One monster cannon measured 27 feet long and accommodated “a monstrous stone shot eight feet in circumference weighing something over half a ton.” When first testing the weapon, Crowley notes Mehmet II sent a warning to those in the area that the noise could possibly strike people speechless or cause pregnant women to miscarry. The battle for Constantinople of 1453 was the first to see the major use of “super-gun” cannons around 14 feet long.
While largely known as impatient, ambitious and ruthless, Mehmet II led the Turks to victory with the brilliant organization of his land and naval forces, as well as the utilization of siege tactics that were soon to render the castle walls across Europe nearly obsolete. The characters, led by Mehmet II, the young leader of the Ottoman Turks, and Constantine XI, the wearying 57th emperor of a weakening Byzantium, are drawn in great detail from historical source material to bring them to life on the page.
If only a short while longer.Ĭrowley’s fascinating account of the years leading up to and the final sacking of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire reads more like lively fiction than dry recounting of historical events. But if not for this turning point in the final attack on Constantinople - the unlocked gate allowed the Turks to overcome the wall of Theodosius - the Byzantine Empire may have withstood. Certainly the sheer numbers of the attacking Turks, their mighty cannons, the religious zeal of jihad and their superior organization factored highly into how the battle was won. Though long having fallen into decay, the last days of that empire as told in “1453” may have come down to a single gate left unlocked during the height of battle. Vollmann called “Rising Up and Rising Down.”īut while these arduous reads likely scare away anyone but the scholarly or somewhat masochistic reader, Roger Crowley’s “1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West” is an exercise in focused attention on the events surrounding the final year of the Byzantine Empire.
#SIEGE OF VIENNA OPENING BOMBARDMENT SERIES#
Edward Gibbon’s “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” comes to mind as one of the best documentations of these eventual apocalypses, as does the more recent seven-volume series on the history of political violence by William T. So the current Mehmed decided to target Vienna-but Emperor Leopold dismissed these threats.The terminal events surrounding the fall of great empires have long been studied, pondered and argued over.
Mehmed IV wanted to live up to, and even surpass, the legacy of his forefather Mehmed II, who had secured the Ottomans' inheritance to the Roman Empire through his conquest of Constantinople. Sadly, the funding efforts collecting donations in US Dollars are no longer active. While the transaction can only be done in New Zealand Dollars, Extra Credits team members had no problem making donations with US cards. In addition, GiveALittle has waived service fees for this page. They have promised that all donations are "fenced funds" that will only be used to support for the victims of the shooting and not used for the general fund.
Note: The New Zealand Council for Victim Support Groups is a charity set up by the NZ Ministry of Justice. Siege of Vienna - Opening Bombardment - Extra History - #1
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