1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

by Roger Crowley

If you want to recover the places which you lost long since, try this. But know this: you will make no headway in any of these things. All that you will achieve is to lose what little you still have.

real. To the army fell the prospect of completing a messianic cycle of history, a persistent dream of the Islamic peoples since the birth of Islam itself, and of winning immortal fame.

Both sides saw themselves engaged in a struggle for survival against a foe intent on destroying the world.

Facts about the great siege shade easily into myths.