Misfortunate Monday: The Fall of Constantinople

     Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of Nations Made Fun! I'll be your host, Mr. Nations, your tour guide to this massive world we all call home! Today on Misfortunate Monday, we'll be looking at the fall of Constantinople, the end of the Byzantine Empire. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's dive straight into it!

     Constantinople fell on May 29th, 1453 due to Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire. The Byzantine Empire was already struggling and the fall of Constantinople was the final nail in the coffin.

     In the many centuries the walls of Constantinople had stood, they had never been penetrated. They were superbly constructed with environmental factors in mind. The land on which Constantinople was built was constantly plagued with earthquakes. The walls were constructed with a type of stone that was flexible to the point where they stood impervious to earthquakes. This was a marvel of engineering and made Constantinople a city of the ages.

     The land walls spanned 4 miles with a moat on the outside; the higher of the two stood as high as 40 feet with a base as much as 16 feet thick. These walls were barraged with cannons for fifty-five days by Mehmed II until they were pierced and the enemies flooded in.

      Fun Facts:

• Constantinople was not mentioned very much at all until the Romans came along.
• Constantinople was besieged seventeen times, but unlike the second time, the people recaptured their city the first time.
• At its height, Constantinople housed around 800,000 people within their walls.

      Constantinople:

      

      Sources: https://www.britannica.com/event/Fall-of-Constantinople-1453

      https://www.factinate.com/places/42-epic-facts-constantinople/