The Last Roman City Asked for Help. Europe Looked Away.

The last emperor of the Romans asked Europe for help, again and again. Almost nothing came. This is the story of the fifty-three days that ended an empire of eleven centuries, and of why the West looked away. Sultan Mehmed took the throne for the second time at eighteen and was twenty-one when he besieged the city. Against him stood fewer than eight thousand defenders, behind land walls that no army had ever stormed its way through (the sea walls fell to Crusaders in 1204). His great gun was the work of Orban, the engineer who offered his skills to the emperor first, but whom the emperor could not afford to pay. About eight metres long, it fired a stone ball weighing, by different estimates, between three hundred and six hundred kilograms. You will see how the defenders rebuilt the broken walls every night, how a chain across the Golden Horn held until a fleet was dragged over a hill, and how the omens shook the city. You will see how the line broke at dawn on the twenty-ninth of May, after the Genoese commander Giustiniani was wounded. One chronicler, Doukas, says a small door was left open; historians still argue about that story. Finally, we ask why every power in Europe had a reason to hold back, even though the Pope paid for three ships and some Venetians and Genoese chose to stay and fight. This narration uses an AI-generated voice; the script was researched and written with AI assistance and checked by a human before publication. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:59 The city that was the Empire 3:05 The boy sultan and the throat-cutter 5:26 The gun offered to the emperor first 7:45 April: the walls crack and the chain holds 10:06 Ships over the mountain 12:22 Omens 14:32 The twenty-ninth of May 17:00 The body and the city 19:06 Why Europe looked away Images: Wikimedia Commons (public domain, CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA, Flickr Commons). Many are later artworks or stand-ins for other events, places or periods, not depictions made in 1453. Sources quoted: Barbaro https://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCE... ; Sphrantzes https://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCE... ; Kritovoulos https://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCE... Full image credits in the pinned comment. CC images (titles, author, licence; links and licence texts in the pinned comment; share-alike images stay under CC BY-SA): Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, Istanbul (24053561188) (Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0); Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, Istanbul (1991) (Peter Christian Riemann, CC BY-SA 4.0); Rumeli Castle (Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0); Rumeli Fortress Castle (Jasin Arslan, CC BY-SA 4.0); Galley figurehead with coat of arms of the Micheli family (Djeexwiki, CC BY-SA 4.0); Hagia Sophia Interior Panorama (Ronan Reinart, CC BY-SA 3.0); Interior of Hagia Sophia (7) - Istanbul (2022), Interior of Hagia Sophia (8) - Istanbul (2022) (ImanFakhri, CC BY-SA 4.0); Muzzle of Great Turkish Bombard Flickr 8616026033 (Simon Cope, CC BY-SA 2.0); Theodosian Walls of Constantinople (Apaleutos25, CC BY-SA 4.0); Constantinople Greek Script Theodosian Walls (GuardianH, CC BY-SA 4.0); First Military Gate of Theodosian Walls, Eğri Kapı (possibly the Kaligaria Gate) of the Blachernae Walls of Constantinople (Isabeau, CC BY-SA 4.0); Istanbul - City Wall (3496400611) (Roger W, CC BY-SA 2.0); Istanbul Yedikule Marble Tower and south part Theodosian Walls in 2012 6425, Istanbul Yedikule Theodosian Walls southern end in 2006 3426b, Istanbul Marble Tower end of walls leading to it 0499, Istanbul Marble Tower 3473 (Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0); Galata Bridge showing typical Islamic patterns (8394982133), Massive central chandelier and two of the medallions - Hagia Sophia (8394693292) (Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0); Byzantine Constantinople-en (Cplakidas, CC BY-SA 3.0); Constantinoplewaterchains (AdamAppel, CC BY-SA 4.0); Double-side icon with Crucifixion and Hodegetria (14th century, Byzantine museum)-, Double-side icon with Crucifixion and Hodegetria (14th century, Byzantine museum)-2 (Yair-haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0); Palace of the Porphyrogenitus 1 (Antoloji, CC BY-SA 4.0); Siege of Constantinople (1314453866) (Alastair Rae, CC BY-SA 2.0); Roundel of Alexios I Komnenos, Venice (Ktiv, CC BY-SA 4.0); Chios Genoese Castle Walls 2 (Katsiaryna Naliuka, CC BY-SA 3.0); Chios Castle Square (Mariolovre, CC BY-SA 4.0); Venezia Palazzo Ducale Innen Sala del Senato 1, Venezia Palazzo Ducale Innen Sala del Maggior Consiglio 01 (Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0); Medieval coin, Venetian soldino of Doge Michele Steno (FindID 867079) (Derby Museums Trust, Alastair Willis, CC BY 2.0); Gentile bellini, ritratto di mehmed II, 1480 (Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0).