Despair of the bottom and the impossibility

Owing to the melancholy of the bottom and the impossibility of setting up a deep moat there, this was the weakest level within the Theodosian fortifications, and right here the bravest of the defenders, below Gius- tiniani of Genoa and the Emperor Constantine, manned the partitions to oppose the very best troops below the command of the Sultan. Towards this a part of the partitions the enemy pointed his heaviest cannon, and right here the competition raged for greater than seven weeks. Each the besieged and the besiegers fought with the willpower and the valour worthy of the problems at stake. When the Turkish artillery broke down the Outer Wall, Giustiniani and his Genoese and Greek comrades held their floor, and changed the fallen ramparts by a stockade constructed of stones, barrels filled with earth, beams, branches of bushes—of something inside attain that might maintain collectively. Towards that barricade wave after wave of Turkish troops dashed and beat furiously and lengthy. There have been moments when the defenders appeared to have gained the day. However like gleams of sunshine that pierce storm clouds, they solely served to make the approaching disaster extra tragic. Giustiniani was wounded and left the sector. A band of daring Turks entered town by way of the postern of the Kerkoporta, thoughtlessly left open, and, mounting the partitions, planted their banners upon the parapet Anon, the cry “Town is taken” burst upon the air and reverberated from tower to tower. A panic seized the besieged. The Sultan, greedy his alternative, roused his janissaries to a supreme effort, and hurled them towards the battered and half-deserted barricade. The Emperor Constantine did every part in his energy to rally his followers and repel the horrible onset. It was hopeless. He then sought and located a soldier’s loss of life, quite than survive the autumn of his Empire. “Ail was misplaced save honour.” And over his useless physique the tide of conquest poured into town.

The final vestige of the State

Thus ended the historical past of greater than a thousand years. Then Asia dealt its worst blow upon Europe. Then the final vestige of the State, dominated first by Rome from the seven hills beside the Tiber, and afterwards by New Rome enthroned on the seven hills beside the Bosporus, disappeared. Then the Crescent gained its best overcome the Cross. Not many spots on the earth have been the scene of such momentous occasions as occurred within the little valley of the Lycus on the 29th of Could, 1458. There an Empire died, and a protracted and nice epoch closed.