The Atlas of Military History by Amanda Lomazoff & Aaron Ralby

Author:Amanda Lomazoff & Aaron Ralby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thunder Bay Press

Medieval map of Constantinople.

The Janissaries were chosen before they reached adulthood to become the elite fighting force of the Ottoman Empire.

Mehmed II conquered Constantinople at the age of 21, ending the Byzantine Empire. He is regarded as a national hero in Turkey.

The Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade (1199–1204) likely has the blackest reputation of any crusading venture in history. Initially the Crusaders intended to sail to Egypt to attack the Muslims there, for which they desperately needed money. Prince Alexios, nephew of Emperor Alexios III, offered not only to pay for the Crusade but also reconcile the Eastern Church with the Roman Catholic Church, if the Crusaders would help him defeat his uncle. From July 16 to 17, therefore, the Crusaders besieged Constantinople, until the emperor fled and Alexios IV took the throne along with his father Isaac II, who had been deposed by Alexios III. On January 25, 1204, Isaac died and the Byzantines revolted against Alexios IV, who was murdered and replaced by Alexios V (formerly the imperial chamberlain). Naturally Alexios V refused to pay the Crusaders. In retaliation the Crusaders assaulted the city again, starting on April 9. Constantinople fell on April 13. The Crusaders ravaged the city for three days in a horrific, ignominious end to the Crusade, and established the shortlived, unstable Latin Empire of Constantinople on May 16, 1204 (Byzantines retook the city and the empire in 1261). The sacking of the city cemented the schism between the Eastern and Roman churches and left lasting wounds; as recently as 2004, Pope John Paul II formally apologized to Patriarch Bartholomew for the Fourth Crusade.

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