The Fall of Constantinople: 573 Years Later (May 29, 1453)

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Either I conquer Constantinople or Constantinople conquers me.

[00:00:06]23 previous kings tried. 23 of them failed. But 573 years ago today, on May 29th, 1453, a 21-year-old Sultan did the impossible. For 800 years, a massive chain blocked the Golden Horn Harbor, making Constantinople, today's Istanbul, an unconquerable place for all the armies of the world. At the front was a massive three-walled structure that protected the historical city from falling. And at the back was this Golden Harbor chain, which did not allow the opposition forces to surround the city from all the points. Istanbul, Constantinople, was an impenetrable fortress. So, what do you do when you have [music] your forces lined up for 50 days outside this fortress and you have to make a decision? You drag your warships over a mountain. In a single night, Sultan Mehmed the Second >> [music] >> had his men drag dozens of warships over the land, bypassing the Golden Harbor.

[00:01:08]It was an ultimate tactical mic drop moment of the war. And by the time the sun had set on May the 29th, 1453, [music] Constantinople was no longer Greek. The Middle Ages were over >> [music] >> and Sultan Mehmed the Second, a 21-year-old boy, had rewritten the [music] entire global history.