The Fall of Constantinople 1453

About this book

First published in 1965 this is a scholarly and highly accessible study of Constantinoples fall an event which had tumultuous repercussions across both East and West. Runciman demonstrates the inevitability of the Turkish conquest and the impotence of the Byzantine Empire which at the time comprised only one ineffectual city. This vivid account reconstructs the dramatic events which won the Turks an imperial capital with a vital geographical location and examines how the Greeks reacted to this devastating blow.