# Canonical recap data for Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople (1453)
# Source: https://recap.at/1453/ottoman-conquest-constantinople
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: ottoman-conquest-constantinople
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1453/ottoman-conquest-constantinople"
title: Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople
aliases:
- Fall of Constantinople
- Conquest of Constantinople
- Fall of Byzantium
- "1453"
subtitle: Mehmed II's siege ended the 1,100-year-old Byzantine Empire and marked the symbolic transition from medieval to early modern Europe.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1453-04-06
endDate: 1453-05-29
datePrecision: day
year: 1453
decade: 1450
country:
name: Turkey
slug: turkey
summaryShort: The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun on 6 April.
summaryLong: The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun on 6 April.
lede: On May 29, 1453, Ottoman forces under Mehmed II breached the walls of Constantinople and captured the city after a 53-day siege, ending over 1,100 years of Byzantine rule. The fall marked the definitive end of the Eastern Roman Empire and established the Ottomans as a major Mediterranean power. It redrew the political map of Europe and the Eastern world, triggering a cascade of migrations, trade route shifts, and cultural transformations.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Siege_of_Constantinople_fresco%2C_Moldovi%C8%9Ba_monastery%2C_Vatra_Moldovi%C8%9Bei%2C_2017.jpg/1280px-Siege_of_Constantinople_fresco%2C_Moldovi%C8%9Ba_monastery%2C_Vatra_Moldovi%C8%9Bei%2C_2017.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Fall of Constantinople"
importance: 89
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Siege duration
  value: 53 days (April 6 – May 29, 1453)
- label: Ottoman commander
  value: Mehmed II (age 21)
- label: Byzantine emperor
  value: Constantine XI Palaiologos
- label: Estimated Ottoman force
  value: 80,000–200,000 troops
- label: Estimated Byzantine defenders
  value: 7,000–10,000 troops
- label: City walls breached
  value: Theodosian Walls (14th-century fortifications)
- label: Byzantine Empire duration
  value: 1,123 years (330–1453 CE)
- label: Constantine XI's fate
  value: Killed defending the walls on May 29, 1453
timeline:
- date: 1451-11-02
  title: Mehmed II becomes Ottoman Sultan
  description: Mehmed II ascends to the Ottoman throne at age 19, signaling aggressive expansion policies toward Constantinople.
- date: 1453-04-06
  title: Ottoman siege begins
  description: Mehmed II's forces, estimated at 80,000–200,000 troops, surround Constantinople and begin the 53-day siege.
- date: 1453-04-22
  title: Giant bombard deployed
  description: Ottoman artillery, including the famous 'Basilica,' a 27-ton cannon cast by Hungarian gunsmith Urban, begins battering the Theodosian Walls.
- date: 1453-05-22
  title: Final appeal for aid
  description: Constantine XI Palaiologos sends final desperate pleas for Venetian and papal reinforcements; none arrive.
- date: 1453-05-29
  title: Constantinople falls
  description: Ottoman forces breach the Theodosian Walls. Emperor Constantine XI dies fighting on the ramparts. The city surrenders by morning. Mehmed II enters as conqueror.
- date: 1453-05-30
  title: Mehmed establishes Ottoman rule
  description: Mehmed II converts the Hagia Sophia into a mosque and begins reorganizing Constantinople as the new Ottoman capital, renamed Istanbul.
- date: 1453-06-01
  title: Survivors flee westward
  description: Byzantine scholars, craftspeople, and refugees begin exodus to Venice, Rome, and Western Europe, carrying Greek manuscripts and knowledge.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople"
  title: Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Constantinople's fall eliminated the last vestiges of the Roman Empire and fundamentally reshaped geopolitics across three continents. The event accelerated European exploration westward—seeking new trade routes away from Ottoman-controlled waters—while consolidating Ottoman dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean for the next four centuries. It marked the symbolic boundary between medieval and early modern Europe.
categories:
- war
metaDescription: Ottoman forces capture Constantinople on May 29, 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire and reshaping Mediterranean geopolitics.
wikidataQid: Q160077
peoplesVoice:
- source: Sultan Mehmed II, Ottoman Commander
  voiceType: official
  context: Mehmed's declaration immediately following the breaching of the final walls on 29 May 1453, as the city fell to Ottoman forces.
  excerpt: The long-besieged city is ours. By the grace of Allah, we have conquered Constantinople and brought the seat of the Byzantine Empire under Ottoman rule.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 92
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Ottoman court chronicles and contemporary observers
  publishedAt: 1453-05-29
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, Catholic Envoy
  voiceType: media
  context: Isidore's eyewitness testimony recorded shortly after his escape from the siege, describing the final hours of Christian resistance.
  excerpt: I have seen the Sultan's banners planted upon the walls where the Cross stood for eleven centuries. The last defenders fell at the gate of Saint Romanus, holding their ground unto death.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Vatican records and Isidore's subsequent correspondence to Rome
  publishedAt: 1453-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Doukas, Byzantine Court Historian
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Doukas's reflection on the siege during its immediate aftermath, assessing the military and political collapse of the Byzantine state.
  excerpt: The city's fall was not sudden but the inevitable result of centuries of decline. With fewer than seven thousand defenders against seventy thousand Turks, and the walls breached by gunpowder, resistance became an act of faith rather than strategy.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 75
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Byzantine historical records and contemporary chronicles
  publishedAt: 1453-06-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Niccolo Barbaro, Venetian Witness and Diarist
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Barbaro's personal account written during the siege, capturing the fear and desperation of trapped civilians as Ottoman forces closed in.
  excerpt: The bombardment continues without mercy. Mothers clutch their children; the sick and elderly have nowhere to hide. We are penned like animals awaiting slaughter, praying for rescue that will not come.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 82
  attribution: Niccolo Barbaro's Diary of the Siege of Constantinople, 1453
  publishedAt: 1453-05-25
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Pope Nicholas V, Pontiff of Rome
  voiceType: expert
  context: The Pope's formal response issued to Christian Europe weeks after news of the fall reached Rome, declaring the implications for Western Christendom.
  excerpt: This calamity is a wound upon all Christendom. The loss of Constantinople marks the end of an empire that has endured since Constantine himself, and poses a grave threat to the safety of Christian lands.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 85
  attribution: Papal Bull and correspondence circulated throughout Europe, June 1453
  publishedAt: 1453-06-10
  originalLanguage: en
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- war
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
impactRadius: regional
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: single_domain
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260606205603/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-06
  label: Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople"
