The Fall of Constantinople 1453

First published in 1965, this history reconstructs the Ottoman siege that ended the Byzantine Empire in 1453. Runciman follows Sultan Mehmed II as he gathers cannon, ships, and troops against Constantinople, and Emperor Constantine XI as he repairs walls, seeks Western aid that arrives late or in too small a force, and organizes a mixed garrison of Greeks, Venetians, and Genoese. The narrative covers weeks of bombardment, the harbor chain, the land walls at the Lycus valley, and the final assault. The book is a campaign history of one city's fall, not a general survey of the Ottoman state.

Bound in red buckram blocked in white with Arabic calligraphy. Dark blue slipcase.