Transcript: Episode 26, Part 1 "Strategic Consequences for the Ottoman Empire after the Conquest of Constantinople 1453"

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Episode 26, Part 1 "Strategic Consequences for the Ottoman Empire after the Conquest of Constantinople 1453" 

Listen to the Episode here: Episode 26, Part 1

“Hello, I'm Frank, creator and host of the Ottoman Empire Podcast. You might have noticed a change in name. Yet again, I found it's been bugging me about what exactly to name this podcast.

But don't fret, it will all be okay. What I'm doing is I'm trying to help with the SEO features of my show to make it more discoverable. And if you're already subscribed and listening, you have nothing to worry about.

Doesn't that sound much nicer to Ottoman Empire Podcast? It's short, it's simple, and I kinda like that better. How can you support the Ottoman Empire Podcast, you ask?

Well, the best way is by joining the Patreon. You'll find a link in the show notes. You can start off in the first tier as a Janissary recruit for just $3 a month.

That gets you early access to every main show of the narrative and exclusive Patreon-only content. Plus, you'll get priority response should you wish to contact me. What is this Patreon-only content Frank is speaking of?

“Well, the best way is by joining the Patreon. You'll find a link in the show notes. You can start off in the first tier as a Janissary recruit for just $3 a month.

That gets you early access to every main show of the narrative and exclusive Patreon-only content. Plus, you'll get priority response should you wish to contact me. What is this Patreon-only content Frank is speaking of?

Well, for one, I am working on a series on the Ottoman Janissaries. It's steeped in primary source material. And believe me, we are going to be diving deep into the legendary elite troops of the Ottoman Empire.

“This isn't going to be yet another military and battle-focused spot on the Janissaries. Nope, we're going to be bringing in the strange Turkish pagan mystic practices, witchery, unheard of figures in the elite core, its rise, mystic origins, and then the dramatic and terrible decimation of it. As a sampler, this is the working title for the first ever exclusive Patreon Extra episode.

I've decided to call it Ottoman Janissaries, the religion of the Sultan's elite part one. This is going to be but a taste of what I am planning out in the future for these extra episodes. Now, I'm still writing the Ottoman Janissary series for the Patreon, but if you head on over there and join up, you can expect to see it drop.

And now, without further ado, let's jump right in.

“Thank Strategic Consequences for the Ottoman Empire after the Conquest of Constantinople 1453, Episode 26, Part 1. In Episode 25, Part 5, we left Sultan Mehmed II off on May 29th, 1453. His troops had finally breached the walls of the famed Theodosian powerhouse.

Constantinople, a Christian stronghold, which had stood for over 11 centuries, had fallen to the forces of the Ottoman Empire. There is much more to say about the events immediately following the conquest of the city, and this would have been from May 29th through June 10th, 1453. This Episode 26, Part 1, I will be covering the strategic consequences of the Ottoman victory from their perspective.

“In next Part 2, we will cover the European side of things after 1453 and set us up for the rest of Sultan Mehmed II's reign. From the Ottoman side, these dates would prove to be pivotal because the decisions made by Mehmed and his advisors, well, these would go on to have very long lasting consequences. Before we get any further along, there is something glaring I'd like to address straight off.

If you spend any time on Instagram or X, formerly Twitter, or if you hang around the YouTube comment section, there have been endless reels, videos and posts about the atrocities committed by Mehmed's forces after the conquest of the Queen of Cities. There are stories of nuns being raped upon the altar at Hagia Sophia, Ottoman troops stealing everything in sight. And many vile and terrible stories about Sultan Mehmed himself, either sexually assaulting this or that attractive young nobleman or children being torn from their parents.

The list could go on and on and on. So, there are some things I'd like us to keep in mind. Well, two things to be exact.

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“First, the only source material on the conquest of Constantinople we have are like 98% secondhand sources from Europe. Now, I'll get into how the news of the fall and subsequent sacking of the city spread in the West. But the only surviving Ottoman source material that we have that was told from the Ottoman point of view is scant and spotty at best.

Just up till the 1960s, it was believed by historians that the Ottomans showed up outside the walls of Constantinople with an army numbering over 250,000. The stupid ass YouTube videos floating around out there, they often love repeating this number for dramatic effect. However, as we saw in episode 25, part 2, which was entitled Ottoman and Byzantine Military Force Posturing, I go into great detail on the type of Ottoman units, their commanders, estimated numbers, all of that.

“And this is based upon contemporary studies in military and Ottoman studies post 1990. At best, I put the Ottoman army to estimate them at about 118,000, far short of what people were saying earlier. So if we're getting things wrong in 2023 and 2024, you can only imagine how wrong the West was in 1453.

And back then, they didn't have the hashtag Eastern Roman Empire, hashtag fall of Constantinople, hashtag saddest day in history. Really Byzantine people, I think it's time to get over ourselves. But what I want to say is that if the Ottoman army was exaggerated, so too were these atrocities.

Now, were atrocities committed? Hell yes. There's no doubt about it.

“The last place I would want to be in history is a civilian in Constantinople on the wrong side of the Theodosian Walls, May 29th of 1453. However, these soared tales of Mehmed chasing young boys, of nuns being violated, et cetera, et cetera. I think it's safe to consign these bins to file 13 in our history folder.

On the other hand, the three day of looting and pillaging did take place by Muslim forces. The amount of suffering endured by the inhabitants was great. Women were sexually assaulted.

People were enslaved. I'm not trying to gloss over this. However, the stories that we're getting, they are just simply exaggerated, they're overblown.

And not only that, but what sources are they basing these on exactly? The second point I would like to make is this. Is that Mehmed didn't want everyone killed, raped and enslaved.

“How in the world was he going to rebuild the city if all of its estimated 30 to 40,000 inhabitants were all massacred? His army, after all, was under 100,000. Especially on May 29th, after all of his casualties.

And what remained of his army? Well, they weren't going to be sticking around for very much longer after the three days of pillage. What he needed were engineers, artisans and the educated class left behind by the Byzantines.

I'll get more into what he had planned for Constantinople in a future episode. Now that we've gotten the whole sack of Constantinople out of the way, and I know I didn't do it justice, but I would like for us right now to step out and up and let's spend the rest of this episode talking about a strategic view of the situation. And I promise we will pick back up and cover Mehmed's next moves and subsequent campaigns in a later episode.

“For now, this episode is dedicated to the Ottoman strategic point of view. There were four main significant events that I was able to research that would have drastic consequences for Mehmed and the Ottomans after their successful siege of Constantinople. Divided up, these were religious, military, economic, and settling some old scores.

From the religious angle, and I've said this in a previous episode, for the past 100 years, the Ottoman dynasty had lacked a certain kind of prestige. They'd lacked a gravitas, or legitimacy, from their Islamic neighbors. If you lived in places like Persia, Syria, and Mamluk Egypt, you kind of looked down your nose at the Ottomans and viewed them as nothing more than nomadic upstarts.

“We can see this in the surviving official diplomatic exchanges, treaties, and marriage arrangements. The other Islamic powers always pushed back at the Sultan's claim of titles of Khan and Lord of the World. They never missed an opportunity to undermine Ottoman power vis-à-vis the Karmanids, and generally sided with outside powers against the Ottomans at every opportunity, like they did with Tamir against Sultan Bayezid I in the early 1400s.

The basic view of the Islamic East is that they saw the Ottomans at heterodox at best and outright pagan Turkish heretics at worst. The Ottomans, despite their coming next two centuries of unparalleled Islamic military successes, could never shake their origins as dusty riders of the steppe and their neighbors, then subjects, never stopped reminding them of this fact. However, with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed could now confidently look his Muslim counterparts in the eye.

Military success bred respect and the military successes in taking Constantinople did cause the rest of the Muslim world to go, wait, what? The Red Apple of the West fell to the Ottomans? They began to take notice.

“Another religious consequence for Mehmed was there was a strange Frank Herbert Paul Atreides effect taking place. The old prophecy floating around of an extremely successful Muslim ruler taking the Red Apple of the West was seemingly making the rounds again, and now the Red Apple of the West was being transformed, not from Constantinople, but further north and west, Rome even. The Bektashi military order, the Islamic Heterodox sect practiced by the Janissaries, left the Janissary barracks and any aspiring administrator, state official, or generally intelligent and ambitious person, sought the endorsement of the Bektashi religious leaders.

All this meant that a distinctly Ottoman version of Islam was rapidly developing within the Turkish state, and this version of Islam would spill outwards, causing conflict with Mehmed's Islamic neighbors. Next up we talk about the military. In episode 25, part 5, we talked about the assaults which finally brought down the city.

And it wasn't the awesome cannons, despite what YouTube videos tell us. It was the flexible strategy employed by Mehmed and his top officers. In other words, it was basics and not bling.

“Mehmed's commanders, while still focusing on the bling part, would also give due attention to the basics. After the campaign at Constantinople, the Ottoman army doubled down in the arts of weather prediction, logistics, advance guards to set up a vanguard of tents, training and establishing specialist schools. In other words, the Ottoman military was about to turn into a complete military badass.

There would be yet another expansion of the Janissary Corps as well, and further expansion of the Bektashi Order. Also seen in vast expansions were the various technical branches of the Ottoman military. In addition to the military consequences of the conquest of Constantinople, there would also be really positive economic consequences for the Ottomans moving forward.

“First, the Ottomans now had almost 100% chokehold on what historians would call the Silk Trade coming from China, which wound its way through India, then Persia, and subsequently through the erstwhile Byzantine city of Constantinople. The Silk Trade, also called the Silk Road, was the overland route taken from China and into Europe, as I just said. Carried along this route were Chinese goods produced, which were very, very valuable.

It would make its way over to the Europeans, who would then pay for this in gold and silver, between middlemen, merchants and others. The regional powers along the way of this trade, the Mughals in India, later the Safavids in Persia, and of course our friends, the Ottomans, all controlled a chunk of this route, and they could tax the goods, services and collect money. It was a lucrative deal for all parties.

“There were two most important points along the silk trade, the starting point in China and the final terminus, which would spill into Europe. This final stop-off point, the Ottomans now controlled with Constantinople. Now, I know that there were two other terminal points, in Alexandria and Beirut, but as the Ottomans expanded their control, thanks to Mehmed, they would have been almost near control of the silk trade.

What this meant for the Ottomans was basically this. They were now about to get filthy, stinking, wealthy. Before the Ottoman dynasty was what we'd consider rich.

However, in this quote, rich, end quote, was more like a starter basketball or professional football player rich. As the American comedian Chris Rock said in a stand-up special, you got Michael Jordan rich and then you got the person writing Michael Jordan's checks. And that's where the real wealth is.

“The Ottomans right now experience an exhausted army and a very hungry sultan. But the real superpower was in building wealth is about to come on down the line. The greater one's wealth, the greater one's ability to purchase superior technology and spies that floated around in the European and Islamic courts.

It didn't feel like the Sultan Mehmed in June of 1453 like he was very wealthy. His coin was about to be debased so he could make good on all his promises of payment. And let's remember what happened last time to the young sultan in 1445 when he tried debasing the coinage.

It didn't go over very well. But in the next five and 20 years into the future, believe me, the wealth was about to come rolling in. The next consequence is the entire Ottoman state apparatus was about to get a major overhaul.

“This would take the course of Mehmed's reign, but the engines would really get rolling on June the 1st, 1453. The venerable old statesman, de facto leader of the old guard of the conservative policymakers, Candarli Halil Pasha, was summoned before Mehmed on May 31st, 1453. Just a mere two days after the conquest, the soldiers could be heard outside Mehmed's headquarters, which, I'd like to add, were located in the palace of the late Emperor Constantine.

The soldiers outside were clamoring and cavorting and carrying on. To the player of Janissary bands outside, Mehmed publicly accused Halil of treachery, in the form of accepting bribes from his Byzantine counterparts, and, with much grim satisfaction in his voice, ordered his execution. This would be a stunning end to a man who had spent his entire life in service to the Ottoman state.

Well, let's be real as well. More likely, his service to the Ottoman state also included enriching his lands and putting his family in important positions of power in Anatolia. Candarli Halil Pasha's advocacy for peace with the Byzantines, the role he played in getting Mehmed deposed from the sultanate in 1446.

“Well, all these chickens were coming home to roost. It wasn't just Halil Pasha who was put to death. Mehmed had several of his close associates executed.

These were probably trumped up charges. The rest of Halil's supporters, those middle ranked men not powerful enough to really warrant their head being separated from their body. Well, the Sultan ordered them stripped of their rank, offices, and turned out of the city gates.

Another significant consequence of Halil's execution was that he would prove to be the very first Grand Vizier to be executed by a Sultan, but certainly not the last. Up till Mehmed, the position of Grand Vizier wasn't just as a king's hand. The Grand Vizier often represented the interests of the most powerful families from Anatolia and also Rumelia.

“The old Turkish power houses who had put the Ottomans in charge in the first place over a century prior. These great noble houses who had stood by the Ottoman dynasty after the terrible defeat at the hands of Timur. The same great houses who held the Empire together during what we call the Ottoman Interregnum or Civil War period.

In just a decade past, if a sultan would have executed his Grand Vizier, then all the great families of Anatolia would have ridden out with their host and they would have assaulted Berja and Edrine and put an end to the Ottoman dynasty. Yet, with the conquest of Constantinople, the steadily corroding of the large estates in Anatolia first by Murad II, then the sidelining by Mehmed II of the families. Well, the leading families of the Ottoman Empire was still powerful and something to be respected.

“But, as far as Mehmed was concerned, respect wasn't equal to fear. From now on, the Grand Viziers would still hail from powerful families from time to time. But the rule from now on would be that the sultan was going to start drawing from the slave class of masterful administrators, generals and managers to do the bidding of the Ottoman state.

After the execution of Halil, Sultan Mehmed announced he had no need to call a council and receive the input of the grand old families from Rumelia and Anatolia. Note, he was going to appoint on the spot his old friend and buddy and really superb military leader of the Janissaries. Zaganos is the new Grand Vizier.

“The appointment of Zaganos had another effect too. Every single middle manager and military officer of the Empire suddenly were able to dream dreams of themselves obtaining such high rank as Grand Vizier for themselves. Zaganos, although not a nobody, was of considerably lower social and political rank than the pedigree of previous Grand Viziers.

And Mehmed let it be known to all, he chose Zaganos based on his skills as an administrator, military tact and leadership, and most important of all, his steadfast loyalty to Mehmed. Yep, things are a changing for sure.

“I'd love to hear your feedback. Next episode, there will be part two, where we will pivot to Europe and explore the consequences of the fall of Constantinople and the Europeans' plans for dealing with the Ottomans. In episode 27, we're gonna pick back up again and explore the military campaigns of Mehmed and to the Balkans, where we're finally gonna settle a count with the world's favorite vampire, Count Dracula.

Although the real vampire wasn't a count, he was a prince, but oh well. If you've enjoyed this episode, please consider joining the Ottoman Empire Podcast Patreon page. Thank you very much."