Sultan Mehmed II

Born: 30 March 1432 Died: May 3rd, 1481 1st Reign: 1444-1446 2nd Reign: 1451-1481

Background: Mehmed II was born on 30th, March 1432 in Edirne. His father Murad II, left Mehmed in charge of the throne when he was only 12 years in 1444 until 1446. However, when John Hunyadi and the Hungarians launched an invasion against the Ottomans, Murad came back and took the throne for the remainder of his life. Then when his Murad died Mehmed retook the throne.

Candarli Halil Pasha (the younger) vs Mehmed II:

(Pronounced CHandarli) Mehmed had inherited his father’s Grand Vizier, which us sort of like a prime minister, Candarli Halil Pasha. However, Mehmed soon discovered that Halil Pasha wanted to undermine his rule and particularly his grand project. Mehmed wanted to conquer . Halil secretly met with the Loukas Notaras, the Grand Duke (also a like prime minister) of the , to try and convince Mehmed not to attack Constantinople. Conquering Constantinople: The great Byzantine Empire was on its last leg. The remnant of the once great Roman Empire, the empire lasted 1,000 years after the fall of Rome. But the Orthodox Christian had always been seen in Europe as the guardian of Christianity from the Muslims in the Middle East. But the Empire was severely weakened by centuries of Crusades and wars with the Turks and Persians. In 1452, Mehmed built the fortress of Rumeli Hisar on the Northeastern entrance of the Bosphorus strait that was nicknamed the “throat cutter” because it cut off Constantinople receiving any supplies and reinforcements from the Black Sea. Mehmed also enlisted the help of Urban, a Hungarian cannon builder who built the largest cannon at the time: Basilica. So, with an army of 80,000 men and the world’s largest cannon. Then when they reached the outer city wall, Mehmed ordered the cannons to fire. The Byzantines had the aid of an Italian mercenary named Giovanni Giustiniani. The Byzantines were able to turn around waves of the Ottoman infantry. But then the Ottomans were handed a naval defeat and Mehmed had an idea. Why don’t they drag their ships over land and behind the Italian fleet? And with his combat engineers, they cleared a way for the ships to be hauled behind the small Genoese colony of Galata and plopped in the Bosphorus behind the Genoese ships. Then in the early hours of May 19, 1453, the Ottoman infantry breaks the Byzantine lines and rushes the city. Within hours, the city falls to the Turks. Mehmed makes Constantinople the new capital of his empire.

Defeating Vlad the Impaler: The small kingdom of Wallachia was an Ottoman vassal state. After the death of its King Vladislav II, his son Vlad III came to power. Mehmed sent envoys to Vlad asking him to pay tribute. Instead, Vlad impaled the envoys and invaded Ottoman territory. Vlad and his army crossed the Danube into Ottoman territory and massacred the Turks and Bulgarians. But after months of fighting and losing to the technologically inferior Wallachians, Mehmed finally managed to capture Vlad and impale him.

Legacy: Mehmed II conquest of Constantinople was a triumph for the Middle East. It had finally brought down the last remnant of the Roman Empire. Mehmed’s conquest proved the ineffectuality of walls in the day of cannons and it made the one of the richest empires in the word because they control of the most prosperous trade route.