The Big Gun and The Last Stand of the Roman EmpireDuring the Middle Ages the city of Constantinople

The Big Gun and The Last Stand of the Roman EmpireDuring the Middle Ages the city of Constantinople was considered to be the jewel of the east. Capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, it was founded by Emperor Constantine as the new capitol of the Roman Empire. While the Western Empire fell, the Eastern Empire thrived. By the middle ages the empire was populated mostly with Greeks and Slavs, but the Byzantine people still considered themselves to be descendants of the Roman tradition and heritage.By 1453 after centuries of war and plague, the once massive empire was little more than a small plot of land surrounded by the Ottoman Turks. Her millions of subjects had been reduced to 50,000 inhabitants, and her mighty legions had been reduced to a small 7,000 man fighting force. The Byzantines had one hope, the 20km of walls surrounding Constantinople had never been breeched, and the Byzantines believed they could hold out until help would arrive from the French, Italians, and Scotts. Unfortunately help would never come.The Turks also had a new weapon that would make Constantinople’s walls useless. A 19 ton brass siege cannon built by Hungarian gun founder Urban, aka Munir Ali. The cannon fired 59cm stone balls, took 2-3 hours to reload, and had to be transported by 60 mules. By day the Turks would bombard the walls and by night the Byzantines would repair them. After more than a month of siege, the Byzantines could no longer maintain the walls, and on the 29th of May, 1453, the Turks stormed the city.Sultan Mehmet II would rebuild and repopulate the city, creating a Third Rome for his new Ottoman Empire. It is not true that the Turks renamed the city Istanbul. Istanbul was a Greek name popular in the late middle ages, roughly translating to “Inside a great city”. It wasn’t until 1930 that Istanbul would become the official name of the city.The Dardenelles gun would remain in service for over 300 years. It was even used to fight the British during the Anglo-Turkish war in 1807. In 1866 it was gifted to Queen Victoria by Sultan Abdulaziz and proudly displayed at the Tower of London. Today it can be found in Fort Nelson, Portsmouth, and is part of the Royal Armouries Collection. -- source link

More pics about