Through Google Earth’s lens, we retrace the dramatic Fall of Constantinople in 1453. In just one minute, we chart the city’s imposing walls, the Ottoman siege led by Mehmed II, and the moment the ...

What if Constantinople had survived the Ottoman siege of 1453? Could the Byzantine Empire and Europe have developed ...

Sensing opportunity, Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan, arrived at the walls of Constantinople on April 5. He brought with him perhaps 60,000 soldiers, along with numerous cannons, some of enormous size, ...