| Mehmed the Conqueror (1451-1481) |
Upon
the death of Murad II in 1451, Mehmed II entered upon his second reign, which
was destined to become world-renowned.
Ottoman
tradition called for a new sultan to initiate his reign with a great Ghazi
conquest. For Mehmed II his ghazi goal was obvious – Constantinople. Speaking
to his followers, urging them to press on with their siege of the imperial city,
Mehmed II told them that Holy War was their basic duty as it had been for their
forefathers. But the risk of
failure was high the young sultan was unpopular, his reputation already
tarnished. Turkish assaults on the city he failed before, baffled by the
strength of the walls and the difficulty of isolating a place so easily
succoured from the sea. The conquest of Constantinople, he maintained, was
essential to the future of the Ottoman state. For more then a century the
Ottomans had been extending their rule over most of Balkan Europe and the
western reaches of Anatolia. With the assembly of a fleet, and a few well placed
castles capable of stopping with cannon anyone who braved the straits without
permission, the conquest of Constantinople itself had become technically
superfluous. The Ottomans had enveloped the city like an oyster its grit.
In
April 1453, the Turks laid siege to Constantinople. Despite the heavy Turkish
bombardment of the walls (using a monster cannon, 28 feet long, the bronze of
the barrel 8 inches thick, firing balls which weighed 12 CWT,
which flew for a mile and sank six feet
into the ground on impact, and had to be dragged, attended
by seven hundred men, on a special carriage drawn by thirty oxen) the
inhabitants of the city were able to repair the fortifications every night.
The
Byzantines were exhausted but took solace in the old legend that Constantinople
would never fall while the Moon was waxing. Then, on the night of 22 May, the
Moon rose in eclipse and their morale was crushed. Mohammed knew of the legend
and waited a few days before starting a fresh attack. During the battle a small
gate was left open by accident but it was all the Turks needed. The sack of
Constantinople lasted three days, as the Moon waned.