubatly, who, according to legend, was the first to hoist the banner over the city tower, inspiring the army with a close victory. The next moment after that, he was killed by a Byzantine arrow.

A large canvas depicting a double-headed eagle is a symbol of the defending Byzantines. While the battle is going on, the symbol is held on one of the towers, the winners are already lowering the double-headed eagle on the other.

Here we see a hand-to-hand fight unfolding in the gap. The city was defended by 5,000 Greek soldiers of the garrison and about 3,000 Latin mercenaries (Catalans, Venetians and Genoese), who responded to a call for help. They were led by an experienced condottiere Giovanni Giustiniani Longo. His contribution to the defense of the city was enormous. It was the fatal wound of Giustiniani in the battle on May 29, from which he died 2 days later, that became one of the reasons for the victory won by the Turks.

Simultaneously with the assault and hand-to-hand combat, the shelling of the city from cannons continues. Under the blows of huge cores, towers collapse, dragging both defenders and attackers down. Along with modern artillery, the Turks also used ancient siege towers against the walls. To protect them from incendiary arrows, they were covered with freshly skinned skins. The defenders of the city used Greek fire (combustible mixture) and red-hot oil, which was poured from bronze cauldrons mounted on the walls, against the attackers.

In the gap through the dust and smoke, the doomed city can be seen. The dome of the Hagia Sophia is clearly visible in the distance.

One of the most destroyed sections of the wall. Towers and curtains turned into a pile of stone scree. The defenders of the city are trying to strengthen what is left with the help of improvised means, and one by one they repulse the attacks of the attackers.

In the foreground we see Turkish diggers who are trying to dig against the fortifications. The massive and deep foundation of the walls, as well as the rocky ground, did not give a chance for the success of such enterprises. However, in the first stage of the siege, the Turks did try to lay several tunnels. All of them were timely discovered and blown up by the defenders of the city, so the Turks had to abandon this plan. Behind the diggers, the assault on the city continues.

The right flank of the Turkish army. The Turkish fleet on the Sea of ​​Marmara and the camp tents are visible in the distance. The fortifications of the southern part of the Theodosius wall suffered much less from the shelling of cannons. During the assault, the defenders of the city who occupied them successfully repelled all the attacks of the Turks. When the attackers still managed to break into the city in the central sector of defense, its defenders were surrounded here. Many of them managed to escape only because the Turks, who were afraid of being left without prey, left their posts to join the robbery.

Most of all, the Turks owed their victory to artillery. Mehmet II took into account the mistakes of previous sieges and prepared well for an attack on the city. By his order, 68 artillery pieces were manufactured and delivered to the city. Most of them fired stone cannonballs weighing 90 kg. Eleven large guns threw cannonballs weighing from 226 to 552 kg. Artillery shelling of the city lasted 47 days. During this time, Turkish guns fired more than 5,000 shots.

The largest Turkish weapon was the Basilica bombard with a barrel length of 8.2 m, a caliber of 76 cm, weighing over 30 tons, made by the Hungarian craftsman Leonard Urban. For its movement and maintenance, 60 oxen were required. 700 people charged this mass with a stone core weighing up to a ton for an hour. Fortunately for the defenders of the city, the gun could fire no more than 7 shots a day, and soon completely failed.

The fate of its creator was also tragic. Upon learning that Urban had previously offered his services to his enemies, Mehmet II ordered his execution a few days after the capture of the city.

In the foreground is a broken artillery barrel and huge cannonballs scattered in disorder. In the background, a panorama of the Turkish camp and the troops lined up in front of it opens up. A military band is visible to the right. The Turks were among the first in Europe to appreciate the importance of music for raising the spirit of their troops and paid close attention to its organization.

The birth of the state, whose capital was destined to become the decrepit throne city of Byzantium, dates back to the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century. After the collapse of the Sultanate of the Seljuk Turks, which for two centuries was the eastern neighbor of the Byzantine Empire, several independent principalities - beyliks - were formed. The beylik, located in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, is connected by Ottoman tradition with the name of the legendary leader of one of the groups of the Turkmen (Oguz) Kayi tribe Ertogrul. As the first ruler of the beylik, which became the core of the new Turkish state, Ertogrul is considered the founder of this state. It began to be called Ottoman after the name of Ertogrul's son, Osman, during whose reign the beylik achieved independence from the last Seljuk sultan.

In 1301, Osman defeated the Byzantine army in the battle of Bethea (between Nicomedia and Nicaea). Over the next few years, he expanded his lands to the shores of the Sea of ​​​​Marmara, and also captured a number of Byzantine possessions on the Black Sea coast. In 1326 one of the largest cities in the north-west of Asia Minor - Brusa (in Turkish - Bursa) surrendered to the Ottoman Turks. Osman's son, Orhan, made it his new capital. Soon the Turks conquered two more significant Byzantine cities - Nicaea and Nicomedia.

Under Orkhan, the lands seized from the Byzantines began to turn into timars - conditional land holdings issued to military leaders and even to individual soldiers who distinguished themselves in campaigns for military service. This is how the Ottoman timar system arose, which for centuries formed the basis of the socio-economic and military-administrative organization of the Turkish state.

The military successes of the Ottoman sultans led to the growth of the political and military importance of the power they created. This was manifested, in particular, in the fact that she became a participant in the struggle of Byzantium with Venice, Genoa and the Balkan countries. All these states sought to receive military assistance from the Ottomans, who by the end of the XIV century. had a well organized and strong army.

By the end of the XIV century. Turkish sultans from the Osman dynasty completely subjugated Asia Minor. In the second half of the XIV - the first half of the XV century. the Turks captured almost all the possessions of the Byzantine Empire in the Balkan Peninsula. Under their rule were Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia. In 1366, the Turkish sultans moved their capital to the Balkans - to Adrianople (Edirne). The threat of a Turkish invasion hung over the countries of Central Europe, which prompted them to organize in 1396 a crusade against the Turks led by King Sigismupd of Hungary. The Turkish army under the command of Sultan Bayezid I defeated the Crusaders. Sigismund took refuge behind the walls of Constantinople.

The city continued to be called the capital of the empire, which practically no longer existed. The power of the Byzantine emperors by that time extended only to Constantinople and insignificant territories around it. The emperors were forced to recognize themselves as vassals of the Turkish sultans.

Bayezid I tried to starve the Byzantine capital. For seven years, starting in 1394, the Turks blockaded Constantinople from the land, preventing the delivery of food. There was famine in the city. Residents dismantled abandoned houses to heat their homes. Every now and then there were popular unrest, civil strife associated with the struggle for the throne. Competing parties more than once turned to help Turkish Sultan. Byzantine scholar of the XIV century. Demetrius Kydonis wrote; “The old evil that caused the general ruin continues to rage. I mean strife among emperors because of the specter of power. For this they are forced to serve the barbarian (Turkish Sultan.- Yu. P.)... Everyone understands: which of the two the barbarian will support, he will prevail.

Meanwhile, Turkish troops were devastating the outskirts of Constantinople. The position of the Byzantine capital was becoming catastrophic. Then Emperor Manuel II made an attempt to enlist the help of Europe. At the end of 1399, he sailed from Constantinople, accompanied by his retinue. In Italy, France and England, he was met with honor, but the idea of ​​organizing a new crusade against the Turks did not receive support. The court lawyer of the English King Henry IV, who witnessed the magnificent reception given to Manuel II at the royal residence in Eltham, wrote: “I thought how sad that this great Christian sovereign had to travel from the far East to the most extreme islands in the West because of the Saracens. in search of support against them... Oh my God, what has become of you, the ancient glory of Rome? When Manuel II returned from Europe in 1402, he was in a great hurry to his capital, as he received the news that the troops of the Ottoman Sultan were moving towards Constantinople.

Meanwhile, not from the West, but from the East, an unexpected deliverance came. In 1402, the hordes of Timur invaded Asia Minor. The “Iron Lame Man”, who sowed death and devastation everywhere, on July 28, 1402, defeated the army of Sultan Vayazid in the battle of Ankara. Bayazid was captured and died in captivity. These events delayed the death of the Byzantine Empire for half a century.

Timur's invasion, the struggle for power between Bayezid's sons, the feudal civil strife, and the peasant uprising in Asia Minor (1416), which followed him, halted the Turkish conquests for almost two decades. However, as soon as Sultan Murad II, who ascended the throne in 1421, once again strengthened the power of the Turks in Asia Minor and the Balkans, he decided to seize the Byzantine capital, despite the absence of a fleet, without which it was impossible to transfer troops, equipment and siege equipment. from Asia Minor to Constantinople, nor a naval blockade of the city. In the summer of 1422 Murad II went with his army to Constantinople.

On August 24, the Turks launched an assault. The townspeople fought desperately, even women took part in the defense. Boil boiled all day, but the Turks failed to break the Byzantine resistance. At night, the Sultan ordered to burn the siege towers and move away from the walls of the impregnable city. There is, however, a version that the Sultan lifted the siege, alarmed by the news of the turbulent situation in his state. But the main reason for the failure was, of course, the insufficient preparation of the Turks for the siege.

The retreat of the Turkish army did not bring much relief to the Byzantines. The great military successes of the Turks in Morea and Macedonia forced the Byzantine emperor in 1424 to again recognize himself as a tributary of the Sultan.

Further aggressive campaigns of the Turkish sultans in the Balkans increased the danger of the Turks invading Central Europe. In 1443 a new crusade was organized. This time, the king of Poland and Hungary, Vladislav III Jagiellon, stood at the head of the crusading army, which included Hungarians, Poles, Serbs, Wallachians, Czechs. At first, he managed to inflict a number of defeats on the Turks, but in the decisive battle of Varna, which took place on November 10, 1444, the crusaders were defeated. The Varna catastrophe not only placed the Balkan peoples under the rule of the Turks for many centuries, but also finally decided the fate of Byzantium and its capital.

At the moment when the decisive battle between the Byzantines and the Turks for the possession of Constantinople became inevitable, the throne of the Ottoman state was taken by Sultan Mehmed II (1444-1446, 1451-1481), nicknamed the Conqueror for his numerous successful military campaigns. He was a smart, secretive, cruel and power-hungry man, whose character combined iron will and deceit. Fearing for his power, for he was the son of one of the Sultan's concubines, the Sultan destroyed all possible contenders for the throne, not even sparing his nine-month-old brother. The cruelty of Mehmed II was so great that his name caused awe among his subjects. When italian artist Bellini painted his portrait, the Sultan ordered one of the slaves to be cut off the head only in order to demonstrate to the artist the contractions of the neck muscles. At the same time, this unbridled despot spoke several languages, was fond of astronomy, mathematics and philosophy.

Mehmed II set himself the goal of capturing Constantinople and destroying Byzantium. The Sultan was well aware of all the benefits of the city's location and the political and economic role that he could play for the growing Ottoman empire. By the middle of the XV century. this state already had such a military and economic potential that the assault on an impregnable stronghold seemed to Mehmed II a very real thing.

The Sultan began preparations for the capture of Constantinople by concluding agreements with the Venetians and Hungarians. The embassies of Rhodes and Dubrovnik, Lesvos and Chios, Serbia and Wallachia, who visited the court of Mehmed II in 1451, were favored by the Sultan. He then took steps to consolidate his power in Asia Minor. In particular, he forced the obedience of the ruler of the beylik Karaman. When the young sultan was busy subduing this beylik, the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, a man of extraordinary courage and energy, made an attempt to put pressure on Mehmed and somewhat reduce the dependence of the Byzantines on the Turks. For this, he used the stay in Constantinople of the prince of the Ottoman dynasty Orhan, the grandson of Sultan Suleiman, who ruled for several years after the death of Bayezid II. Orhan, who arrived in the Byzantine capital under Murad II, was a potential contender for the Ottoman throne. The emperor decided to hint at this circumstance in an indirect way, sending ambassadors to the Sultan with a reminder of the deportation of the money promised for the maintenance of Orkhan in Constantinople. The ambassadors were instructed to make it clear to Mehmed that his possible rival lives at the court of the Byzantine emperors. However, blackmail did not help: Mehmed reacted in a completely different way than the emperor expected. Learning about the claims of the Byzantines, he hastened to sign a peace treaty with the Karaman Bey and began preparations for the siege of Constantinople.

Soon in Constantinople they realized that the hour of decisive battle was approaching. As early as 1396, Sultan Bayazid I erected the Anadoluhisar fortress on the Asian shore of the Bosporus. By order of Mehmed II, at the end of March 1452, on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus, in the narrowest part of the strait, the construction of the Rumelihisar fortress was begun. In practice, this testified to the beginning of the blockade of Constantinople, because with the completion of the construction of the fortress, the city could be cut off from the Black Sea at any moment, which meant the cessation of the supply of grain vital for the Byzantine capital from the Black Sea regions.

6 thousand people worked on the construction of Rumelihisar for four months, including a thousand experienced masons, gathered by order of the Sultan in all his possessions. Mehmed II personally supervised the progress of the work. In pian, the fortress was an irregular pentagon, its high walls were made of the strongest stone and crowned with five huge towers. It was equipped with large caliber guns. As soon as the construction was completed, Mehmed gave the order to subject all ships passing through the Bosporus to customs; ships evading inspection, he ordered ruthlessly destroyed by artillery fire. Soon, a large Venetian ship was sunk for disobeying the search order, and its crew was executed. After that, the Turks began to call the new fortress “Bogazkesen”, which means both “cutting the strait” and “cutting the throat”.

When Constantinople learned about the construction of the Rumelihisar fortress and assessed the possible consequences, the emperor urgently sent ambassadors to the Sultan, instructing them to protest against the construction of the fortress on lands that formally belonged to Byzantium. However, Mehmed did not even receive Constantine's ambassadors. When the work was already completed, the emperor again sent ambassadors to Mehmed, instructing them to obtain assurance that the construction of Rumelihisar did not threaten the Byzantine capital. The Sultan ordered the ambassadors to be thrown into prison, and then ordered their execution. The readiness of the Ottomans to fight became quite obvious. Then Constantine made a last attempt to reach peace with the Sultan. The Byzantines were ready for any concessions, but Mehmed demanded to surrender the capital to him. In return, he offered Constantine the possession of Morea. The emperor rejected any option for a peace agreement conditional on the abandonment of the ancient Byzantine capital, and declared that he preferred death on the battlefield to such disgrace.

After the construction of the new fortress was completed, the vanguard of Mehmed's army approached Constantinople; the Sultan studied the fortifications of the city for three days.

Meanwhile, a split reigned in Constantinople, engulfing both the ruling circles and the townspeople. Back in 1439, Emperor John VIII secured the consent of the Greek clergy to conclude a new union between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The treaty between the emperor and the pope set, in fact, Orthodox Church dependent on Rome. At the Council of Florence, the Latins managed to impose the main provisions of the Catholic doctrine on the Greek church hierarchs. Making such a concession to the Catholic West, the rulers of Byzantium counted on its support in the fight against the Turks. However, Byzantium did not receive help, and the Florentine union was indignantly rejected by both the overwhelming majority of the Greek clergy and the masses. As a result, in the capital almost all the time there was a sharp struggle between the Latinophile part of the nobility and the party of opponents of the union from the most diverse strata of society. It was with difficulty that the emperor managed to select such candidates for the patriarchal throne who would not reject the union. However, the position of the patriarchs, who were boycotted by almost the entire clergy, was unenviable. On the other hand, Metropolitan Mark of Ephesus became extraordinarily popular, categorically refusing to sign the act of union in Florence, which the other members of the Byzantine delegation somehow accepted. He was defrocked, but until the end of his days he remained the recognized head of the opponents of the union.

In November 1452, the papal legate, Cardinal Isidore, arrived in Constantinople. In the church of St. Sophia, the provisions of the Florentine union, so hated by the majority of the townspeople, were proclaimed. When Isidore served in the walls of St. Sophia, in the presence of the emperor and his court, the liturgy according to the Catholic rite, unrest began in the city. The slogan of the excited crowd were the words: "We do not need the help of the Latins, nor unity with them"! Turkophiles also became active. It was at this moment that the commander of the Byzantine fleet, Luka Notaras, threw out the legendary phrase: “It is better to see a Turkish turban reigning in the city than a Latin tiara.” And although the unrest gradually subsided, most of the townspeople attended only those churches whose priests did not openly recognize the union.

The military weakness of the Byzantine capital was added to the religious and political strife, which did not stop in Constantinople all the time while Mehmed was systematically preparing for the siege. Help from outside could not be obtained. Pope Nicholas V limited himself to sending food and weapons in March 1453, which were delivered by three Genoese ships. The government of Genoa did not dare to provide assistance to Constantinople, but in January detachments of Genoese volunteers arrived in the Byzantine capital. The largest detachment of 700 well-armed warriors was led by the condottiere Giovanni Giustiniani, who had extensive experience in defending fortresses. The emperor entrusted him with the defense of the land walls of the city. As for the Venetians, they discussed the question of military assistance to the emperor for so long that two of their warships - clearly symbolic help - did not move towards Constantinople until two weeks after the start of the siege. Thus, the Byzantine capital had to rely on its own forces. And they were insignificant. When a census was taken of residents capable of defending the city with weapons in their hands, it turned out that their number did not exceed 5 thousand. Together with detachments of foreign mercenaries, mainly Genoese and Venetians, and volunteers, the defenders of Constantinople amounted to a little more than 7 thousand soldiers. Blockaded in the Golden Horn, the Byzantine fleet barely consisted of 30 ships.

In the autumn of 1452, the Turks occupied the last Byzantine cities - Mesimvria, Anichal, Viza, Silivria. In the winter of 1452/53, three Turkish cavalry regiments were encamped at the gates of Constantinople in the region of Pera. The Genoese who were in charge of Galata hurried to express friendly feelings towards the Turks.

All winter long, final preparations were made in Edirne for a decisive offensive against Constantinople. Mehmed studied the plan of the city, the scheme of its fortifications. The Byzantine historian, a contemporary of the events, Duka, very figuratively characterized the state of the Sultan in those days. He wrote that Mehmed “night and day, going to bed and getting up, inside his palace and outside it had one thought and concern; no matter what military cunning and with the help of what machines to capture Constantinople. The Sultan diligently concealed his plans for the Byzantine capital. For a long time he did not announce the timing of the beginning of the siege and the methods of taking the city to anyone. All Mehmed's attention was focused on strengthening the combat capability of the Turkish army, primarily on equipping it with siege equipment. In the vicinity of Edirne, a workshop was created, where powerful cannons were cast under the supervision of the famous Hungarian master Urban. Dozens of bronze cannons were made, one of which was truly gigantic. The diameter of her barrel channel was equal to 12 palms, and she fired stone balls weighing 30 pounds. Historians say that this cannon was brought to the walls of Constantinople from Edirne by 60 oxen for two months.

At the end of January 1453, the sultan gathered his dignitaries and declared that the security of his empire would be ensured only when the Byzantine capital was in the hands of the Turks. Mehmed emphasized that if this did not happen, he would prefer to give up the throne. The sultan backed up his determination with arguments in favor of the reality of the plan to capture Constantinople, which the sultan did not consider impregnable either from a military point of view or in terms of its readiness for defense, since the townspeople were split by a religious conflict.

In March 1453 a huge army moved towards Constantinople. On April 5, the Sultan himself arrived at the walls of the city with the last units. He led the Turkish army. The Turks surrounded Constantinople along the entire line of its land defensive lines - from the Golden Gate to Pera. Mehmed set up his headquarters behind a hill opposite the Adrianople Gate, located in the northwestern part of the city, not far from the Blachernae Palace.

The Sultan's army was very large. Information about its population is very contradictory. The Duka mentioned by us writes about 400 thousand, another Byzantine historian, an eyewitness of the siege, Franji, speaks of 250 thousand people. This information is clearly exaggerated. Modern Turkish historians believe that Mehmed's army consisted of 150 thousand soldiers. Mehmed also managed to assemble a large fleet, numbering about 80 warships and more than 300 cargo ships necessary for the transfer of troops and equipment.

In the middle of the Theodosian walls were the gates of St. Roman. In this place, the Sultan stationed the main artillery force, including the giant Urban cannon, and the most combat-ready units, over which he himself took command. In addition, Turkish batteries were placed along the entire siege line. The right wing of the besiegers, stretching to the Golden Gate, consisted of troops gathered in Asia Minor. These forces, numbering about 100 thousand soldiers, were commanded by the experienced commander Ishak Pasha. The regiments assembled in the Sultan's European possessions (about 50,000 warriors, mostly detachments of Mehmed's vassals from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece) formed the left wing of the besiegers, stretching to the banks of the Golden Horn. They were led by the famous military leader Karadzhabey. In the rear of his troops, the Sultan placed the cavalry. Detachments under the command of Sagan Pasha were stationed on the hills of Pera. Their task was to control the entrance to the Golden Horn. For the same purpose, part of the Turkish squadron anchored in the Bosphorus at its confluence with the Golden Horn. The entrance to the bay was blocked by heavy iron chains for the Turkish ships, behind the line of which the ships of the besieged lined up in battle row. And although there were quite powerful ships among them, the Byzantine fleet, numbering no more than 30 ships, meant little in comparison with Mehmed's opposing armada.

The forces of the opponents were strikingly unequal: there were more than 20 Turks for one defender of the city. The Greek commanders puzzled over the solution of a very difficult task - how to stretch the troops at their disposal along the entire line of fortifications. Hoping that the Turks would not storm the city from the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Byzantines allocated the smallest number of soldiers to defend the sea walls. The defense of the coast of the Golden Horn was entrusted to the Venetian and Genoese sailors. Gate of St. Roman was defended mainly by the Genoese. The remaining sections were defended by mixed detachments of Byzantines and Latin mercenaries. The defenders of the city had practically no artillery, because the few cannons they had turned out to be unsuitable: when firing from the walls and towers, they had such a return that they caused serious damage to the defensive structures.

On the morning of April 6, everything was ready for the attack. Mehmed sent parliamentarians with a white flag to the besieged city. They conveyed to the defenders of Constantinople the message of the Sultan, in which he offered the Byzantines to surrender, guaranteeing them the preservation of life and property; otherwise, the Sultan did not promise mercy to anyone. The proposal was rejected, and then the cannons thundered, which at that time had no equal in Europe. The phrase of the Byzantine historian Kritovul who described these events - "guns decided everything" - does not seem to be an exaggeration.

Initially, success did not accompany the besiegers. Although the artillery bombarded the city continuously, the damage it caused was not great. It was not only the strength of the walls of Constantinople that affected, but also the inexperience of Mehmed's gunners; Urban's huge cannon, which terrified the defenders, exploded, and its creator himself was injured in the explosion. But the cores of other powerful weapons continued to crush the walls and towers.

On April 18, Mehmed ordered the assault to begin. At dawn, the warriors rushed to the breaches in the walls pierced by cannonballs. Filling the ditches with brushwood, sandbags and the bodies of the dead, the Turks rushed forward. The Byzantines threw stones at them, doused them with boiling resin, hit them with arrows and spears. The Turks tried to dig under the wall, but the defenders figured out this plan. Having arranged a counter dig, the Byzantines blew up a mine, destroying many Turkish soldiers.

The fight was brutal. An eyewitness to the siege of Constantinople, Nestor Iskander, the author of The Tale of Constantinople, Its Founding and Capture by the Turks, described it this way: from the weeping and sobbing of the city dwellers, wives and children, it seemed that heaven and earth were united and trembled. It was impossible to hear each other: the cries, weeping and sobbing of people combined with the noise of battle and the ringing of bells into a single sound, similar to strong thunder. From many fires and firing from cannons and squeakers, thickened smoke covered the city and troops; people could not see each other; many suffocated from gunpowder smoke.

Already the first assault showed that the city was not going to become an easy prey for the enemy. The Turks realized that, although the number of defenders of Constantinople is small, each of them intends to fight without sparing his life. The assault troops had to retreat.

Mehmed was extremely annoyed by the failure. However, another disappointment awaited him. Two days later, on April 20, the Turks, unexpectedly for the Sultan, also lost the naval battle. Three Genoese galleys - the same ones that were sent to Constantinople with weapons and food by the Pope, as well as a large Byzantine ship sailing with a cargo of grain and having "Greek fire" on board, entered into battle with the Turkish squadron. In an unequal battle, they managed to win. The Turks lost many of their ships, burned by "Greek fire". The ships of the Genoese and Byzantines managed to break through the Turkish cordon, enter the Golden Horn and connect with the emperor's squadron stationed there. Attempts by the Turks to enter the bay were unsuccessful. The Sultan, who was watching this battle from the Bosporus coast in the region of Pera, was furious: a handful of ships emerged victorious in the battle with his huge fleet, and even delivered weapons and food to the city. The commander of the Turkish fleet, Baltaoglu, was deprived of all posts, ranks and property and was punished with stick blows.

Mehmed soon found a rather ingenious way to restore his military prestige, resorting to a maneuver that had a great influence on the further course of the siege. He ordered some of his ships to be delivered by land to the Golden Horn. For this, a huge wooden flooring was built near the walls of Galata. Over the course of one night, along the flooring, thickly greased, the Turks dragged 70 heavy ships on ropes to the northern shore of the Golden Horn and lowered them into the waters of the bay. One can imagine the horror that gripped the defenders of Constantinople when, on the morning of April 22, a Turkish squadron appeared in the waters of the Golden Horn. No one expected an attack from this side, the sea walls were the weakest part of the defense. In addition, the Byzantine fleet, which stood guard at the entrance to the bay, was threatened. From now on, the emperor's squadron had to deal with enemy forces that were numerically superior to it, which were no longer hindered by barrage chains.

Greek and Latin naval commanders decided to burn the Turkish fleet. The Byzantine ship under the command of the Venetian Kokko tried to quietly approach the parking lot of the Sultan's squadron. But Mehmed was warned about the enemy's plan (the Genoese of Galata informed him about it). Kokko's ship was fired upon and sunk. Some of the daredevils from his crew escaping by swimming were captured by the Turks and executed in full view of the defenders of the city. In response, the emperor ordered 260 captured Turkish soldiers to be beheaded and their heads to be displayed on the city walls.

Meanwhile, the situation in the camp of the defenders became more and more disastrous. And it was not only the lack of soldiers and food. The emperor surrounded himself with Italian commanders, placing all his hopes on mercenaries. The Greeks were annoyed by the fact that foreigners were actually in charge of the capital. Oil was added to the fire of passions by the treacherous behavior of the Genoese of Constantinople, who more than once supported the Sultan, delivering supplies to his troops, in particular oil for cannons. Some Genoese merchants, however, also helped the defenders of Constantinople in case they still managed to defend the city. Bloody skirmishes took place in the Byzantine capital between traditional rivals - the Venetians and the Genoese. To all this, the irritation of the Byzantine clergy was added by the emperor, who encroached on church property in search of the means necessary for defense. Part of the Byzantine nobility embarked on the path of treason and began to seek the favors of the Sultan. Defeatist moods grew among the courtiers. Some of Constantine's close associates began to advise him to capitulate. However, the emperor categorically refused to follow this advice. Constantine toured the fortifications, checked the combat readiness of the troops, tried in every possible way to raise the morale of the besieged by personal example. All this could not save the doomed city, but the courage of a handful of its defenders preserved their honor and dignity.

It cannot be said that everything was calm in those days in the camp of the Turks. At the headquarters of the Sultan, irritation was felt by the protracted siege. At some point, a rumor spread that the Hungarian army was rushing to help the besieged city, threatening the Turks from the rear. There was also talk of the approach of the Venetian fleet. The great vizier Khalil Pasha, to whom historians attribute by no means disinterested benevolence towards the Greeks, tried to persuade Mehmed to lift the siege, citing the danger of a collision with European states. However, most of the dignitaries supported the Sultan's determination to seize the capital of Byzantium at any cost.

The second month of the siege was coming to an end. In early May, the shelling of the city intensified. Urban's giant cannon was also restored. On May 7, Mehmed's troops stormed the walls in one of the defense sectors for several hours. The attack was repulsed. In mid-May, the Turks began to dig under the walls of the city. The Sultan continued to look for new technical means for the siege. One of them appeared at the city walls on May 18.

The events of that day were vividly described by their eyewitness George Franji: “The Emir (Sultan Mehmed P.- Yu. P.), amazed and deceived in his hopes, he began to use other, new inventions and machines for the siege. From thick logs he built a huge siege machine, which has numerous wheels, very wide and high. He covered the inside and outside with triple ox and cow skins. From above, it had a tower and covers, as well as gangways raised up and down ... All sorts of other machines were moved up to the walls, which even the human mind could not think of and which had never been built to take the fortress ... And in other places the Turks built platforms with a great many wheels, and on top of these platforms - a kind of towers ... And they had a lot of cannons; they were loaded so that they would all simultaneously fire a shot at the walls. First, however, the Turks fired from that terrible siege weapon and demolished the tower near the gates of St. Roman, and immediately dragged this siege engine and placed it on top of the moat. And there was a destructive and terrible battle; it began before the sun rose, and lasted all day, And one part of the Turks fought fiercely in this fight and scuffle, and the other threw logs, various materials and earth into the ditch ... having piled all this, the Turks paved a wide road for themselves across the ditch to Wall. However, ours courageously blocked their way, often throwing the Turks from the stairs, and cut down some wooden stairs; thanks to our courage, we repeatedly drove off the enemies that day, until the first hour of the night.

In the end, the furious attacks of the Turks bogged down. The new units that the Sultan threw into battle could not break the stubbornness of the city's defenders. The assault stopped, the besieged received a welcome respite. Luck strengthened their strength, and they vigorously began to restore the destroyed parts of the walls and towers. Meanwhile, the hour of the last battle was approaching.

The last days before the assault, which was to decide the fate of the city, were full of drama in both camps. The troops were terribly tired, and the very feeling that a huge army could not cope with a handful of defenders of the Byzantine capital could not but demoralize the besiegers. The siege had been going on for about two months. Perhaps this was one of the reasons that prompted the sultan to enter into negotiations with the emperor three or four days before the assault. Mehmed suggested that he agree to pay an annual tribute of 100 thousand gold coins or leave the city with all the inhabitants; in this case they were promised no harm. At the council of the emperor, both proposals were rejected. After all, it was obvious that such an incredibly large tribute to the Byzantines would never be collected, and no one intended to give up their city to the enemy without a fight.

Soon the Sultan also gathered advice at his headquarters. The Grand Vizier Khalil Pasha suggested looking for conditions for concluding peace and lifting the siege. But most of the military leaders insisted on the assault. Mehmed announced his decision to launch a decisive assault. The defenders of Constantinople immediately found out about this. The Christians who were in the Turkish camp shot arrows into the city with notes in which they reported on the council at the Sultan's headquarters. However, signs of an impending attack soon appeared - cannon fire increased sharply.

The day and night before the storm passed differently in both camps. On May 28, the Sultan toured the troops, reviewed the final preparations for the assault. The Turkish warriors, who had incessantly been preparing siege equipment, materials for filling ditches and putting weapons in order, rested that day. An unusual silence reigned outside the walls of Constantinople. Everyone understood that the hour of trials was approaching. In the afternoon, a large procession with icons and banners passed through the city, in which the emperor participated. In its ranks were both Orthodox and Catholics. The bells of the churches of Constantinople rang alarmingly. Under their ringing, the fortifications of the city were sanctified, gathering the last forces to repulse the enemy. The townspeople seem to have forgotten all the disputes and strife. At sunset, crowds of people went to the church of St. Sophia, the threshold of which the Orthodox Greeks have not crossed for five months, not considering it possible to attend the liturgy, defiled by the Latins. But during these hours, supporters and opponents of the union from different segments of the population prayed earnestly in the cathedral nearby. After the advice of the emperor, all the military leaders and nobles arrived here. People hugged, strengthening their spirit before the battle.

On the evening of May 28, the Sultan announced that a decisive assault would begin the next morning. The bonfires lit in the Turkish camp on the night before the battle circled the city. The fires were also burning on Turkish ships, which occupied the entire width of the strait. In the camp of the besiegers, music thundered, drums rumbled. Mullahs and dervishes aroused the fanaticism of the warriors, crowds around the fires listened to the reading of the Koran. The warriors sang and prayed as they prepared for the coming battle. The military leaders directed the concentration of troops and equipment in the main areas of the upcoming assault. Siege engines were brought up to the walls that defended Constantinople from the land side, and the squadron stationed in the Golden Horn approached the sea walls.

The Sultan decided to strike the main blow in the area between the gates of St. Roman and Kharisiysky, where the walls were most damaged during the bombardment. This area throughout the siege was the site of the most fierce battles. Here, the cannons of the Turks were located on high hills, so that the walls and towers were lower than the positions of the Turkish batteries and it was much more convenient to shell the city. In addition, the moat at this section of the walls was not very deep. The Sultan decided to lead the battle here himself. The troops, located to the left and right of the shock group, had the task of diverting the attention of the defenders from the gates of St. Roman. Units under the command of Sagan Pasha were to attack the Blachernae Palace area, for which they pulled up to the northern part of the Theodosian walls, leaving their positions near the walls of Galata. They were thrown across the Golden Horn on a floating bridge built from barges and wooden barrels. The captains of the Turkish ships were ordered to start shelling the fortifications of the Golden Horn coast, and then throw the crews to storm the sea walls.

At dawn on May 29, 1453, the deafening sounds of Turkish horns, timpani and drums heralded the beginning of the assault. Hand-to-hand combat ensued, in which the defenders of the city fought with the desperation of the doomed. The first attacks of the Turks from the land were repulsed.

On one of the defense sectors against the troops of the Sultan, the Turkish prince Orhan, mentioned above, fought side by side with the Byzantine monks with a group of close associates. They fought off the attacks of the Turkish ships from the Sea of ​​Marmara. An attempt to break through the line of sea walls here also turned out to be unsuccessful for the Turks. There was a moment when it seemed that a miracle would happen and the defenders of the city would be able to withstand the furious onslaught of superior enemy forces. Then Mehmed threw the most elite units into battle and ordered to intensify the fire of artillery. Finally, Urban's giant cannon destroyed the wall in the area of ​​the gates of St. Roman. The ranks of the Genoese defending this area trembled. Their commander Giustiniani was wounded; leaving his post, he fled by ship to Galata. His desertion caused confusion among the defenders just as Mehmed brought his best soldiers into the fray. One of them, a man of enormous stature, named Hasan, who possessed extraordinary strength, was the first to climb the wall and, together with three dozen soldiers, capture one of the towers at the gates of St. Roman. The Byzantines violently counterattacked. Hassan and half of the warriors of his group were killed by a blow from a huge stone. But still, the Turks managed to hold their position and give the opportunity to climb the walls to other detachments of the attackers. Soon the gates of St. The novels were opened and the first Turkish banner was raised over the steppes of Constantinople. Emperor Constantine was in this area of ​​defense, trying to gather the remnants of the defenders and block the way for the Turks. He did not succeed. Constantine died fighting the enemy.

Through the gates of St. The Roman Turkish army poured into Constantinople like a raging river, sweeping away everything in its path. Then landings from Turkish ships, attacking the sea walls from the Golden Horn, also broke into the capital. Turkish troops entered the city through several gates and other battlefields. Two hours after the start of the assault, the Turks scattered through the streets and squares of Constantinople, mercilessly destroying its defenders. Having learned that the Turks broke into the city, the ships of the Italians and Byzantines that were standing at the entrance to the Golden Horn began to weigh anchors, in a hurry to find salvation. Crowds of townspeople rushed to the harbor, cherishing the hope of getting on board the sailing ships. Few succeeded, however. About 20 ships managed to get through the blocked exit from the bay, taking advantage of the fact that the sailors of the Turkish squadron rushed to the city so as not to be late for the long-awaited robbery.

Setting the day for the decisive assault on Constantinople, the Sultan said, according to Duka, that he "is not looking for any other prey for himself, except for the buildings and walls of the city." “Let any other treasure and captives be your prey,” Mehmed said, addressing his soldiers. For three days and three nights Constantinople was in the power of the army of Mehmed. The picture of these tragic days appears before us on the pages of the "Great Chronicle" by Georgy Franji. “And those who begged for mercy,” Franji wrote, “the Turks were robbed and taken prisoner, and those who resisted and opposed them were killed; in some places, due to the multitude of corpses, the earth was not visible at all. And one could see an extraordinary spectacle: the groaning, and crying, and the enslavement of countless noble and noble women, girls and nuns consecrated to God, despite their cries drawn by the Turks from churches for braids and curls, the screaming and crying of children and robbed sacred and saints temples... Weeping and lamentations in the dwellings, cries at the crossroads, tears in the temples, everywhere the groans of men and the wailing of women: the Turks seized, dragged into slavery, separated and raped... Not a single place remained unsearched and unrobbed..." Strings of captives were drawn to the slave markets in various cities of the Ottoman state.

The monstrous scenes of the robbery of the church of St. Sophia, where many residents of the city took refuge, are depicted in the "Byzantine History" of Duka. “The Turks,” the historian wrote, “scattering in all directions, killing and capturing, finally came to the temple ... and, seeing that the gates were locked, they broke them without delay with axes. When they, armed with swords, burst inside and saw an innumerable crowd, each began to knit his prisoner ... Who will tell about the cries and cries of children, about the cries and tears of mothers, about the sobs of fathers - who will tell? .. Then the slave was knitted with the mistress , a gentleman with a slave, an archimandrite with a gatekeeper, tender youths with virgins ... Robbers raped, these avengers of God, and everyone could be seen tied up in one hour: men with ropes, and women with their scarves ... In one minute, the saints cut icons, stealing from them jewelry, necklaces and bracelets, as well as the clothes of the holy meal ... Precious and sacred vessels of the sacred vessel storage, gold and silver and from other valuable substances, were taken away at one moment, leaving the temple deserted and robbed and nothing leaving."

During these terrible days, all the churches and palaces of Constantinople were plundered. Many of them were badly damaged by fires. No less damage to monuments of architecture and art was caused by the barbarism of the invaders. Priceless manuscripts flew into the mud and flames, marble walls and columns collapsed, magnificent mosaics broke.

True, even half of what the Latins received in 1204 did not fall into the hands of the Turks. Nevertheless, the winners got huge wealth: 60 thousand people were taken into captivity, Turkish ships were crammed with precious cargo. But the main booty, the value of which was truly immeasurable, was the city itself.

The capture of Constantinople by the Turks marked the collapse of the Byzantine Empire.

The fall of Constantinople had important historical consequences: the further offensive of the Turkish hordes in the Balkans, the threat of their invasion of Central and Western Europe, the new conquests of the Turks in the East, the hostile policy of the sultans towards Rus', whose sovereigns declared themselves the direct heirs of Byzantium - the collapsed stronghold of Orthodoxy. The defeat of Constantinople by the Turks caused irreparable damage to the pan-European culture.

Mehmed II the Conqueror entered Constantinople three days after its capture. Ordering to stop the robberies, the Sultan moved to the city center. The Sultan's cortege reached the church of St. Sofia. Mehmed examined the cathedral and ordered to commemorate the victory of Muslims over the "infidels" to turn it into a mosque.

The conquered city Mehmed made the capital of his State. A new name appeared on the world maps - Istanbul (in Turkish - Istanbul) *.

* There are several versions explaining the origin of this word. Most likely, as Academician A.N. Konopov suggests, it is the result of a gradual transformation of the former name of the city - Constantinople - within the framework of the phonetic norms of the Turkish language.



Already during the accession of Mehmed II to the throne, it was clear to everyone that a capable monarch would rule the state. In Anatolia, the beylik of Karamanov remained his main rival, in Europe - the Byzantine emperor. Having embarked on public affairs, Mehmed II (later nicknamed the Fatih Conqueror for his numerous successful military campaigns) immediately put the task of capturing Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, in first place.

By order of Mehmed II, at the end of March 1452, on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus, in the narrowest part of the strait, the construction of the Rumelihisar fortress was started. With the completion of the construction of this fortress, Constantinople could at any moment be cut off from the Black Sea, which meant the cessation of the supply of food from the Black Sea regions. After the construction of the fortress was completed, a strong garrison settled in it. Large caliber guns were mounted on the towers. Mehmed II gave the order to subject the ships passing through the Bosphorus to customs inspection, and to destroy the ships evading inspection and payment of duties with cannon fire. Soon a large Venetian ship was sunk, and its crew was executed for disobeying the search order. The Turks began to call this fortress "Bogaz kesen" (cutting the throat).

When Constantinople learned about the construction of the Rumelihisar fortress and assessed the possible consequences of this for Byzantium, the emperor sent ambassadors to the Sultan, declaring a protest against the construction of a fortress on lands that still formally belonged to Byzantium. But Mehmed did not even receive Constantine's ambassadors. When the work was already completed, the emperor again sent ambassadors to Mehmed, wanting at least to receive assurance that the fortress would not threaten Constantinople. The Sultan ordered the ambassadors to be thrown into prison, and Konstantin offered to surrender the city to him. In return, Mehmed offered Emperor Constantine the possession of Morea. Constantine categorically rejected the proposal to abandon the ancient capital, stating that he preferred death on the battlefield to such disgrace. After the completion of the construction of a new fortress, Mehmed's army approached Constantinople.

On April 5, 1453, the sultan himself arrived at the city walls with the last units, leading the army. The Sultan's army surrounded Constantinople along the entire line of its land defense lines. Half of the troops (about 50 thousand soldiers) came from European vassals of Mehmed II from Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece.

On the morning of April 6, the sultan's parliamentarians conveyed to the defenders of Constantinople his message, in which Mehmed offered the Byzantines voluntary surrender, guaranteeing them the preservation of life and property. Otherwise, the Sultan did not promise mercy to any of the defenders of the city. The offer was rejected. Then the Turkic cannons thundered, which at that time had no equal in Europe. Although the artillery was constantly bombarding the fortress walls, the damage caused by it was very minor. Not only because of the strength of the walls of Constantinople, but also the inexperience of Mehmed's gunners made itself felt. Among other cannons there was a huge bombard cast by the Hungarian engineer Urban, which had powerful destructive power. As a result, by the end of the siege, they were still able to repair the cannon and make a successful shot from it, destroying the wall, from where they could break into the city.

The siege of the city continued for fifty days. The fall of Constantinople was hastened by the cunning resorted to by Mehmed. He ordered that part of his ships be delivered by land to the Golden Horn Bay, where heavy iron chains blocked the entrance to Turkish ships.

To drag the ships overland, a huge wooden deck was built. It was laid at the very walls of Galata. During one night, along this platform, thickly greased, the Turks dragged 70 heavy ships on ropes to the northern shore of the Golden Horn and lowered them into the water of the bay.

In the morning, the defenders of the city saw a Turkic squadron in the waters of the Golden Horn. No one expected an attack from this side, the sea walls were the weakest part of the defense. The ships of the Byzantines, standing guard at the entrance to the bay, were also under threat.

The day before the last assault on the city, Mehmed suggested that the emperor either agree to an annual tribute of 100,000 gold Byzantines, or leave the city with all its inhabitants. In the latter case, they were promised no harm. At the council of the emperor, both proposals were rejected. The Byzantines would never have been able to collect such an incredibly large tribute, and the emperor and his entourage did not want to cede the city to the enemy without a fight.

At dawn on May 29, 1453, before the start of the decisive assault on Constantinople, the sultan (according to the Greek historian Doukas, who witnessed these events) turned to his soldiers with the words that "he is not looking for any other booty, except for the buildings and walls of the city." After his speech, the command to attack was given. The deafening sounds of Turkic horns - suras, timpani and drums announced the beginning of the assault. By evening, the capital of Byzantium fell. Emperor Constantine was also killed in street battles, they simply did not recognize him, since he was dressed in ordinary military clothes. Mehmed II entered the conquered Constantinople three days after its capture, renamed the city Istanbul and moved his residence here.

Constantinople was twice on the verge of falling, and both times fate rescued it. The first time was when the Seljuk troops approached its walls at the end of the 11th century. And only the collapse of the Seljuk Empire and the beginning of the Crusades saved Constantinople.

For the second time at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The troops of the Great Timur defeated the army of Sultan Bayezid and thus again saved Constantinople from conquest.

For the third time, the fate of Constantinople was decided

DEATH OF THE GREAT EMPIRE. THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Gumelev Vasiliy Yuryevich
Ryazan high airborne command school name of the General of the army V. Margelov
candidate of technical sciences

Abstract
The paper considers the main events of the siege the Ottoman Turks of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which led to the fall of this city and throughout the Empire.

The fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was the last defeat of Byzantium, which completed the death great empire. The death of the Byzantine Empire had a truly world-historical significance, and the leading geopolitical position V modern world Western European countries is to some extent a direct consequence of those distant events.

The advance of the Ottoman Turks to Constantinople in January - March 1453 is presented according to Figure 1.

1 - Constantine XI sends ships to the Aegean for purchases and military equipment (winter 1452/53); 2 - raids of the Byzantine fleet on the Ottomans;
3 - Constantine XI repairs the fortifications of Constantinople (winter 1452/53); 4 - the Turks are repairing the road to Constantinople for the passage of artillery (winter 1452/53); 5 - the Turks begin to build siege lines around Constantinople; 6 - Mehmed II returns to Edirne; 7 - 700 Genoese soldiers arrive in Constantinople under the command of John Giustiniani Longo, Constantine XI appoints him commander of the land line of defense (January 29, 1453); 8 - the Ottoman avant-garde pulls up artillery from Edirne (February 1453); 9 - foreign merchant ships flee from Constantinople (February 26, 1453); 10 - the Turks capture Byzantine possessions on the coast of the Black and Marmara Seas (February - March 1453); 11 - the fortresses of Selymbria, Epibat, Studios, Ferapia resist the Ottomans; 12, 13 - the fleet of the Turks goes to the Bosporus and transports troops from Asia Minor (March 1453); 14 - Mehmed II sets out from Edirne with regiments of Janissaries (March 23, 1453)

Figure 1 - The advance of the Ottoman Turks to Constantinople in 1453

Before the start of hostilities, the sultan offered the emperor to capitulate on very honorable and personally beneficial terms for the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI. But the emperor, the heir to the valor of the ancient Romans and the descendant of the Slavic princes, proudly refused - he did not trade his homeland.

In March 1453, the Turks managed to take a number of the most important Byzantine fortifications on the Black Sea coast. But according to:

“Selymvria courageously defended herself until the capture of the capital”(picture 1, pos. 11)

Although the Turks blocked the Roman Byzantines' access to the sea in many places, they still, with the support of the Italian allies, continued to dominate the sea and devastated the Turkish coast on their ships.

The Venetians actively helped the Byzantines in this.

In early March, Turkish troops camped outside the walls of Constantinople, and in April they began to carry out intensive engineering work along the perimeter of the besieged city. Sultan Mehmed II set out from his capital with the palace regiments on March 23, 1453 (Figure 2) and from the beginning of April he personally led the Turkish troops that began the siege of Constantinople. By this time, the capital of the Romans was already surrounded by land and sea.

The balance of power was depressing for the Byzantines - the great city fought against the Sultan's army of about eighty thousand soldiers, not counting the numerous hordes of Turkish militias. It was surrounded by walls about 25 km long, which were supposed to protect less than 7 thousand professional soldiers of various nationalities and from thirty to forty thousand poorly trained militias from the townspeople.

Figure 2 - Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror comes from Edirne to the siege of Constantinople. Painting by an unknown European artist.

The Greek fleet defending Constantinople consisted of only twenty-six ships. Of these, only ten belonged to the Romans themselves, the rest of the ships were mostly Italian. The fleet was small, consisted of ships of various types, had no joint command and did not represent a serious force.

The Ottoman Turks had a clear overwhelming advantage in the fleet (its number - according to some estimates about four hundred ships - and quality) and artillery. During the siege of Constantinople, the Turks managed to organize its massive use, ensuring the timely manufacture and delivery of cores and gunpowder in the required quantities.

Despite such an overwhelming numerical and qualitative advantage, the troops of Sultan Mehmed II faced a very difficult task. Constantinople was defended by the decrepit, but repaired and still powerful Theodosian walls, 5630 meters long, which were erected from 408 to 413 years. The reconstructed section of the Theodosian Walls is presented in accordance with Figure 3.

Figure 3 - Reconstructed section of the Theodosian walls

A wide ditch was dug in front of the wall. The Theodosian wall (the inner wall in the fortification system of the city), twelve meters high and five meters wide every fifty-five meters, was fortified with a twenty-meter-high hexagonal or octagonal tower, the total number of which reached one hundred. The lower tier of the towers was adapted for a food warehouse.

In addition to Feodosiev, there was also an outer city wall, which was smaller than the inner one both in height and width. Of the ninety-six towers of the outer wall, ten were through.

The location of the troops of the opposing sides is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 - The location of the Turkish and Byzantine (Roman) troops during the siege of Constantinople

Turkish artillery in the 15th century was the same as in other European countries. Large guns were mounted in sloping trenches with massive wooden blocks as shock absorbers. Aiming such guns was a difficult and lengthy business. The giant cannons of the Hungarian Urban were located in artillery batteries, which included much smaller cannons. Between the batteries and the walls of Constantinople, the Ottomans poured out a defensive rampart with a moat in front of it. They installed a wooden palisade along the top of the rampart (Figure 5).

Figure 5 - Ottoman artillerymen set up a huge gun in position before the start of the siege (March 1453). Artist K. Hook

The shelling of the Theodosian walls by the artillery of Sultan Mehmed II is presented according to Figure 6.

“And the Turks bombarded the city in turmoil: with noise and roar they beat them on the walls and towers ... And the battle did not subside day or night: fights, skirmishes and shooting continued all the time.”

Figure 6 - The shelling of the walls of Theodosius by the artillery of Sultan Mehmed II. Artist P. Dennis

The Turks constantly went to storm the city walls. During the assaults, part of the soldiers and engineering units of the Turks tried to fill up the ditches, but to no avail:

“Throughout the day the Turks filled up the ditches; but we spent the whole night pulling earth and logs out of them: and the depth of the ditches remained the same as it was before.

While the Byzantines and Italian soldiers (mercenaries and volunteers) fought bravely on the walls of the city, the Italian merchants who lived in Constantinople betrayed both. They entered into negotiations with Sultan Mehmed II (a tyrant - as Mikhail Duka called him). Merchants tried to save their property at any cost:

“And the Galatian Genoese, even before the arrival of the tyrant, who was still in Adrianople, sent ambassadors, proclaiming sincere friendship towards him and renewing the agreements written earlier. And he answered that he was their friend and had not forgotten his love for them, only so that they would not turn out to be helping the city.

Meanwhile, the siege of Constantinople was dragging on. This clearly did not strengthen the morale of the Ottoman troops. Certain difficulties began to arise with the supply of the army. But On April 22, the Ottomans managed to drag their warships overland, bypassing the massive iron chain blocking the Golden Horn Bay. Turkish artillery at that time fired diverting fire on the chain at the entrance to the bay.

On April 28, Venetian and Genoese ships, which were in the besieged city, attacked the Turkish fleet in the Golden Horn at night. The attackers failed to burn the Turkish fleet - the Turks repelled the attack and inflicted heavy losses on the Italian sailors. The attempt to destroy the Turkish fleet was quite predictable and therefore the Ottomans were vigilant and ready to repel the attacks of the besieged. It is also possible that the Turks were warned about the planned night attack, since there were many people in Constantinople who sympathized with the Ottomans. Yes, and work with agents in the enemy's rear of the Turks was always well placed.

After this unsuccessful night attack on the Turkish ships, as Sfranzi reports:

“The king and the whole city, seeing this, fell into great confusion of spirit, for the king was afraid of our small number.”

The length of the city walls, requiring active defense, has increased significantly.

At the same time, Turkish miners made several attempts to lay mines under the walls of the city. But the underground mine war ended in favor of the besieged. They attacked enemy miners, blew up and flooded the passages dug by the Turks with water.

But not everyone in the besieged city withstood the hardships of the war:

“And here are some of ours, recalcitrant and inhuman people, seeing that we are weakening, and finding that the moment is favorable for vile aspirations, daily began to arrange rebellions and riots ...”.

Despite all this, a foreigner - a courageous warrior John Giustiniani Longo, the leader of a detachment of volunteers from Genoa, continued to honestly fulfill his soldier's duty:

“... with his word, advice and deed, he showed himself terrible for the enemy: every night he fired and made sorties against the enemies, and captured many of them alive, and killed others with a sword.”

His men regularly made daring sorties and attacked the besiegers outside the walls of the city.

On May 27, the Turks launched another assault on the city. The Ottoman troops marched on the walls in several waves, replacing each other, in order not to give the besieged a respite.

During the reflection of the next onslaught of the Turks, Ioann Giustiniani was mortally wounded and died. But according to the Byzantine author, Giustiniani deserved to be shamed. For what? A mortally wounded officer, most likely in a state of severe pain shock, left his defense area only to die peacefully. And the author considers this an unworthy and contemptible act. Like a real officer Giustiniani must was only to die on the battlefield.

Such concepts of military honor in our strange times for some reason they are considered wild and not humane (brutal - such a very fashionable word has now appeared). But during a deadly fight, they are the right ones.

So, on May 29, 1453, through a gap in the wall on the fifty-third day of the siege, Turkish soldiers broke into Constantinople, they robbed and killed its inhabitants.

The Turks captured all the walls of the city “with the exception of ... the towers ... where the sailors from Crete stood. For these sailors fought bravely until the sixth and seventh hours and killed many of the Turks. ... One Turk about their courage made a report to the emir, and he ordered that, by mutual agreement, they leave and be free ... barely persuaded them to leave the tower ".

The capital of the Byzantine Empire fell, and the empire itself ceased to exist. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, with weapons in his hands, continued to fight with the enemy who had burst into the city. His fate is not known for certain, the body has not been found. But, apparently, he died in battle as honorably as he lived. In figure 7, the artist depicted Constantine XI with a raised sword, a Turkish saber is already raised above his head.

According to an eyewitness, many residents of Constantinople continued to put up serious resistance to the Ottoman troops that broke into the city for a long time.

Figure 7 - Last Stand the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI. Artist K. Hook

On the same day, Sultan Mehmed II entered Constantinople, accompanied by troops (Figure 8). At the end of the day, Mehmed II, accompanied by the supreme ministers, imams and a detachment of Janissaries, drove up to the Hagia Sophia. At his direction, the supreme imam ascended the pulpit and announced: there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. Hagia Sophia became for many centuries the Hagia Sophia mosque. Later, the Turks added minarets to the cathedral. It is currently a national museum.

Figure 8 - Entry of Mehmed II into Constantinople. Artist J.J. Benjamin Constant

Before the assault, Sultan Mehmed II promised his soldiers to give three days to plunder the city, but he stopped the atrocities by the evening of the first day (although, referring to a number of sources, the author of the work claims that the Sultan kept his word - and Turkish soldiers robbed Constantinople of the three promised to them days).

Interesting, if this word is appropriate in this case, the fate of the Byzantine admiral Luke Notaras. It was he who during the Turkish siege said: "Let the Turkish turban reign in the city better than the papal tiara."

But the admiral, if he is really an admiral, during the war should defend his homeland until last drop blood, and not cynically calculate - under which enemy it is more profitable to lie down.

After the capture of the city, Luka Notaras went to serve the Turks. Sultan Mehmed II made him governor, and then executed him along with his relatives in early June.

The reason for this was that Notaras allegedly did not give the sultan the entire treasury of the Byzantine emperor. Sfranzi, with ill-concealed gloating, reports how Sultan Mehmed II dealt with a defector.

All the rich Genoese merchants who lived in Constantinople, the Sultan ordered to be captured and sent as rowers to the galleys. We are talking about the same merchants who, behind the backs of the defenders of the city, bargained with Mehmed II on how to preserve their wealth after the expected fall of the city. In trading with the Turks, they must have bought their security through treachery.

The actions of Mehmed II were logical in a soldier's way and therefore understandable: he honorably released the courageous Cretan sailors, who offered furious resistance to the Turks and did not want to surrender even after the fall of the city. Well, with people without conscience, the Sultan acted shamelessly.

Most of the defenders were exterminated, about sixty thousand inhabitants of the city were sold into slavery. Constantinople, which the Turks have long called Istanbul, became the capital of the Ottoman state. Then the sultan imposed a tax on the population of Constantinople, and took one hundred of the most beautiful young men and women into his harem (the sultan was a sodomite and a pedophile).

Although the Orthodox patriarchs were again restored in Turkish Constantinople, they found themselves in a situation that the Russian people could not come to terms with. The law (firman) on religious freedom was issued by Sultan Mehmed II in 1478.

The fall of Constantinople for the Russian Church was the impetus that led to the establishment of its actual independence from the Patriarchs of Constantinople.

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