On 6 April 1453, the Siege of Constantinople began under the command of Mehmed II, an Ottoman sultan who was just 21 years old but determined to see through his father’s dream of capturing the ...

The Siege of 1453 was a defining moment for Constantinople and the world. The city, once considered impregnable, faced the formidable forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Mehmed II.

John Julius Norwich tells the dramatic story of the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, followed by the rise of the Ottoman Turks in the 15th Century. Using monuments in Istanbul to ...