AHistoryIndependent states
Conquest of Constantinople (1453)
On 29 May 1453 the army of Sultan Mehmed II took Constantinople; the Byzantine Empire fell and the city became the Ottoman capital.
The siege began on 6 April 1453 and lasted 53 days. The city was protected by the mighty Theodosian Walls, and the entrance to the Golden Horn was closed with a chain.
Mehmed II had the Hungarian founder Urban cast huge cannon that pounded the walls for weeks. On the night of 22 April Ottoman ships were dragged over greased runways across the hills behind Galata and launched into the Golden Horn, stunning the defenders.
On the morning of 29 May a final assault took the city, and the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, fell in the fighting. Many historians mark the event as the end of the Middle Ages. Istanbul remained the Ottoman capital until 1922.
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Updated: October 2, 2026