Topographical map of Constantinople during the Byzantine period, corresponding to the modern-day Fatih district of Istanbul. The city was known as Byzantium under Roman Empire.

The following is a list of sieges of Constantinople, a historic city located in an area which is today part of Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople was built on the land that links Europe to Asia through Bosporus and connects the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. As a transcontinental city within the Silk Road, Constantinople had a strategic value for many empires and kingdoms who tried to conquer it throughout history.

Originally known as Byzantium in classical antiquity, the first recorded siege of the city occurred in 510 BC by the Achaemenid Empire under the command of Otanes. Following this successful siege, the city fell under the rule of Persians until it won its independence again, and around 70 BC it became part of the Roman Republic, which was succeeded by the Roman Empire. Despite being part of Rome, it was a free city until it became under siege by Septimius Severus between 193–196 and was partially sacked during the civil war. After it was captured by Constantine the Great in 324, it became the capital of the Roman Empire, under the name of New Rome. It later became known as Constantinople, and in the years that followed it came under attack by both Byzantine pretenders fighting for the throne and also by foreign powers for a total of 22 times. The city remained under Byzantine rule until the Ottoman Empire took over as a result of the siege in 1453, known as the Fall of Constantinople, after which no other sieges took place.

Constantinople was besieged 36 times throughout its history. Out of the ten sieges that occurred during its time as a city-state and while it was under Roman rule, six were successful, three were repelled and one was lifted as a result of the agreement between the parties. Three of these sieges were carried out by the Romans who claimed the throne during civil war. Of all the sieges that took place from its founding by Constantine the Great till 1453, only three were successful, 21 were unsuccessful, and three were lifted by reaching mutual agreements. Four of these sieges took place during civil wars. The Sack of Constantinople that took place in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade caused the city to fall and to be established as the capital of the Latin Empire. It also sent the Byzantine imperial dynasty to exile, who founded the Empire of Nicaea. Constantinople came under Byzantine rule again in 1261 who ruled for nearly two centuries. The city was taken by the Ottomans with the siege in 1453, and as a result the Byzantine Empire came to an end. The city has been under the rule of Turks since the last siege, except for the period of Allied occupation from 1920 to 1923.

Sieges

Date Attackers Defenders Forces used Result[lower-alpha 1] Reference(s)
510 BC Achaemenid Empire Byzantium Naval and land Successful [1][2][3][4]
478 BC Delian League Achaemenid Empire Naval Successful [5][6][7][8][9]
408 BC Athens Byzantium, Megara, Boeotia Naval and land Successful [10][11][12][13][14]
340–339 BC Macedonia Byzantium, Athens Naval and land Unsuccessful [15][16][17][18][19]
278–277 BC Galatians Byzantium Land Lifted[lower-alpha 2] [20][21][22][23]
251 BC Seleucid Empire Byzantium, Heraclea Pontica,
Ptolemaic Kingdom		 Naval and land Unsuccessful [24][25][26]
73–72 BC Pontus Byzantium Naval and land Unsuccessful[lower-alpha 3] [29][30][31][32][28]
193–194 Septimius Severus Pescennius Niger Naval and land Successful [33][34][35][36][37]
313 Maximinus II Licinius Land Successful [38][39][40][41][42]
324 Constantine the Great Licinius Naval and land Successful [43][44][45][46]
378 Goths Roman Empire Land Unsuccessful [47][48][49]
626 Pannonian Avars, Sasanian Empire Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [50][51][52]
654 Rashidun Caliphate Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [53][54]
669 Umayyads Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [55][56][57][58]
674–678 Umayyads Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [59][60][61][62]
715 Theodosius III, Byzantine Empire Anastasios II, Byzantine Empire Naval and land Successful [63][64][65]
717–718 Umayyads Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [66][67][68]
813 First Bulgarian Empire Byzantine Empire Land Unsuccessful [69][70][71][72]
821–822 Thomas the Slav Michael II Naval and land Unsuccessful [73][74][75]
860[lower-alpha 4] Rus' Khaganate Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [76][77][78]
907 Kievan Rus' Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [79][80][81]
913 First Bulgarian Empire Byzantine Empire Land Unsuccessful
921 First Bulgarian Empire Byzantine Empire Land Unsuccessful [82]
923 First Bulgarian Empire Byzantine Empire Land Unsuccessful
941 Kievan Rus' Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [83][84][85]
1047 Leo Tornikios Constantine IX Monomachos Land Unsuccessful [86][87][88]
1203 Crusaders Byzantine Empire Naval and land Lifted [89][90][91][92]
1204 Crusaders Byzantine Empire Naval and land Successful [93][94][95][96]
1235–1236 Empire of Nicaea, Second Bulgarian Empire Latin Empire, Duchy of the Archipelago Naval and land Unsuccessful [97][98][99]
1260 Empire of Nicaea Latin Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful [100][98][101][102]
1376 Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Ottoman Empire, Genoa John V Palaiologos Land Successful [103][104][105]
1391 Ottoman Empire Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful[lower-alpha 5] [106][107][108][109]
1394–1402[lower-alpha 6] Ottoman Empire Byzantine Empire Naval and land Unsuccessful[lower-alpha 7] [111][110][112][113]
1411 Musa Çelebi Byzantine Empire Land Unsuccessful[lower-alpha 8] [114][115][116][117]
1422 Ottoman Empire Byzantine Empire Land Unsuccessful[lower-alpha 9] [118][119][120][121]
1453 Ottoman Empire Byzantine Empire Naval and land Successful [122][123][124][125]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The "Result" column is relative to the side that carries out the siege.
  2. ↑ As a result of the agreement reached with the mediator of Bithynia, the siege was lifted.
  3. ↑ While some sources have used Cicero and Tacitus's writings as a reference to argue that the city was in fact under a siege until it "repelled the enemies", other ancient writings found mention that a siege was planned through the sea but did not take place because of stormy weather conditions.[27][28]
  4. ↑ Byzantine sources give 860 and Russian sources give 866 as the year in which this siege occurred, although it is accepted that the latter is wrong.
  5. ↑ The besieging army retreated after Byzantine allies,the Hungarians attacked the Ottoman lands.
  6. ↑ The year in which the siege started is controversial. Fahameddin Başar, Halil İnalcık and Konstantin Josef Jireček gave it as 1394, while Feridun Emecen and Haldun Eroğlu believed that it was 1396. In addition, some sources mention that the siege started in 1391 and ended in 1396, and that between these years, there was only one siege, the severity of which increased and decreased from time to time.[106][110]
  7. ↑ The siege was lifted after Timur attacked the Ottoman lands.
  8. ↑ The siege was lifted after Mehmed Çelebi's move to Rumeli territory to fight against Musa Çelebi.
  9. ↑ The siege was lifted after Mustafa Çelebi's move to Anatolian lands to fight against Murad II.

Notes

  1. ↑ Herodotos (2012). Tarih. Müntekim Ökmen, çev. (8 ed.). İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları. p. 392. ISBN 978-975-458-721-0.
  2. ↑ Vasilev, Miroslav Ivanov (2015). The Policy of Darius and Xerxes towards Thrace and Macedonia. Lahey: Brill. p. 86. doi:10.1163/9789004282155. ISBN 978-90-04-28214-8.
  3. ↑ Kuban, Doğan (1993). "Bizantion". Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 2. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları. pp. 258–260.
  4. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 169.
  5. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 1.
  6. ↑ Arslan 2010, p. 78.
  7. ↑ Harris, Jonathan (2017). Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (2 ed.). Londra: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 26. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2009.00246_52.x. ISBN 978-1-4742-5465-6. S2CID 144417364.
  8. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 538.
  9. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 191.
  10. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 39.
  11. ↑ Arslan, Murat (2011), "Alkibiades'in Khalkhedon ve Byzantion Kuşatması: Nedenleri ve Sonuçları", in Şahin, Hamdi; Konyar, Erkan; Engin, Gürkan (eds.), Özsait Armağanı: Mehmet ve Nesrin Özsait Onuruna Sunulan Makaleler, Antalya: Suna-İnan Kıraç Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Enstitüsü, pp. 9–22, ISBN 978-605-4018-09-3
  12. ↑ Grote, George (2001). A History of Greece: From the Time of Solon to 403 B.C. Londra: Routledge. p. 884. ISBN 0-415-22369-5.
  13. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 119.
  14. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 221.
  15. ↑ Arslan 2010, p. 197.
  16. ↑ Sevin, Veli (2016). Anadolu'nun Tarihi Coğrafyası I (4 ed.). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları. p. 24. ISBN 978-975-16-0984-7.
  17. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 143.
  18. ↑ Tekin, Oğuz (2001). Byzas'tan I. Constantinus'a Kadar Eskiçağ'da İstanbul (2 ed.). İstanbul: Eskiçağ Bilimleri Enstitüsü Yayınları. p. 33. ISBN 978-975-7938-04-0.
  19. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 275.
  20. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 81.
  21. ↑ Arslan 2010, p. 233.
  22. ↑ Arslan 2007, p. 56.
  23. ↑ Arslan, Murat (January–February 2014). "Galatların Byzantion Kuşatması". Aktüel Arkeoloji. İstanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları (37): 68–75. ISSN 1307-5756.
  24. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 92.
  25. ↑ Arslan 2010, p. 243.
  26. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 310.
  27. ↑ Arslan, Murat (2007). Mithradates VI Eupator: Roma'nın Büyük Düşmanı. İstanbul: Odin Yayıncılık. p. 334. ISBN 978-91-20-21979-0.
  28. 1 2 Yavuz 2014, p. 344.
  29. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 129.
  30. ↑ Arslan 2010, p. 343.
  31. ↑ Arslan 2007, p. 334.
  32. ↑ Grillo, Luca (2015). Cicero's De Provinciis Consularibus Oratio. Londra: Oxford University Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-19-022459-2.
  33. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 133.
  34. ↑ Arslan 2010, p. 430.
  35. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 166.
  36. ↑ Freely 2011, p. 109.
  37. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 365.
  38. ↑ Sextus Aurelius Victor (1994). Aurelius Victor: De Caesaribus. H. W. Bird, çev. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 188. doi:10.3828/978-0-85323-218-6. ISBN 978-0-85323-218-6.
  39. ↑ Gibbon, Edward (1988). Roma İmparatorluğu'nun Gerileyiş ve Çöküş Tarihi. Vol. I. Asım Baltacıgil, çev. İstanbul: Bilim, Felsefe, Sanat Yayınları. p. 444.
  40. ↑ Freely 2011, p. 318.
  41. ↑ "İstanbul". Meydan Larousse. Vol. 10. İstanbul: Sabah. 1992. p. 77.
  42. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 387.
  43. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 153.
  44. ↑ Norwich 2013a, p. 45.
  45. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 231.
  46. ↑ Yavuz 2014, p. 393.
  47. ↑ Alexander Van Millingen (31 October 2010). Byzantine Constantinople: The Walls of the City and Adjoining Historical Sites. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-1-108-01456-4. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  48. ↑ Stephen Turnbull (21 August 2012). The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453. Osprey Publishing. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-1-78200-224-6. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  49. ↑ Jane Penrose (2005). Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War. Osprey Publishing. pp. 269–. ISBN 978-1-84176-932-5. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  50. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 95.
  51. ↑ Norwich 2013a, p. 240.
  52. ↑ Reazaei, Iman S. (September 2016). "V.-VII. Yüzyıllarda Bizans-Sâsânî İlişkileri". İraniyat Dergisi. Ankara: İranoloji Derneği Yayınları (1): 18–31.
  53. ↑ O'Sullivan, Shaun (2004-01-01). "Sebeos' account of an Arab attack on Constantinople in 654". Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 28 (1): 67–88. doi:10.1179/byz.2004.28.1.67. ISSN 0307-0131. S2CID 161590308.
  54. ↑ Hoyland, Robert G. (2014-01-01). In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-19-991636-8.
  55. ↑ Jankowiak, Marek (2013), "The first Arab siege of Constantinople", in Zuckerman, Constantin (ed.), Travaux et Mémoires Tome XVII - Constructing the Seventh Century, Paris: Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, pp. 237–320, ISBN 978-2-916716-45-9
  56. ↑ Apak, Adem (July 2009). "Emevîler Döneminde Anadolu'da Arap-Bizans Mücadelesi". Uludağ Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. Bursa: Uludağ Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi. 18 (2): 104. ISSN 1301-3394.
  57. ↑ Unan, Fahri (14 September 2009). "Müslümanlar ve İstanbul". hacettepe.edu.tr. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  58. ↑ Uçar, Şahin (1990). Anadolu'da İslâm-Bizans Mücadelesi. İstanbul: İşaret Yayınları. p. 82.
  59. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 249.
  60. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 115.
  61. ↑ Norwich 2013a, p. 263.
  62. ↑ Hitti, Philip K. (1989). Siyâsî ve Kültürel İslam Tarihi. Vol. II. Salih Tuğ, çev. İstanbul: Boğaziçi Yayınları. p. 320.
  63. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 144.
  64. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 1283.
  65. ↑ Sumner, Graham V. (1976). "Philippicus, Anastasius II and Theodosius III". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Department of Classical Studies. 17 (3): 287–294. ISSN 2159-3159. OCLC 6415521.
  66. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 253.
  67. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 145.
  68. ↑ Norwich 2013a, p. 286.
  69. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 265.
  70. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 188.
  71. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 326.
  72. ↑ Norwich 2013b, p. 28.
  73. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 192.
  74. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 319.
  75. ↑ Norwich 2013b, p. 40.
  76. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 282.
  77. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 322.
  78. ↑ Norwich 2013b, p. 66.
  79. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 287.
  80. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 241.
  81. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 369.
  82. ↑ Runciman 1930, pp. 164–165.
  83. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 289.
  84. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 371.
  85. ↑ Norwich 2013b, p. 129.
  86. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 308.
  87. ↑ Norwich 2013b, p. 248.
  88. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 1289.
  89. ↑ Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 341.
  90. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 518.
  91. ↑ Freely 2011, p. 159.
  92. ↑ Demirkent, Işın (1997). Haçlı Seferleri. İstanbul: Dünya Yayıncılık. p. 172. ISBN 975-7632-54-6.
  93. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 386.
  94. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 520.
  95. ↑ Robert de Clari (1994). İstanbul'un Zaptı (1204). Beynun Akyavaş, çev. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları. p. VI.
  96. ↑ Ayönü, Yusuf (July 2015). "IV. Haçlı Seferi'nin Ardından Batı Anadolu'da Mücadele Eden İki Rakip: İstanbul Latin Krallığı ve İznik İmparatorluğu". Cihannüma: Tarih ve Coğrafya Araştırmaları Dergisi. İzmir: İzmir Katip Çelebi Üniversitesi Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Fakültesi. 1 (1): 13. doi:10.30517/cihannuma.283488. ISSN 2149-0678.
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  98. 1 2 Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 405.
  99. ↑ Vasiliev 2016, p. 592.
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  102. ↑ Freely 2011, p. 168.
  103. ↑ Ostrogorsky 2015, p. 499.
  104. ↑ Hughes 2017, p. 1298.
  105. ↑ Baştav 1989, p. 74.
  106. 1 2 Arslan & Kaçar 2017, p. 387.
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  110. 1 2 Yinanç, Mükrimin Halil (1979). "Bayezid I". İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 2. İstanbul: Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Devlet Kitapları Müdürlüğü. pp. 369–392.
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  125. ↑ Ak, Mahmut; Başar, Fahameddin (2010). İstanbul'un Fetih Günlüğü (2 ed.). İstanbul: Çamlıca Basım Yayın. p. 47. ISBN 978-9944-905-96-1.

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