Ranting to /dev/null

Heroes of the Great War VI

Constantine XI (February 8, 1404 - May 29, 1453), the last Byzantine emperor, who died defending the walls of Constantinople from the Ottoman Turks.

Constantine wasn't a Greek. He was Serbian, and his hold on the throne was pretty tenuous. He was actually installed by the Ottoman sultan Murad II, who arbitrated a dispute between Constantine and his brother Demetrius. When the Turks under Mehmed II started agitating for control of the city, Constantine begged the West for aid.

This is where the tragedy of the Great Schism probably sees its fullest expression. The West agreed to send military aid of Constantine united the Eastern and Western churches. He did so in 1452, but the legal declaration was vigorously rejected by most of the Byzantine population, and European aid never materialized. The Turks, using their newly perfected cannon, assaulted the city in 1453 and Constantine died leading the final defense of the city on May 29.