Title: The Fall of Constantinople Was the True End of the Roman Empire
Headings: The Fall of Constantinople Was the True End of the Roman Empire
The Fall of Constantinople Was the True End of the Roman Empire
Many history books say that the Roman Empire ended in the 5th century, and that is true in one sense. However, the reality, as always, is a bit more complex. The true end of the Roman Empire didn’t materialize till about a thousand years later, with the fall of Constantinople. So, why has Constantinople considered a continuation of the Roman Empire and why did it eventually fall?
The Roman Empire in the East Was Called the Byzantine Empire
The Story of Constantinople
Constantinople at its Height Versus Constantinople in 1453
Common Questions about the Fall of Constantinople
Keep Reading
The Making of Constantinople: Constantine’s “New Rome”
The Sack of Rome, 410 A.D
How Did Constantine Alter the Course of the Roman Empire?

Content: Until now, the walls have always held, repelling siege after siege, attack after attack. Shortly, we hear a new sound, louder and more frightening than any we have heard before—the booming thunder of siege cannon, beginning to pound, shatter, and then breach these great walls. That rumble of great cannon we hear in the distance announces the true end of the Roman Empire. Many educated people think they know about the fall of the Roman Empire, long ago at the start of the medieval period. They believe that the glory that was Rome collapsed when in 410, the Visigoths sacked Rome, or in 455 when the Vandals sacked Rome again, or when finally in 476 Germanic tribes slouched into the imperial capital in Italy and simply deposed the last Roman emperor in the west. Those bare facts are true, but the real story is much more complicated, and actually comes much later. The real end of the Roman Empire as a whole actually happened a thousand years later, at the dawn of our modern age, with the fall of the great imperial city of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. Today this is the city of Istanbul in Turkey. In 1453, it was the focus of a dramatic turning point. Learn more about the turning points in modern history.