Author: Sasha
Sasha This article is original, declined any media outlets
Today in history Sasha.
April 2, 1453: Sultan Muhammad II of the Ottoman Empire began to besiege Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
Med II is one of the greatest sultans in the history of the Ottoman Empire.
Mud II has a resounding nickname, Fatih, which means conqueror. This is not an exaggeration.
Muhammad II is a murderous but promising Sudan.
After his father Murad II died of a sudden stroke in 1451, the 20-year-old Mohammed II became the new Sudan.
Mohammed II’s succession was somewhat accidental. He was originally the third prince. His mother had a low status and was once a slave girl. In principle, Mohammed II has no right to inherit the seat of Sudan.
His elder brother and his second brother passed away due to illness or accident, causing the 12-year-old Mohammed II to become the heir of the Sudan and take power.
In the eyes of everyone, Mohammed II is the future Sultan.
To the surprise of Mohammed II, his father actually gave birth to another son before his death.
After his father died, Mohammed II officially came to power and became the Sultan. However, the first thing Mohammed II did was to kill his little brother.
It is true that the slaughter of brothers by the Ottoman sultans is a tradition, but Mohammed II is particularly harsh. The ignorant little brother was ordered to drown in the bathtub by him.
Even more exaggerated is that Muhammad II also enacted this set of behaviors into law. He enacted the infamous "Law to Kill Brothers and Butchers" for the Ottoman Empire: "Any one of my sons is chosen by Allah as the Sultan, and it is appropriate for him to kill his brothers for a better world order. Most Ulama (Islamic teachers) have already announced this permission."
From then on, the sultan of the empire followed this principle and killed all brothers.
"Lessons of the Ottoman Empire" wrote: 19 young corpses were lifted out of the palace gate. They were all brothers of Sultan Muhammad III. These lads were brought to the Sudan one by one, and a beautiful young man pleaded loudly,'Brother, you are like my father now, please don't let me die at such a young age.' The Sudan was pulling very painfully. He had his beard, but he remained silent. The young man was dragged by the guards into a room in the palace, was forcibly poured with poison, and he would die within an hour.” The long line of funerals crossed the streets, and even Istanbul. The city was moved by it. All Muhammad’s sisters were also killed, but the city did not shed much tears for them. As many as 20 sisters were killed because their children were also eligible to become Sudanese.
The "Law to Kill Brothers and Butchers" has been enforced for 200 years, and it has been done in Sudan for generations.
Although some Sudanese did not directly kill their brothers, they also kept them under house arrest for a long time. And these brothers have the fear of death all the time, many people go crazy directly, and more people are addicted to female sex or alcoholism, and most of them die young.
In short, in Turkey, there is nothing more miserable than being a Sudanese brother.
When Mohammed II made this law, he did not have any mercy. His father killed his rebellious uncle and younger brother before he became a sultan.
Muhammad II believes that instead of risking the danger of the brothers leading their troops to war, it is better to get rid of them directly to reduce the possibility of war in the empire.
So, why didn't the Ottoman Empire engage in an eldest son inheritance system like China? Then it will be fine.
This is because the Turks are nomads and have their own traditions. For nomads, there is no such thing as eldest son inheritance, but abilityHis son is eligible to inherit. Nomadic tribes must save themselves by war at all times, and cannot let a weak person become a leader.
As for the capture of Constantinople by Mohammed II on April 2, 1453, which completely wiped out the Eastern Roman Empire with a history of more than 1,000 years, there is nothing to say.
As early as the era of the Crusades, Constantinople had been captured, and the Eastern Roman Empire had existed in name only. Mikhail VIII regained Constantinople in 1261 and rebuilt the Eastern Roman Empire, whose strength is completely incomparable with the past.
When Mohammed II attacked Constantinople, Eastern Rome was basically annexed by the Ottoman Empire, leaving only an isolated city and 7000 defenders.
The Ottoman Empire has more than 100,000 troops, as well as the famous Urban Artillery. There is no problem in occupying Constantinople.
is just an urban artillery but it has no effect!
Urban Artillery is one of the earliest engineering cannons in history. It is a cannon made of bronze with a length of 5 meters, a weight of 17 tons, and a caliber of up to 762 mm.
The granite shell it uses weighs 680 kg!
In the 15th century, the Urban Artillery was the strongest artillery in the world.
Engineer Urban made the cannon and made the first test in 1452. This one shot a distance of 1.6 kilometers and shot into the soil as deep as 2 meters.
Mohammed II was very satisfied with this cannon and let it participate in the siege.
Unfortunately, this cannon is too heavy. In the end, it took 60 cows and 400 people before it was transported to the front of Constantinople.
There were more than 60 Turkish artillery pieces participating in the siege at the time, but none of them could compare with the Urban artillery.
Unfortunately, Urban artillery is not enough to destroy the walls of Constantinople. These walls are several meters thick, even with today's large-caliber howitzers, they are not easy to destroy, let alone ancient times.
At the time, the data recorded: The stone bullet issued a deadly scream, smashing the huge stone wall of Constantinople into debris, and generously brought despair and death to nearby soldiers and civilians. The selective shooting at the weak site of the city wall had a good effect. Sometimes the shells destroyed the entire city wall, sometimes it was a part of the city wall, sometimes it was a tower, or a section of the parapet-no city wall was strong enough to withstand such a thunderous attack. A witness at the time described it like this, where the cannonball passed, the great city wall fell apart, and the defenders were all dumbfounded and at a loss as to what to do.
Some shells even penetrated the city wall and penetrated into the city for more than 1 km. Some shells destroyed houses and churches, some shells killed citizens, and some crashed into orchards in the city. It is said that strong vibrations can be felt within a 3 km radius, and even warships that have dropped anchor in the harbor are not immune. The psychological impact of shelling on the defenders was even more severe and effective. The roar, smoke and vibration of the shelling made even the experienced Eastern Roman knights and Italian mercenaries panic. For civilians, this is more like a sign of the end of the world. There were crowds of wolves running around, and some women fainted directly on the street. The helpless citizens can only gather in the church and hope in vain for God's salvation.
Unfortunately, the Urban cannon cannot destroy the city wall, and due to technical limitations, only 7 cannons can be fired a day.
With the continuous shelling, many cracks appeared on the bronze gun body. After each launch, the artillery had to wet the shell with hot oil to prevent the cold air from expanding these cracks. The technology at the time was like this!
Due to the Sudan’s eagerness to attack the city, the artillery continued its artillery fire. Finally, on April 20, the Urban Cannon exploded. This explosion not only killed dozens of artillery, but also killed engineer Urban.
The curtain call of the Eastern Roman Empire is not countedShame.
The last emperor Constantine XI led the defenders in the final defense battle, took off the purple robes, and rushed into the Turkish army, and died in the street battle with his men.
So far, they have held on for 57 days.
After the fall of Constantinople, Muslim soldiers carried out slaughter and adultery for 1 to 3 days. There were 50,000 Christian civilians in the city. When Mohammed II ordered to stop the violence, only half of the residents remained. The remaining residents were either killed or looted to become slaves.
Thus Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and the name became Istanbul.
At that time, Mohammed II was only 21 years old.
During his 30-year rule, this guy led an army on 26 expeditions and fought almost every year. The nickname "Conqueror" is well-deserved.
What is funny is that the sultan who enacted the "law of killing brothers and butchers" was poisoned to death by his son Bayezid II in 1481.
Mohammed II liked another son, Sultan Cem, and made Bayezid II murderous. Under the circumstances at the time, if Bayezid II could not become a sultan, there would be a dead end, and he would have to fight.
After the poisonous killing of his father, Bayezid II went to war with his brother Jem Sultan and killed him for a year. After the defeat, Djem Sultan was afraid of being killed. He fled to the European Christian controlled area and died tragically after being imprisoned for 6 years.
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