Description
"Anthony Kaldellis offers here the first narrative in over fifty years of the siege and fall of Constantinople in 1453, an event that marked the true end of the Roman empire. The reconstruction of events is detailed, following events on a day-by-day basis when possible, and it is grounded in the sources, especially the testimony of eye-witnesses who left gripping accounts in Latin, Italian, Greek, Russian, and Turkish. By the fifteenth century, Constantinople had seen better days, but it was still a vibrant center of learning, worship, commerce, and information. The book sketches the tense but exciting shared world of Italians, Turks, and Romans that was thrown into crisis by Mehmed II's decision to conquer the City. The analysis weighs the strategy and options of both attackers and defenders, and proves that, contrary to the fatalism that marks almost all narratives written with hindsight, in reality the defense was hardly a lost cause. The defenders knew exactly what they were doing"-- Provided by publisher.
