Siege of Constantinople

Overview

The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire was established and Baldwin IX of Flanders crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

Constantinople's position at the junction of Europe and Asia, spanning the Bosporus and connecting the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, made it one of the most strategically consequential cities along the Silk Road. As a transcontinental hub, it had long attracted the ambitions of empires and kingdoms across centuries of conflict. The siege of April 1204, prosecuted by Crusader forces under Boniface I and Enrico Dandolo against the Byzantine defenders of Alexios V Doukas, pitted a Crusader force of 22,000 against a Byzantine garrison of 15,000. With Crusader casualties recorded at 2,000, the city's fall represented a turning point in the Fourth Crusade, redirecting a campaign nominally bound for the Holy Land toward the conquest of the Byzantine capital itself — one of the most consequential deviations in the history of the Crusading movement.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)