http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/were-still-living-with-1453/
We’re Still Living With 1453
Posted By Rod Dreher On May 30, 2013
… even if we forgot its meaning, or never knew it. May 29, 1453 was the date that Constantinople fell to the Turks. So much of the history we live with today was made by that date in history. The Economist reminds us that the past isn’t even past [1]:
The fall of Constantinople brought to a head many trends already under way. One was the slide of the Byzantine empire’s power, as the loss of Anatolian lands left it short of revenue and recruits, and thus more dependent on fickle Italian allies; 
[2]another the flight of Greek scholars (particularly brilliant in Byzantium’s final years) to Italy, where they helped to stimulate the Renaissance.
Yet another was the emergent contest in south-eastern Europe between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. The Turks were besieging Vienna in 1683 and repeatedly at war with Russia or Austria in the 130 years thereafter. They held southern Greece until 1832, today’s Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and nominally Serbia until 1878, the lands south of these down to liberated Greece until 1913. Hence the Muslim pockets—Albania, Bosnia—that for most Europeans today are the only reminder that the country they see as a source of cheap, resented, migrant labour was once a mighty power in Europe.
But a part of Europe? Allied with Germany in the first world war, and therefore stripped of their remaining Middle Eastern empire, the Turks by 1922 were strong enough again to drive Greece’s troops, and centuries of Greek society, from Anatolia. Old enmities were resharpened by the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974. If the European Union still hesitates, despite Turkey’s decades inside NATO, about its wish for EU membership too, the real reasons lie centuries deep; not least in 1453.
If you ever have the chance to visit Istanbul, do it. It’s breathtaking and, for a Western person and a Christian, heartbreaking. No one who knows the slightest bit about history can fail to be moved and dazzled by it, though.
15 Comments To "We’re Still Living With 1453"
#1 Comment By Jay On May 30, 2013 @ 3:13 am
It’s interesting that you seem to think that events in Turkey almost 600 years ago should still be living in our consciousness but slavery and Jim Crow (much more recent and closer to home) is best put behind us and thought to be over with.
[NFR: It's interesting that you think, wrongly, that I think that. To believe that our moral imagination should be informed by historical consciousness is not the same thing as believing that it should be captive to historical consciousness. The past should guide our thought and actions, not absolutely determine them. You present a false choice. -- RD]
#2 Comment By Aaron Gross On May 30, 2013 @ 3:17 am
To give an idea of what it’s like for someone who does not know the slightest bit of history, when we visited Istanbul for a weekend vacation over ten years ago we toured the Hagia Sophia museum. After leaving, I still had no idea that it had once been a church.
#3 Comment By Charles Cosimano On May 30, 2013 @ 3:57 am
But, “You can’t go back to Constantinople….” I would think that a lot cultural things between Western Europe and Turkey are more important that 1453.
I mean what next, the Proclamation of the Holy Roman Empire?
[NFR: "Nobody expects the Proclamation of the Holy Roman Empire!" But seriously, the point is you cannot understand the cultural tensions between Western Europe and Turkey without understanding the meaning of 1453. Reading Rebecca West's "Black Lamb And Grey Falcon" really, really reveals the power -- often tyrannical -- of historical consciousness, in particular consciousness of what centuries of Ottoman rule meant to the subject peoples of the Balkans. You cannot understand the Balkan wars of the past 20 years without understanding 1453. -- RD]
#4 Comment By JonF On May 30, 2013 @ 5:58 am
Rod, the Turks had already conquered a big chunk of the Balkans, including both Serbia and Bulgaria, by 1453. Ironically, they first crossed over into Europe because some Byzantine emperor allied with them in a war against Bulgaria and let them cross Byzantine territory.
#5 Comment By James On May 30, 2013 @ 6:17 am
If Europe “is the faith” as Belloc stated, then the fall of Constantinople must rank alongside the Reformation in terms of its long-lasting effects on the mindset of us Europeans. The ‘Orient’ became a lot closer than it had been previously, and with north Africa dominated by the Ottomans as well, and southern Spain only just recovered from Arab-Moorish domination, arguably the ‘peak’ of Christendom had already been passed by the time of Martin Luther.
Turkey is huge, comparatively speaking. If it joined the EU it would immediately and comfortably be the second most populous country, with a very young demography and easily the biggest army. With Greece historically being very wary of Turkish power and influence, and being in the state that it’s in, Turkish accession to the EU must be surely be inconceivable.
#6 Comment By William Burns On May 30, 2013 @ 7:00 am
1453 was more the “culmination of historical trends” than a decisive turning point in itself. The decline of the Byzantine Empire, the Turkish conquest of the Balkans, and the flight of Greek scholars to the west all began long before 1453, and Constantinople might have fallen decades earlier were it not for the timely defeat of the Ottomans by Tamerlane. That being said, it was also the first big siege in world history to be settled by the use of cannon–which may be the most important historical trend of all.
#7 Comment By Duncan in London On May 30, 2013 @ 7:07 am
If you ever have the chance to visit Istanbul, do it.
I haven’t commented here for a while, but have remained, sir, your devoted servant. Just writing to say that for a while this summer Duncan in London will be relocating to Duncan in Istanbul.
As a keen student of Ancient and Orthodox history, Constantinople has always loomed large in my imagination, but – and I hope this doesn’t make me appear too dense – it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t just going to spend time in Istanbul, I was going to spend time in Constantinople too. And it occurred to me that though there are several cities with intriguing personal histories (Buda and Pest, Berlin and Jerusalem divided, Petersburg built by decree from nothing) there is surely nowhere else that has such a distinct sense of two famous cities occupying the same space. Can anyone think of any others? A simple Bombay/Mumbai name change isn’t quite the same.
It’s also one of only three megacities in Europe (more than 10m, some people count Paris and Madrid but that’s a metro area issue). I don’t think Europe is often seen in the context of London, Moscow and Istanbul being the great cities, but in terms of my friends’ business trips, it’s not an inaccurate modern view. In general, Turks are seen as pretty cool, though naturally my Greek friends disagree…
#8 Comment By MH – Secular Misanthropist On May 30, 2013 @ 7:35 am
Aaron Gross said:
After leaving, I still had no idea that it had once been a church.
What’s also funny is that many people are unaware that Hagia Sophia influenced the architecture of Mosques. So the central domed Mosque is imitating Byzantine architecture.
#9 Comment By Glyn Tutt On May 30, 2013 @ 7:49 am
The Fall of Constantinople is just one of many points in world history that at the time changed the reality of life for many people and perhaps created major differences between wholes generations (the before and the after).
Whether the polarisation of public (or people’s) opinion was forged through religious, political or economic differences, the common thread is always that a handful of people (historically men, but in the modern world why not women?) led by a visionary but often dilluded leader, gets to a point where they are more willing to sacrifice the wealth of their dominions civilised practices (trade, knowledge and means of subsistance) in pursuit of power and influence beyond their territories. They have no right to do this and history tells us that eventually they and their ideologies will fail, their peoples will suffer and their civilisations may change so significantly that their past is still denied to their decendants.
Constantinople is one amongst many, Troy, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, New York, Baghdad, Pekin and many more geographical places have seen events that ‘changed the world’ and, yes, history should be understood when explaining the present. I agree that the future, whilst being mindful of the past, should be carefully nurtured, not for the current generation (whether it be religious, political or economic), but for the next.
To ignore one’s understanding of history is to open oneself to it repeating……..
#10 Comment By Fran Macadam On May 30, 2013 @ 7:55 am
Istanbul’s ancient name tells us that the historical events have more to do with power politics, economics and warfare than they do with Jesus.
#11 Comment By Liam On May 30, 2013 @ 8:30 am
William Burns is correct. The other thing that happened is that, counterintuitively, this ended up solidifying Venice’s role as intermediary of trade with the East (especially once the Turks soon thereafter ended Trebizond’s two centuries of succession to Mongol-sacked Bagdhad’s role as western terminus of the Silk Road) in a way that further incentivized Portugal to find a way around Africa and create the first modern naval mercantile world empire (and in turn incentivized Spain to compete, which had other consequences some might consider important, not the least of which was the Columbian Exchange of foodstuffs and other flora and fauna….).
#12 Comment By Nickp On May 30, 2013 @ 8:34 am
Clearly, the fall of Constantinople had and has a very strong hold over the imaginations of eastern Europeans. I wonder if it has such a strong influence on western Europe (i.e. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, northern Germany). By 1453, the Reconquista was nearing completion, and in the next two centuries, the western European maritime powers would be focused on opening trade routes to the east, bypassing the Ottomans entirely.
TL:DR the Turkish menace looks a bit different to a 16th century Balkan peasant and a 16th century conquistador in Mexico or the Philippines. It probably looks a lot different to a modern Greek and a northern EU bureaucrat, too.
#13 Comment By Julien Peter Benney On May 30, 2013 @ 8:38 am
It‘s interesting to see if in this industrialised age there really is that much real difference since the same problems of all the Enriched World still apply so well in Turkey: big government, lowest-low fertility, and potential huge public debts which cannot be reduced due to the political power of a large welfare class.
In fact, the need for the Enriched World to unite against the genuine “other world”: the arid, ancient lands of Australia and Southern Africa, may be real given our ecological crisis for which Australia and Southern Africa are largely to blame, whether directly through they very bad greenhouse emissions and clearing of carbon-storing woody vegetation or indirectly through using minerals to produce thirsty cars and airplanes.
It is true that the divide between Australia and Southern Africa on the one hand and the rest of the world on the other more nearly approaches Eastern Hemisphere/Western Hemisphere than the oft-suggested Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere – thus the Middle East does have some of Australia’s and Southern Africa’s distinctive traits – extreme runoff variability, strong animal sociality and strongly mineral-influenced political systems. However, unlike with Arab nations or Iran, such factors have no influence in most of Turkey and ecologically almost all of the country is clearly part of the cool, low-fragility high latitudes of the Eastern Hemisphere.
Turkey in the EU would not be the aberration most Muslim nations would be, but James may be right that it is not likely under present political conditions.
#14 Comment By Juan C. Marrero On May 30, 2013 @ 9:06 am
It’s hard to get a grip on the idea that people would switch religion so quickly–one day Constantinople, next day (figuratively) Istanbul. Makes one wonder whether religion for most is inch deep, however culturally wide it may appear to be. Perhaps, religion is most powerful when it is associated with an injured and repressed sense of nationalism–Ireland before the Republic, Poland before 1989. It may help explain why secularism has taken hold of so much of the West. Christian, one day; “Humanist”, the next. Should Islam “triumph” in Europe, would it survive in any fervent form?
PS: On the Sunday night that the Titanic hit the iceberg, many first class passengers had gathered around a piano for hymn singing as entertainment. What a different Europe that was. Would a secular band today even have heard of “Nearer My God to Thee?”
#15 Comment By Manfred Arcane On May 30, 2013 @ 9:35 am
Yes, May 29, 1453 was a great tragedy for Christendom with the fall of the Christian Roman Empire which stretched back to Constantine the Great.
But I think of two other years that made that black day possible:
1204 -when Western Christian “crusaders” sacked Constantinople and fatally weakened it.
1071 – When the Emperor Romanus IV was defeated and captured at Manzikert by the Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan. The defeat sealed the settlement of Muslim Turkic nomads into Anatolia. The defeat at Manzikert was facilitated by a treasonous Byzantine noble and by an overreliance on mercenary troops (both Latins and Turks).
The object lesson in all three dates for me is that the losses inflicted eventually by Islam were facilitated or made much easier if not inevitable by divisions and treachery by the Christians themselves. Looking at the largely imaginary”Christian West” today, we seem to be even worse off.
Article printed from The American Conservative: http://www.theamericanconservative.com
URL to article: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/were-still-living-with-1453/
URLs in this post:
[1] The Economist reminds us that the past isn’t even past: http://www.economist.com/node/346800?story_id=346800
[2] Image: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/imgres-1.jpeg
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment