Rumeli Fortresses
Historical Places of Turkey - Rumeli Fortresses / İstanbul
In 1451 the Ottoman possessions included most of the Balkans in Europe and western and central Anatolia in Asia. The sultans had set their residence in Adrianopolis (Edirne in today’’s European Turkey, next to the border with Greece and Bulgaria) The Byzantine Empire was limited to the city of Constantinople and to the despotate of Mistrà in southern Greece. In that year Sultan Murat died of a stroke and was replaced by his son Mehmet II, a young man of 19. The new sultan was determined to conquer Constantinople overcoming the contrary advice of key members of the Ottoman court.
The Byzantine emperors did not constitute a threat for Mehmet II, but the conquest of Constantinople could lead to a sort of European crusade to defend or regain the city. Mehmet II did not fear so much a by land attack in the Balkans: in 1444 the Ottomans had already defeated at Varna (a port in Bulgaria) a similar attempt by the Hungarians: on that occasion they had been helped by a Genoese fleet to relocate their armies from Anatolia to Varna. Mehmet II was more worried about the Byzantines getting support from Venice and Genoa in response to appeals by the pope. He knew he had to act quickly and that he needed to ensure Genoa would not scuttle his plans: at that time Venice was at war with Milan and also other influential Italian states were involved in this conflict (including the extremely rich Republic of Florence); Mehmet realized it would take some time before the Italians put aside their rivalries (they actually did so when they signed the peace of Lodi in 1454, one year after the fall of Constantinople).
