Fourth Crusade
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The Fourth Crusade was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating
A 15th-century miniature depicting the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204
Venetian Navy landing in Constantinople, from a XV Century miniature
The crusaders conquering the City of Zadar, painted by Tintoretto
Dandolo Preaching the Crusade by Gustave Doré
Byzantine–Ottoman wars
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The Byzantine–Ottoman wars were a series of decisive conflicts between the Byzantine Greeks and Ottoman Turks and their allies that led to the final destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of
The Ottoman Sultanate operated vast numbers of skilled troops and conscripts.
The Balkans and Anatolia in c. 1355. Byzantium has lost her cities in Asia Minor and Macedonia and Epirus have been conquered by Dushan's Serbia, while the nascent Ottoman Beyliks had consolidated its hold over Bithynia
Along with the humiliation, the Byzantine tribute to the Ottomans of 300,000 silver coins would have been all the more difficult with the economy in decline.
The city's largest church, the Hagia Sophia, was converted into a mosque. From 1935 to 2020 it served as a museum of Constantinopolitan legacy before being re-converted into a mosque.