The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 marked the end of a thousand years of the Christian Roman Empire. Thereafter, world civilisation began a proc

For 1,123 years, Constantinople remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire - the longest-lived and most continuously inspired Christian empire in the world. I

Like England's Charles II, the Ottoman Empire took "an unconscionable time dying." Since the seventeenth century, observers had been predicting the collapse of

Ruling from 1299 until 1922, the Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest and longest-lasting empires in history. Although weak leadership, a failing economy, and