Mehmet ll (jan 1, 1432 – jan 1, 1481)

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Mehmet ll was an Ottoman emperor who served from 1444 to 1446, then from 1451 to 1481. During his first reign, faces both internal and external crises. The King of Hungary, the Pope, the Byzantine Empire, and Venice succeeded in organizing a Crusade. When the Crusader laid siege to Varna, Mehmet’s father Murad ll came back from retirement and led the army to victory. The Janissaries successfully revolted, but Mehemt continued to consider himself the legal sultan. On his fathers death, Mehmat ascended the throne again. He reinforced the Janissaries and devoted the utmost care to diplomatic and military preparations for the conquest of Constantinople. The commander in chief, Mehmet himself, personally directed the operations against the breach in the city wall. The successful capture of the city bestowed great prestige and glory on Mehmet and he began to view himself as the heir of the Roman Caesars and the champion of Islam. When he entered the city, he went straight to the Hagia Sophia and converted it into a mosque and restored the city, now called Istanbul, as the capital. In order to repopulate the city, he returned the Greeks and Genoise their homes, and after conquering territories in Anatolia and the Balkans which would become the Empires heartland for many years to come, forced part of their populations to settle in Constantinople.

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