1
00:00:29,362 --> 00:00:31,448
[soldiers roaring, grunting]

2
00:00:38,038 --> 00:00:39,998
[soldiers crying out]

3
00:00:45,295 --> 00:00:46,296
[horse neighs]

4
00:01:05,607 --> 00:01:08,068
[soldiers shouting]

5
00:01:08,651 --> 00:01:11,029
[man] Your city is ours!

6
00:01:11,112 --> 00:01:12,363
[soldiers yelling]

7
00:01:24,626 --> 00:01:26,711
[man] Constantinople.

8
00:01:28,463 --> 00:01:30,799
Either I conquer you...

9
00:01:31,466 --> 00:01:34,427
or you conquer me.

10
00:01:43,103 --> 00:01:45,772
[man 2] Come... my son.

11
00:01:47,148 --> 00:01:48,358
[man] Father?

12
00:01:49,234 --> 00:01:50,401
Constantinople.

13
00:01:51,611 --> 00:01:53,196
Why didn't you believe in me?

14
00:01:53,822 --> 00:01:56,157
-[woman] They betrayed you.
-[man 2] My son.

15
00:01:56,241 --> 00:01:57,700
[man] ...believe in me?

16
00:01:57,784 --> 00:02:00,286
-[man 3] This is madness!
-[man] No!

17
00:02:00,370 --> 00:02:03,873
-[echoing] Constantinople...
-[woman] Mehmed!

18
00:02:03,957 --> 00:02:06,668
[man] Am I to take Constantinople?

19
00:02:07,293 --> 00:02:10,338
[overlapping voices]

20
00:02:10,421 --> 00:02:12,715
-[roaring]
-No!

21
00:02:12,799 --> 00:02:15,677
-[voices echoing]
-[panting]

22
00:02:25,603 --> 00:02:27,480
[man roaring]

23
00:02:31,151 --> 00:02:32,986
[panting]

24
00:02:37,699 --> 00:02:38,950
[coughing]

25
00:02:41,703 --> 00:02:43,037
[horse neighing]

26
00:02:48,501 --> 00:02:50,753
[thunder crackling]

27
00:03:01,806 --> 00:03:03,183
[man] Constantinople.

28
00:03:06,269 --> 00:03:08,646
[narrator]
Every empire has a beginning

29
00:03:08,730 --> 00:03:12,859
forged of blood, steel,
fortune and conquest.

30
00:03:12,942 --> 00:03:17,280
In 1453, Roman Emperor Constantine XI

31
00:03:17,363 --> 00:03:19,908
and Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II

32
00:03:19,991 --> 00:03:22,410
wage an epic battle for Constantinople.

33
00:03:23,494 --> 00:03:26,748
Twenty-three armies have tried
to take the legendary city.

34
00:03:26,831 --> 00:03:28,458
All have failed.

35
00:03:28,541 --> 00:03:31,753
Out of the carnage,
one ruler will emerge victorious

36
00:03:31,836 --> 00:03:36,174
and change the course of history
for the next 300 years.

37
00:03:36,841 --> 00:03:40,887
For one empire to rise,
another must fall.

38
00:03:55,652 --> 00:03:57,528
Constantinople is a city...

39
00:03:58,196 --> 00:04:00,156
just destined to be
the center of the world.

40
00:04:01,908 --> 00:04:04,744
It's the hinge: Asia, Europe,

41
00:04:04,827 --> 00:04:06,996
Black Sea, the Mediterranean,

42
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,707
the Balkan world, Italian city-states...

43
00:04:10,333 --> 00:04:11,793
It's like there's a butterfly,

44
00:04:11,876 --> 00:04:14,087
and Constantinople is the body
of the butterfly.

45
00:04:16,172 --> 00:04:18,967
[woman] Constantinople is a concept.

46
00:04:19,050 --> 00:04:21,886
It's more than just a strategic place.

47
00:04:22,637 --> 00:04:26,975
It represents layers of empire,

48
00:04:27,058 --> 00:04:30,270
it represents layers of civilizations

49
00:04:30,353 --> 00:04:32,855
that have been embedded in it.

50
00:04:34,524 --> 00:04:35,775
[man] In the Mediterranean,

51
00:04:35,858 --> 00:04:38,569
the largest city
has always been Constantinople.

52
00:04:38,903 --> 00:04:41,489
This was always cited
as the Promised Land.

53
00:04:42,115 --> 00:04:45,660
Whoever holds Constantinople,
he will be the ruler of the world.

54
00:04:46,786 --> 00:04:48,496
[narrator] In 1451,

55
00:04:48,579 --> 00:04:53,376
Constantinople's protector and ruler
is Emperor Constantine XI.

56
00:04:54,085 --> 00:04:55,962
[man 2]
There were few people more autocratic

57
00:04:56,045 --> 00:04:58,339
and absolutist
than Eastern Roman emperors.

58
00:04:58,423 --> 00:05:01,551
They literally stood halfway to heaven,
between God and man,

59
00:05:01,634 --> 00:05:03,928
they were God's sword-arm on Earth.

60
00:05:04,554 --> 00:05:07,557
Constantine XI, he's very brave,

61
00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,977
and the principle for which he will
sacrifice literally everything else

62
00:05:11,060 --> 00:05:13,521
is the preservation of Constantinople.

63
00:05:13,855 --> 00:05:15,648
[narrator]
Twenty-three enemy armies

64
00:05:15,732 --> 00:05:18,693
have tried to take
the legendary walled city and failed.

65
00:05:20,028 --> 00:05:23,114
The biggest threat to the Romans'
1100-year reign

66
00:05:23,197 --> 00:05:26,242
are their longtime foes, the Ottomans.

67
00:05:26,326 --> 00:05:29,454
Former Anatolian warlords and nomads

68
00:05:29,537 --> 00:05:31,539
who've built a burgeoning empire

69
00:05:31,622 --> 00:05:34,083
reaching all the way
to Eastern Europe...

70
00:05:35,251 --> 00:05:36,461
[thunder crashing]

71
00:05:36,544 --> 00:05:41,007
The death of Ottoman Sultan Murad II
in 1451

72
00:05:41,090 --> 00:05:42,884
unleashes a chain of events

73
00:05:42,967 --> 00:05:45,261
that will soon bring the Ottomans
and Romans

74
00:05:45,345 --> 00:05:46,929
to the brink of war.

75
00:05:54,604 --> 00:05:58,900
Two hundred miles away,
Sultan Murad's son, Mehmed II,

76
00:05:58,983 --> 00:06:01,569
has been serving as governor of Manisa

77
00:06:01,652 --> 00:06:03,279
in the Aegean Province.

78
00:06:05,656 --> 00:06:09,535
The Crown Prince has been living
in semi-exile for several years

79
00:06:09,619 --> 00:06:12,372
after a falling out
with his father's court.

80
00:06:12,455 --> 00:06:13,498
[man] Prince!

81
00:06:14,123 --> 00:06:16,125
I'm rotting out here in the provinces.

82
00:06:18,336 --> 00:06:19,462
[man] My prince--

83
00:06:19,921 --> 00:06:23,841
By the time Alexander the Great was
my age, he'd conquered all of this land.

84
00:06:26,636 --> 00:06:27,637
My prince.

85
00:06:28,179 --> 00:06:30,932
Yes, Zaganos Pasha. What is it?

86
00:06:31,015 --> 00:06:32,016
Your father.

87
00:06:34,310 --> 00:06:36,187
[bird cawing]

88
00:06:38,856 --> 00:06:40,858
There are some whispers

89
00:06:40,942 --> 00:06:43,528
that the grand vizier and the others
in the sultan's court

90
00:06:43,611 --> 00:06:45,947
are discussing plans
for a successor.

91
00:06:46,030 --> 00:06:47,240
Of course they are.

92
00:06:48,491 --> 00:06:49,700
Deceitful scum.

93
00:06:50,660 --> 00:06:52,912
They'd want nothing more
than for me to disappear.

94
00:06:52,995 --> 00:06:54,163
Ready the horses.

95
00:06:54,914 --> 00:06:56,541
We must leave for the capital.

96
00:07:02,046 --> 00:07:04,048
[narrator]
Mehmed sets out for Adrianople

97
00:07:04,132 --> 00:07:05,675
to claim the throne,

98
00:07:05,758 --> 00:07:09,387
uncertain whether he'll be named
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

99
00:07:09,470 --> 00:07:11,681
or have to take the throne by force.

100
00:07:15,143 --> 00:07:17,437
In the Ottoman throne,
any member of the dynasty

101
00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,188
has an equal right to the throne.

102
00:07:19,272 --> 00:07:21,315
There is no established
line of succession.

103
00:07:22,066 --> 00:07:23,568
[man] They had to fight it out,

104
00:07:23,651 --> 00:07:25,820
or be the one
who could establish leadership.

105
00:07:26,904 --> 00:07:28,364
It was survival of the fittest.

106
00:07:38,291 --> 00:07:41,377
[narrator] Mehmed is met
by his father's grand vizier,

107
00:07:41,461 --> 00:07:43,546
Candarli Halil Pasha,

108
00:07:43,629 --> 00:07:45,339
the sultan's right hand.

109
00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:50,720
[Gürkan] The grand vizier
is the prime minister of the empire.

110
00:07:50,803 --> 00:07:53,890
When there is a new sultan
inheriting his father's grand vizier,

111
00:07:53,973 --> 00:07:55,349
there's always a clash,

112
00:07:55,433 --> 00:07:57,310
and that grand vizier
has to be controlled.

113
00:07:57,393 --> 00:07:59,770
If you lose that game,
you become a puppet sultan.

114
00:08:03,983 --> 00:08:05,151
[horse nickers]

115
00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:21,292
-[clicks tongue]
-[horse whinnies]

116
00:08:28,090 --> 00:08:29,258
[Mehmed] Halil Pasha...

117
00:08:30,801 --> 00:08:34,138
it's been a couple years
since I last saw you.

118
00:08:34,222 --> 00:08:35,473
I wish...

119
00:08:36,015 --> 00:08:38,100
it was under better circumstances.

120
00:08:48,528 --> 00:08:49,695
Grand Vizier.

121
00:09:17,473 --> 00:09:18,849
My sultan.

122
00:09:36,158 --> 00:09:39,328
[narrator] After living
in his father's shadow for years,

123
00:09:39,954 --> 00:09:44,000
expectations for the 19-year-old ruler
are crushing.

124
00:09:46,794 --> 00:09:49,839
[Murad]
You have grown since I last saw you.

125
00:09:53,050 --> 00:09:54,302
[young Mehmed]
Father?

126
00:09:56,304 --> 00:09:58,055
[Murad] I've asked too much of you.

127
00:09:58,806 --> 00:10:01,642
The throne will be yours, my son,
when you are ready.

128
00:10:01,726 --> 00:10:02,935
Don't test me, boy!

129
00:10:05,104 --> 00:10:06,564
[man] He's a very young guy.

130
00:10:06,647 --> 00:10:09,317
People didn't know
was he up to the job?

131
00:10:10,234 --> 00:10:12,653
Maybe he wasn't gonna be able
to follow his father,

132
00:10:12,737 --> 00:10:13,946
who was a good warrior.

133
00:10:17,199 --> 00:10:19,577
I promised you your time would come.

134
00:10:20,578 --> 00:10:21,871
[Mehmed] Mother Mara.

135
00:10:22,580 --> 00:10:25,041
[narrator] Mehmed's stepmother,
Mara Brankovic,

136
00:10:25,124 --> 00:10:27,168
is among his closest allies

137
00:10:27,251 --> 00:10:31,172
in a capital anxious to see
how the young sultan will rule.

138
00:10:33,132 --> 00:10:37,011
Do you know what Alexander the Great
said when he took the throne?

139
00:10:39,138 --> 00:10:41,390
"In the end, when it's over...

140
00:10:42,391 --> 00:10:44,644
all that matters is what you have done."

141
00:10:49,148 --> 00:10:50,232
It's yours.

142
00:10:51,442 --> 00:10:53,527
[Goodwin]
When he does come to the throne,

143
00:10:53,611 --> 00:10:55,237
he realizes that he's got a signal

144
00:10:55,321 --> 00:10:58,324
that he's everything
that his father wished him to be.

145
00:11:00,284 --> 00:11:02,078
[man 2] So, what would this kid do?

146
00:11:02,703 --> 00:11:07,249
He says,
"I need a crowning achievement..."

147
00:11:11,796 --> 00:11:13,339
...and what will that be?

148
00:11:18,010 --> 00:11:19,553
Take Constantinople.

149
00:11:20,221 --> 00:11:21,806
The dream of everybody!

150
00:11:37,655 --> 00:11:41,784
They will try and shame you
as the boy they remembered, Sultan.

151
00:11:41,867 --> 00:11:43,994
Yes, they will try.

152
00:11:47,164 --> 00:11:49,208
[narrator] Mehmed's court is divided

153
00:11:49,291 --> 00:11:51,752
between the young advisors
he brings from Manisa,

154
00:11:51,836 --> 00:11:54,296
led by Zaganos Pasha,

155
00:11:54,380 --> 00:11:58,592
and his father's older viziers
who harbor doubts about his leadership.

156
00:11:58,676 --> 00:12:03,681
Those doubts extend beyond the capital
to the Ottoman's many enemies.

157
00:12:03,764 --> 00:12:05,558
[crowd roaring]

158
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,354
[narrator] A rival Turkish warlord
tests the 19-year-old sultan,

159
00:12:10,438 --> 00:12:12,982
raiding Ottoman lands in Anatolia.

160
00:12:13,065 --> 00:12:15,234
[battle cries]

161
00:12:16,026 --> 00:12:18,654
Mehmed and his army
crush the rebellion.

162
00:12:22,324 --> 00:12:26,245
The gravest threat to Mehmed's rule
comes in late 1451

163
00:12:26,328 --> 00:12:29,540
from the Ottoman's old enemy,
the Romans.

164
00:12:32,501 --> 00:12:33,586
[Mehmed] Hasan Pasha,

165
00:12:33,669 --> 00:12:35,212
what news from Constantinople?

166
00:12:35,296 --> 00:12:37,173
What do our spies say?

167
00:12:39,425 --> 00:12:41,844
The Romans have...

168
00:12:42,928 --> 00:12:44,472
sent a request.

169
00:12:44,555 --> 00:12:46,432
What sort of request?

170
00:12:47,266 --> 00:12:49,477
They've threatened
to release your Uncle Orhan

171
00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:52,354
if we don't triple our payments

172
00:12:52,438 --> 00:12:54,648
for his continued safety and upkeep.

173
00:12:55,649 --> 00:13:00,654
Prince Orhan represents this long
Byzantine tradition of diplomacy.

174
00:13:01,655 --> 00:13:04,742
[narrator] Prince Orhan has a claim
to Mehmed's throne,

175
00:13:04,825 --> 00:13:09,205
but the Romans keep him safely tucked away
inside Constantinople

176
00:13:09,288 --> 00:13:12,500
in exchange for a yearly payment
from the Ottomans.

177
00:13:13,209 --> 00:13:16,170
[Sengör]
Prince Orhan is an interesting case.

178
00:13:16,253 --> 00:13:17,838
He was kept a prisoner.

179
00:13:17,922 --> 00:13:22,009
The Romans wanted to use him
against the Ottomans.

180
00:13:22,092 --> 00:13:24,094
When Mehmed comes to the throne,

181
00:13:24,178 --> 00:13:25,471
he's only 19 years old,

182
00:13:25,554 --> 00:13:28,808
no one really knows, uh...
what kind of a ruler he would be,

183
00:13:28,891 --> 00:13:31,393
so Constantine tries to...

184
00:13:31,477 --> 00:13:33,187
uh, tries to threaten him.

185
00:13:33,270 --> 00:13:35,856
It was always a threat that

186
00:13:35,940 --> 00:13:38,859
"If you do something aggressive,
we can send Orhan back

187
00:13:38,943 --> 00:13:41,153
with a little money,
a little support,

188
00:13:41,237 --> 00:13:43,322
and maybe overthrow your throne."

189
00:13:44,532 --> 00:13:46,742
[Crowley] The Romans offset

190
00:13:46,826 --> 00:13:49,453
their weakness
in terms of military strength,

191
00:13:49,537 --> 00:13:50,788
land, and power,

192
00:13:50,871 --> 00:13:54,375
in their ability to stir up civil war

193
00:13:54,458 --> 00:13:56,085
within the Ottoman Empire.

194
00:13:56,168 --> 00:13:57,837
[Sengör]
The question becomes:

195
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,339
"What do you do
in a situation like this?"

196
00:14:00,965 --> 00:14:02,842
[Brownworth]
This is one of the rare moments

197
00:14:02,925 --> 00:14:06,053
where Constantine
badly miscalculates.

198
00:14:06,136 --> 00:14:08,472
This turns out to be
a pretty bad mistake.

199
00:14:09,390 --> 00:14:11,350
[Mehmed] I will build my fort right here.

200
00:14:13,978 --> 00:14:16,063
Sultan, this is not diplomacy.

201
00:14:16,146 --> 00:14:17,690
It's an act of war.

202
00:14:18,274 --> 00:14:21,068
We will control the Bosphorus
and every ship that travels through it.

203
00:14:21,986 --> 00:14:23,863
[narrator]
In response to the Roman threat,

204
00:14:23,946 --> 00:14:26,699
Mehmed reveals his plan
for Rumeli Hisari,

205
00:14:26,782 --> 00:14:28,284
literally translated:

206
00:14:28,367 --> 00:14:30,744
"Fortress in the land of the Romans."

207
00:14:30,828 --> 00:14:34,623
Strategically located on the European side
of the Bosphorus Strait,

208
00:14:34,707 --> 00:14:37,918
the fort cuts off all supplies
and military aid

209
00:14:38,002 --> 00:14:40,337
from Roman allies in the Black Sea.

210
00:14:40,421 --> 00:14:44,216
The fortress is ominously nicknamed
"The Throat Cutter."

211
00:14:44,967 --> 00:14:46,802
Sultan, I urge you to reconsider.

212
00:14:47,595 --> 00:14:50,014
Building a fort on the Roman side
will provoke them--

213
00:14:50,097 --> 00:14:52,308
Anything inside the walls
of Constantinople

214
00:14:52,391 --> 00:14:53,517
belongs to the Romans.

215
00:14:54,018 --> 00:14:55,769
Anything outside those walls

216
00:14:55,853 --> 00:14:56,979
belongs to me.

217
00:15:02,484 --> 00:15:04,403
[Sengör] Candarli didn't like the idea

218
00:15:04,486 --> 00:15:06,155
because he said, "Look, Your Majesty,"

219
00:15:06,238 --> 00:15:09,575
he said,
"Europeans could unite against us.

220
00:15:09,658 --> 00:15:12,077
The pope could send an army
against us.

221
00:15:12,828 --> 00:15:16,790
And while trying to get Constantinople,
we might lose everything."

222
00:15:18,125 --> 00:15:20,711
And Mehmed said, "Piss off."

223
00:15:20,794 --> 00:15:22,504
Yeah... [laughs]

224
00:15:23,088 --> 00:15:27,468
[narrator] The Throat Cutter is completed
in an astonishing four-and-a-half months,

225
00:15:27,551 --> 00:15:31,722
bringing the Ottomans and Romans
a step closer to war.

226
00:15:32,473 --> 00:15:35,601
Emperor Constantine sends emissaries
to Mehmed's court

227
00:15:35,684 --> 00:15:37,770
to protest construction of the fort.

228
00:15:37,853 --> 00:15:40,648
[Brownworth] Some emissary would say,
"This is Roman land.

229
00:15:40,731 --> 00:15:43,317
Your father at least had the grace
to ask permission

230
00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:45,194
before he did something like this."

231
00:15:45,277 --> 00:15:47,154
He sends them away,
he won't even hear them.

232
00:15:47,237 --> 00:15:49,990
So Constantine sends back
more messengers,

233
00:15:50,074 --> 00:15:51,992
this time loaded down with gifts,
and say,

234
00:15:52,076 --> 00:15:53,744
"Can we at least be assured

235
00:15:53,827 --> 00:15:56,288
that this does not herald
an attack on Constantinople?"

236
00:16:10,636 --> 00:16:12,137
[grunts]

237
00:16:12,221 --> 00:16:13,722
[panting]

238
00:16:15,265 --> 00:16:17,226
[blacksmith's hammer clanking]

239
00:16:23,607 --> 00:16:25,943
[Brownworth]
Mehmed decapitates the advisors

240
00:16:26,026 --> 00:16:28,946
and let's Constantine
draw his own conclusion.

241
00:16:29,029 --> 00:16:32,074
[angry chatter in court]

242
00:16:34,994 --> 00:16:36,912
[nobleman] This cannot go unanswered!

243
00:16:38,831 --> 00:16:41,542
We must teach the child a lesson!

244
00:16:41,625 --> 00:16:43,836
[man] Then he will taste the Roman slap.

245
00:16:43,919 --> 00:16:44,920
[laughter]

246
00:16:45,004 --> 00:16:46,755
And who will deliver that slap, pray tell?

247
00:16:48,298 --> 00:16:49,299
You?

248
00:16:50,884 --> 00:16:53,721
Mehmed is a menace,
but force is not the answer.

249
00:16:54,430 --> 00:16:58,183
We must avoid confrontation
until Catholic help arrives from Europe.

250
00:16:58,726 --> 00:17:01,520
If the Catholics are our only hope,

251
00:17:02,187 --> 00:17:03,397
we are doomed.

252
00:17:05,774 --> 00:17:07,985
[man 2] The right-hand man of Constantine

253
00:17:08,068 --> 00:17:10,237
was Loukas Notaras.

254
00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:12,906
He held the position of grand duke,

255
00:17:12,990 --> 00:17:15,951
which was the equivalent
of the Ottoman vizier

256
00:17:16,035 --> 00:17:17,786
or a prime minister.

257
00:17:17,870 --> 00:17:19,913
[Notaras]
I'd rather see a sultan's turban

258
00:17:19,997 --> 00:17:22,207
than a cardinal's cap
inside these walls.

259
00:17:23,834 --> 00:17:25,794
[narrator] Constantinople is the center

260
00:17:25,878 --> 00:17:27,880
of Orthodox Christianity.

261
00:17:27,963 --> 00:17:30,424
Like most of the city
and the emperor's court,

262
00:17:30,507 --> 00:17:33,010
Notaras is Greek
and Orthodox Christian,

263
00:17:33,093 --> 00:17:36,013
and distrusts
the European Catholic Church,

264
00:17:36,096 --> 00:17:39,266
a schism dating back four centuries.

265
00:17:39,349 --> 00:17:41,060
Faced with the Ottoman threat,

266
00:17:41,143 --> 00:17:45,022
the city desperately needs soldiers
and ships from the pope.

267
00:17:45,105 --> 00:17:48,192
-[hushing crowd]
-[crowd murmuring]

268
00:17:52,821 --> 00:17:54,740
We are all brothers
in the eyes of God.

269
00:17:56,450 --> 00:17:59,912
At this moment,
we have emissaries sent to the Vatican

270
00:17:59,995 --> 00:18:03,499
and all the courts of Europe
securing aid for our defense.

271
00:18:04,208 --> 00:18:07,461
Already, there are generous troops
bound for the city--

272
00:18:08,128 --> 00:18:09,254
the first of many.

273
00:18:10,339 --> 00:18:11,840
With God's Grace,

274
00:18:11,924 --> 00:18:14,510
the pope will be sending troops
in the coming weeks.

275
00:18:14,593 --> 00:18:17,346
-[nobleman] Long live the emperor.
-[all] Long live the emperor!

276
00:18:17,638 --> 00:18:20,974
[narrator] Notaras is the wealthiest man
in Constantinople,

277
00:18:21,058 --> 00:18:24,478
with business interests ranging
from Anatolia to Italy.

278
00:18:24,561 --> 00:18:27,815
No one has more to lose
in a war with the Ottomans.

279
00:18:27,898 --> 00:18:30,109
Send this to our Turkish friend.

280
00:18:33,737 --> 00:18:35,948
[bird warbles]

281
00:18:39,952 --> 00:18:42,996
[horse nickers, snorts]

282
00:18:49,044 --> 00:18:50,420
[coins jingle]

283
00:19:00,222 --> 00:19:02,891
[chatter, laughter]

284
00:19:09,022 --> 00:19:11,441
[Candarli Halil]
You slippery Greek goat fucker.

285
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:17,531
Halil Pasha.

286
00:19:28,125 --> 00:19:30,460
[Goodwin]
Candarli Halil was the grand vizier

287
00:19:30,544 --> 00:19:32,713
and an experienced older statesman.

288
00:19:32,796 --> 00:19:35,132
Also known as Halil the Greek...

289
00:19:35,215 --> 00:19:39,303
because he didn't really want Mehmed
to conquer Constantinople,

290
00:19:39,386 --> 00:19:41,138
he didn't think
it was a useful thing to do.

291
00:19:41,221 --> 00:19:44,725
Or maybe he'd been bribed by the Greeks
to kind of divert Mehmed.

292
00:19:45,684 --> 00:19:47,853
[Nataras]
I'm glad you could make it, Pasha.

293
00:19:52,191 --> 00:19:53,859
Though by the look on your face,

294
00:19:53,942 --> 00:19:56,361
it's not with good tidings.

295
00:19:58,739 --> 00:20:00,365
The sultan won't be swayed.

296
00:20:02,618 --> 00:20:05,120
[sighs deeply]

297
00:20:05,204 --> 00:20:07,497
A war is bad for all of us.

298
00:20:08,665 --> 00:20:10,876
And your interests in the city.

299
00:20:12,669 --> 00:20:14,588
Peace is much more profitable.

300
00:20:17,799 --> 00:20:19,968
[Candarli Halil] He is arrogant, young,

301
00:20:20,052 --> 00:20:22,179
convinced he'll conquer the West,

302
00:20:22,763 --> 00:20:24,848
just as Alexander conquered the East.

303
00:20:27,684 --> 00:20:29,228
[chuckling]

304
00:20:29,311 --> 00:20:31,521
[Philippedes] Loukas was probably

305
00:20:31,605 --> 00:20:34,942
the richest man in all of the Balkans.

306
00:20:35,025 --> 00:20:37,402
He tried to play every side.

307
00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:43,242
There's more talk of the emperor
releasing Prince Orhan.

308
00:20:46,828 --> 00:20:50,082
-The emperor is willing to arm him.
-With a wine flask?

309
00:20:50,165 --> 00:20:52,292
[both laugh]

310
00:20:56,964 --> 00:21:00,676
Tell your sultan the emperor prefers
peace with the Ottomans.

311
00:21:00,759 --> 00:21:02,219
I'll make sure of this.

312
00:21:02,886 --> 00:21:05,889
And we can come to terms
to avoid a war.

313
00:21:10,978 --> 00:21:11,895
But...

314
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:14,898
if the sultan is...

315
00:21:15,732 --> 00:21:18,068
hell-bent on taking the city...

316
00:21:19,653 --> 00:21:22,447
I hate to think of you dying by his side

317
00:21:22,531 --> 00:21:25,158
in a war that could have
easily been avoided.

318
00:21:30,163 --> 00:21:32,332
[Candarli Halil]
And if it goes the other way,

319
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:36,586
I'll have a front row seat
for your beheading...

320
00:21:37,629 --> 00:21:39,214
my old friend.

321
00:22:01,528 --> 00:22:03,613
[Mehmed]
I should have his head for this.

322
00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:05,907
Deceitful dog!

323
00:22:06,366 --> 00:22:08,201
Mehmed, patience.

324
00:22:08,285 --> 00:22:11,538
A commodity of which
I have precious little at the moment.

325
00:22:20,464 --> 00:22:22,966
It's wiser to keep him close for now.

326
00:22:23,342 --> 00:22:27,846
Think about the importance
of continuity for a new sultan

327
00:22:27,929 --> 00:22:29,431
who's relatively untested.

328
00:22:29,514 --> 00:22:33,060
To come in and start firing people
and executing them as soon as you get in,

329
00:22:33,143 --> 00:22:34,853
that's not gonna make you many friends.

330
00:22:34,936 --> 00:22:37,314
So in some ways
it's a tactical decision.

331
00:22:37,397 --> 00:22:40,817
You use him for as long as he's useful,
and if he proves useful, great.

332
00:22:40,901 --> 00:22:42,903
If he doesn't, get rid of him eventually.

333
00:22:43,737 --> 00:22:46,198
Perhaps you can use
his carelessness...

334
00:22:47,282 --> 00:22:48,825
to your advantage.

335
00:23:09,179 --> 00:23:10,972
[banging on door]

336
00:23:14,851 --> 00:23:16,436
[Zaganos]
Where is your master?

337
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:17,979
Halil Pasha!

338
00:23:21,316 --> 00:23:22,651
Zaganos Pasha...

339
00:23:24,111 --> 00:23:25,779
what is the meaning of this?

340
00:23:25,862 --> 00:23:29,157
The sultan requests your presence
at the palace.

341
00:23:30,992 --> 00:23:33,745
-Now?
-At once, Halil Pasha.

342
00:23:42,045 --> 00:23:44,131
Give me a moment to dress.

343
00:23:44,214 --> 00:23:45,424
Sure.

344
00:24:09,531 --> 00:24:10,740
[Zaganos] Sultan.

345
00:24:10,824 --> 00:24:12,325
We brought Halil Pasha.

346
00:24:14,911 --> 00:24:16,079
My sultan.

347
00:24:20,375 --> 00:24:22,085
May I please speak?

348
00:24:39,311 --> 00:24:40,562
What is this?

349
00:24:42,522 --> 00:24:43,648
It's...

350
00:24:49,154 --> 00:24:50,947
It's customary to bring gifts

351
00:24:51,031 --> 00:24:53,575
when summoned by the sultan
in the middle of the night.

352
00:24:55,785 --> 00:24:57,746
I don't need your gold, Pasha.

353
00:24:58,205 --> 00:25:00,207
I need your ear. Get up.

354
00:25:02,584 --> 00:25:03,502
Get up.

355
00:25:09,341 --> 00:25:12,302
I just woke from a dream.

356
00:25:15,931 --> 00:25:17,599
I saw my father,

357
00:25:18,934 --> 00:25:20,268
my ancestors,

358
00:25:20,977 --> 00:25:22,187
Osman.

359
00:25:24,189 --> 00:25:25,857
They showed me the road ahead.

360
00:25:30,445 --> 00:25:32,739
It led me to Constantinople.

361
00:25:34,407 --> 00:25:37,327
The gates of the city flew open.

362
00:25:38,203 --> 00:25:40,747
I walked straight to Hagia Sophia...

363
00:25:42,707 --> 00:25:46,836
and there I saw the Red Apple itself.

364
00:25:48,672 --> 00:25:50,131
It was given to me.

365
00:25:52,717 --> 00:25:54,553
You understand, Pasha...

366
00:25:56,304 --> 00:26:00,016
Allah has sent me a vision.

367
00:26:01,101 --> 00:26:04,980
He has commanded me
to take Constantinople.

368
00:26:06,481 --> 00:26:09,693
I have no choice but to obey his wish.

369
00:26:12,654 --> 00:26:16,533
There's a prophecy that Constantinople's
the Red Apple, and a warrior will come,

370
00:26:16,616 --> 00:26:19,828
he will take this center
of Christian orthodoxy

371
00:26:19,911 --> 00:26:22,914
and wrest it from the Christians

372
00:26:22,998 --> 00:26:25,333
and bring it home
to the Islamic world.

373
00:26:26,084 --> 00:26:29,004
In my vision, you, too,
were by my side, Pasha.

374
00:26:29,713 --> 00:26:32,924
Devoted teacher, my loyal servant,

375
00:26:33,008 --> 00:26:35,260
commander of my fearsome army,

376
00:26:35,343 --> 00:26:37,846
and utterly committed to our destiny.

377
00:26:40,890 --> 00:26:42,642
I am all those things.

378
00:26:43,268 --> 00:26:45,812
Then I have your support
in this endeavor?

379
00:26:50,692 --> 00:26:55,155
Mehmed played it very, very wisely.

380
00:26:55,238 --> 00:26:57,741
He was able to put him at ease,

381
00:26:58,533 --> 00:26:59,951
so he was able to use him.

382
00:27:00,035 --> 00:27:03,622
[narrator] As grand vizier,
Candarli Halil Pasha

383
00:27:03,705 --> 00:27:07,042
is the second most powerful man
in the Ottoman Empire.

384
00:27:07,125 --> 00:27:09,836
The young sultan must have
his full support

385
00:27:09,919 --> 00:27:12,255
for an attack on Constantinople.

386
00:27:14,174 --> 00:27:16,301
I knew I could rely upon you, Pasha.

387
00:27:18,595 --> 00:27:19,763
Sleep well.

388
00:27:38,365 --> 00:27:40,158
[narrator] The Ottoman war machine

389
00:27:40,241 --> 00:27:42,077
shifts into high gear.

390
00:27:43,370 --> 00:27:47,624
Within six months,
Mehmed assembles an army of 80,000

391
00:27:47,707 --> 00:27:49,834
ready to march on Constantinople.

392
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,254
[soldiers roaring]

393
00:27:53,338 --> 00:27:55,590
Mehmed's troops quickly capture
and destroy

394
00:27:55,674 --> 00:27:59,678
the few remaining Roman outposts
outside of Constantinople,

395
00:27:59,761 --> 00:28:02,305
further isolating the emperor.

396
00:28:03,098 --> 00:28:05,975
The biggest addition
to the Ottoman war machine

397
00:28:06,559 --> 00:28:08,186
is yet to come.

398
00:28:19,739 --> 00:28:22,409
Your reputation precedes you, Orban.

399
00:28:22,492 --> 00:28:24,452
I've heard much about your big guns.

400
00:28:24,536 --> 00:28:27,497
Yes, Sultan. And "guns..." [laughs]

401
00:28:27,580 --> 00:28:29,791
...doesn't do my latest offerings justice.

402
00:28:35,422 --> 00:28:37,507
You see, you need huge balls

403
00:28:37,590 --> 00:28:40,218
to take down the Theodosian Walls
of Constantinople.

404
00:28:41,219 --> 00:28:44,139
I know them
and I know their weak spots.

405
00:28:45,265 --> 00:28:47,308
[whispering] Father, it's in here.

406
00:28:48,268 --> 00:28:49,978
[Orban sighs, grunts]

407
00:28:50,061 --> 00:28:50,979
Father.

408
00:28:52,897 --> 00:28:55,358
Forgive me, my lord. May I?

409
00:29:10,957 --> 00:29:11,958
[Orban] This...

410
00:29:12,834 --> 00:29:14,294
this is my new cannon.

411
00:29:14,919 --> 00:29:16,296
It's eight meters long.

412
00:29:16,921 --> 00:29:18,423
The largest ever designed.

413
00:29:19,090 --> 00:29:20,592
And I call it Basilica.

414
00:29:21,926 --> 00:29:24,012
-You can build this?
-Yes.

415
00:29:24,763 --> 00:29:26,014
Yes, Sultan.

416
00:29:26,473 --> 00:29:30,018
She fires a cannon ball
two-and-a-half meters in diameter.

417
00:29:30,101 --> 00:29:33,438
This gun would blast
through the walls of Babylon.

418
00:29:33,521 --> 00:29:34,355
[chuckles]

419
00:29:34,439 --> 00:29:37,692
Although I know you have no quarrels
with the Babylonians.

420
00:29:38,902 --> 00:29:40,612
-[Mehmed] You're a Hungarian?
-Yes.

421
00:29:40,695 --> 00:29:42,238
-And a Christian?
-Yes.

422
00:29:42,322 --> 00:29:44,908
Why aren't you offering these inventions
to Constantine?

423
00:29:47,494 --> 00:29:49,829
There is a price for my knowledge.

424
00:29:50,330 --> 00:29:52,332
The emperor was unable to pay.

425
00:29:52,957 --> 00:29:54,334
[Jacob] And, of course,

426
00:29:54,417 --> 00:29:56,461
you are the true ruler of these lands.

427
00:29:58,296 --> 00:29:59,589
Who is this young man?

428
00:29:59,672 --> 00:30:02,801
Uh, Jacob.
My son and my apprentice.

429
00:30:03,343 --> 00:30:06,221
The only one who knows these guns
as well as me.

430
00:30:06,846 --> 00:30:10,183
One day he will make a cannon
even bigger than Basilica.

431
00:30:13,061 --> 00:30:15,063
So then, what's your asking price?

432
00:30:15,146 --> 00:30:17,565
Uh, 10,000 ducats.

433
00:30:17,649 --> 00:30:19,567
[laughs]

434
00:30:19,651 --> 00:30:21,945
You got pretty big balls yourself,
my friend.

435
00:30:22,862 --> 00:30:24,280
Firearms on the battlefield

436
00:30:24,364 --> 00:30:26,908
have been around for a few decades
by this point.

437
00:30:27,534 --> 00:30:29,619
But cannons of this size were something

438
00:30:29,702 --> 00:30:32,497
that was completely out
of most people's imagination.

439
00:30:33,373 --> 00:30:36,543
And so Orban goes
to a number of people around the world

440
00:30:36,626 --> 00:30:39,003
offering his services as a cannon maker.

441
00:30:39,921 --> 00:30:41,047
[Mehmed sighs]

442
00:30:42,590 --> 00:30:46,052
If this gun can bring down
the walls of Constantinople,

443
00:30:46,135 --> 00:30:49,097
as you claim,
I'll pay you four times that.

444
00:30:50,431 --> 00:30:53,726
My only condition is they must be ready
and on the battlefield in three months.

445
00:30:56,896 --> 00:30:58,398
[dramatic music playing]

446
00:31:11,578 --> 00:31:15,748
[Talbot] The vision of building a weapon
like that is remarkable,

447
00:31:15,832 --> 00:31:20,044
not least because early firearms
were prone to explode.

448
00:31:20,128 --> 00:31:21,921
So if you think about what it is,

449
00:31:22,005 --> 00:31:25,091
it's a big metal tube
that you shove a load of gunpowder into,

450
00:31:25,174 --> 00:31:27,510
and then light on fire
to put a projectile out.

451
00:31:27,594 --> 00:31:32,098
That's as likely to blow up in your face
as it is to blow up the enemy.

452
00:31:33,850 --> 00:31:35,476
[hammers banging]

453
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,770
[Goodwin] This huge, huge thing,

454
00:31:37,854 --> 00:31:40,773
the biggest cannon
that's ever been made up to that point,

455
00:31:40,857 --> 00:31:42,942
and when they fire it, you know,

456
00:31:43,026 --> 00:31:45,361
animals collapse in the fields and,
you know,

457
00:31:45,445 --> 00:31:47,906
women give birth suddenly,
and it's just kind of like

458
00:31:47,989 --> 00:31:49,699
no one's heard anything like this before,

459
00:31:49,782 --> 00:31:51,492
and the ball flies for a mile,

460
00:31:51,576 --> 00:31:53,703
and, you know, it is an astonishing thing.

461
00:31:53,786 --> 00:31:56,456
[narrator]
Mehmed's super-gun is revolutionary.

462
00:31:57,123 --> 00:31:59,334
-[boots stomping]
-[crowd roaring]

463
00:32:01,628 --> 00:32:04,964
But Constantine has a secret weapon
of his own...

464
00:32:06,049 --> 00:32:10,929
Genoese soldier of fortune,
Giovanni Giustiniani Longo.

465
00:32:11,012 --> 00:32:12,847
[crowd cheering]

466
00:32:25,234 --> 00:32:28,321
[Brownworth] He's a gallant,
kind of a swashbuckling figure,

467
00:32:28,404 --> 00:32:30,657
and he's well known as

468
00:32:30,740 --> 00:32:32,742
an expert in defending walled cities.

469
00:32:34,994 --> 00:32:36,621
[Philippedes] He was a pirate...

470
00:32:36,704 --> 00:32:41,042
[laughing] ...and he was particularly
attacking ships from Egypt,

471
00:32:41,125 --> 00:32:43,670
up to the point
that the Genoese government

472
00:32:43,753 --> 00:32:45,880
had brought charges against him.

473
00:32:45,964 --> 00:32:49,050
And he ran away so he wouldn't be tried.

474
00:32:51,469 --> 00:32:55,098
He offered his services to the emperor.

475
00:32:56,891 --> 00:33:00,937
The chronicles say that the emperor
promised him the island of Lemnos.

476
00:33:03,856 --> 00:33:06,609
[cheering]

477
00:33:13,199 --> 00:33:17,203
Lord Giustiniani,
you and your men are a welcome sight.

478
00:33:25,753 --> 00:33:26,921
So...

479
00:33:30,091 --> 00:33:33,761
you have studied our, uh, situation.

480
00:33:34,887 --> 00:33:36,931
Yes. I have.

481
00:33:38,474 --> 00:33:39,642
What do you think?

482
00:33:41,310 --> 00:33:43,271
By my calculations,

483
00:33:43,354 --> 00:33:46,107
you have just under 7,000 soldiers.

484
00:33:46,190 --> 00:33:47,775
It is certainly not ideal,

485
00:33:48,151 --> 00:33:49,819
but I have faith
that with your allegiance--

486
00:33:49,902 --> 00:33:50,987
Allegiance?

487
00:33:51,070 --> 00:33:52,071
Your...

488
00:33:53,906 --> 00:33:56,367
with your faithful support, we, uh,

489
00:33:56,451 --> 00:33:57,869
will defeat the Ottomans.

490
00:34:02,957 --> 00:34:04,917
I would decree you
head of the land forces.

491
00:34:06,419 --> 00:34:09,881
There are 14 miles of walls
to defend, Emperor.

492
00:34:11,132 --> 00:34:12,216
Yes.

493
00:34:12,592 --> 00:34:16,304
But, uh, I've sent envoys
to every ally in Europe.

494
00:34:17,013 --> 00:34:18,848
Reinforcements from the pope

495
00:34:18,931 --> 00:34:21,184
hopefully should be arriving
any day now.

496
00:34:21,601 --> 00:34:23,227
We will be in better shape then.

497
00:34:27,482 --> 00:34:28,441
Forgive me...

498
00:34:30,526 --> 00:34:32,403
but in my line of work,

499
00:34:33,112 --> 00:34:34,989
hope will get you killed.

500
00:34:38,493 --> 00:34:40,328
If you are to have my trust,

501
00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:44,665
paid or otherwise,
then I must have yours...

502
00:34:47,502 --> 00:34:48,920
Emperor.

503
00:34:50,838 --> 00:34:52,215
Lord Giustiniani...

504
00:34:58,721 --> 00:35:00,973
the fate of the city is in your hands.

505
00:35:06,854 --> 00:35:08,397
Take heart, my lord.

506
00:35:09,398 --> 00:35:11,609
The Ottomans don't like long sieges.

507
00:35:12,110 --> 00:35:15,029
And we have those big, beautiful walls.

508
00:35:32,755 --> 00:35:35,508
My lord, it's as you suspected.

509
00:35:35,591 --> 00:35:38,386
The emperor put the Genoan
in charge of the defenses.

510
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:44,183
[birds chirping]

511
00:35:48,771 --> 00:35:50,106
[horse whinnies]

512
00:35:52,108 --> 00:35:54,694
[narrator] In March of 1453,

513
00:35:54,777 --> 00:35:58,739
the Ottomans set out on the 148-mile march

514
00:35:58,823 --> 00:36:00,491
to Constantinople.

515
00:36:03,953 --> 00:36:07,206
[Sengör]
The Ottoman army was a dynamic,

516
00:36:07,290 --> 00:36:08,457
growing entity.

517
00:36:09,500 --> 00:36:11,752
They had a unity of command

518
00:36:11,836 --> 00:36:14,505
which the Europeans didn't have.

519
00:36:14,589 --> 00:36:18,259
When these crusader armies
attacked the Ottomans,

520
00:36:18,342 --> 00:36:21,220
they hardly ever listened
to their supreme commander.

521
00:36:21,304 --> 00:36:24,432
You know, every unit did
whatever they wanted to do.

522
00:36:24,515 --> 00:36:26,225
They were running after the most glory.

523
00:36:26,309 --> 00:36:28,936
But the Ottoman army had
a central command.

524
00:36:29,020 --> 00:36:32,398
Really, there was nobody in the Balkans
who could stop them.

525
00:36:33,941 --> 00:36:36,903
[narrator] The most feared warriors
in Mehmed's army

526
00:36:36,986 --> 00:36:38,529
are the Janissaries.

527
00:36:39,488 --> 00:36:41,908
Former Christian slaves
taken as children,

528
00:36:41,991 --> 00:36:43,576
converted to Islam,

529
00:36:43,659 --> 00:36:47,079
and trained to be
the sultan's elite special forces.

530
00:36:47,163 --> 00:36:48,456
[Goodwin] In the 1300s,

531
00:36:48,539 --> 00:36:50,917
these captives become this standing army

532
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,628
that never disbands, they're always there,

533
00:36:53,711 --> 00:36:55,338
they're always ready to fight.

534
00:36:55,421 --> 00:36:59,467
That's the first standing army in Europe.
This has never happened before.

535
00:36:59,550 --> 00:37:02,595
They become the backbone
of this empire.

536
00:37:05,014 --> 00:37:06,682
[narrator] The Ottoman army arrives

537
00:37:06,766 --> 00:37:09,602
on the outskirts of Constantinople
at Easter,

538
00:37:09,685 --> 00:37:12,188
the holiest day in the Christian world.

539
00:37:28,496 --> 00:37:30,581
[church bells ringing in distance]

540
00:37:38,589 --> 00:37:40,633
[church bells continue ringing]

541
00:37:47,306 --> 00:37:49,684
[Talbot]
And then you look out across these walls

542
00:37:49,767 --> 00:37:52,937
and you see what must have been
an incredible sight.

543
00:37:59,652 --> 00:38:02,530
There hadn't really been
a professional army wandering around

544
00:38:02,613 --> 00:38:03,739
since the time of the Romans,

545
00:38:03,823 --> 00:38:07,535
so these guys must have been
particularly terrifying to look at.

546
00:38:08,077 --> 00:38:11,831
I can't even imagine
what Constantine must have felt.

547
00:38:13,416 --> 00:38:15,376
I was hoping this day would never come.

548
00:38:19,338 --> 00:38:21,966
This day was always going to come,
Emperor.

549
00:38:23,634 --> 00:38:25,428
It's what we do tomorrow

550
00:38:26,512 --> 00:38:27,888
that will be important.

551
00:38:34,562 --> 00:38:36,814
[narrator] Mehmed walks the battlefield

552
00:38:36,897 --> 00:38:39,859
where 23 armies, including his father's,

553
00:38:39,942 --> 00:38:43,029
have tried to take the city and failed.

554
00:38:44,071 --> 00:38:46,824
His own destiny remains unknown.

555
00:38:47,950 --> 00:38:51,078
[Talbot] There's a particular hadith
that becomes popular.

556
00:38:51,162 --> 00:38:54,040
A hadith is a saying
of the Prophet Muhammad,

557
00:38:54,123 --> 00:38:57,752
and it says... [speaking Arabic]

558
00:38:57,835 --> 00:39:00,087
[in English]
"Surely you, the Islamic nation,

559
00:39:00,171 --> 00:39:02,381
will conquer Constantinople."

560
00:39:02,465 --> 00:39:04,967
[speaking Arabic]

561
00:39:05,051 --> 00:39:07,762
[in English] "And how wonderful
will its commander be,

562
00:39:07,845 --> 00:39:09,930
the commander of that nation."

563
00:39:10,014 --> 00:39:12,933
[speaking Arabic]

564
00:39:13,017 --> 00:39:15,603
[in English] "And how amazing,
how wonderful will the army be,

565
00:39:15,686 --> 00:39:16,854
the army of that nation."

566
00:39:16,937 --> 00:39:19,023
This particular setting,

567
00:39:19,106 --> 00:39:21,067
that there will one day be
a great commander

568
00:39:21,150 --> 00:39:22,860
who will conquer Constantinople,

569
00:39:22,943 --> 00:39:25,738
starts to become important for Mehmed.

570
00:39:32,036 --> 00:39:34,163
...the Father, the Son, and the Holy...

571
00:39:35,081 --> 00:39:36,707
[priest continues]

572
00:39:37,666 --> 00:39:40,503
We are going to need
more than that, Father.

573
00:39:50,346 --> 00:39:51,180
Lady?

574
00:39:55,893 --> 00:39:58,729
You are George Sphrantzes' daughter.

575
00:39:59,271 --> 00:40:01,023
My name is Therma, sir...

576
00:40:01,649 --> 00:40:03,150
should you wish to use it.

577
00:40:07,696 --> 00:40:10,783
I have never seen so many people
in one place.

578
00:40:12,493 --> 00:40:15,788
[Giustiniani] The sultan appears
determined to make a fight of it.

579
00:40:16,914 --> 00:40:19,667
But they must get
through these walls first.

580
00:40:22,169 --> 00:40:23,879
A lot of people will die.

581
00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:26,382
I have no intention of dying.

582
00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:34,807
[horse whinnies]

583
00:40:34,890 --> 00:40:38,477
[narrator] On April 6th, Mehmed sends
a final offer of truce

584
00:40:38,561 --> 00:40:40,438
to Emperor Constantine.

585
00:40:40,521 --> 00:40:44,150
[Talbot] So, the siege is governed
by different cultural norms,

586
00:40:44,233 --> 00:40:47,027
and some of those cultural norms
are specific to Islam.

587
00:40:47,111 --> 00:40:50,197
There's several rules of war
set down in the Quran,

588
00:40:50,281 --> 00:40:54,034
um... that dictate the way
that we should treat such people.

589
00:40:54,118 --> 00:40:57,037
So we give them the opportunity
to change their minds,

590
00:40:57,121 --> 00:40:59,915
that we give them the opportunity
to negotiate a new treaty,

591
00:40:59,999 --> 00:41:02,376
we give them the chance
to extricate themselves

592
00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:04,879
from the potential bloodletting ahead.

593
00:41:05,463 --> 00:41:08,632
[Ottoman emissary]
"Our lord, the merciful Sultan Mehmed,

594
00:41:08,716 --> 00:41:11,552
will spare the citizens of the city,

595
00:41:12,470 --> 00:41:14,305
harming neither their families

596
00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:17,308
nor their belongings,

597
00:41:18,184 --> 00:41:21,353
if you voluntarily surrender.

598
00:41:22,188 --> 00:41:24,231
The people of Constantinople

599
00:41:25,274 --> 00:41:27,359
may keep their possessions;

600
00:41:27,443 --> 00:41:28,777
there will be no looting.

601
00:41:29,862 --> 00:41:30,905
In return,

602
00:41:30,988 --> 00:41:34,200
you will open the gates of the city

603
00:41:34,783 --> 00:41:37,745
and kiss the hands of our sultan."

604
00:41:37,828 --> 00:41:39,288
[all murmuring]

605
00:41:39,371 --> 00:41:43,417
"Sultan Mehmed will the one ruler
of the Romans."

606
00:41:53,552 --> 00:41:57,681
We'll soon find out if the emperor
loves his city enough to die for it.

607
00:42:00,267 --> 00:42:02,520
[Ottoman emissary]
They rejected the offer, Sultan.

608
00:42:05,523 --> 00:42:07,983
-Prepare the cannons.
-[troops roar]

609
00:42:11,862 --> 00:42:13,697
[roaring continues]

610
00:42:15,491 --> 00:42:17,451
Get ready, boys!

611
00:42:17,535 --> 00:42:19,036
[battle cries]

612
00:42:28,420 --> 00:42:31,549
[distant roaring]

613
00:42:42,434 --> 00:42:45,729
-[soldier 1] Prepare the cannons!
-[soldier 2] Prepare the cannons!

614
00:42:48,357 --> 00:42:50,192
[soldier 3] Ready!

615
00:42:56,282 --> 00:42:57,408
Fire!

616
00:43:01,912 --> 00:43:03,914
[blast reverberates]