Hardly a twitter feed. You get more than 90 characters here, and some intellectual conversation about various topics of debate/speech.
Ok. I'm officially obsessed. Last night I dreamt about doing quests and each time I completed one I got 5 xtals and like 20 nob. #KaWCaine
Paper due tomorrow... this is my paper so far. Topic: Why were the Ottoman Turks finally successful in conquering Constantinople in 1453 C.E.? Constantinople was at the heart of trading. Also, it was the subject of an Ottoman prophecy which said that anyone who conquered it would win enormous glory. The preparations for the siege began when Constantine XI, the Byzantine emperor, sent an envoy to Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan, telling him that he had to increase the upkeep of Prince Orhan, otherwise he would support the pretender in contesting the throne. Mehmed reluctantly agreed and payed the increased amount, though inwardly he was enraged at their threats. When he got back to Edirne, where his kingdom was located, he immediately began making the preparations. On May 29, 1453, Mehmed conquered Constantinople. How had he captured Constantinople, where before almost every attempt failed? What was so amazing about his battle plan or efforts that made him conquer, where others had not? Constantinople was founded in May 11, 330 and “for almost 1000 years, Old Rome fought fiercely by every means possible—even enlisting the help of Saint Peter himself—to overthrow her eastern rival, Constantinople. All of her efforts were in vain until the fateful year of 1453.” *http://www.reformation.org/fall-of-constantinople.html Why did they all fail? In the Battle of Adrianople in 378, they built more walls, and they successfully defended. By the Persian Wars, a new gate was constructed, and an incendiary substance known as “Greek Fire” allowed them to destroy the Arab fleets. This allowed them to defend against the first siege successfully. By the second siege, a large amount of help was given by the Bulgars, allowing Constantinople to survive. In 860, an attack was led by two hundred small vessels through the Bosphorus, which was repelled by a quick defense. By the Fourth Crusade, the Crusaders made it inside the Golden Horn, though were barred from their main goal. They insisted that they would only recognize Isaac II's authority if his son, Alexius IV, would become co-emperor. And on August 1, 1203, Alexius IV was crowned co-emperor. In the past 1,000 years, Constantinople had been besieged some 23 times, and none of them succeeded to break open the land walls. So, as you can see, Constantinople has survived many, many wars. Their main defense was their walls, and since Mehmed had taken care of them, he was able to conquer Constantinople. Also, before, the invaders had only attacked by land, or water, but Mehmed had attacked from every front. He attacked from inside the Golden Horn, outside the chain, past the Fosse, or trench, used artillery strikes, and broke through the walls. All of this meant that Constantinople fell to Mehmed, while in the past, the attacks all failed. Though, why was Mehmed after Constantinople in the first place? Constantinople was an important city because it was extremely well fortified, and it was at the center of the trading route from Europe to the Middle East and Asia. Whoever controlled Constantinople controlled the goods coming and going. This was usually a main reason for attacking Constantinople, because it was a city full of plunder. When were Mehmed's first plans to attack Constantinople? Mehmed's first plans to capture Constantinople were made in 1446, when he became Sultan the second time. Many things changed in the war of Constantinople that made Mehmed II the new ruler. First off, there was new technology. Before, the walls of the Byzantine empire were a formidable force, but thanks to the work of the Hungarian engineer Orban, he created a massive cannon that could destroy the walls of Constantinople. Couple that with the new technology for artillery, and the wall were more vulnerable than before. Orban created a supergun for the Ottomans(not including the other cannons that he made for them). Before, the technology had been used by the Germans for the Hungarian army, and Orban transmitted the technology to the Ottomans. At first Orban approached Constantine XI, but since Constantine did not have the funds nor the materials, Orban went to Mehmed. Mehmed accepted, and Orban created the supergun, or the Basilica, in three months with the extensive resources given to him. So who really was Orban? Orban was an iron founder and engineer from Brassó, Kingdom of Hungary. According to the majority of sources he was Hungarian, though some souces suggest his German ancestry, and even his possible Wallachian ancestry. The gun that Orban created played a big role in the war. Because Mehmed owned it, he was able to destroy the walls, even though the gun could only be fired seven times a day. So if Mehmed hadn't had this gun, he might not have won, because he wouldn't have been able to breach the walls as easily. In the end though, on April 15th during the siege, the cannon exploded, killing Orban. Another aspect that changed during this war was that normally the Byzantines would repair a wall when it was destroyed, but by this war Mehmed laid siege for seven weeks, tiring them out, depleting their resources, and lowering their moral. Day and night, Mehmed bombarded the walls of Constantinople. By May 28, the guns had been firing continuously for 47 days. This had never been done before, because no army had the strength or resources to continue an artillery bombardment for so long. It sapped the strength of the attackers and defenders. Each day became a blur for the defenders of rebuilding the walls, and hearing the constant explosions of the cannons, and for the attackers, they were constantly loading, aiming, and firing the guns. On May 29th, 1453, Mehmed decided that it was enough. At 1:30 AM his army charged towards the walls while the cannons continued firing behind them. One of the cannons scored a direct hit and crumbled a section of the wall, and Mehmed's army went in and sacked the city for a few hours, before Mehmed stopped them and entered the city himself. Another main factor as to why Constantinople fell is that the defenders were attacked for seven weeks from every direction, whether it was by building a bridge over the Fosse so that troops could get across, bombarding then with artillery, destroying their fleet, attacking them from the sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn, or the main fight on the land. This is also a major part as to why they were worn out by defending the wall. Not only were they defending and repairing the land walls, they had to protect every side! Also, the constant sounds of the cannons themselves was a traumatic event. Another reason why Mehmed was able to conquer Constantinople was because of his amount of men that he had at his disposal. Constantine only had around 7,000 troops, 2,000 of which were foreigners. The is important because, since they weren't fighting for their homeland, they weren't as determined as they could have been. Mehmed, on the other hand, had around 80,000 troops at his command! How did Mehmed have the skill to plan and be able to actually execute the plans? How was he taught this? Mehmed was naturally intelligent and perceptive. His father made sure that he got the best education possible, and Mehmed quickly and eagerly absorbed what was taught to him in philosophy, science, and languages, and what his father taught him in administration of war. To coordinate the war, late January 1453, Mehmed met with all his vezirs, telling them his plans for the wars. He gained agreement by all. Also, before the final attack on May 29, 1453, he met with all of his officers, gunners, cavalry, infantry, and generals, checking their positions, telling them the plans, and rallying them. The way that he was able to get the funds and weapons for the wars is because Mehmed was an amazing leader and planner as well as a military genius. When Mehmed became sultan after his father died, he took a tour of his empire. He replaced war officials with ones more suitable for the task. He also took control of the elite Janissary force, and used them more effectively than ever before. One of his major changes in his empire was the kingdom's treasury. One third of the annual income was ill-used. He replaced the tax officials, put the money to good use, increased the pay of the soldiers, and utilized the kingdom's treasury efficiently. By doing this, he had money available to take care of the war preparations. Also, over the winter of year 1453, he forged weapons, armor, siege machines, and hired Orban to create artillery. Also, a major part of Consantinople's capture was that no substantial help was given by their allies, be it resources or reinforcements. This is especially important because of the number that they were up against. Without help, their 7,000 troops and 40,000 citizens had no real defense against 80,000 well trained troops. One of the last game-changers in this war was the successful use of old and new tactics. There was a massive chain blocking the Golden Horn. Mehmed bypassed this by greasing the bottom of his ships and dragging them over the hills on a newly-created road, and moving them into the Golden Horn inside the chain. The sudden sight of ships inside the chain frightened and shocked the defenders, and since the sea walls weren't as fortified as the land walls, the bombardment from the ships decimated the defenders. While cannons weren't common in that era, Mehmed used them in a successful siege. Added to that, he had the new cannon. He also tried to mine under the walls, though that didn't work. He filled up the Fosse so that troops could pass over it, he blocked any resources or reinforcements, if any, from coming through, and he laid siege them for seven weeks successfully. As was just stated, of the major tactical differences in this war was Mehmed's bypassing of the Golden Horn's chain. This is much like the Maginot Line in World War II, where the French built massive fortifications along the entire border, hoping to stop the Germans with their seemingly impregnable base. Instead, the Germans just moved around it, going through the Ardennes forest and flanking them. This tactic is much like Mehmed's, a simple bypassing of fortifications. If the French had looked at history, they may have built the Maginot Line to prevent this tactic!
And my Bibliography that I spent around two hours on... (I still need to cite around 4 more sources... Also, I am in NO WAY TELLING YOU TO GO CLICK THE LINKS. I am not advertising for them. I am just Copy and Pasting. Nothing else.) Bibliography: Fisher, Sydney Nettleton. “Turkey.” Collier's Encyclopedia. 1994. Nicol, Donald. Last Centuries of Byzantium. Greece: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Pears, Edwin, The Destruction of the Greek Empire and the Story of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Haskell House Publishers, New York, 1968. Runciman, Sir Steven. The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge University Press. London & New York, 1965. “Ottoman Empire.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. January 7th, 2013. January 7th, 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire>. “Constantinople.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. April 7th 2013. April 7th 2013 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople#306.E2.80.93337>. “Fall of Constantinople.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. March 31st, 2013. April 7th 2013 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople>. “Fourth Crusade.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. April 7th 2013. April 7th 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade>. “Supergun.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. March 25th 2013. April 7th 2013 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergun>. “Maginot Line.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. March 25th 2013. April 7th 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line>. “Byzantine Empire.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. April 5th 2013. April 7th 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire>. “Mehmed the Conqueror.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. April 7th 2013. April 7th 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_the_Conqueror>. Hickman, Kennedy. “Byzantine-Ottoman Wars: Fall of Constantinople.” Military History. About.com Guide. April 7th 2013 <http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars14011600/p/Byzantine-Ottoman-Wars-Fall-Of-Constantinople.htm>. “The Maginot Line.” History Learning Site. World War II. April 7th 2013 <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/maginot_line.htm>. Crowley, Roger. “The Guns of Constantinople.” HistoryNet. Weider History Group. April 7th 2013 <http://www.historynet.com/the-guns-of-constantinople.htm>. Orban, André. “Famous Orban's.” Tripod. February 7th, 2011. April 7th 2013 <http://andreorban.tripod.com/orbfame.html>. “Why was constantinople such an important and significant city as both a trading hub and as the capital of the [Byzantine Empire].” Yahoo! Answers. 2010. April 7th 2013 <http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100223131907AAt7Ndt>.