1453

Anthony Kaldellis offers the first narrative in sixty years of the siege of Constantinople in 1453, an event that marked the end of the Roman empire. The reconstruction of events is detailed, following a day-by-day basis when possible, and is grounded in the testimony of eye-witnesses who left gripping accounts in Latin, Italian, Greek, Russian, and Turkish. Constantinople was still a vibrant center of learning, worship, commerce, and information. The book sketches the shared world of Italians, Turks, and Romans that was thrown into crisis by Mehmed II’s decision to conquer the City. Kaldellis weighs the strategy and options of attackers and defenders, and proves that the defense was hardly a lost cause. The defenders knew what they were doing. They risked their lives, but it was not their intention to become martyrs. Instead, it was the sultan who was scrambling to neutralize a seemingly impregnable defense. That he did so was a testament to his ingenuity and tenacity. The final chapters trace the fate of the vanquished, their captivity, and how some were ransomed. It also weights the impact of the City’s fall on the conquerors, the conquered, and world history. 1453 was not only a symbol for the passing of the Middle Ages and the onset of modernity. It changed the nature of the Ottoman empire and redirected the transmission of cultural legacies, especially of classical scholarship. The fall of Constantinople was a nexus of converging pathways between east and west, medieval and modern, ends and beginnings.