A Genoese mercenary who commanded the land defenses until he was mortally wounded.
The Ottomans fielded roughly 80,000 to 130,000 troops (including the elite Janissaries) against a vastly outnumbered defense force of only about 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers. Strategic Turning Points
Many historians view 1453 as the boundary between the medieval and modern eras. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans: Con...
The 21-year-old Ottoman leader who planned and executed the conquest.
The final Byzantine emperor who died defending the city walls. A Genoese mercenary who commanded the land defenses
Constantinople was renamed Istanbul and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire; the Hagia Sophia was converted from a cathedral into a mosque.
To bypass a massive chain blocking the Golden Horn harbor, Mehmed II famously had his ships hauled over land on greased logs to enter the water behind the city's defenses. The 21-year-old Ottoman leader who planned and executed
With the Ottomans controlling key land routes to Asia, European powers like Spain and Portugal were forced to seek alternative sea routes, directly initiating the Age of Exploration .