[blasts reverberate]
[Murad] The Red Apple is the prized apple, Mehmed.
The sweetest.
The ripest.
It is the beating heart at the center of our universe.
The Promised Land.
He who conquers Constantinople
will have the world.
But look at those walls, son.
They've stopped every army that has tried to take the city.
They stopped me.
Why not just knock down the walls?
There is no weapon strong enough to bring them down.
Some have wondered if Allah himself could do it.
Father...
I will bring down those walls.
And when I am sultan,
I will take Constantinople.
[narrator] Every empire has a beginning
forged of blood, steel, fortune and conquest.
In 1453, Roman Emperor Constantine XI
and Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II
wage an epic battle for Constantinople.
Twenty-three armies have tried to take the legendary city.
All have failed.
Out of the carnage, one ruler will emerge victorious
and change the course of history for the next 300 years.
For one empire to rise, another must fall.
I want the cannons firing day and night until the Romans come crawling out,
begging for mercy.
[narrator] April 1453.
Sultan Mehmed II unleashes an artillery attack on Constantinople...
unlike any the world has ever known.
[screaming]
It's the largest concentration of cannons,
about 69 or 70, that the world had seen in one place.
These cannons are not the cannons we know from 18th century, 19th century.
These are huge cannons.
[woman screaming]
Dear God,
the walls won't last until sundown if this continues.
Have faith, Lord Loukas.
So long as the Holy Spirit is with us,
we will be safe.
[narrator] Looking out from the walls,
Emperor Constantine is confronted by Mehmed's 80,000-man army.
The monumental task of keeping the Ottomans out of the city
falls on the shoulders of Genoese soldier of fortune
Giovanni Giustiniani.
Giustiniani and his men must defend 14 miles of city walls.
Emperor Theodosius II built the walls in the 5th century.
They are among the strongest ever constructed.
[Crowley] The walls of Constantinople have been there
for 1100 years in that form.
This is an extraordinary piece of military engineering.
There are five layers to the walls.
There's the outer moat,
then there is an open area that troops had to run across,
a sort of killing field,
then there is an outer wall with towers on it,
then there's another killing field, and then there's an inner wall.
The whole system is about 200 feet deep;
from the bottom of the moat to the top of the walls
it's about 100 feet high.
Nobody had found a way across it.
[Dr. A.M. Celâl Sengör] Mehmed looks at the city,
he says, "All right, it's got these huge walls
nobody penetrated.
Now, how do you tear them down? You need artillery.
I want a cannon that's gonna bring these things down."
And he decided a frontal attack.
He takes it as a challenge.
This was the man.
This was his character.
[narrator] Mehmed's plan is a medieval version of shock and awe.
Taking down the massive walls
with an overwhelming storm of cannon fire.
The centerpiece of Mehmed's artillery attack
is a 27-foot cannon called Basilica.
An immense cannon is built. Huge!
You know, they say that hundreds of oxen pulled it.
It's incredible metallurgical skill to make the thing,
it had walls of bronze, eight inches thick,
cannonballs of half a ton.
A very large number of the bells of Balkan churches
were melted down to cast the thing.
[narrator] The Ottomans nickname the mammoth bombard "The Bear"
and the smaller cannons "The Cubs."
[Orban] Easy with that.
[narrator] The man who brings Mehmed's supergun to life
is a master cannon founder from Hungary named Orban.
-[Jacob] Father! -Yes?
The cracks are growing larger.
These cannons have huge firing power, but could only fire every three hours.
More likely than not, they're gonna blow up in your face.
If you fire them too often, for example,
little cracks can develop, and then they blow up.
They're pretty rudimentary things.
We'll give her a break after this one. Okay?
All right. Go.
[soldier] Ready, sir!
Send it!
[soldiers shouting]
[narrator] The cannons fire day and night...
engulfing the city in chaos.
[distant cannon fire]
[Brownworth] Giustiniani was faced with something
he has no experience of,
and that is a cannon that can knock down a wall.
Giustiniani has his soldiers go down
and essentially pile up the rubble,
remake the walls, and that actually works better than the original wall
because the loose bricks
absorb the impact of the cannonballs.
And are much harder to knock down, takes a lot more impact to disperse them.
[explosion echoes]
[narrator] After six days of constant bombardment,
the walls of Constantinople are damaged, but standing.
[cannon fire]
The sultan's cannons
pin the emperor's soldiers down behind the walls.
To survive the onslaught,
they must devise a plan to put the Ottomans on the defensive.
Giustiniani and his Italian mercenaries prepare
to launch a counterattack against Mehmed's troops
outside the walls.
Giustiniani would go out and make small raids.
It was both to catch people off-guard
and just to, kind of, stop the other side relaxing.
-Are you ready, brothers? -[all] Yah!
-For God! -God!
-For the purse! -The purse!
For she who you fight to return to!
[all] Yah!
God!
[all roaring]
[Brownworth] Giustiniani, he's an expert in defensive warfare.
The choice that Giustiniani has to make is,
do I defend the outer walls or do I defend the inner wall?
And he made the decision to defend the outer wall.
Let's show them what a Genoese bastard with a sword can do!
[all roar]
[Brownworth] The outer wall is essentially a suicide mission,
because that's where the cannons are hitting.
[all roar]
[Philippedes] The way the Italians fought,
you're going to get somebody in plate armor
surrounded by people who use crossbows...
-[Giustiniani] Crossbows! -...And he was,
if we can draw a comparison,
like the Second World War, the tank.
And then you have the infantry who is taking shelter behind the tank.
[Giustiniani] Hold!
Hold!
-Fire! -[drawing crossbows]
[soldiers groaning]
[Giustiniani] Swords!
[all roaring]
Giustiniani actually brought with himself this large professional army
of 2,000 people, and these guys are professional soldiers.
They have fighting experience.
They belong to the condottieri,
which means "mercenary generals."
[narrator] The ferocity and effectiveness of Giustiniani's attack
catches the Ottomans by surprise.
The battlefield is littered with the dead and dying.
[bird cawing]
[all cheer]
We will make the Genoese pay for their bravery in blood.
[roaring]
What's the delay, Orban Pasha? Why isn't my Bear firing?
J-Just a minute more, Sultan.
I didn't pay you to build me a novelty, Orban.
You promised your cannons would take down those walls.
The barrel is cracking.
The copper isn't holding as I had hoped.
If I could have a few more days--
I want this cannon firing immediately.
I'm doing everything in my power, Pasha.
If we are lucky, perhaps she can fire in the morning.
Orban, if you are lucky,
you will get this cannon firing now.
-But the cracks-- -Now.
[narrator] The clock is ticking on the siege.
Every day brings with it a new threat
that Mehmed's enemies to the East and West will attack his bogged-down army.
The gravest threat of all is that the pope will send reinforcements from Europe.
[artilleryman] Loaded, sir.
[Orban sighs]
Do not forsake me, you big, magnificent bastard.
[Mehmed] Are you ready, Orban?
Yes, Sultan.
[Orban] Please stand back. For your safety.
Have some faith, Orban.
Fire.
No, no, no, no, no!
[soldiers screaming]
[distorted screams]
[woman, muffled] Mehmed.
[woman] Mehmed.
-[young Mehmed] You can't catch me! -[woman] Mehmed...
come sit with me.
Come.
What's wrong, Mama?
Your father has summoned you to the capital.
Will I be gone long?
Yes.
[bird chirping]
What about my birds?
You will get others in the capital.
But you are coming with me?
[sobs]
We'll see each other soon.
I don't want to go.
[kisses]
From now on, no more crying, Mehmed.
A sultan never cries.
Now... go. [sniffles]
-But Mama-- -I said go!
[Philippedes] His mother was probably a Byzantine.
We don't know what she was.
He kept the secret and took it to his grave.
He always called her "Hatun," "The Lady."
But we don't know who she was.
[narrator] Mehmed arrives in the capital
with no friends or family, other than his father, the sultan.
His stepmother, Mara Brankovic, a Serbian princess,
is Sultan Murad's third wife,
but has no children of her own.
In the lonely young prince, she finds a kindred spirit.
[Philippedes] Mehmed had problems with his father.
Mara may have taken him under her wing.
He always called her "Mother."
[singing Serbian folk song]
[continues singing]
[singing reverberates]
[Murad] You have grown...
since I last saw you.
Do you remember me?
Answer the sultan.
[Murad] Your older brother, Prince Ali...
has died.
Do you understand what that means?
Boy.
Look at me.
Mehmed grew up in a very chilly atmosphere.
Now come... and kiss my hand.
[Crowley] There was no knowing whether you were going to survive.
Ahmed, the oldest, was 12 years older than him.
He died.
And then Ali was mysteriously strangled,
and effectively, Mehmed was all that was left.
You will take his place as governor of Amasya.
There, you will be educated and learn to be a ruler.
A sultan.
There is no longer time for childish pursuits, Prince.
Candarli Pasha will report back to me on your progress.
[narrator] By the age of 12, Mehmed is fluent in five languages,
and models himself after Alexander the Great.
He boasts that one day he will take the city of Constantinople.
From an early age,
the ambitious young crown prince clashes with his father's grand vizier.
He was this rather unruly child who had to be beaten into submission.
-[Candarli] Again... -[Mehmed whimpers]
...again. Again!
We must teach the prince humility...
[Mehmed gasping]
...for his own good.
What are you doing, Prince?
Whatever I please.
[Mehmed grunts]
I'm a prince.
[Mehmed crying out]
[Mehmed breathing shakily]
The wounds will heal.
The lesson will be remembered.
[Mehmed] Yes, Pasha.
It will be remembered.
[Candarli] The lesson will be remembered.
[narrator] Before he is even 13,
his father, Murad II,
decides to retire, leaving Mehmed to take the throne.
The youngest sultan
in the history of the Ottoman Empire.
[Dr. Tom Papademetriou] Mehmed is now the emir,
the sultan of the Ottomans.
And he is...
left with the entire Ottoman force
at his disposal.
And so, it becomes problematic right away,
because the vizier of the time, Candarli Halil Pasha,
is very nervous about this.
Mehmed being such a young boy,
they could lose everything.
[kisses]
Pashas, where have you been?
There is much to be done.
[Candarli] In what regard, Sultan?
[Mehmed] Our council meeting.
My father built the foundation of our empire...
and now... I will take the next step.
I will take Constantinople.
Did you not hear me?
Alexander had his first conquest at 20...
and I shall have mine now.
Sultan, the Romans are under control...
but the troubles in the East are very real.
And in the West, Jon Hunyadi and the Hungarians
are amassing their army near our border.
There could be more crusades coming.
They will want to test you.
I will crush all of them.
You need the Janissaries,
and you've not given them a crown gift yet.
They are demanding more pay.
Constantinople has more than enough gold
to silence those greedy thugs.
Perhaps we should consult with your father before making any final decisions.
[Mehmed] Make the preparations...
or I will find viziers that will.
[Candarli] The Hungarians look to be mounting a new crusade
and the Janissaries are angry, Pasha.
What are they angry at now?
[sighs] They don't trust the young sultan.
-[Murad scoffs] -And he is, I confess...
impulsive at times.
Every sultan...
who ever took the throne...
had to grow into it.
Mehmed is young, Halil Pasha.
It will take time.
Indeed. Which is why I wanted to reassure you.
We viziers are working to find a prudent solution.
How can I rest with my son so unpredictable?
He is headstrong.
But, Allah willing, my guidance will bring measure
to his more... reckless plans.
Plans?
For Constantinople.
Have the cooks prepare a feast for me tonight.
[palace servant] Sultan,
you have a visitor.
[Mehmed] Father?
I was not told you were coming.
I have asked too much of you.
I don't understand.
Come.
I'm here...
to take the throne back.
[Murad's words echoing]
-No. Father-- -Until you are older.
I have ruled wisely. Tell him, Pasha!
[Murad] The crusaders are almost at our doorstep, Mehmed.
You haven't yet seen combat.
And I can't leave you to fight Hunyadi and the Hungarians.
[Murad's words echoing]
-How could you do this to me? -The throne will be yours again,
my son, when you are ready.
[Mehmed] Traitorous dog!
This is your doing!
-I will take your head! -Enough!
How dare you speak to my viziers this way?
You will apologize.
Don't test my patience further...
Prince Mehmed.
Pashas...
I apologize for my behavior.
[Murad] Now leave us.
[Talbot] Let's put ourselves in Mehmed's shoes.
He's brought to the throne and told that he is the ruler of the state.
And then to be told, after such a short space of time,
that he's no longer gonna have that power.
And then someone who he associated with his father,
this big figure, Candarli Halil,
taking that power away from him...
must have bred huge resentment.
[distorted overlapping voices]
[Mara] It will be yours again.
They betrayed me.
All of them.
Learn from this.
And I promise you will have the throne back.
[Zaganos, echoing] Sultan! Sultan!
Mehmed!
Wake up!
[muffled yelling, screaming]
[narrator] Mehmed's father's failed siege of Constantinople
dragged on for three long months.
With each passing day,
he now sees his own chances for victory slowly slipping away.
Inside the city,
Giustiniani and his men continue rebuilding the walls
and tending to their wounded.
-[man coughs] -[Therma] Hold this.
Lady Therma?
Lord Giustiniani.
I didn't expect to see a noblewoman in these conditions.
I have as much a duty to my city as anyone.
These men have risked their lives to protect us.
I believe your comfort would ease the worst of agonies.
You should get some rest.
Good night.
[Brownworth] We think about sieges,
you think the conditions are roughest for those being besieged.
But there are also pressures on a besieging army.
For Mehmed, he's got additional issues,
because he's new to the throne
and people aren't at all sure what to make of him yet.
So he's gotta make this happen quickly.
You know, he's almost as desperate to get in
as the Byzantines are to keep him out.
[Mehmed] Pashas,
we have been pounding the walls for nearly two weeks.
Our cannons have turned the mighty walls of Constantinople
into piles of rubble.
But that does us no good unless we go through them.
It is time to make our move.
[Candarli] Sultan, it is still to early.
We need to weaken their defenses more before we send in the army.
I advise more patience.
There's no guarantee that the siege is gonna be successful.
The Ottomans don't like long, drawn-out campaigns.
They like quick warfare
where they can come in, smash the enemy, and move on.
-Zaganos Pasha? -The men are ready.
You only need to give the order.
Tell the men to rest tonight.
And be ready to fight.
Tomorrow we take the city.
He's going all in with this particular conquest.
[narrator] Day 13 of the siege dawns at the Ottoman camp.
Mehmed and his generals survey the Romans' defenses
and finalize plans for their infantry assault.
The attack will take place under the cover of night.
[Gürkan] Mehmed II always stood firm.
and actually said he would sacrifice his life,
uh... if needed, but he will take that city.
And if we know one thing about Mehmed,
he's obviously a very stubborn man,
an eventful figure,
and a strong-minded, intelligent guy.
[horse nickers]
[horse whinnies]
[Mehmed] Tonight...
we will take the Red Apple.
We are Ghazi,
holy warriors and the heirs of Osman.
Our ancestors fought and died at this wall.
But now, we are united
in avenging their deaths!
[Talbot] By all accounts,
he seems to have been a fantastic orator.
[Sengör] As a commander,
Mehmed, number one, understood his own people.
Number two, understood the enemy.
And behaved accordingly.
If... his soldiers wavered,
he invented ways to encourage them.
The time of the infidels and the Romans has passed!
A new age is coming,
and it begins tonight!
Allahu akbar!
[all] Allahu akbar!
Allahu akbar!
[all cheering, roaring]
[distant roaring]
We can surrender now.
The sultan will show mercy.
Don't ask me to be the last emperor of Constantinople.
[Loukas] A dead emperor will do no good to anyone.
Alive, we can come back and reclaim the city with a real army,
not a band of Italian mercenaries.
The noblemen will be with you.
Let's pray the Virgin Mother is looking over us.
[all roaring]
The Ottomans worked on warfare on many levels,
and certainly on the psychological level.
They brought skills of intimidation to sieges.
[all roaring]
[distant roaring]
[Crowley] They would light fires
along the front line, so you'd be looking at a ring of fire.
They also had military bands...
[band playing, men roaring]
The wall of sound, you know,
the extraordinary wall of sound that they created.
[band playing]
[narrator] Outnumbered ten to one,
the Italian mercenaries must counter the Ottomans' might
with cunning and strategy.
[Crowley] Giustiniani undoubtedly had great skill
in the art of defending cities.
He was an expert.
He was extremely brave, and he was untiring.
And he brought a great deal of confidence to the defense.
[Giustiniani] We will meet them in the moat.
That is our front line.
One of the key issues in, uh, siege warfare
is getting across the ditch, the moat, which is quite deep.
And a great deal of work
will be put in by the attackers to fill up the moat.
We must not let them reach the walls,
or we don't stand a chance.
Tonight...
we live or die in the moat!
[all roaring]
[Crowley] Giustiniani was the iconic figure, undoubtedly,
for the defenders, around whom they rallied.
He was the linchpin.
Constantine gave him control
of the critical zone, the center of the wall,
and, really, organizing the defense.
Fire!
Take cover!
-[arrows striking shields] -[soldiers screaming]
[narrator] The Ottoman assault is led by Mehmed's elite troops,
the Janissaries.
The Janissaries were the most capable force
in the Balkans at the time.
They were all well-equipped, well-armored.
Different tactics, though.
Attack!
[narrator] The Janissaries wear lighter chain mail armor
and rely on speed and precision.
The Italians fight in thicker plate armor
and wield broadswords.
[soldiers grunting, crying out]
[soldier screams]
The Janissaries were all about javelins and archery.
You can't do that with a siege. You have to take a few hits.
And this doesn't necessarily suit the Ottoman vision of warfare.
[screaming, grunting]
[narrator] In this human wave of death and destruction,
hundreds of Ottoman soldiers are killed.
The Turks come in, and Giustiniani fights them off
and if you believe the Roman sources, they didn't lose a single soldier.
[Giustiniani grunts]
[narrator] Giustiniani and the Roman defenders
have turned back the Ottoman attack yet again.
The defeat is devastating for Mehmed.
With each passing day,
the odds of taking Constantinople grow longer.
[Gürkan] When Mehmed launches his siege,
he has to be quick, for three reasons.
One, he has to be quick in order to finish the city off
without losing tens of thousands of men.
Second is that there was opposition in the military,
led by Candarli Halil Pasha, the grand vizier,
who didn't want the siege to continue.
And the third is,
if the siege took too long,
that there was gonna be reinforcements coming from the West.
[narrator] The walls of the ancient city hold for another day...
and Giovanni Giustiniani Longo proves himself
the one indispensable man in the defense of Constantinople.
-Yah! -[all roar]
Yah!
[swords clanking on shields]
Sultan. A message from the Aegean Islands.
Read it.
A Genoese fleet was seen in the Dardanelles
heading north towards Constantinople with soldiers and supplies.
Leave me.