100 ISLAM AT WAR
The Ottoman fleet would be the key to victory. The admiral’s beating
must have done him some good, for he conceived a clever plan. His crews
began physically dragging some of their ships over the peninsula and
relaunching them beyond the boom that had frustrated their earlier at-
tempts. In this manner, the seaward flank of Constantinople was laid open.
In a combined naval and land assault that began on the night of May 28,
the Ottomans attacked in full force. Huge cannon from the world’s most
powerful and advanced siege train tore gaps in the walls, and the attackers
flowed into the city as the fleet landed Ottoman soldiers on the poorly
manned seaward defenses. Constantinople fell, and for two days the en-
raged Turks looted, burned, murdered, and raped. Once sated with blood,
the destruction stopped. The survivors were left to pick up what they
could, and Mehmet began the process of establishing his capital in his
new possession—now to be called Istanbul.
The Siege of Constantinople was one of the great turning points in
human history. Mehmet’s guns broke down not just the fabled walls of a
proud city, but also the last vestiges of 2,000 years of Roman imperial
history. The Eastern Empire, which had more than its share of disasters,
and seemingly more lives than a cat, would not rebound from this blow.
After 800 years of battering, Islam had finally broken down the guardian
of the Christian west.
Mehmet set about reconstructing his now largely devastated capital. It
had between 60,000 and 70,000 inhabitants. Most were killed or sold into
slavery, leaving only 10,000 in the city by the time Mehmet began re-
building it. He repopulated the city by giving gifts of property and tax
concessions to all who would come. Steadily, the city was rebuilt to a new
glory under the Ottomans.
After his conquest of Constantinople, Mehmet turned his attention to
the northern shore of the Black Sea and in 1454 moved into Moldavia.
Here he forced Vlad “the Impaler,” generally considered the historical
basis for the Dracula vampire stories, to submit to Ottoman suzerainty.
Mehmet continued his conquests in the Balkans and in 1456 stood be-
fore the walls of Belgrade in Serbia. His guns crushed the defending walls,
and on July 21 the Janissaries launched a general attack against the city.
The Christian inhabitants of Belgrade called on God to defend them just
as the Muslim attackers called on Allah. The Ottoman General Hassan,
commanding the Janissaries, was killed in the battle that reportedly cost
25,000 Turkish casualties. A Serbian counterattack under John Hunyadi
drove the Janissaries back and captured their 300 supporting cannon and
stores. It was John Hunyadi’s last victory over his ancient enemy. His acts
would keep the Ottomans out of Hungary for the next seventy years. When
they finally came, they would not stay long.