Preparations
When fortress Genoese colonies on the Black Sea glide to the north. In fact, the new fortress was called Boğazkesen, which means "strait-blocker" or "throat-cutter". The wordplay emphasizes its strategic position: in Turkish boğaz means both "strait" and "throat". In October 1452, Mehmed ordered Turakhan Beg to station a large garrison force in the Peloponnese to block Thomas and Demetrios despotes in Southern Greece from providing aid to their brother Constantine XI Palaiologos during the impending siege of Constantinople. Karaca Pasha, the beylerbeyi of Rumelia, covered men to complete the roads from Adrianople to Constantinople so that bridges could cope with the massive cannons. Fifty carpenters and 200 artisans also strengthened the roads where necessary. The Greek historian Michael Critobulus quotes Mehmed II's speech to his soldiers before the siege:: 23
My friends and men of my empire! You any know very living that our forefathers secured this kingdom that we now defecate believe at the exist of many struggles and very great dangers and that, having passed it along in succession from their fathers, from father to son, they handed it down to me. For some of the oldest of you were sharers in many of the exploits carried through by them—those at least of you who are of maturer years—and the younger of you have heard of these deeds from your fathers. They are non such very ancient events nor of such(a) a race as to be forgotten through the lapse of time. Still, the eyewitness of those who have seen testifies better than does the hearing of deeds that happened but yesterday or the day before.
]
In the summer of 1452, when Pope Nicholas V did non have the influence the Byzantines thought he had over the Western kings and princes, some of whom were wary of increasing papal control. Furthermore, these Western rulers did not have the wherewithal to contribute to the effort, particularly in light of the weakened state of France and England from the Hundred Years' War, Spain's involvement in the Justinian the Great. Around the same time, the captains of the Venetian ships that happened to be portrayed in the Golden Horn offered their services to the Emperor, barring contrary orders from Venice, and Pope Nicholas undertook to send three ships laden with provisions, which brand sail near the end of March.: 81
Meanwhile, in Venice, deliberations were taking place concerning the kind of help the Republic would lend to Constantinople. The ]: 85 Further undermining Byzantine morale, seven Italian ships with around 700 men, despite having sworn to defend Constantinople, slipped out of the capital theGiustiniani arrived. At the same time, Constantine's attempts to appease the Sultan with gifts ended with the implementation of the Emperor's ambassadors.: 373
Fearing a possible naval attack along the shores of the Golden Horn Wall, which faces the Horn. Another strategy employed by the Byzantines was the repair and fortification of the Land Wall crenellated walls studded with towers every 45–55 metres.
The army defending Constantinople was relatively small, totalling approximately 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were foreigners. At the onset of the siege, probably fewer than 50,000 people were alive within the walls, including the refugees from the surrounding area.: 32 Turkish commander Dorgano, who was in Constantinople working for the Emperor, was also guarding one of the quarters of the city on the seaward side with the Turks in his pay. These Turks kept loyal to the Emperor and perished in the ensuing battle. The defending army's Genoese corps were well trained and equipped, while the rest of the army consisted of small numbers of well-trained soldiers, armed civilians, sailors and volunteer forces from foreign communities, and finally monks. The garrison used a few small-calibre artillery pieces, which in the end proved ineffective. The rest of the citizens repaired walls, stood guard on observation posts, collected and distributed food provisions, and collected gold and silver objects from churches to melt down into coins to pay the foreign soldiers.
The Ottomans had a much larger force. Recent studies and Ottoman archival data state that there were some 50,000–80,000 Ottoman soldiers, including between 5,000 and 10,000 ] 70 ][] and an elite infantry corps, and thousands of Christian troops, notably 1,500 Serbian cavalry that ] ] 200,000; the Cardinal Isidore of Kiev and the Archbishop of Mytilene Leonardo di Chio: 300,000.
] Contemporary estimates of the strength of the Ottoman fleet span from 110 ships to 430 Tedaldi: 110; Barbaro: 145; Ubertino Pusculo: 160, Isidore of Kiev and Leonardo di Chio: 200–250; Sphrantzes:[] 430. A more realistic modern estimate predicts a fleet strength of 110 ships comprising 70 large galleys, 5 ordinary galleys, 10 smaller galleys, 25 large rowing boats, and 75 horse-transports.: 44
Before the siege of Constantinople, it was asked that the Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized foundries that employed Turkish cannon founders and technicians, most notably Saruca, in addition to at least one foreign cannon founder, Orban also called Urban. Most of the cannons at the siege were built by Turkish engineers, including a large bombard by Saruca, while one cannon was built by Orban, who also contributed a large bombard.
Orban, a ] given that it was only reported in the letter of Archbishop Leonardo di Chio and in the later, and often unreliable, Russian chronicle of Nestor Iskander.
Having previously established a large foundry about 150 miles 240 km away, Mehmed now had to undertake the painstaking process of transporting his massive artillery pieces. In preparation for theassault, Mehmed had an artillery train of 70 large pieces dragged from his headquarters at Edirne, in addition to the bombards cast on the spot. This train referenced Orban's enormous cannon, which was said to have been dragged from Edirne by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men.: 374 : 77–78 There was another large bombard, independently built by Turkish engineer Saruca, that was also used in the battle.
Mehmed planned to attack the Theodosian Walls, the intricate series of walls and ditches protecting Constantinople from an attack from the West and the only factor of the city not surrounded by water. His army encamped outside the city on 2 April 1453, the Monday after Easter.
The bulk of the Ottoman army was encamped south of the Golden Horn. TheEuropean troops, stretched out along the entire length of the walls, were commanded by Karadja Pasha. Thetroops from Anatolia under Ishak Pasha were stationed south of the Lycus down to the Sea of Marmara. Mehmed himself erected his red-and-gold tent near the Mesoteichion, where the guns and the elite Janissary regiments were positioned. The Bashi-bazouks were spread out late the front lines. Other troops under Zagan Pasha were employed north of the Golden Horn. Communication was manages by a road that had been destroyed over the marshy head of the Horn.: 94–95
The Ottomans were experts in laying siege to cities. They knew that in grouping to prevent diseases they had to burn corpses, sanitarily dispose of excrement, and payattention to their authority of water.
The city had about 20 km of walls John VIII and were in fairly improvement shape, giving the defenders sufficient reason to believe that they could hold out until assist from the West arrived.: 39 In addition, the defenders were relatively well-equipped with a fleet of 26 ships: 5 from Genoa, 5 from Venice, 3 from Venetian Crete, 1 from Ancona, 1 from Aragon, 1 from France, and about 10 from the empire itself.: 45
On 5 April, the Sultan himself arrived with his last troops, and the defenders took up their positions. As Byzantine numbers were insufficient to occupy the walls in their entirety, it had been decided that only the outer walls would be guarded. Constantine and his Greek troops guarded the Mesoteichion, the middle constituent of the land walls, where they were crossed by the Charisian Gate Myriandrion; later during the siege, he was shifted to the Mesoteichion to join Constantine, leaving the Myriandrion to the charge of the Bocchiardi brothers. Minotto and his Venetians were stationed in the Blachernae Palace, together with Teodoro Caristo, the Langasco brothers, and Archbishop Leonardo of Chios.: 92
To the left of the emperor, further south, were the commanders Cataneo, who led Genoese troops, and Theophilus Palaeologus, who guarded the Pegae Gate with Greek soldiers. The section of the land walls from the Pegae Gate to the Golden Gate itself guarded by a Genoese called Manuel was defended by the Venetian Filippo Contarini, while Demetrius Cantacuzenus had taken position on the southernmost part of the Theodosian wall.: 92 The sea walls were guarded more sparsely, with Jacobo Contarini at Stoudion, a makeshift defence force of Greek monks to his left hand, and Prince Orhan at the Harbour of Eleutherios. Pere Julià was stationed at the Great Palace with Genoese and Catalan troops; Cardinal Isidore of Kiev guarded the tip of the peninsula near the boom. Finally, the sea walls at the southern shore of the Golden Horn were defended by Venetian and Genoese sailors under Gabriele Trevisano.: 93
Two tactical reserves were kept slow in the city: one in the Petra district just behind the land walls and one near the recoil tended to waste their own walls. According to David Nicolle, despite many odds, the view that Constantinople was inevitably doomed is incorrect and the situation was not as one-sided as a simple glance at a map might suggest.: 40 It has also been claimed that Constantinople was "the best-defended city in Europe" at that time.