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The Fall of Constantinople
Byzantium was the last bastion of the Roman Empire following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It fought for survival for eight centuries until, in the mid-15th century, the emperor Constantine XI ruled just a handful of whittled down territories, an empire in name and tradition only. This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the history of Byzantium, the evolution of the defenses of Constantinople and the epic siege of the city, which saw a force of 80,000 men repelled by a small group of determined defenders until the Turks smashed the city's protective walls with artillery. Regarded by some as the tragic end of the Roman Empire, and by others as the belated suppression of an aging relic by an ambitious young state, the impact of the capitulation of the city resonated through the centuries and heralded the rapid rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire.
Manzikert 1071
The Saljuq Turks' defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert opened the way for their conquest of Anatolia and domination of the Near East. On 26 August 1071 a large Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV met the Saljuq Turk forces of Sultan Alp Arslan near the town of Manzikert. The battle ended in a decisive defeat for the Byzantine forces, with the Byzantine emperor captured and much of his fabled Varangian guard killed. This battle is seen as the primary trigger of the Crusades, and as the moment when the power of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire was irreparably broken. The Saljuq victory opened up Anatolia to Turkish-Islamic conquest, which was eventually followed by the establishment of ...
Knight Hospitaller (2)
Having campaigned on land during their early existence, the Hospitallers fought mainly at sea from the turn of the 14th century. The emphasis was now on small-scale operations, rather than the crusading invasion that had so often come to grief. Having conquered Rhodes, the Order fortified it and transferred there in 1309. A period of on-off warfare with the Mamluks became full-blown conflict with the Ottomans, who captured Rhodes in 1522, forcing the Hospitallers to transfer to Malta. This book, the second of two, takes a close look at the men who lived and died for the Hospitaller cause in this key period, and the political and economic role that the Order played within the Christian empire.
The Ottomans
Lavishly illustrated with 60 specially commissioned maps.
Knights of Jerusalem
The Order of St John of the Hospital of Jerusalem (or the Hospitallers as they are better known) has existed for almost a thousand years. It was established in Jerusalem in the mid-11th century to care for Christian pilgrims and its role initially was entirely non-combatant. But, as the wars of the crusades progressed, the Order took on a military role, at first simply protecting the pilgrims and then expressed as "defending the Holy Sepulchre to the last drop of blood and fighting the infidel wherever one can find them". The military arm of the Order quickly emerged as one of the most effective fighting forces of the era and was given responsibility for the construction and defense of sever...
Nicopolis, 1396
By the second half of the 14th century, the once mighty Byzantine Empire had been reduced to little more than the city of Constantinople. In 1391, the Ottoman ruler Sultan Bayazid I 'The Lightning' besieged the city. Pope Boniface IX preached a crusade and a French-led army of 10,000 marched east. At Nicopolis they met the Ottoman army in battle. Ignoring the advice of their Hungarian and Transylvanian allies the Crusaders charged the Turks and were in turn smashed by the Ottoman heavy cavalry. The last Crusade ended on the banks of the Danube as the Crusaders desperately sought to escape from the pursuing Turks.
The Fourth Crusade 1202–04
A fascinating, illustrated account of the betrayal of Byzantium, the clash of Western and Eastern Christian factions and the sacking of Constantinople. The Fourth Crusade was the first, and most famous of the 'diverted' Crusades, which saw the Crusade diverted from its original target, Ayyubi Egypt, to attack the Christian city of Zadar in modern Croatia instead, an attack that was little more than a mercenary action to repay the Venetians for their provision of a fleet to the Crusaders. This book examines the combined action and sacking of the city of Zara, which saw the Crusaders temporarily excommunicated by the Pope. It features detailed accounts of the diverse military action, which involved large-scale sieges, amphibious battles and landings and a combined action as the Crusaders fought side-by-side with Venetian troops. Alongside battlescene maps and illustrations, David Nicolle evaluates how the influence of the Venetians prompted an attack on Constantinople, analyses the siege that followed and describes the naval assault and sacking of the city which saw the Crusaders place Count Baldwin of Flanders on the Byzantine throne.
The Crusades
Born of a mixture of religious fervour, military ardour and political will, the Crusades ( 1095 - 1291) remain a fascinating and misunderstood aspect of medieval history. Born amid immense suffering and bloodshed the Kingdom of Jerusalem remained a battlefield for almost 200 years. The Crusades raised to campaign for it gave rise to the Military Orders of the Templars and Hopitallers as well as numerous smaller orders, and were a backdrop to the careers of some of history's most famous leaders including Richard 'The Lionheart' and Saladin. David Nicolle recounts the background and events of these fundamental campaigns that scarred the Late Medieval period.
Attila and the Nomad Hordes
Of all the conquerors who swept out of Central Asia, two names stand out in European memory – Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan the Mongol. Both are remembered for massacres and devastation; yet whereas Genghis is also famous for the laws he imposed on half of Asia and for the trade which flourished under Mongol rule, Attila's notoriety seems unrelieved by positive achievements. But what was Attila's short-lived empire really like? What happened to the Huns afterwards, and what role did the nomads of Central Asia play in the centuries between Attila and Genghis Khan?
The Second Crusade 1148
After the fall of the crusader kingdom of Edessa, the Pope called for a new crusade in 1145. This new campaign by the Christian west against the forces of eastern Islam would culminate in the 1148 siege of Damascus, then the capital city of an Islamic state that had been friendly towards the crusaders. Despite the earlier successes for the crusaders at Antioch and Jerusalem, and the weak fortifications around Damascus, the siege proved a dismal and embarrassing failure for the western armies. The siege was abandoned soon after it had started and the crusaders retreated. This defeat shocked the Christian world and dealt a severe blow to the confidence of the crusading armies, while bolstering...
