Editing Fall of Constantinople (section)

==Siege==
[[File:Kusatma Zonaro.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Painting by [[Fausto Zonaro]] depicting the Ottoman Turks transporting their fleet overland into the [[Golden Horn]].]]

At the beginning of the siege, Mehmed sent out some of his best troops to reduce the remaining Byzantine strongholds outside the city of Constantinople. The fortress of Therapia on the Bosphorus and a smaller castle at the village of Studius near the Sea of Marmara were taken within a few days. The [[Princes' Islands]] in the Sea of Marmara were likely taken by [[Suleiman Baltoghlu|Admiral Baltoghlu]]'s fleet during this phase of the siege.{{sfnp|Runciman|1965|pp=96–97}} Mehmed's massive cannons fired on the walls for weeks but due to their imprecision and extremely slow rate of fire, the Byzantines were able to repair most of the damage after each shot, mitigating the effect of the Ottoman artillery.{{sfnp|Norwich|1997|p=376}}

Despite some probing attacks, the Ottoman fleet under Baltoghlu could not enter the Golden Horn due to the chain across the entrance. Although one of the fleet's main tasks was to prevent any foreign ships from entering the Golden Horn, on 20 April, a small flotilla of four Christian ships managed to get in after some heavy fighting, an event which strengthened the morale of the defenders and caused embarrassment to the Sultan.{{sfnp|Norwich|1997|p=376}}{{NoteTag|These were the three Genoese ships sent by the Pope, joined by a large Imperial transport ship which had been sent on a foraging mission to Sicily previous to the siege and was on its way back to Constantinople.{{sfnp|Runciman|1965|p=100}}}} Baltoghlu was most likely injured in the eye during the skirmish. Mehmed stripped Baltoghlu of his wealth and property and gave it to the janissaries and ordered him to be whipped 100 times.{{sfnp|Crowley|2005}}

Mehmed ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across [[Galata]] on the north side of the Golden Horn and dragged his ships over the hill, directly into the Golden Horn on 22 April, bypassing the chain barrier.{{sfnp|Norwich|1997|p=376}} This action seriously threatened the flow of supplies from Genoese ships from the nominally neutral colony of [[Beyoğlu|Pera]] and it demoralized the Byzantine defenders. On the night of 28 April, an attempt was made to destroy the Ottoman ships already in the Golden Horn using [[fire ship]]s but the Ottomans forced the Christians to retreat with many casualties. Forty Italians escaped their sinking ships and swam to the northern shore. On orders of Mehmed, they were [[Impalement|impaled]] on stakes, in sight of the city's defenders on the sea walls across the Golden Horn. In retaliation, the defenders brought their Ottoman prisoners, 260 in all, to the walls, where they were executed, one by one, before the eyes of the Ottomans.{{sfnp|Runciman|1965|p=108}}<ref name="MoRBA" /> With the failure of their attack on the Ottoman vessels, the defenders were forced to disperse part of their forces to defend the sea walls along the Golden Horn.

The Ottoman army had made several frontal assaults on the land wall of Constantinople, but they were costly failures.{{sfnp|Philippides|Hanak|2011|p=520}} Venetian surgeon [[Niccolò Barbaro]], describing in his diary one such land attack by the Janissaries, wrote

{{blockquote|They found the Turks coming right up under the walls and seeking battle, particularly the Janissaries&nbsp;... and when one or two of them were killed, at once more Turks came and took away the dead ones&nbsp;... without caring how near they came to the city walls. Our men shot at them with guns and crossbows, aiming at the Turk who was carrying away his dead countryman, and both of them would fall to the ground dead, and then there came other Turks and took them away, none fearing death, but being willing to let ten of themselves be killed rather than suffer the shame of leaving a single Turkish corpse by the walls.<ref name="Barbaro" />}}

[[File:Siege constantinople bnf fr2691.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Siege of Constantinople as depicted between 1470 and 1479<ref name="JRaLV" />]]
After these inconclusive attacks, the Ottomans sought to break through the walls by constructing tunnels to [[mining (military)|mine]] them from mid-May to 25 May. Many of the [[sapper]]s were miners of Serbian origin sent from [[Novo Brdo]] under the command of [[Zagan Pasha]].<ref>Marios Philippides, ''Mehmed II the Conqueror and the Fall of the Franco-Byzantine Levant to the Ottoman Turks: Some Western Views and Testimonies'', (ACMRS/Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2007), 83.</ref> An engineer named [[Johannes Grant]], a German who came with the Genoese contingent, had counter-mines dug, allowing Byzantine troops to enter the mines and kill the miners.{{NoteTag|[[Steven Runciman|Runciman]] speculates that he may have been Scottish.{{sfnp|Runciman|1965|p=84}}}} The Byzantines intercepted the first tunnel on the night of 16 May. Subsequent tunnels were interrupted on 21, 23 and 25 May, and destroyed with [[Greek fire]] and vigorous combat. On 23 May, the Byzantines captured and [[torture]]d two Turkish officers, who revealed the location of all the Turkish tunnels, which were destroyed.<ref name="TQ2Lp" />

On 21 May, Mehmed sent an ambassador to Constantinople and offered to lift the siege if they gave him the city. He promised he would allow the Emperor and any other inhabitants to leave with their possessions. He would recognize the Emperor as governor of the Peloponnese. Lastly, he guaranteed the safety of the population that might choose to remain in the city. Constantine XI only agreed to pay higher tributes to the sultan and recognized the status of all the conquered castles and lands in the hands of the Turks as Ottoman possessions. The Emperor was not willing to leave the city without a fight:

{{blockquote|As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives.{{NoteTag|Original text: Τὸ δὲ τὴν πόλιν σοῖ δοῦναι οὔτ' ἐμὸν ἐστίν οὔτ' ἄλλου τῶν κατοικούντων ἐν ταύτῃ• κοινῇ γὰρ γνώμῃ πάντες αὐτοπροαιρέτως ἀποθανοῦμεν καὶ οὐ φεισόμεθα τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν.<ref name="29maiouiefemerida" />}}}}

Around this time, Mehmed had a final council with his senior officers. Here he encountered some resistance; one of his Viziers, the veteran [[Çandarlı Halil Pasha|Halil Pasha]], who had always disapproved of Mehmed's plans to conquer the city, now admonished him to abandon the siege in the face of recent adversity. [[Zagan Pasha]] argued against Halil Pasha and insisted on an immediate attack. Believing that the Byzantine defence was already weakened sufficiently, Mehmed planned to overpower the walls by sheer force and started preparations for a final all-out offensive.

===Final assault===
[[File:Theofilos Palaiologos.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Painting by the Greek folk painter [[Theophilos Hatzimihail]] showing the battle inside the city, Constantine is visible on a white horse]]

Preparations for the final assault began in the evening of 26 May and continued to the next day.{{sfnp|Norwich|1997|p=378}} For 36 hours after the war council decided to attack, the Ottomans extensively mobilized their manpower for the general offensive.{{sfnp|Norwich|1997|p=378}} Prayer and resting was then granted to the soldiers on 28 May before the final assault would be launched. On the Byzantine side, a small Venetian fleet of 12 ships, after having searched the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]], reached the Capital on 27 May and reported to the Emperor that no large Venetian relief fleet was on its way.{{sfnp|Norwich|1997|p=377}} On 28 May, as the Ottoman army prepared for the final assault, mass religious processions were held in the city. In the evening, a solemn last ceremony of Vespers was held in the [[Hagia Sophia]], in which the Emperor with representatives and nobility of both the Latin and Greek churches partook.{{sfnp|Vasiliev|1928|pp=651–652}} Up until this point, the Ottomans had fired 5,000 shots from their cannons using 55,000 pounds of gunpowder. Criers roamed the camp to the sound of the blasting horns, rousing the Ghazis.{{sfnp|Crowley|2013b}}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday 29 May, the offensive began.<ref name="NewsIT" />{{sfnp|Durant|2011|p=227}} The Christian troops of the Ottoman Empire attacked first, followed by successive waves of the irregular [[azap]]s, who were poorly trained and equipped and [[Anatolian beyliks|Anatolian Turkmen beylik]] forces who focused on a section of the damaged [[Blachernae]] walls in the north-west part of the city. This section of the walls had been built earlier, in the 11th century, and was much weaker. The [[Turkoman (ethnonym)|Turkmen]] mercenaries managed to breach this section of walls and entered the city but they were just as quickly pushed back by the defenders. Finally, the last wave consisting of elite [[Janissary|Janissaries]], attacked the city walls. The [[Genoa|Genoese]] general in charge of the defenders on land, [[Giovanni Giustiniani]], was grievously wounded during the attack, and his evacuation from the ramparts caused a panic in the ranks of the defenders.<ref name="pertusicadvol1" />{{page needed|date=June 2017}}<ref name="isbesepistle" /><ref name="LeonardoChio" />{{NoteTag|Sources hostile towards the Genoese (such as the Venetian Nicolò Barbaro), however, report that Longo was only lightly wounded or not wounded at all, but, overwhelmed by fear, simulated the wound to abandon the battlefield, determining the fall of the city. These charges of cowardice and treason were so widespread that the [[Republic of Genoa]] had to deny them by sending diplomatic letters to the Chancelleries of [[England]], [[France]], the [[Duchy of Burgundy]] and others.{{sfnp|Desimoni|1874|pp=296–297}} Giustiniani was carried to [[Chios]], where he succumbed to his wounds a few days later.}}

With Giustiniani's Genoese troops retreating into the city and towards the harbour, Constantine and his men, now left to their own devices, continued to hold their ground against the Janissaries. Constantine's men eventually could not prevent the Ottomans from entering the city and the defenders were overwhelmed at several points along the wall. Janissaries, led by [[Ulubatlı Hasan]], pressed forward. Many Greek soldiers ran back home to protect their families, the Venetians retreated to their ships and a few of the Genoese escaped to Galata. The rest surrendered or committed suicide by jumping off the city walls.{{sfnp|Nicol|1993|p=388}} The Greek houses nearest to the walls were the first to suffer from the Ottomans. It is said that Constantine, throwing aside his purple imperial regalia, led the final charge against the incoming Ottomans, perishing in the ensuing battle in the streets alongside his soldiers. The Venetian Nicolò Barbaro claimed in his diary that Constantine hanged himself at the moment when the Turks broke in at the San Romano gate. Ultimately, his fate remains unknown.{{NoteTag|Barbaro added the description of the emperor's heroic last moments to his diary based on information he received afterward. According to some Ottoman sources Constantine was killed in an accidental encounter with Turkish marines a little further to the south, presumably while making his way to the Sea of Marmara in order to escape by sea.{{sfnp|Nicolle|2000|p=81}}}}

After the initial assault, the Ottoman army fanned out along the main thoroughfare of the city, the Mese, past the great forums and the [[Church of the Holy Apostles]], which Mehmed II wanted to provide as a seat for his newly appointed patriarch to better control his Christian subjects. Mehmed II had sent an advance guard to protect these key buildings. The Catalans that maintained their position on the section of the wall that the emperor had assigned them, had the honor of being the last troops to fall. The sultan had Pere Julià, his sons and the consul Joan de la Via, amongst others, beheaded.

A few civilians managed to escape. When the Venetians retreated over to their ships, the Ottomans had already taken the walls of the Golden Horn. Luckily for the occupants of the city, the Ottomans were not interested in killing potentially valuable slaves but rather in the loot they could get from raiding the city's houses, so they decided to attack the city instead. The Venetian captain ordered his men to break open the gate of the Golden Horn. Having done so, the Venetians left in ships filled with soldiers and refugees. Shortly after the Venetians left, a few Genoese ships and even the Emperor's ships followed them out of the Golden Horn. This fleet narrowly escaped prior to the Ottoman navy assuming control over the Golden Horn, which was accomplished by midday.{{sfnp|Nicol|1993|p=388}}

The army converged upon the [[Augusteum]], the vast square that fronted the great church of Hagia Sophia whose bronze gates were barred by a huge throng of civilians inside the building, hoping for divine protection. After the doors were breached, the troops separated the congregation according to what price they might bring in the slave markets.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} Ottoman casualties are unknown but they are believed by most historians to be severe due to several unsuccessful Ottoman attacks made during the siege and final assault.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} The Venetian Barbaro observed that blood flowed in the city "like rainwater in the gutters after a sudden storm" and that bodies of Turks and Christians floated in the sea "like melons along a canal".<ref name="Barbaro" />