May 29
(need to get a bit ahead of the game here -- this weekend is going to be busy)
1453. On this date, 1453, the Ottoman armies of Sultan Mehmet II ("the Conqueror") finally captured Constantinople after a siege lasting two months, extinguishing the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire which was the last vestige of the Roman Empire. Although by this time the Empire was a pathetic shell of its former self, controlling barely more than the territory beyond its famed Theodosian Walls and some isolated territories along the Aegean Coast, the fall of the fabled city sent shock waves through Europe, which long had ignored the desperate pleas of their fellow Christian state to assist them in holding off the Muslims.
The last emperor died heroically at the walls defending his beloved city. Although Mehmet (who was quite young at this point) would become reknowned for his religious tolerance, he gave over the city to the traditional three days of sacking following its capture, and the Ottoman army fell on the city, raping and pillaging.
Mehmet the Conqueror.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by They Might be Giants
Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks
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1867. The Austrian-Hungarian Compromise is signed into law, giving birth to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which will last only until the end of World War I.
1953. Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.