1453 The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

For over a thousand years, Constantinople had been the center of the Western world and the defense of Christianity against Islam. But in 1453, Mehmet II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, rallied the forces of Islam, determined to take the city by siege. Armed with new weaponry, 80,000 Muslims in April 1453 began their strike against a mere 8,000 Christian troops led by Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium. After weeks of constant bombardment, the city fell and the world changed, marking the end of Byzantium and the end of the medieval world. Impeccably researched, 1453 is a vivid, intense tale of courage and cruelty, of technological ingenuity, endurance, and luck. But it is also the story of this moment and the crucial link it provides in the chain of events that connects the historic confrontations of the Mideast to the modern world. Book jacket.

Roger Crowley was born in 1951 into a naval family and educated at Cambridge University. The author of numerous bestselling books, including 1453 and Empires of the Sea, Crowley lives near Stroud, UK.