Turning Point - Fall of Byzantine Empire
Turning Points in History
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Timeline Event
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Fall of Byzantine Empire / Ottoman Empire
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When
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1453 - 1918CE
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Where
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Eastern Europe / Middle East & (Present Day Turkey)
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Participants (Who) | }}
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{{ #if: Sullieman The Magnificent - Sultan (Ruler) | *Sullieman The Magnificent - Sultan (Ruler)| }} {{ #if: | *| }} {{ #if: | *| }} {{ #if: | *| }} {{ #if: | *| }} {{ #if: | *| }} {{ #if: | *| }} |
What Happened | }}
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Byzantine Empire was holding on to its last territory known as the city of Constantinople when the Ottoman Turks continued their conquest in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Eventually Constantinople falls and the city is renamed Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire allows religious diversity, and is made up of many Middle Eastern, and Eastern European ethnicities. The Ottoman Empire acquired control of the trade routes to the East and many European powers, such as Venice and Genoa, paid great sums for the privilege of access to these routes.
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Causes/Why Happened | }}
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The weakness of the Byzantine Empire and lack of extensive trade with its Muslim neighbors and poor leadership from a succession of rulers.
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Results/Outcomes | }}
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The Byzantine Empire ends, and the Ottoman Empire begins. The Ottoman Empire has control of the West to East trade routes, and eventually this causes European nations to look to the Oceans to find other routes to the east (India, Spice Islands, and China). The Ottomans benefited from Cultural Diffusion from the Islamic world and from Asia. They specialized in math, science, medicine, Astronomy, and Education). The Ottoman's were on the losing side of World War I, when they aligned themselves with the Germans, and Austria-Hungary. The Empire was broken up (partitioned) in the Treaty of Versailles, and one of the new states became Turkey with Istanbul as a major center and crossroad between the West(Europe) and East (Asia).
Vocabulary
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The End of the Byzantine Empire & Formation of the Ottoman Empire
The political and geographical entity governed by the Muslim Ottoman Turks. Their empire was centered in present-day Turkey, and extended its influence into southeastern Europe as well as the Middle East. Europe was only temporarily able to resist their advance: the turning point came at the Battle of Varna in 1444 when a European coalition army failed to stop the Turkish advance. Only Constantinople (Istanbul) remained in Byzantine hands and its conquest in 1453 seemed inevitable after Varna. The Turks subsequently established an empire in Anatolia and southeastern Europe which lasted until the early twentieth century.
Although the Ottoman Empire is not considered a European kingdom per se, Ottoman expansion had a profound impact on a continent already stunned by the calamities of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the Ottoman Turks must, therefore, be considered in any study of Europe in the late Middle Ages. The ease with which the Ottoman Empire achieved military victories led Western Europeans to fear that ongoing Ottoman success would collapse the political and social infrastructure of the West and bring about the downfall of Christendom. Such a momentous threat could not be ignored and the Europeans mounted crusades against the Ottomans in 1366, 1396, and 1444, but to no avail. The Ottomans continued to conquer new territories.
Byzantine Empire Ends - 1453 - The Fall of Constantinople
Constantinople itself was captured in 1453, sending a shock wave across Europe, and its name was changed to Istanbul. With the fall of Byzantium, a wave of Byzantine refugees fled to the Latin West, carrying with them the classical and Hellenistic knowledge that provided additional impetus to the burgeoning humanism of the Renaissance. The siege of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire and one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world. Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Turks, led the assault. The city was defended by, at most, 10,000 men. The Turks had between 100,000 and 150,000 men on their side. The siege lasted for fifty days. The Turks employed various important war tactics in taking over the city. They used huge cannon to destroy the walls, warships were used to the cut the city's sea defense. They also used an extensive infantry to engulf the city.
Sullieman the Magnificent
Contributions
Despite the difficulties of succession and administrative control, the Ottomans had a number of advantages that contributed to their success, the enormous wealth of the Empire being the most significant asset. As the Ottoman Empire expanded, it acquired control of the trade routes to the East and many European powers, such as Venice and Genoa, paid great sums for the privilege of access to these routes.
Ottoman Nationalism
The Ottoman Empire also had a situation where a multitude of ethnicities were calling for nationalistic change. The Ottoman Empire stretched from the Balkans into the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1453 until 1918. Its sheer age heavily contributed to its eventual downfall after World War I. Referred to as the "Sick Man of Europe," the Ottoman rulers resisted nationalistic change, weakly trying to maintain a traditional way of life. As was the case with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would prove its undoing.
