Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium. Episode 339. What happened next?

Around 4 a.m. on the 29th of May 1453, the final Ottoman attack began.

The Janissary swarmed around the fifth military gate, piling pressure on the exhausted defenders.

At some point in the next hour, an arrow or bullet managed to penetrate the armour of Giovanni Justiniani Longo.

The Genoese captain was fighting in the front line,

and when he realised he couldn't go on any longer,

he was helped to the back of the mass of Christian bodies.

He passed through the fifth military gate

and made his way towards the Golden Horn to seek medical attention.

Confusion now spread amongst his mercenary company.

Was their general dying, or was he coming back?

Uncertainty caused panic, and as some of the Genoese began to withdraw, the Allied line collapsed.

One after another, Roman and Italian fled towards the gate, and soon a crush of

bodies piled into the opening. Stabbing at their backs were the ecstatic janissaries,

who could finally glimpse the city through the walls which had kept them at bay for the past 53 days.

The Turks poured through the breach, hacking and slashing at

anything that moved. The Roman reserve troops were suddenly thrust into the midst of desperate

hand-to-hand fighting, as were some of the civilians who'd been bringing them water and supplies.

As more and more Turks made their way through the breach, their superior

numbers began to overwhelm the Christian forces. Janissaries, who could step back from the

fray, ordered their comrades to rush along the walls and open some of the other gates. Once a few

had been smashed in, the Ottoman forces outside the walls rapidly entered the city.

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