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Mehmed II

Type Figure Region Anatolia Time 1432–1481 Also known as Mehmed Fatih、the Conqueror

Seventh Ottoman sultan, known as the Conqueror; first reigned 1444–1446, then captured Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire, and great…

Timeline

  1. 1432–1450Edirne · Ottoman EmpireBorn in Edirne, son of Sultan Murad II. He first acceded in 1444, abdicated under pressure in 1446 when his father resumed rule; during this period he received military and administrative training in preparation for a second accession.
  2. 1451–1470Constantinople (Istanbul) · Ottoman EmpireHe acceded again in 1451 and in 1453, after a siege of over fifty days, captured Constantinople and made it the empire's new capital. Thereafter he conquered Serbia, the Morea, and other lands, and carried out administrative, legal, and urban construction, establishing the title Fatih.
  3. 1471–1481Istanbul · Ottoman EmpireAfter 1471 he continued to personally direct military and political affairs: in 1473 he defeated Uzun Hasan at Otlukbeli, consolidating the eastern Anatolian frontier, and continued to contest with Venetian power in Albania. In 1480 he launched the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes, and in 1481 died in Istanbul on the eve of a campaign against Egypt.

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