The mighty empire smashed the capital of the enemy through a 6-pound gun

The Constantinople citadel has been a symbol of Western civilization since 330 years, and was the capital of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Rome) for a long time, until the Ottomans invented a giant cannon.

According to the National Interest, the collapse of the city of Constantinople (Istanbul, present-day Turkey) in 1453 made a big impact in the West. This event ended the Middle Ages, causing the Byzantine Empire to collapse and paving the way for the rise of the Ottoman Empire to modern times. The world could be very different if the Byzantines successfully defended Constantinople.

Constantinople Castle, after more than 1,000 years of existence, has finally collapsed.

On the road to build the most powerful empire in history, the Ottomans always considered the Byzantine Empire as the number one goal. Geography is the Eurasian bridge that caused Byzantine to gradually collapse under the Ottomans.

Initially, the Ottomans targeted the land of the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor. After annexing much of this land, they crossed the Dardanell Strait, gradually taking over and replacing the Byzantine Empire in the Balkans.

After pacifying the Balkans, the Ottomans returned to occupy the rest of Asia Minor, aiming to conquer the great capital of Constantinople.

Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire, was more than a thousand years old and was the center of the arts, culture and commerce for centuries of the Western world. The Ottoman kings have long longed for this rich and splendid city, but have never been successful because of the towering walls.

To succeed Constantinople, King Mehmet II used giant cannonballs.

After the death of his father, King Murad II in 1451, Prince Mehmet II ascended the throne, directly directing the construction of the giant cannon to break through the walls of Constantinople.

By the 15th century, Europeans had reached the upper hand in the making of guns. Mehmet II recruited the most talented gunsmiths at the time, entrusting the Hungarians Urban to oversee the process of creating giant cannon cannons weighing up to 20 tons , serving the operation to attack Constantinople.

In order to transport huge cannons, engineers at that time also needed matching carriages. Many wooden horse-drawn carriages shattered because of the huge weight of these giant guns.

The largest cannon guns serving the citadel were 8 meters long, firing bullets weighing 600kg. Prior to the battle of 1453, Constantinople had been standing before 20 fortifications, but its huge cannon gave Mehmet a great advantage.

For a 15th-century cannon cannon to function properly , one would need gunpowder made from refined salt . This salt is mixed with sulfur and charcoal to create gunpowder.

Gunpowder manufacturing components are carried away separately and are only mixed together before firing. The range of the giant cannon is nearly 1,000 meters, but for safety reasons, the amount of gunpowder stuffed is limited, firing at a distance of about 250 meters.

The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire.

Wooden shields help cannon gun operators avoid enemy archers or muskets. Because of its size, the recoil of the gun is also relatively large.

After each firing, one must clean the gun, ensuring that they can continue to fire. That means, each 20 ton gun only fires about 5 times a day.

The cannonballs of this period were made of metal with higher damage or made of hard stone. Thanks to these huge cannon guns, King Mehmed II, then only 21 years old, leveled the walls and entered Constantinople after 53 days.

Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos was killed on the spot. The Ottomans wore loot for three days in a row, arresting over 60,000 slaves. Many valuable artworks were vandalized. All Christian statues were replaced by the Muslim altar.

The large cathedral Haya Sophia turned into a mosque. King Mehmed II, impressed by the city of Constantinople, soon ordered the capital's move and changed its name to Istanbul (meaning the city of Islam).