Fall of Constantinople, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, 1453

Rights Managed

SS2483933

BV1516

Detail from Fall of Constantinople by Panagiotis Zografo. The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire on May 29, 1453. The Ottomans were commanded by Mehmed the Conqueror, who defeated an army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. The capture of Constantinople marked the end of the Roman Empire, an imperial state that had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Muslim Ottoman armies thereafter were left unchecked to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear.

New York Public Library / Science Source