On 6 April 1453, the Siege of Constantinople began under the command of Mehmed II, an Ottoman sultan who was just 21 years old but determined to see through his father’s dream of capturing the ...

One of the world’s most famous religious buildings, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia was extraordinary when it was built in the sixth century, and with a history surrounded in myth, legend and controversy, it ...

The greatest early modern authority on Ottoman Greece was Martin Cruisius – a man who had never left Germany.

A portrait of Sultan Mehmed II, who attacked Constantinople in May 1453 (The National Gallery, London) In fact, the Ottoman reputation for merciless military discipline grew so great that the ...