Walls of Constantinople

Timeline

1. c. 413–439Constantinople · ConstantinopleTheodosius II built a new triple line of land defenses west of the Antonine Wall, comprising a main wall, an outer wall, and a moat, and extended the sea walls to the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, forming one of the most complex urban defense systems of the Middle Ages.
2. 1051–1060Constantinople · ConstantinopleIn the 1050s the empire still regularly repaired the wall towers and the Golden Horn chain; facing the Anatolian wars and Pecheneg raids, the capital's land defenses were never breached, and the wall system continued to serve as the last barrier protecting the empire's political and military heart.
3. c. 1204–1453Constantinople · ConstantinopleAfter crusaders breached the walls at multiple points along both the sea and land defenses in 1204, the walls were repeatedly repaired during the Latin and Palaiologan periods; in 1453 the Ottomans finally breached the Theodosian main wall with heavy artillery, marking the end of this defensive system's function as the barrier protecting the Byzantine capital.