The Fall of Constantinople

Breaking Constantinople's walls was impossible until a 21-year-old changed everything. Mehmed II inherited the Ottoman throne and immediately became obsessed with taking the Byzantine capital. The city's triple walls had stood for 1000 years, defeating every army that tried. But Mehmed built the largest cannon ever - 27 feet long, firing 600 pound stone balls. After 53 days of bombardment, the walls finally crumbled. On May 29, 1453, Mehmed rode through the breach, renamed it Istanbul, and turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The medieval world's greatest city had fallen to history's youngest conqueror.