The Great Betrayal

The Great Siege of Constantinople

By: Ernle Bradford

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

An engrossing chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, from the bestselling author of Thermopylae.

At the dawn of the thirteenth century, Constantinople stood as the bastion of Christianity in Eastern Europe. The capital city of the Byzantine Empire, it was a center of art, culture, and commerce that had commanded trading routes between Asia, Russia, and Europe for hundreds of years. But in 1204, the city suffered a devastating attack that would spell the end of the Holy Roman Empire.

The army of the Fourth Crusade had set out to reclaim Jerusalem, but under the sway of their Venetian patrons, the crusaders diverted from their path in order to lay siege to Constantinople. With longstanding tensions between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the crusaders set arms against their Christian neighbors, destroying a vital alliance between Eastern and Western Rome.

In The Great Betrayal, historian Ernle Bradford brings to life this powerful tale of envy and greed, demonstrating the far-reaching consequences this siege would have across Europe for centuries to come.

©1967 Ernle Bradford (P)2023 Tantor

Great history of the 4th Crusade.

The previous reviewer complaining of Greek Bias in this book is somewhat true but ridiculous. The author does lament the sacking and destruction of Constantinople by the Crusaders and how that doomed the Byzantine Empire. There is no valid justification for the 4th Crusade. The destruction of Constantinople and fracturing of the empire by other "Christian" nations did happen so the author's story rings true.

Far too biased, as the title telegraphs

After reading and rereading the primary sources decades ago, my interest in the Western conquest of Constantinople continues to increase. I have benefitted from also reading secondary sources that make interesting points to consider in understanding the subject in a broader context. This secondary source, however, is nothing more than a pro-Greek polemic that could lead a reader to believe that the Greeks deserved better. Evaluating bias is essential in understanding historical events, and bias is to be expected, but this author's bias is invariable and unrelenting. This book is actually interesting in how it so completely excludes facts about, and the historical context of, well-documented Greek crimes and treachery that ultimately led to their destruction.