<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> Bapheus </Li> <Li> Dimbos </Li> <Li> Catalan campaign </Li> <Li> Prusa </Li> <Li> Pelekanon </Li> <Li> Nicaea </Li> <Li> Nicomedia </Li> <Li> 1st Gallipoli </Li> <Li> 2nd Gallipoli </Li> <Li> Adrianople </Li> <Li> 1st Thessalonica </Li> <Li> Philadelphia </Li> <Li> 1st Constantinople </Li> <Li> 2nd Constantinople </Li> <Li> 2nd Thessalonica </Li> <Li> 3rd Constantinople </Li> <Li> Trebizond </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> Bapheus </Li> <Li> Dimbos </Li> <Li> Catalan campaign </Li> <Li> Prusa </Li> <Li> Pelekanon </Li> <Li> Nicaea </Li> <Li> Nicomedia </Li> <Li> 1st Gallipoli </Li> <Li> 2nd Gallipoli </Li> <Li> Adrianople </Li> <Li> 1st Thessalonica </Li> <Li> Philadelphia </Li> <Li> 1st Constantinople </Li> <Li> 2nd Constantinople </Li> <Li> 2nd Thessalonica </Li> <Li> 3rd Constantinople </Li> <Li> Trebizond </Li> </Ul> <P> The Fall of Constantinople (Greek: Ἅλωσις τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Halōsis tēs Kōnstantinoupoleōs; Turkish: İstanbul'un Fethi Conquest of Istanbul) was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453 . The Ottomans were commanded by the then 21 - year - old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who defeated an army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos . The conquest of Constantinople followed a 53 - day siege that had begun on 6 April 1453 . </P> <P> The capture of Constantinople (and two other Byzantine splinter territories soon thereafter) marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, a continuation of the Roman Empire dating to 27 BC, an imperial state lasting for nearly 1,500 years . The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Muslim Ottoman armies thereafter were left unchecked to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear . After the conquest, Sultan Mehmed II transferred the capital of the Ottoman Empire from Edirne to Constantinople . </P>

Under whose leadership were the ottomans finally able to capture constantinople