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1453
- The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Now in audiobook format, a gripping exploration of the fall of Constantinople and its connection to the world we live in today.
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's listenable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.
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What listeners say about 1453
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tad Davis
- 11-29-16
Great story
Roger Crowley is a master storyteller, and Simon Prebble gives a wonderful reading of this epic account of the siege of Constantinople. Crowley's book conveys the grand sweep of events while including the kind of detail that makes the story vivid and memorable. For Mehmed II, it was a stunning victory; for Constantine XI, death and disappearance from history. (His body was never recovered from the carnage of the last assault.) I could almost feel the impact of the gigantic stone cannonballs as they pounded the ancient wall that protected the city.
16 people found this helpful
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A Very Well Done (Read & Written) Book!
I purchased this book and enjoyed it (the written version and the read), and it lends itself as a well written historic novel. Two thumbs up!
10 people found this helpful
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- Gary
- 09-14-16
The Wall, The Gun, and Honor
What an inspiring story. The characters on both side of the conflict are amazing. I'd rank this story of the last battle for Constantinople with the Greeks at Thermopylae, or the Texans at the Alamo. The greatness that lies within us may seem dormant at times, but we are all capable of rising to the occasion and this story tells just one of those stories from the pantheon of history.
I love getting peaks into non-Western history. Their stories and their lessons on how to live the best life are worth learning about. I just wish there were more books that would tell them. (This book should be made into a movie).
When you lose faith in humanity and start to think we are not really worth the trouble anymore, I would suggest reading a story like this one. The bravery, the gallantry, the sacrifices that were made by the characters within this story are awe inspiring. The twelve Greek sailors who sneaked out under the cover of darkness to discover if there were any reinforcements on their way, and then they took a vote to return to the doomed city because that's what there honor demanded even though they knew it means with near certainty their own death. What a story! There are many stories like that one told and more just as thrilling and inspiring.
The author does well. He gives the listener the historical context in the first 50 pages, but the heart of the story are the day to day chronicles of the battle, and with as much detail as a WW II book would give for the battle of Stalingrad, say.
Unless you've read this book, you probably would have naively believed that the long cannon had made all of the difference in the battle. You would have been wrong. There are many moving pieces and as with almost all of history it is never just one thing because 'ceteris paribus' (with all other conditions being the same) is always false because the world is not static but always dynamic.
Every thing that's been in the "Game of Thrones" seems to be in this story. The Wall, the Guns, Honor and Hodor ('hold the door") are in this story, but all the stories in this book are true and even more unbelievable!
25 people found this helpful
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- Margaret
- 06-23-18
Promises tech progress, delivers war slaughter
The summary made me too optimistic; I had hoped for more analysis of the influence of technical progress on how this war was fought, and some ideas about the Mediterranean arena, with insights that would help make sense of today's news, but the author seems to zero in and dwell on all the savagery and revenge and mindless killing. It's a little too much like a comic-book based movie; punches and slams and stabbings and blowing up. Maybe that IS the key to the Mideast! No big picture, just reprisals.
3 people found this helpful
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- Adam
- 09-05-16
surprisingly far-reaching
though this event in history interests me very much, I was wondering how an audiobook about 1453 would keep my attention. It did so fabulously by taking a new angle each chapter... one time discussing the Ottoman motivation, the next taking the Byzantine position. Each time, the author jumps back in history to give a better context.
By crisscrossing accross West and East, without the book losing its coherence, you'll get a taste for the whole of Byzantine and Ottoman history. The narrator tells the developments with a sense of gravity for the inevitable fate of Constantnople.
11 people found this helpful
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- Patrick D. Flynn
- 08-17-17
A well written narrative with bizarre and biased commentary
This is a well told story recounting the history of the fall of Byzantium. However, the author repeatedly goes out of his way to apologize for the barbarity of Mehmet and the Turks and to downplay the fact that the Turks were literally coveting and hell bent on sacking and corrupting a city that was founded and built by the work of another culture. In their actions you can see the root of the Taliban that would purposefully destroy a millennia old Buddhist colossus.
Several examples of this western self-loathing in Crowley's writing stood out. On one occasion during the siege Mehmet captured 40 sailors and had them impaled on stakes inserted through their rectums driven through their vital organs with hammers and planted before the walls. Crowley at this point feels compelled to tell us that Vlad Dracula also impaled people inferring some sort of relativism and providing no context aside from attempting to excuse or lessen the barbarity of the act by mehmet. He points his finger accusingly at the west for the sack of Constantinople during the 4th crusade but it isn't until the last fraction of the book that we're told of the Massacre of the Latin's which took place only 20 some odd years earlier and at the point we're told it is only used as a tool to once again offset the barbarity of the jihadists. Crowley calls the massacre a "xenophobic" attack as he's implying the multicultural tolerance of the Islamic butchers. The massacre was rooted in economics and had nothing to do with xenophobia.
There's a perverse celebration of the extermination of Byzantine culture that permeates his writing.
Crowley repeatedly calls Mehmet's Constantinople "astonishingly" multicultural. Within his commentary he ignores the nature of the janissaries, the use of foreigners and Christians as cannon fodder in the Islamic armies and the second class status they held.
After the general slaughter and rape of Christians we're expected to believe that somehow walling people off in ethnic ghettos with mandated uniforms is "astonishingly multicultural" and should be lauded.
The commentary practically ignores the slavery and segregation foisted on the Greeks in their own city and in a final fit of absurdity suggests the Turkish conquest "rescued" the city.
It wasn't theirs. They plundered, murdered, enslaved and desecrated. I have a hard time reconciling this commentary with contemporary views on the nature of culture and native rights.
Islam is still retarding large swaths of the world and it still poses a threat to the West. Celebrating the fall of the Eastern bulwark falls into the passé exercise of contemporary self-loathing. A malaise Western academics and elitists find themselves mired in.
58 people found this helpful
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- THX1138
- 09-23-16
Solid 5 Star History
Do not hesitate. You will absolutely love this book. It is well written and the reader does an awesome job bringing the text to life. My favorite parts were the descriptions of the siege cannon and the up to 3/4 -ton stone projectiles they could hurl at the Constantinople city walls. I did not know that Istanbul, Turkey is actually the old City of Constantinople. The author could have titled the book "the last great siege" because that is essentially what it describes. The development of the siege cannon effectively put an end to siege warfare because castle and city walls become penetrable and, as a result, ceased to serve their intended purpose.
8 people found this helpful
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- Arcadia
- 09-19-16
Byzantium in its last days
The book is quite good. I would like to see another one on the sacking of Constantinople in 1204.
2 people found this helpful
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- Brian Abel Ragen
- 11-06-16
A Fine Telling of Sad, Sad Story
This book provides enough background for the reader to understand the final siege of Constantinople in it context, and then a clear and involving narrative of the event. The reader is ideal, neither dry nor melodramatic, but always clear and forceful.
6 people found this helpful
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- sideshowcris
- 02-02-18
Great performance
I very much enjoyed this performance from Simon Prebble. Like his book on Venice, Crowley prefers to lean heavily on quoting the primary sources directly, but unlike his book on Venice he takes the time to tell us the current prevailing opinions on the veracity of their stories. He also really seems to enjoy describing everyone’s equipment manifest and preparation routines in minute detail. In this book he uses this preoccupation to really make you feel the images, putting you on the ground with the figures who lived the siege. Overall, I much preferred this book to his book on Venice.
1 person found this helpful
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- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Great Siege of Vienna is the centerpiece for historian Andrew Wheatcroft's richly drawn portrait of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires for control of the European continent. A gripping work by a master historian, The Enemy at the Gate offers a timely examination of an epic clash of civilizations.
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Look elsewhere
- By Ben H. on 09-20-21
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Ghost Empire
- By: Richard Fidler
- Narrated by: Richard Fidler
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ghost Empire is a rare treasure - an utterly captivating blend of the historical and the contemporary, realised by a master storyteller. In 2014, Richard Fidler and his son Joe made a journey to Istanbul. Fired by Richard's passion for the rich history of the dazzling Byzantine Empire - centred around the legendary Constantinople - we are swept into some of the most extraordinary tales in history. The clash of civilisations, the fall of empires, the rise of Christianity, revenge, lust, murder.
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Pleasantly surprised.
- By MF on 01-02-22
By: Richard Fidler
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Empires of the Sea
- The Contest for the Center of the World
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Empires of the Sea tells the story of the 50-year world war between Islam and Christianity for the Mediterranean: one of the fiercest and most influential contests in European history. It traces events from the appearance on the world stage of Suleiman the Magnificent through "the years of devastation" when it seemed possible that Islam might master the whole sea, to the final brief flourishing of a united Christendom in 1571.
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Brilliant detail, exciting story
- By Tad Davis on 08-17-08
By: Roger Crowley
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City of Fortune
- How Venice Rule the Seas
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The rise and fall of the Venetian empire stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and sheer opulent majesty. In City of Fortune, Roger Crowley, acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author of Empires of the Sea, applies his narrative skill to chronicling the astounding five-hundred-year voyage of Venice to the pinnacle of power.
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A Wonderful Listen
- By Scot on 06-12-14
By: Roger Crowley
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The Great Siege
- Malta 1565
- By: Ernle Bradford
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Suleiman the Magnificent, sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the most powerful ruler in the world, was determined to conquer Europe. Only one thing stood in his way: the island of Malta, occupied by the Knights of Saint John, the Holy Roman Empire’s finest warriors. Determined to capture Malta and use its port to launch operations against Europe, Suleiman sent overwhelming forces. A few thousand defenders in Fort Saint Elmo fought to the last man.
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Stirring tale of courage and endurance
- By Tad Davis on 08-18-13
By: Ernle Bradford
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Conquistador
- Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It was a moment unique in human history: the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story.
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A Great Book
- By Victor on 02-27-11
By: Buddy Levy
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The Enemy at the Gate
- Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe
- By: Andrew Wheatcroft
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Great Siege of Vienna is the centerpiece for historian Andrew Wheatcroft's richly drawn portrait of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires for control of the European continent. A gripping work by a master historian, The Enemy at the Gate offers a timely examination of an epic clash of civilizations.
-
-
Look elsewhere
- By Ben H. on 09-20-21
-
Ghost Empire
- By: Richard Fidler
- Narrated by: Richard Fidler
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ghost Empire is a rare treasure - an utterly captivating blend of the historical and the contemporary, realised by a master storyteller. In 2014, Richard Fidler and his son Joe made a journey to Istanbul. Fired by Richard's passion for the rich history of the dazzling Byzantine Empire - centred around the legendary Constantinople - we are swept into some of the most extraordinary tales in history. The clash of civilisations, the fall of empires, the rise of Christianity, revenge, lust, murder.
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Pleasantly surprised.
- By MF on 01-02-22
By: Richard Fidler
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Lords of the Sea
- The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy
- By: John R. Hale
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The navy created by the people of Athens in ancient Greece was one of the finest fighting forces in the history of the world and the model for all other national navies to come. The Athenian navy built a civilization, empowered the world's first democracy, and led a band of ordinary citizens on a voyage of discovery that altered the course of history.
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Sound narrative history
- By Matthew on 06-16-09
By: John R. Hale
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The Templars
- The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
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Unexpected
- By Protogere on 10-30-17
By: Dan Jones
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Mark Antony's Heroes
- How the Third Gallica Legion Saved an Apostle and Created an Emperor
- By: Stephen Dando-Collins
- Narrated by: John FitzGibbon
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This fourth book in Dando-Collins’ definitive history of Rome’s legions tells the story of Rome’s 3rd Gallica Legion, which put Vespasian on the throne and saved the life of the Christian apostle Paul. Named for their leader, Mark Antony, these common Roman soldiers, through their gallantry on the battlefield, reshaped the Roman Empire and aided the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.
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outstanding
- By Kevin F Moring on 10-16-17
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The Hundred Years’ War
- A Captivating Guide to the Conflicts Between the English House of Plantagenet and the French House of Valois That Took Place During the Middle Ages
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L Walton
- Length: 3 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Hundred Years' War changed language, national identity, weaponry, and even the way people think about war. It is part of the greater narrative of human history and gives a snapshot of how human nature can behave when pressed by the extremity of such a conflict - sometimes with unspeakable honor and courage and other times with cowardice, selfishness, and arrogance.
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Interesting
- By Hammer on 04-09-19