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The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (Canto)

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Runciman's account of the Fall of Constantinople is an excellent book to read. Beginning with the Ottoman advance into Europe in the later 14th century, and ultimately ending with the City's capture in 1453, he weaves a story that is both historically accurate as well as emotionally moving.

We read about the desperate attempts by the last Byzantine Emperors to look for help from an increasingly indifferent West. We note the internal strife between the Chrisitian kingdoms of the Balkans, both Latin and Orthodox, that created disunity and allowed the Ottoman sultans to conquer territories one by one until Constantinople was completely surrounded and isolated. We also hear of the sad accounts of the conditions within this once great City that was hailed as the Eye of all the World. By the time of the City's capture, it was a hollow shell of its former glory.

It is the last chapter in the thousand year history of Byzantium, and all its characters appear to face a noble and heroic end defending their capital. Yet, the Ottomans, Runciman says, brought a new breath of vitality to Constantinople and its conquered territories. The City was rebuilt, and the Greeks survived as best they could, up until the early 20th century. Runciman also suggests the Ottoman Turks were the better conquererors than the Latins might have been since the Greeks and Slavs were allowed to keep their Orthodox faith and culture, something that might have been forcibly lost under the Papal West.

With superb writing, excellent narration, and great historical analysis, Runciman has written a fantastic book, and one that has been the standard for decades now. Highly recommended

Sir Steven Runciman was one of the English language's (if not the world's) leading scholars of the Crusades and the Eastern Roman Empire, and this brief but powerful book shows why. Norwich and his popular-history volumes of Byzantine history may be a more contemporary, personality-driven look at the story, but nobody can match, in my opinion, Runciman for both breadth of scholarship and elegant, intelligent, and highly readable prose.

Runciman shows that the fall of Constantinople to the Turks on May 29, 1453 (550 years ago today!) was both inevitable and of mostly marginal historical significance (except, of course, to the people of the city itself). It had always seemed to me an event of epochal importance -- history's pages finally slamming shut on the Roman Empire. But in literally his first sentence, Sir Steven disabuses us of this notion, or that the fall marked the close of the Middle Ages. Indeed, "only the Papacy and a few scholars and romanticists had been genuinely shocked at the thought of the great historic Christian city passing into the hands of the infidel" (p. 179). For the most part, it was part of the rising tide of Turkish conquest, alarming in a general way, but not immediately catastrophic to the dying empire's fickle co-religionists in the West.

Runciman's narrative is engrossing, full of political tension, military conflict, and the religious disputes that always colored Byzantine history. His characterizations are insightful, his descriptions colorful, his writing elegiac -- at times even poetic -- well-sourced (both Christian and Muslim authorities are consulted), and frequently entertaining, even when discussing a sad and even horrific topic. His larger works may not be to everyone's taste (for topic more than style), but a short work like this one, on an interesting and oft-neglected theme, is a worthwhile read for any student of history. Highly recommended.

The story of Constantinople's fall is epic. It was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which was, in actuality, the eastern half of the Roman Empire -- an empire which, according to many history books, "fell" in 476 A.D. In fact, only the western half of the empire succumbed to the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, and Vandals -- the eastern half of the empire survived for a thousand years, referred to as "Byzantine" by historians about the time of the Emperor, Heraclius (610-641 A.D.), in deference to the fact that by that time the empire was largely Greek-speaking, and "Byzantium" was the original name of the site upon which Constantinople was built. Runciman tells the fascinating story of the fall of the city straightforwardly; he provides ample footnotes for the novice, and the volume also contains a number of useful maps. The book is especially good at capturing the impending sense of doom that enveloped Constantinople as the 15th century wore on - thanks to the religious schism between Latin and Orthodox Christianity, no help would be forthcoming from the West, and one can only admire the steely resolve of the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, who resolved to resist the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks, despite the Sultan's generous terms if the city would surrender. This is a concise and eminently readable account of a turning point in the history of the Western World. Highly recommended!

There are few historical events that conjure up the adventure, drama and pation of the fall of Constantinople; Barbarian hordes, age old empires, tremendous siege engines, feuding merchant states, conflicted religious leaders, age old prophecies of doom (or victory depending on your view), naval battles and finally a philosopher emperor who having failed to get the outside support his city needs to survive, dies at the hands of the enemy while defending the city's walls, his body never to be found. This book tells the story of the final empire of the Greeks, as if told by a story-teller rocking in a chair by a fire. The story is that good, the characters, their motives and actions are all that good, and they are all true. Some of my favorite parts were the descriptions of the Sultan's Janissaries, and the work of Urban, the canon builder that Constantine turned away, and who Mehmet was only too eager to hire.

If you enjoyed any of Norwich's books on the rise and fall of Byzantium, then this book serves as an excellent conclusion. The author, Mr. Runciman, does a fantastic job of detailing the story, placing it in its appropriate historical time frame and setting the record straight on many elements. One of his central tenemants is the arbitrary nature of defining Constantinople's fall as the 'end' of the Dark Ages, and he does a convincing job of making his point that many of the effects often ascribed to the fall had long been in process. First published in 1965, this is by no means the latest re-telling of this event, but its ability to stand the test of time certainly reinforces that it is one of, if not outright, the best. The only disadvantage that may be age related is that it would be nice to have a few more, and perhaps better organized maps and figures that went along with the text.

I highly recommend this book, it would be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about Constantinople, Greek history, Turkish history, Islaamic history, the early Renaissance, and the intricacies of Papal, Venetian and Genoan relations. This is also a great book for anyone who is just looking for a good book.

Even after his death, Steven Runciman's works on the medieval Greeks and the Orthodox Church remain the standard for student seeking general information and for non-scholars seeking knowledge.

As with all his works, The Fall of Constantinople is both well researched, but more importantly, well written. He provides enough background on the decline of the Eastern Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Turks to place the fall in proper perspective. The Eastern Empire in 1453 was a mere shadow of its once glorious self. The conspiracies and plots between Emperors, Patriarchs, Popes and Kings, ultimately, between Eastern and Western Christendom doomed the heir to the Caesars.

Runciman's wonderful writing makes this come alive. He does not, like many historians, feel that a dry recitation of the facts alone is enough. Rather, his history reads almost like a novel. The characters have depth and emotion. The last Emperor is shown as a shrewd many trying desperately to save his people, even to the point of entering into an unpopular union with the Roman Church. The Sultan is no mere cartoon villain as often portrayed in medieval Europe or a politically correct Third World leader (as might be portrayed today) but rather a ruthless, though driven young man, determined to fulfill the goal of 8 centuries of Moslem leaders - the capture of "The City."

And as the story winds toward its inevitable conclusion, you root for the heroes and mourn their deaths.

Constantinople fell not because the Ottomans were the strongest empire in the world. Rather, it fell because the petty jealousies of the Western leaders made the defense of Constantinople impossible. Today, as the West finds itself again under attack, we should keep heed of our history, and avoid allowing our jealousies to cause another Fall of Constantinople.

This was the first book I read by Runciman and I was immediately enamored with his style. He conveys both the strategic and human elements well with sprinklings of the concurrently developing subplots throughout. While the title itself leaves no doubt as to the outcome of this tragic tale, the reading is an engrossing story and you are left spellbound as history unfolds through the pages. I have used this book to introduce friends to medieval history(although it takes place towards the end of that period) and have then had them come back to me to suggest other books in this field of study with intrigued interest. An epic tale of the final winking out of the glory that was the Byzantine Empire presented by a master storyteller.

While Gibbon's magnificent volumes trace the origins and developments of the Roman Empire to its final eclipse in 1453, this wonderful and comprehensive volume details the actual struggle that ended with the overthrow of the Byzantines by Mehmet and his Turkish army. Comprehensive and concise, frank but fair, there are few books on history more dramatic than this. The overwhelming importance of the event would demand nothing less. You will find yourself cheering the industry of the besieged, suffering a grim hopelessness that the inevitable press will crush the city, and finally, you will appreciate what the generals on both sides think, hear their commands, and follow the consequences. You will feel that you were there, defending the walls in the last hour of Constantinople.

Just noticed the review entitled Big Deal. Clearly this reader has little or no knowledge of Byzantium - or historians who have made a mark on its study. The late Sir Steven Runciman was a leading scholar - and I doubt seriously that his hand emerged from the grave to help sell this book.

On the book, it remains one of the best works around the crucial events of 1453 - at least for Constantinople and what remained of the Byzantine Empire. I cannot recommend it more highly.

I read couple of other books about the conquest of Constantinople but this book by Runciman differs from others in a way that the reader is somewhat concentrated more on how dramatic the conquest was for Constantinople and its residents, probably because of the historical sources that Mr.Runciman collected. I gave a full 5 star for the suspense the book demonstrates and for some of the information that has never been compiled in such a well-organized manner.

This book is without any doubt the best narrative of one of the most epical moments in the history of mankind: the fall of Constantinople, THE Christian capital of the still existing Roman Empire. Not only the history of the fall of the city is exciting, but also the understanding that with the capital was coming to an end a "State" (in the modern sense of the word) that had lasted 22 centuries, fist as a Latin-speaking empire based in Italy, and later on, as its center of power and its teritory moved eastwards, as a Greek-Roman absolute monarchy centered on the Bosphorus. But what fell on 29th. May 1453 was Rome itself, and as Rome had deserved, its end was heroic. From Augustus to Constantine XI the empire had known both superb and extremely bad emperors. At least, for history, the last Ceasar knew his duty well, and died according to his post. If other man had been on the throne, the city might have simply surrendered and the Roman Empire would have vanished from history without honouring its ancient history. The center of this narrative is Constantine XI, a man well aware of his place before history as Christian monarch and as the last head of a state that either in Greek of in Latin had brought Law and order to the whole Mediterranean world. Constantinople, almost depopulated, aided by a few brave Italians (as if they were trying to redeem themselves from the tragedy of 1204), fought until the end for its survival, and fell at the precise moment, when the glory of its final defeat was never going to be forgotten. It became a symbol and the closing of a magnificent historical circle. And also the Swan singing for that supreme last breath of Hellenism that was the Bizantine civilization.
I highly recommend this book, and as other reader has pointed out, it should be the subject of a motion picture, with a great director, a great main character, and a superb composer. At least I notice that "Star Wars: the Phantom Menace" depicts, as capital of Queen Amidala, precisely a recretation of imperial Constantinople.
In connection with this book, if other readers are interested in the subject of Roman-Byzantine history, I also recommend:
1) "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", by Edward Gibbon (if possible the edition of J.B. Bury).
2) "Byzantium" by Lord John Julius Norwich.
3) "A History of the Crusades", also by Sir Steven Runciman.
4) "Byzantine Civilization", by the same author.