On this day 571 years ago Ottoman forces under Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, ending the Roman Empire.

https://i.redd.it/nd12se3l7b3d1.jpeg

by Jupiter_Optimus_Max

38 comments

  1. Words of the last Emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos:

    “God forbid that I should live as an Emperor without an Empire. As my city falls, I will fall with it. Whosoever wishes to escape, let him save himself if he can, and whoever is ready to face death, let him follow me.”

    As the Ottoman forces breached the walls and swarmed the city, he reportedly remarked “The City is fallen and I am still alive”. He then tore off his imperial regalia so he could not be distinguished from any other soldier and charged into battle. After this he disappears from history.

  3. And the European “Christian” right always loves to conveniently forget about the 4th crusade

  5. Girls: Man doesn’t have emotions, how can you don’t cry during Titanic?!!

    Meanwhile this is where the real man cried

  8. My crazy theory is that Rome never fell, it just became the Catholic Church.

  11. he did not end it. He saw himself as a contiunarton of it, ruler by right of conquest. The roman empire did not end there, if at all it got a huge revitalisation and continued on into the 20th century.

    just with the Byzantines, ppl will get used to that completely changing the culture or language or religion does not make the roman empire not the roman empire

  13. It’s funny that this event has relatively faded from our historical memory, because at the time it really was interpreted in the rest of Europe as a cataclysmic, earth-shattering, civilization-ending turn of events. Except for the fall of Rome itself, I don’t know if the taking of any city in European history had an impact comparable to this one.

  16. “Conquest and ethnic cleansing is good when we do it”.

    -Turks, when brigadebombing this entry.

  22. Greek here and huge fan of Roman(Byzantine) history.

    The Ottomans didn’t cleanse the city.Yes,a lot of sacking did take place,but earlier sacking by the latins(french,venetians,germans) did way more damage.Mehmed even executed soldiers who damaged the churches, because he intended to turn them into mosques.

    Mehmed was a huge fan boy of Alexander the great and earlier Rome and he took both the titles of Kaiser and King of Rum(Romans in turkish language).

    Finally, Constantinople had declined significantly after repeated civil wars and flourished to unseen levels as the capital and principal city of the Ottomans.

    Reposting dor visibility.

  25. The idea of continuation of the Roman Empire through the Ottoman Dynasty has always fascinated me.

  26. As a Turk, I have huge respect for emperor Konstantinos. He was a worthy enemy.

    In fact, I personally think that we should honor him in İstanbul by naming a street after him. Think about it, “imparator konstantin caddesi.” Because he loved that city more than his life.

    On the other hand, I truly love the fact that the euroboys have butthurt after all these years.

    But that is okay. This is history now. The City is ours. End of story.

  27. Conquered / Colonized. Let’s return to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

  30. I worked in Russia in the 90s and there ais a very dedicated group of Russians that believe that they are the the remnants of the Eastern Roman Empire. That’s why the Tsar and and now Putin has the double headed eagle as Coat of Arms as it was the Byzantine Coat of Arms.

    Their Slogan is

    Мечом и верой мы возвращаем священный город Константинополь!

    And they actually receive money from the Russian Orthodox Church which is Putin tool

    * edit : the russian translation – By Sword and Faith, We Reclaim the Holy City of Constantinople!

  31. sad day for europe, and not taking it back is a failure of civilization

    Greece and Europe deserves better

  32. One of the darkest days in european history.

    But dont be sad it ended, be happy it was.

  35. The saddest and most shameful day in the entire history of the West.

  36. What did it mean for the population of the city? Slayed, enslaved, escaped, or business as usual just under new rule?

  38. braindrain cause by jihad led to Renaissance like after WW2 Us took all the scientists and now when Putler s war causes Russian civilized people to flee or if Trump wins. History does not repeat itself it just causes braindrain to the most civilized countries.

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