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Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Great Overview Review: Constantinople 1453: The End of Byzantium is a well written, but concise, history of the fall of Constantinople. The book is written in the clasical Ospery tradition and as a result gives the reader all that is necessary to understand the pivatol historical event.What the book could not do, given the limited space avaliable, is put the the event in context. If the reader is looking for an indepth analysis of why Constantinople fell this is not the book for you. It would be impossible to cover centuries of history in 90 pages. If however, you are looking for the basics of the battle, the players and the whys and wherefores the book is excellent. I have read extensively on the subjrect and was looking for something to read that concentrated on the fall of Constantinople. I was not disappointed.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Great Overview Review: Constantinople 1453: The End of Byzantium is a well written, but concise, history of the fall of Constantinople. The book is written in the clasical Ospery tradition and as a result gives the reader all that is necessary to understand the pivatol historical event. What the book could not do, given the limited space avaliable, is put the the event in context. If the reader is looking for an indepth analysis of why Constantinople fell this is not the book for you. It would be impossible to cover centuries of history in 90 pages. If however, you are looking for the basics of the battle, the players and the whys and wherefores the book is excellent. I have read extensively on the subjrect and was looking for something to read that concentrated on the fall of Constantinople. I was not disappointed.
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: A Useful but Very Dry Summary of a Dramatic Battle Review: This is the kind of campaign summary one would expect from a British academic: long on scholarship and short on military insight or emotional drama. To be sure, Nicolle has done a thorough job of researching all the sources on the fall of the Byzantine capital in 1453. The excellent bibliography and the wonderful campaign maps are worth the price of this volume just for themselves. Although Nicolle does a fine job summarizing the origins of the campaign and the opposing commanders, his section on the opposing armies is not particularly informative. He has spent many long hours gazing at suits of armor, ancient helmets and swords in museums and medieval paintings of these items, and this is what he wishes to convey to the reader. He also barrages the reader with a lot of Ottoman military jargon, but he misses the point when it comes to describing their tactical methods. He discusses a great deal about the Ottoman artillery, but little about the archers and other foot troops who fought the bulk of the battle. A cross section diagram of one part of the wall of Constantinople would have been useful. Also, some discussion of logistic and intelligence aspects of the siege would have been appropriate. Nicolle's summary of the campaign is succinct and professional but it lacks passion. This was a close, hard fight for all the marbles in the eastern Mediterranean but this account lacks the desperate courage displayed by both sides in other, better written accounts. The Siege of Constantinople is usually engrossing because the idea of an ancient culture fighting for its life against an overwhelming foe is enough in itself to rivet attention, but when the punch and counter-punch of this knock-down drag-out fight is added the battle becomes truly memorable. Unfortunately, Nicolle's account skips along in an almost perfunctory manner and we are left with a description that seems to suggest that, "they came, they saw, they conquered".
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: A Useful but Very Dry Summary of a Dramatic Battle Review: This is the kind of campaign summary one would expect from a British academic: long on scholarship and short on military insight or emotional drama. To be sure, Nicolle has done a thorough job of researching all the sources on the fall of the Byzantine capital in 1453. The excellent bibliography and the wonderful campaign maps are worth the price of this volume just for themselves. Although Nicolle does a fine job summarizing the origins of the campaign and the opposing commanders, his section on the opposing armies is not particularly informative. He has spent many long hours gazing at suits of armor, ancient helmets and swords in museums and medieval paintings of these items, and this is what he wishes to convey to the reader. He also barrages the reader with a lot of Ottoman military jargon, but he misses the point when it comes to describing their tactical methods. He discusses a great deal about the Ottoman artillery, but little about the archers and other foot troops who fought the bulk of the battle. A cross section diagram of one part of the wall of Constantinople would have been useful. Also, some discussion of logistic and intelligence aspects of the siege would have been appropriate. Nicolle's summary of the campaign is succinct and professional but it lacks passion. This was a close, hard fight for all the marbles in the eastern Mediterranean but this account lacks the desperate courage displayed by both sides in other, better written accounts. The Siege of Constantinople is usually engrossing because the idea of an ancient culture fighting for its life against an overwhelming foe is enough in itself to rivet attention, but when the punch and counter-punch of this knock-down drag-out fight is added the battle becomes truly memorable. Unfortunately, Nicolle's account skips along in an almost perfunctory manner and we are left with a description that seems to suggest that, "they came, they saw, they conquered".
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