Monday, May 31, 2010

The Fall of Constantinople

From Saturday's edition of Gates of Vienna:

Five hundred and fifty-seven years ago today, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire came to an end. The sack of Constantinople inaugurated centuries of brutal Islamic rule in southeastern Europe. Greece was finally liberated from the Ottomans in the 19th century, but to this day a small portion of Europe remains in Turkish hands, and the city of Istanbul — formerly Constantinople — remains a Turkish city.

Below is a guest-post about the fall of Constantinople by an author who writes under the pen name of Anestos Canelides. He has this to say about his essay:

I am half-Greek, and I wrote this as a memorial to those who fought in the epic battle against Islamic expansionism. I wrote it also as a memorial to the other Christians in the Balkans who lost so much to Islam. I have spent time in Istanbul, and I bear no hatred towards the modern Turks.

The Last Empire
1453: The Siege of Constantinople

by Anestos Canelides

On June 9th, 1453, three ships sailed into the harbor of Candia in Crete with a crew of mostly Cretan sailors. The sailors had arrived from Constantinople shortly after its fall to the Ottoman Turkish armies of Sultan Mehmet Bey. The Cretans had brought with them the tragic news about the fall of Constantinople to the armies of Islam, despite a heroic stand by the Greeks and their allies. The sudden news induced great anguish amongst the people of Crete and later the Christian west. The Ottoman conquest of the queen of cities had brought a tragic end to the Roman Empire, often referred to as the Byzantine Empire today. It was the final nail in the coffin of the center of the Byzantine world, but in turn it would bring about the rise of the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic state.

Constantinople was attacked from land and sea, but the land walls, known as the walls of Theodosius, had never been breached in their thousand-year history. In the same way that three hundred Spartans had defied the advancing armies of the Persian Empire, the citizens of Constantinople also stood heroically and defended their city against tyranny. It was both the Byzantine Greeks’ desire for freedom from enslavement, and the belief that God would miraculously save them from defeat, that led them to resist the Turks fiercely for almost two months.

The Turks had sought to enter the city with a fanatic spirit because the Prophet, in the Qur’an, offered them a special place in paradise. Sultan Mehmet only mimicked the Prophet Muhammad when he said, “…even if some of us should die, as is natural in war, and meet our destined end, you know well from the Qur’an what the Prophet says, ‘that he who dies in battle shall dine whole in body with Mahomet, and drink with him in paradise and he shall take his rest in a green spot and fragrant with flowers, enjoying the company of women and lovely boys and virgins and he will bathe in gorgeous baths. All these things he will enjoy in that place by God’s favor.’” Despite facing such great odds, the Byzantines would defend their ancient Christian capital with great tenacity against the armies of Mehmet...
***


Read the rest.

Then consider this post, also from GoV.

Perspective, on a Day of Remembrance.

Freedom or death.

9 comments:

  1. Until the non Islamic world comes to understand that the Freedom of Religion and Islam can not coexist.
    What this article demonstrates is that through out the Centuries Islam and Christianity have been at war,some times actively and at other times not so actively.
    But if you care to investigate you will find that Islam has been at war with other cultures and religions,a prime example is the Hindu Religion.The Islams and the Hindus have been at war,much like Islamic war with Christianity in India and most of the Southeastern Asian Continent.And when the Islams are not at war with outside religions and cultures of the world they are at war with each other.An example being the Shiites and the Sharai's (or what ever their names are)in Iran.
    If one would truly open their eyes they would see that Islam is a intolerant religion and they will not Allow anything but their own religion and their own version of that religion to be practiced and they will not be satisfied until They convert the world to their belief.
    So what is to be done about Islam, my idea is to show the same tolerance that the Islams show the rest of the world this would offend most people of the world but I believe that this is the solution to the conflict with Islam.

    Dennis
    III
    Texas

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  2. Call me "infidel". Whatever, I'm armed. The only thing I will convert is stored chemical energy into rapidly expanding gasses for the propulsion of 7.62x54 projectiles. "Freedom or death" is right, and I don't plan on doing the dying...

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  3. I agree with Dennis. If the Islam Terrorists get their tidy whities in a big knot over something as trivial as a CARTOON, than I propose ramming cartoons down their throats. I seem to recall seeing outhouses with a half moon over the door long ago. Perhaps it's time for a lot of cartoons showing outhouse mosques (also known as a shithouse) to see if the ragheads like that. If they are so sensitive as to be easily offended, than I intend to offend the hell out of them. Perhaps the use and promotion of using the KORAN brand of TOILET PAPER might get their attention. Or even perhaps the Muhammad brand of sanitary napkin since they want to keep women behind a veil. My thoughts here is simply is they are so easily offended than I will bend over backwards to offend the shit out of them DELIBERATELY. The world wide web is another tool to cram mohammeds head up their ass and I won't lose any sleep if they are offended. I am even considering spreading some of the ELF firebomb manual so that others might consider using that info to light a little fire under Mohammed's butt.
    Just my 2 cents worth.
    Signed, A Proud American Veteran.

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  4. "Who needs terror when America has as its president a man whose parents combined both ideologies in one convenient family package, all the easier for metabolizing by their son. Obama's father was a Muslim; his mother, a Leftist radical. They both hated America. Unfortunately, the offspring of their union seems to have the same perspective as his parents."

    The union of Marx and Mohammed is now the head of our "more perfect union." We are witnessing a scene from bizzarro world.

    MALTHUS

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  5. Perhaps it's time for a lot of cartoons showing outhouse mosques (also known as a shithouse) to see if the ragheads like that.--Anon

    ...(also known as a SHIITE house)...there, fixed it.

    MALTHUS

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  6. "...and I bear no hatred towards the modern Turks."

    Tolerance is a good thing. Just don't turn your back on them. No matter what they say. They lie.

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  7. Whenever I see/hear/read about Muslim outrage over non-Muslim 'disrespect' for Islam/its holy places/venerated objects & that non-Muslims bear collective guilt for said 'disrespect'& should apologize for such acts & condemn the perpetrator/s, I recall that Muslims used the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as a bunker/toilet/'art gallery', are persecuting non-Muslims worldwide, destroying non-Muslim holy places/venerated objects, & denigrating non-Muslim belief systems while simultaneously refusing to apologise for/condemn such acts committed by Muslims & demanding that non-Muslims refrain from "blaming all Muslims for the acts of a few".

    There's a word for that kind of thing, starts w/ an H, uh, um, now what was it......


    Cassandra (of Troy)

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