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Roman Empire: Caligula: the mad emperor (12AD -41AD)
 background
 Caligula was the third Roman emperor
 his father was Germanicus and his mother was Agrippina. Germanicus was allegedly
poisoned by Tiberius who was his uncle as he didn’t want him to be the successor. Caligula’s
other family members underwent treason trial and his mother was exiled.
 Tiberius went on a self-imposed exile to Capri Island.
 Tiberius wanted to appoint his son Drusus as his heir but his son died prematurely and he
suspected that his ambitious praetorian Prefect Sejanus plotted it. Tiberius summoned
Caligula to Capri Island and in front of his face Tiberius got rid of Sejanus of whom he
blamed as the murderer of Caligula’s father, Germanicus. Macro later replaced Sejanus’s
position.
 Tiberius’s grandson Gemellus was too young and Tiberius planned an heir competition
between Caligula and Gemellus. Before Tiberius’s death, he appointed both Caligula and
Gemellus to be co-heirs to the throne. Instead of getting rid of Gemellus, Caligula decided to
adopt Gemellus as his son and appoint him as his heir.
 Start of the reign (37-41AD)
 At the start of the reign, Caligula received much support from the Romans due to him
being the son of the popular General Germanicus and also the ineptitude of Tiberius.
Caligula decided to revamp and build infrastructure such as roads and aqueduct. He also
commanded the construction of an amphitheatre and resumed the gladiator game. To gain
support from the Senate, Caligula chose to spare those involved in the treason trial of his
family members.
 Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, was appointed as the consul. He also managed to find back
Caligula’s three sisters: Drusilla, Livilla and Agrippina.
 7 months into his reign – the turning point
 However, after 7 months of reign, Caligula sudden fell sick due to brain fever.
 He managed to recover after 3 months but everything changed from that point. He
became paranoid of the people around him. He first executed Gemellus with the excuse of
him trying to usurp the throne and subsequently arranged for the death of Macro by
appointing him as the Prefect of Egypt and killing him during the journey.
 He began to indulge in decadent lifestyle and even slept with wives of the Senators.
 Finding an heir – start of the incest and his madness
 His sister Agrippina was an ambitious woman and she desired after the throne. She
persuaded Caligula that she would give an heir to him and then they slept. However, after
several months, Agrippina failed to conceive a child. Caligula decided to turn his attention to
his other sisters. Drusilla was his favourite sister and supposedly the most beautiful one as
well. Subsequently, Drusilla was pregnant with Caligula’s child. However, incest was the
greatest sexual taboo in the Roman Empire. The gossip was spread around rapidly among
the people and the image of Caligula was greatly damaged. Drusilla was unable to withstand
the public opinions and pressure and she died at the age of 21. Caligula was immensely
depressed.
 To commemorate Drusilla, Caligula asked for the construction of her image and she
was proclaimed as a goddess. Temples were dedicated to her. Caligula even passed laws
that banned the Romans from carrying on with a lot of their normal daily activities.
 Out of desperation for an heir, Caligula married a pregnant woman, Caesonia, with
another man’s child. However, the baby that she gave birth to was a female.
His sister Agrippina knew that sooner or later he would have a boy as his successor and
on that day her status, together with that of her sister Livilla and Drusilla’s legal husband
would be in danger. As a result, the Three Daggers conspiracy was established among the 3
people. Their original plot was to lure Caligula to Livilla’s bedroom and then kill him.
However, Agrippina betrayed the other two and revealed the plan to Caligula. The three of
them were imprisoned. After killing the husband of late Drusilla, Caligula sent his two sisters
to exile to an island.
 2 years into his reign --- Caligula, emperor of the people to unpopular
crazy guy
 As the madness of Caligula increased, he lived a more lavish and promiscuous lifestyle. To
make his power know through Rome, he expanded his building projects such as
monuments and statues of himself everywhere.
 To save Rome from financial collapse, Claudius suggested to Caligula the re-institution of
treason laws and the target would be the senators who were the wealthiest citizens of
Rome. About 10000 individuals were killed due to the policies.
 To prove his worthiness and regain the trust of the Romans, Caligula decided to conquer
Britain in 41 A.D. of which no Roman emperors had done before. However, they weren’t
able to cross the channel and he had to bury the plan. In order not to look like a failure,
Caligula ordered the killing of his soldiers to pretend that they were the British.
 Death of Caligula
 The Senate was unable to tolerate Caligula’s insanity and they discussed with Claudius to
overthrow Caligula. On the day 6 of the gladiator games, Caligula was assassinated at the
underground passages between the circuses and the palaces in 41 A.D. He died at the age
of 28. His uncle Claudius subsequently took over the throne.
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Roman Empire: Julius Caesar: Master of Rome (100BC -44BC)
 Background
 Julius had followed Crassus to defeat Spartacus, a former gladiator who led a slave army
to rebel against Roman Republic. Crassus hoped to use this victory to get him the
consulship. However, another Roman general, Pompey, was one step faster by clearing the
remains of the rebellion army. Crassus and Pompey were in loggerheads with each other
for over a decade, leading to a stalemate in the Senate. Crassus was the wealthiest man in
Rome while Pompey had great political connections.
 Triumvirate
 establishment of triumvirate: In order to unite Crassus and Pompey and also to satiate
his desire for power, Julius Caesar proposed a plan to appoint him as the consul and he
would pass Pompey’s legislation to distribute lands to Pompey’s army and also cut the tax
so that Crassus’s immense wealth could expand even more. The two of them agreed on it.
To win over the heart of Pompey, Julius Caesar gave his daughter, Julia, as wife to Pompey.
Julius Caesar had resorted to physical intimidation in order for the senators to pass the
legislations that he proposed. The three of them worked together in businesses as well and
Caesar accumulated much wealth.
 Invasion of Gaul
 However, not long after, Crassus and Pompey decided to drive Caesar out of consulship
and out of Rome. Caesar knew that he had lost the support from his two allies and he was
given the governorship of northern Italy and some other regions. However, Caesar was a
grossly ambitious man and he decided to regain the political influence by conquering Gaul
where no other Roman leaders had success in invading.
 Caesar divided and conquered most parts of Gaul and had great success. He was deemed
as a hero back in Rome. Both Crassus and Pompey were afraid of the influence of Caesar. In
order to obtain his own military victory, Crassus decided to embark on invasion of Parthia
Empire which was located in the Middle East region. However, Crassus failed miserably.
After two months, Crassus and his 20000 soldiers were slaughtered in Parthia. The
Parthians poured molten gold into Crassus’s month to symbolize the mockery of his thirst
for wealth.
 in 52B.C., Vercingetorix united the different tribes in Gaul to fight off the Romans. He
adopted a scorching earth strategy by burning towns to prevent the Roman legions from
living off the lands. He led his army to retreat into the city of Alesia. Caesar decided to build
walls around Alesia which stretched for about 13 miles in an attempt to starve
Vercingetorix’s 60000 Gaul. However, a Gallic relief army of 120000 people was coming to
save Vercingetorix and to destroy Caesar. Unexpectedly, Caesar commanded the
construction of another wall. And his army was between the first and second wall.
 Although Caesar was greatly outnumbered, he devised a smart plan. By sending off
cohorts of cavalry to attack the relief army, the enemy force thought that they were
besieged by the Romans and they quickly fled away. After 4 days of ruthless fighting, leaving
more than 100000 people dead, Caesar managed to defend his fortification. After seeing
the defeat of the relief army, Vercingetorix decided to surrender. After 8 years of fight in
Gaul, Caesar managed to get hold of the entire Gallic region.
 Road back to Rome: crossing the Rubicon River and war with Pompey
 Caesar sent back news of his victory to Rome. Pompey and rest of the Senate were afraid
of Caesar’s power and influence. They decided to bring charges to Caesar who raised an
army without the approval of the Senate. However, Caesar decided to lead his army to
cross the Rubicon River which was seen as a symbol of invading Rome. In order to counter
Caesar, Pompey and the senators who supported him fled to Brundisium (north of Italy)
from Rome and from there they sailed to Greece to gather more army. Despite tireless
chasing, Caesar didn’t manage to catch them at Brundisium and he commanded the
construction of ships to Greece to destroy Pompey there before his army became too
strong.
 Although Pompey’s army from different parts of the Mediterranean region came to
gather at Greece and they have greatly outnumbered that of Caesar’s, Pompey was worried
that his army was not as greatly trained and ready as Caesar’s. He sent message to Caesar to
ask him surrender but Caesar refused. The civil war between Caesar and Pompey finally
broke out at Pharsalus, Greece in 48 BC.
 Caesar with an army of 22000 while Pompey with an army of 45000. Pompey sent off a
cohort of cavalry of 7000 people, hoping to break Caesar’s army apart but Caesar was one
step ahead. His reserved group of infantries closed down on the cavalry and defeated
them. Within just one hour of fight, about 10000 of Pompey’s army were killed while about
25000 of them were captured as prisoners which included Brutus who was the son of
Caesar’s mistress, Servilla. Caesar had specially instructed his soldiers to spare Brutus’s life.
 Journey to Egypt
 However, Pompey with his remaining army has fled away and Caesar knew that he was
going to Egypt to gather support. Caesar also made his way to Alexandria to meet Egypt’s
king, Ptolemy, who was only 14 years old. When Caesar arrived, Ptolemy presented him
with the head of Pompey Magnus to earn his support. Ptolemy wanted Caesar to help him
to end the civil war in Egypt between him and his sister. However, Caesar disagreed with
the proposal and he was imprisoned in Egypt until he agreed with Ptolemy.
 Meanwhile in Rome, Caesar had appointed his General, Mark Anthony, to take charge.
However, Anthony had no political ambition and the country was in turmoil.
 Caesar was freed by Cleopatra, who was the sister of Ptolemy, and she took hold of the
opportunity to win over Caesar. Caesar had gathered his legions from Greece and Italy and
helped Cleopatra to usurp the throne of Ptolemy. They have also developed to become
lovers and Caesar admired her political intelligence and her beauty.
 Return to Rome: beginning of political reform (46 – 44 BC)
 After staying at Egypt for some time, Caesar received news of the chaos in Rome and he
decided to make his way back to Rome. Caesar began his political reforms. By annulling the
senate, he declared him the dictator of Rome, in the hope to revive the country’s order.
He modified the system to distribute grains to the people and also he promoted gladiator
games on a large scale. The Romans were enjoying themselves and Caesar received huge
popularity. Meanwhile, Caesar engaged the senators to devise new policies for him. He
especially favored Brutus and made him to oversee the magistrate in Rome and Gaul.
 However, one day Caesar fell sick mysteriously and there was no apparent cure.
 Despite his illness, Caesar was dedicated to improve Rome. He recognised the inefficient
Senate and he knew that the key to revive Roman economy lay with its people. By ordering
the construction of several huge programs such as temples, library and a new harbour, it
provided thousands of Romans with a job.
 One of the greatest achievements of Caesar is that he enacted the new solar calendar of
which we are still using today. During Caesar’s time, the old lunar calendar was behind for
40 days.
 Visit of Cleopatra: start of perpetual dictatorship and political unrest
 Caesar viewed Brutus as his heir because he didn’t have any biological son. However, one
day the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, arrived at Rome to meet Caesar and she brought the
son between her and Caesar, Caesarion. And she also planted the idea of monarchy into
Caesar. Caesar hoped to developed his own dynasty and became a dictator for life.
 When he announced the plan in the Senate, the senators were shocked. Subsequently,
Caesar had seizure in front of the assembly. To consolidate his power and also to distract
the senators from his sickness, Caesar announced his shocking campaign of invading the
kingdom of Parthia where Crassus died. Brutus was really worried that Caesar was really
going to declare himself as a king which clearly opposed the Roman philosophy. It was at
that point of time that the senators decided to get rid of Caesar in order to preserve the
republic.
 Assassination of Caesar: Ides of March
 The senators knew that once Caesar left Rome to conquer Parthia, he would have a
bodyguard and it would be impossible to kill him. They (about 60 people) have conspired to
kill Caesar on the Ides of March (March 15) 44BC, three days before the departure to
Parthia. The senators held a meeting with Caesar and Caesar was stabbed 23 times, led by
Brutus.

Aftermath: Civil wars + Roman Empire + Caesar’s influence
 The death of Caesar shocked the Rome republic and it led to civil war between Mark
Antony and Brutus. Brutus was defeated and he took his life. Later on, Mark Anthony’s
allies turned against him and he fled to Egypt where he married Cleopatra. In the last civil
war, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra lost to Octavian and they committed double suicide. The
son of Caesar, Caesarion, ruled Egypt for two weeks before he was killed.
 In Jan 27 BC, Octavian declared himself the emperor of Rome, marking the end of Roman
Republic. Julius Caesar had been a key figure to drive the transformation of autocratic
system of Rome and he also had great influence in the western military and political world.
With even the seventh month, July, named after his name.
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Roman Empire: Commodus: Reign of Blood (161-192AD)
 Background
 Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius, who was the Roman Emperor. Marcus
Aurelius was known as the last emperor of Pax Romana and one of the five good
emperors.
 Born in the purple, Commodus had the most comfortable lifestyle possible and he led a
promiscuous life.
 Training for the throne – dual leadership for Rome
 To train his son, Aurelius decided to send his son to Germania for war to train him. He
viewed Commodus as his successor even though he was clearly not up to the standard.
 The Romans had tough fights against the German tribes and Aurelius fell sick during the
fights. He had problems with his chest and lungs. There was a spread of rumor that Marcus
Aurelius had died which came into the ear of the most powerful woman in the empire,
Empress Faustina, the wife of Aurelius.
 With Aurelius’ death, any influential governor could revolt and usurp the throne and the
royal family would be at risk of being wiped out. As an attempt to preserve her family,
Faustina decided to go to Egypt to find Avidius Cassius who was the governor of Egypt, also
known as the second powerful man in the Roman Empire and get his protection.
 With the backing of Faustina, Avidius Cassius stroke a campaign to take over the throne.
With the support of Syria, Judea and Arabia regions, Avidius Cassius marched an army to
Rome.
 However, Aurelius didn’t die from the illness. Faustina went back to Aurelius to explain
her rationale of supporting Avidius Cassius but Aurelius refused to accept. Later on, Faustina
committed suicide in the army camp while Cassius was murdered by a centurion.
 After Commodus was groomed in the battlefield, Aurelius and Commodus went back to
Rome and Aurelius endeavoured to teach his son how to handle the politics especially
dealing with senators.
 Aurelius also arranged marriage between Commodus and Bruttia Crispina who was the
daughter of his advisor.
 However, the Germanic tribes fought back even harder and Aurelius and Commodus
were forced to return to the battlefield again.
 Aurelius contracted the Antonine Plague which was the first known pandemic severely
impacted the Roman Empire. And he passed away at the age of 58.
 Sole Ruler of Rome (180 – 192 AD)
 Being the sole ruler, Commodus didn’t continue with the war but to sign treaty with
Germanic tribes to restore peace. This has caused great unhappiness and unrest among the
military generals and the Senate.
 For people with common status like Cleander and Saoterus, they rose to power due to
proximity with Commodus.
 Commodus and the Senate
 After coming back from the warfront at Germania, Commodus was crowned as the
Emperor of Rome but his elder sister Lucilla was unhappy about it as she thought that the
throne should be hers.
 Commodus was fully aware of the responsibility that he had to bear as an emperor and in
order to gain the support of the military, Commodus decided to give the entire army gifts to
purchase their loyalty including land, money and slaves and he asked the Senate for the
backing. Despite the Senate’s agreement, the senator Quintianus decided to allocate the
lands to the soldiers in the name of the Senate and not the emperor as they were
displeased with Commodus’s decision to withdraw from the Germanic war.
 To counter the senators, Commodus made use of the excuse of hosting a day of Games
for the Romans to tax the senators, causing them to suffer from a loss of money. And it
was a successful revenge. However, senator Quintianus, with the backing of Lucilla, didn’t
give up to undermine the emperor.
 Appointment of Saoterus – beginning of jealousy and tragedy –
conspiracy to assassinate Commodus (Quintianus, Lucilla, Cleander)
 Commodus appointed Saoterus as his closest advisor and it made Cleander jealous.
Meanwhile, the senate also felt insulted as now a freedman ruled over them. This probably
was Commodus’s most dangerous move to not have senators in his inner circle.
 Originally Quintianus was hesitant to help Lucilla in getting rid of Commodus but after
the appointment of Saoterus, Quintianus decided to join in the plan, along with other
senators and Cleander who was determined to put away Saoterus and got the position for
himself. And they have agreed to assassinate Commodus on the day of Games.
 On the day of Games, Cleander brought Saoterus to a brothel and he finished his life
there with a knife. However, Quintianus failed to kill Commodus and he was caught alive
by Commodus.
 In order to cover up his involvement in the plot, Cleander killed Quintianus and he later
revealed to Commodus that his sister, Lucilla, was also involving in the planning. After
being exiled to the island of Capri, Commodus ordered the killing of his sister as she was
seen as an imminent threat to the emperor himself.
 Trauma of assassination incident –turning point for Commodus
 After the assassination incident, Commodus kept himself away from the throne and
Cleander attained the position of chief advisor. And Cleander began his plan to gain the
support of the people. He first sold the senate’s seat to his allies which broke the Roman
tradition where the senate’s seats were passed down within elite families.
 Commodus was uninterested about political matters and he was concerned of having an
heir of his. Despite several tries with empress Crispina, she failed to conceive a child.
Commodus had her exiled to Capri. He had affairs with a slave, Marcia.
 While Commodus was enjoying his life, Cleander continued to accumulate power. He
decided to come up with a purposeful food shortage in Rome. He ordered the redirection of
shipment of grains from Egypt, stashing them away for the right moment. However, he
failed to predict that the famine situation in Rome had led to the return of the plague.
 Greed of Cleander – leading to his death
 Despite instruction from Commodus to increase the grain, Cleander believed that he still
had time and decided to stick with his plan.
 The Romans were extremely unhappy with Cleander of whom Commodus trusted with
food supply and they began putting up graffiti criticizing Cleander. And such public anger
had even reached the ears of Commodus.
 Cleander was put to trial and the entire Senate was against Cleander and they were
suspicious of the unnatural famine situation. During the trial, a former servant of Lucilla,
came out to testify against Cleander that he was also involved in the plot of assassination
of Commodus. Being livid, Commodus felt betrayed and he killed Cleander during the trial.
 Although Cleander was killed, the situation in Rome was not any better. Moreover, there
was a fire that broke out at the centre of Rome, destroying ancient Roman buildings. And it
further increased Romans’ anger towards Commodus as the fire was seen as the
punishment from gods.
 14 days of blood – the last attempt to restore Romans’ support –
Mad Commodus
 In a state of hopelessness and devastation, Commodus decided to host 14 days of
games. But what was so different this time was that Commodus
himself was
going to feature in the gladiator fights. He wished to appear victorious in the
fights so that his image among the Romans could be restored and he could be loved again
by his people.
 However, in the eyes of the senate, Commodus was mad. The senator, Cassius Dio,
decided to work out his ways to thwart Commodus from fighting as gladiator. Meanwhile,
Commodus hired Narcissus, who was an invincible Roman gladiator, to train him. On the
eve of the games, Commodus held a feast for all gladiators and despite advices of Marcia,
his mistress and the senators, Commodus still decided to join the games as a gladiator.
 For the gladiator games, Commodus dressed in lion’s skin which represents god
Hercules who killed the mystical lion. He believed that he would have the skill and power of
Hercules with him. To mark the beginning of the games, Commodus honored his master,
Narcissus, in front of the 50000 crowd by giving him a wooden sword to symbolize his
invincibility. Narcissus was also lifted to be a freedman.
 After emerging victorious for the first game, it boosted Commodus’s confidence and also
his reputation among the people. He became extremely megalomaniac and he openly defy
the authority of the senate. He also gave Rome a new name: Colonia
Commodiana.
 Commodus’s cheating act  Commodus’s death
 For subsequent games, Commodus remained unbeatable, but it was due to the dulled
sword given to his opponents. After Narcissus knew about it, he angrily confronted
Commodus and accused him of his dishonorable act. Commodus was greatly paranoid. He
was afraid that his reputation would be tarnished once his cheating act was revealed to the
Romans.
 After chasing away the slaves, he recorded down a list of names who knew about his act
and he planned to execute them. However, his mistress, Marcia, got to know about the list
and she quickly told the news to senator Cassius Dio. Dio knew that they had no time to be
lost. He asked a servant to pass a sword to Narcissus who ended Commodus’s life that very
night.
 Pax Romana ended with the death of Commodus and civil wars broke out the year after.
Narcissus was executed for the murder of Commodus while Marcia was sent to death
sentence. However, senator Cassius Dio was able to survive and his writings were the only
few recordings of the Roman society of that time left.
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Rise of Empires: Ottoman Empire—The Conquest of Constantinople
 Background
 When Mehmed II was young, he was forced to separate from his mother, Huma Hatun,
and called to his father’s side who was the sultan of the Ottoman empire. His father’s third
wife, Mara Brankovic, a Serbian princess, adopted Mehmed as her son.
At a young age, his older brother has died and he was viewed as the heir of his father’s
throne. At the age of 12, his father announced for retirement and Mehmed took over the
throne. Being an ambitious sultan, he immediately started the campaign of invading
Constantinople and his idea was confronted by the grand Vizier (PM of a country), Halil
Pasha. Only after a short period of time, Mehmed’s father reclaimed back the throne as he
felt that his son was not ready.
 when Mehmed ii took over his father’s throne in 1451, he was only 19 years old. And his
father’s viziers were unsure of his abilities. In order to gain the support of his viziers, he
decided on a bold and unprecedented military strike which was to conquer Constantinople.
 Planning of the conquest
 The Romans have sent news to Mehmed to ask him triple his yearly payment to them if
not they will release his uncle Orhan who was the legitimate successor of the throne. And
the releasing act will stir up civil war within the Ottoman Empire. Constantine XI wanted to
use such tactic to control Mehmed but he has badly miscalculated.
 Instead of succumbing to the Roman’s request, Mehmed decided to build fortress in the
land of Romans at the European side of Bosphorus Strait. And the fort aimed to cut off all
supplies and military aids to Romans in Constantinople. The fortress was ominously
nicknamed ‘throat cutter’.
 Despite Constantine XI’s diplomatic effort, Mehmed II was determined to invade
Constantinople. Mehmed had the dream of taking over Constantinople since young. His
father has tried but failed. Constantinople is the Red Apple which was a term for a globe
held by a giant statue of Justinian in Constantinople. Constantinople was considered the
centre of the world.
Mehmed has gathered 80000 soldiers and as his secret weapon, he gathered support
from Orban who was a Hungarian and a cannon engineer. Orban had his Basilic which was
one of the largest cannons that has ever built (more than 8m in length). As return, Mehmed
promised to give Orban 40000 ducats. But Orban was only given 3 months to finish
constructing his cannons.
 While on the other side, Constantine XI has summoned Giovanni Giustiniani who was a
Genoese soldier and he was excellent at defending cities.
 Conquest of Constantinople 1453 --- Initial attacks
 On the Easter, 2nd April 1453, Mehmed marched his troops to Constantinople and
besiege the city. The Romans inside the walls of Constantinople were terrified at the
countless Ottoman troops. Within the Ottoman troops, the janissary was the most
important force. They were the elite force of the Ottoman army and they were also the first
standing army in the history.
 Mehmed sent delegates to Constantine to ask them to surrender but he refused. As a
result, the besiege started on the 8th of April 1453. Mehmed asked his cannon fleet to
constantly fire at the outer walls of Constantinople. And the Romans had not seen such
artillery strikes before.
 To alleviate the artillery pressure, Giustiniani gathered his mercenaries and took revenge
on some of the Ottoman troops.
 Mehmed decided to end the besiege quickly; he didn’t want to drag the war longer for
three reasons: 1. There were reinforcement armies coming from the West. 2. His grand
Vizier, Halil Pasha, was extremely against the war against the Romans. 3. He didn’t want a
lot more bloodshed.
 As a result, on the 6th day of the besiege, Mehmed decided to attack the walls of
Constantinople with infantry attack. As the night came, they lit fire and sang loudly and in
response to that, Giustiniani brought his troops to defend the moat. The Ottoman troops
mainly consisted of the janissary who used archery and javelins and wore light armour.
Whereas for Giustiniani’s troops, they were dressed in heavy armour and held big sword.
The Romans fought off the Ottoman troops with ease.
 Conquest of Constantinople 1453 --- Naval attack + Tunnel
 With multiple failure attempts to take over the city, Mehmed decided to resort to the
navy. With a fleet of 100+ ships, they have greatly outnumbered that of the Romans which
was about 30 ships. With 4 ships from Genoese that carried supplies and soldiers, the
admiral Baltoghlu was tasked to stop the western ships to pass into the Golden Horn. The
Golden Horn was the harbour of Constantinople with a long metal chain built. If enemy
ships tried to enter Constantinople, the chain would be pulled up and blocked the
movement of the ships. On the other hand, when allied ships arrived, the chains would be
lowered down to allow them to pass through.
 However, despite valiant attacks, the four supply ships still made through the Golden
Horn and it greatly boosted the morale of the besieged city.
 On the other hand, the Ottomans were down in spirit and with three weeks of besiege,
they have yet taken down the city.
 Mehmed has also employed hundreds of Serbian miners to dig a tunnel into
Constantinople but the Romans were smart enough to locate them by observing the waves
of a bucket of water. Dozens of miners were exposed and died in the tunnel.
 Conquest of Constantinople 1453 --- Shift of focus
 Meanwhile, his stepmother, Mara Brankovic, has sent a message to Mehmed that the
Balkans were also joining the fight against the Ottomans. And under such dire
circumstances, Mehmed had to make his decision swiftly.
 One day, Mehmed was inspired and he came out with a genius plan. Instead of trying to
break through the chains at the Golden Horn, he decided to move his ships to the other
side of the harbour such that they could reach the harbour easily. However, in order to do
it, the Ottomans had to transport their ships on land through the region of Galata which
was part of the Genoese region.
 To silence the Genoese in Galata, Mehmed summoned its governor Lord Lomellini and
asked him to silence the spies in his cities and if he failed to do so he would destroy Galata
as well. Galata, being a city for merchants and trade, it depends on good relationship with
both the Romans and the Ottomans. And Lomellini agreed.
 During the day, Mehmed used cannon blast to cover the sound of chopping down of
wood and he did it behind the mountain so that Constantinople and Galata could not see it.
Meanwhile, he lay the wood on the ground and greased them so that the wood could be
used to roll the ships from one end to the other end.
 On the 22nd of April, Mehmed was able to transport all his ships within one night to the
other side of the Golden Horn. The soldiers in Constantinople were greatly terrified.
 In order to counter the ships, Giustiniani planned a sudden ambush on the Ottoman’s
ships with Greek fire and the plan was entrusted to a Venetian naval officer, Giacomo Coco.
However, the plan was delayed a few days to 28th April as the Genoese wanted to join the
ambush as well.
 A spy ran out of Constantinople and she was caught by the Ottomans. She revealed the
planned attack to Mehmed. Furthermore, Lord Lomellini betrayed the Romans and he told
the planned ambush to Mehmed and he made thorough preparation. The ambush fleet
suffered great losses and the 200 men on board were almost all killed. And this has greatly
demoralised the Romans.
 Conquest of Constantinople 1453 --- Power of prophecies
 However, as the besiege went on, the morale of both sides were extremely low. And the
battles became more brutal and bloodier.
 Mehmed tried to entice Giustiniani by giving him more lands but he refused. As for
Constantinople, the national treasury was running out and in order to pay the mercenaries,
holy artifacts were burned to mint coins.
 As what Mehmed feared, a Venetian fleet was seen moving towards the Golden Horn,
carrying reinforcement for the Romans. And the situation seemed hopeless for Mehmed.
 However, under such circumstances, ancient prophecies played a crucial role in the
besiege wars. In the ancient Roman prophecies, Constantinople was established by an
emperor Constantine and his mother’s name would be Helena and the last emperor of
Constantinople would also share the same name and the same mother’s name. And
Constantine XI fitted in perfectly.
 Under the persuasion of Halil Pasha, Mehmed was almost swayed to sign a truce with the
Romans but on the fateful day of 22 May, a lunar eclipse appeared. In the Turk’s
prophecies, a bloody moon symbolised victory while in the Roman’s prophecies, a blood
moon appeared before the falling of Constantinople.
 Meanwhile, just hours of the planned assault, there was an apocalyptic sight that lights
appeared to be shining on the roof of Hagia Sophia. This was seen as the glory of God
leaving the city.
 Conquest of Constantinople 1453 --- Final Attack
 On the night of 28th May, 1453, Mehmed began his attack of the city. He first sent bashi
bazouks which were the irregular soldiers to be the cannon fodder and to waste their
energy. He then sent in the regular army. However, both waves of attacks were countered
well by the mercenary. As his last hope, he sent his Janissary and they were able to oppress
the defenders and forced them to retreat to the inner wall.
 One important Ottoman soldier was Ulubatli Hassan who led the attack and was
among the first to reach Constantine city.
 One of the gates of Constantine wasn’t locked and the Ottoman army fought their ways
into the city through that gate. Giustiniani fought valiantly but he didn’t manage to stop the
Turks. After getting shot by an arrow, he decided to run away, leaving Constantine XI alone.
 Constantine XI decided to fight on and he died on the battleground. On 29th May, after
many hours of bloodshed, the Ottomans were able to conquer the city of Constantinople
and Mehmed II entered the city, naming himself the new Caesar of Rome. The relief fleet
from Venetian army, however, was only at the Aegean when Constantinople fell.
 After Mehmed II entered the city, he first visited Hagia Sophia and was mesmerized by its
grandeur. Subsequently, he executed the grand Duke of Constantinople and also
imprisoned the grand Vizier, Halil Pasha which was executed 10 days after.
 Mehmed II was known as Mehmed the Conqueror and he was only 21 years old
when he expanded and established his capital in Constantinople which was named to
Istanbul afterwards.
Rise of Empires: Ottoman Empire—Mehmed vs Vlad
 Vlad III was commonly known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula. He was the Voivode of
Wallachia (present day Romania) three times.
 In 1442, Vlad and his younger brother Radu were held as royal hostages in the Ottoman
Empire to secure his father, Vlad II’s loyalty to Murad II.
 Vlad’s father and his elder brother, Mircea were murdered by the boyars who were
members of the ruling nobility.
 When Vlad regained the throne in 1456, he began a purge of the Wallachian boyars on
the Eastern banquet. All the men and women attended the banquet were impaled. It sent a
clear warning signal to his political rivals. The incident was later known as the Eastern
Massacre.
 Due to his miserable childhood, he developed a dark personality and he was averse to
the Ottoman empire. Not only did he not pay homage and tribute to Mehmed II every year,
Vlad also impaled the messengers sent by the sultan which clearly indicated his betrayal. His
younger brother, Radu, being in the inner circle of Mehmed, was caught in a dilemma.
 Mehmed later sent Hamza Bey who was the head of an army to bring Vlad back to him.
But he and his army were ambushed by Vlad the Impaler. Together with his men, Hamza
was executed by Vlad.
 Vlad later invaded Bulgaria which was part of the Ottoman empire territory and he killed
tens of thousands of Turks and Bulgarians. He sliced their ears and noses which were
brought to the king of Hungary, king Matthias, as a gift. Vlad decided to side with the
Hungarians and ask for their support against Mehmed II.
 Although King Matthias agreed to Vlad, he was also treating Vlad like Mehmed and will
only support him when he was still useful to him.
 With the backing of the Hungarians, Vlad led his Wallachian armies to enter Giurgiu with
his fluent Turkish and he invaded the place, devastating villages along the Danube River.
More than 23884 Turks and Bulgarians had been killed during his campaign.
 Mehmed was infuriated. He decided to kill Vlad and raise Radu to the throne of
Wallachia. Mehmed II gathered his armies of more than 100000 men and 100 cannons
against Vlad as he took it as a serious insult to his empire. They marched to the southern
bank of the Danube River in Bulgaria and made the cross on 4 June 1462.
 The forefront fleet, led by the grand Vizier, Mahmud Pasha, met with resistance from
Vlad’s troops. The 120 cannons and mortars that the Ottomans had were so advanced in
their pyrotechnic technology. With the relentless push and the constant bombardment,
Vlad had to withdraw his troops further inland.
 After realising that he can’t fight Mehmed upfront, Vlad decided to adopt a hit-and-run
strategy. He hoped to earn himself enough time for the black army of Hungarian to join the
war and attacked the Turks simultaneously. And his primary task was to delay the speed of
the Ottoman troops to reach Targoviste which was the capital of Wallachia.
 Mehmed realised that there might be spies of Vlad inside his inner circle as his landing
plan was known to Vlad beforehand. He decided to get hold of the spy/spies in his camp.
And his suspicion lay upon Radu who was the younger brother of Vlad.
 From Day 3 to Day 7 of the conquest of Wallachia, Mehmed didn’t find any trace of
Vlad’s army. However, what he had seen was destroyed and burnt villages, water bodies
filled with pig slices and killed Wallachians along the road as part of Vlad’s scorching earth
strategy. Only on day 8, Mehmed had seen the impaled scouts that he sent out earlier.
 Meanwhile, Vlad led his army in several light cavalry attacks on the Ottoman army which
inflicted continuous damage to the formation of the army. Mara Brankovic, who was the
stepmother of Mehmed, also made diplomatic visit to Hungary and tried to persuade King
Matthias to stop supporting Vlad. Being the two big empires, any conflict between the
Ottomans and the Hungarians would lead to great costs to both sides.
 At the same time, back in the imperial palace of Ottoman, there was the threat of
assassins and Gulbahar Hatun, the wife of Mehmed, had played a good role in protecting
the prince, Bayezid. Mother Mara was committed to catch the assassin or the spy and she
succeeded in doing that.
 Allegedly Vlad had also resorted to biological attacks to the Ottoman army. He released
prisoners who had tuberculosis and bubonic plague and sent them to the Ottomans’ camps
in an attempt to infect them. This has caused great confusion and fear among the army.
Coupled with the lack of food, it has demoralised some Ottoman troops. And at the same
time, Vlad also suffered the consequences of his own scorched-earth plan. He was
desperate for the help of the Hungarians but what they have sent were only spies.
 As the invasion continued, Mehmed and his armies moved gradually closer to Targoviste.
He devised a plan to capture princess Anastasia who was the wife of Vlad as hostage. And
according to the report of spies, Anastasia was at the Poenari castle. Mehmed sent Radu
with a group of soldiers to neutralise the guards at the Poenari castle. Princess Anastasia
decided to take her own life and she refused to go with Radu to become hostage.
 Vlad came out with a bold and crazy plan to kill the sultan. He planned a night attack on
the Ottoman camps on the night of 16 June 1462 when the Turks were just 8 miles away
from Targoviste. Vlad made his Wallachian armies dressed in the Ottoman’s uniforms and
attacked the tents. Initially the Ottomans weren’t prepared and they suffered great losses.
 However, Vlad and his soldiers failed to attack the court of the sultan and attacked the
tent of Mahmud Pasha instead. According to some chronicles, Mehmed was already
anticipating the ambush from Vlad. Vlad later managed to flee from the failed attack. When
Vlad’s last cast of the dice failed, he knew that he had lost the war.
 Vlad knew that he was unable to defend Targoviste and he fled to the Carpathian
Mountains. When Mehmed was able to attack Targoviste, he was surprised to find that all
the gates of the city were open and there was nobody in the city. Targoviste had been
deserted. What is even more shocking to Mehmed was the forest of corpses outside the city
of Targoviste. There were about 20000 men, women and children that had been impaled
and put on stakes. This was an unprecedentedly gruelling and disturbing scene to the
Ottomans.
 Although Vlad was still alive, his reign came to an end with Radu being appointed as the
Voivode of Wallachia and the boyars supporting him. The Wallachian population also turned
to Radu and he was later known as Radu the Handsome. Mehmed managed to establish a
friendly ally in the Wallachian territory.
 As for Vlad, he fled to the Hungarians for help but he was captured as prisoners from
1463 to 1475. He died on the battlefield in 1476 while fighting for the throne of Wallachia.
Lessons Learnt:
 Unlike Vlad’s brutality, Mehmed decided to show generosity to the surviving soldiers
who were among the first to cross the Danube River. Sometimes in war, generosity could be
even a more powerful weapon than brutality in winning over the hearts and minds of the
people.
 Loyalty bears so much weight. Be it the loyalty towards family members or the loyalty
towards rulers.
 Many people think that the royal people were so privileged and happy to live in dolce
vita but actually many of the royal people live in fear and betrayal. They could face lifethreatening situations at any moment of their lives and they tend to experience trust issues.
 there is no clear right and wrong in wars. However, what is certain is that the winners will
be remembered as national heroes while the losers would be disregarded. This is also the
reason that Vlad Dracula was later portrayed to be a vampire due to his brutal acts and
became infamous.