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The Great Turkish Bombard, Sahi in Turkish, also known as the Hungarian Cannon, Basilic, the Dardanelles Gun, Muhammed's Great Gun and The Royal Gun was a 15th century siege cannon. It saw action in the Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was a siege in which the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Mehmed II attempted to capture the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople which was defended by the army of Emperor Constantine XI....
 and the Dardanelles Operation
Dardanelles Operation

The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose United Kingdom demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....
.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m6673003",this)' onMouseout='hide("m6673003")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Mehmed_II">Mehmed II
Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he Fall of Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire....
 attacked Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 in April 1453 using a force of massive siege cannon
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
s, many of which were cast by the Hungarian
Hungarian people

Hungarians are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 10 million Magyars in Hungary . Hungarians were the main inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary that existed through most of the second millennium....
 gunfounder Orban
Orban

Orban, also known as Urban, was a Hungary gunfounder who cast the Hungarian Cannon for the Ottoman empire Fall of Constantinople in 1453....
.






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The Great Turkish Bombard, Sahi in Turkish, also known as the Hungarian Cannon, Basilic, the Dardanelles Gun, Muhammed's Great Gun and The Royal Gun was a 15th century siege cannon. It saw action in the Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was a siege in which the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Mehmed II attempted to capture the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople which was defended by the army of Emperor Constantine XI....
 and the Dardanelles Operation
Dardanelles Operation

The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose United Kingdom demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....
.

Fall of Constantinople

Mehmed II
Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he Fall of Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire....
 attacked Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 in April 1453 using a force of massive siege cannon
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
s, many of which were cast by the Hungarian
Hungarian people

Hungarians are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 10 million Magyars in Hungary . Hungarians were the main inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary that existed through most of the second millennium....
 gunfounder Orban
Orban

Orban, also known as Urban, was a Hungary gunfounder who cast the Hungarian Cannon for the Ottoman empire Fall of Constantinople in 1453....
. Orban had earlier offered his services to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
 defenders under Constantine XI
Constantine XI

Constantine XI Palaiologos or Palaeologus was the last reigning Roman Emperor. A member of the Palaiologos, he ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1449 to his death....
, but was turned down by the emperor due to a lack of funds necessary for building such large ordnance. Orban then constructed for the Turkish siege forces a cannon 8 m (27 ft) long and 18 tonne
Tonne

A tonne or metric ton , also referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms, or 2204.6226 pounds....
s in weight. It fired 700 kg (1,500 lb
Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
) granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
 stones with a diameter of 750 mm (30 in). The gun was moved into position by 60 oxen
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
 and 200 men: half the force of men prepared a roadway for the guns while the others pulled on ropes to keep the huge weapons from falling over as they were moved along the road. Mehmed's men took seven days to prepare the guns before they opened fire.

Seven times a day, the guns fired a granite stone that crashed into the walls of Constantinople
Walls of Constantinople

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great....
. However, the Byzantine defenders managed to fill the breach during the long firing intervals, until the cannon finally went out of service. On May 29, 1453, the city was captured through an unprotected sorty gate, after the garrison had been exhausted in the preceding days by repeated Turkish mass assaults.

Dardanelles Operation

Great Turkish Bombard At Fort Nelson
In 1464, Mehmed II
Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he Fall of Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire....
 commissioned 42 of the monster cannons to guard the Dardanelles
Dardanelles

.The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara....
. Each weighed 18 tonnes with a 750 mm (30 in) bore. These huge cannons were still present for duty more than 300 years later in 1807, when a Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
 force appeared and commenced the Dardanelles Operation
Dardanelles Operation

The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose United Kingdom demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....
. Turkish forces loaded the ancient relics with propellant
Propellant

A propellant is a material that is used to move an object. This will often involve a chemical reaction. It may be a gas, liquid, Plasma , or, before the chemical reaction, a solid....
 and projectile
Projectile

A projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force, which ceases after launch. In a general sense, even a Football or baseball may be considered a projectile....
s, then fired them at the British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 ship
Ship

A ship is a large watercraft that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the ferry or cargo ships, fishing, cruise ship, Coast guard, and warship....
s. Instead of exploding
Explosion

An explosion is a sudden increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases....
, the cannon worked normally: two shots on a single British ship killed 60 sailors.

In 1867, Abdülâziz
Abdülâziz

Abd?laziz I or Abd Al-Aziz, His Imperial Majesty was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned between 25 June 1861 and 30 May 1876....
 gave Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was from 20 June 1837 the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of India of the British Raj until her death....
 one of these impressive and historic weapons. It became a part of the Royal Armouries
Royal Armouries

The Royal Armouries houses the United Kingdom national collection of arms and armour. It is the oldest museum in the United Kingdom and one of the oldest museums in the world....
 collection and was displayed to visitors at the Tower of London
Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames....
 and was then moved to Fort Nelson
Fort Nelson, Portsmouth

Fort Nelson, in the civil parish of Boarhunt in the England county of Hampshire, is one of five defensive forts built on the summit of Portsdown Hill in the 1860s, overlooking the important naval base of Portsmouth....
 at Portsmouth
Portsmouth

Portsmouth city status in the United Kingdom located in the Counties of England of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the UK's only island city and is located on Portsea Island....
.

In popular culture

The cannon is mentioned in Chapter XIV of The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe
Rudolf Erich Raspe

Rudolf Erich Raspe was a Germany librarian, writer and scientist, and he was called by his biographer John Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales: The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, originally a satirical work with political aims....
, known mainly in the adaptation by Gottfried August Bürger, where the Baron, "determined not to be outdone by a Frenchman" (he means François Baron de Tott
François Baron de Tott

Fran?ois Baron de Tott was an aristocrat and a French people military officer of Hungarian people origin.Born on August 17, 1733 in Chamigny, a village in northern France, the descendant of a Hungarian nobility, who had emigrated to the Ottoman Empire and then moved on to France with the cavalry of Count Mikl?s Bercs?nyi, and was later r...
 who doesn't fear to fire from it) puts the cannon on his shoulder and swims with it to the opposite shore. When he reaches the shore, he tries to throw the weapon back to its place, but it slips in his hand and falls to the sea which enrages the Sultan.

It is mentioned by Impey Barbicane in Chapter VII of Jules Verne
Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a France author who helped pioneer the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth , From the Earth to the Moon , Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , and Around the World in Eighty Days ....
's From the Earth to the Moon
From the Earth to the Moon

From the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of a French people and two well-to-do members of a post-American Civil War gun club who build an enormous sky-facing columbiad and launch themselves in a projectile/spaceship from it to...
 (1865): "At the siege of Constantinople by Mehmed II., in 1453, they hurled stone bullets that weighed" . The cannon is a weapon in Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios

Originally founded as an independent developer in 1995, Ensemble Studios was a Microsoft-owned developer from 2001 to 2009, when it was officially disbanded....
' PC strategy game, Age of Empires III
Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Released on October 18, 2005 in North America and November 4, 2005 in Europe, it is the third game of the Age of Empires series and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings....
 and in Big Huge Games
Big Huge Games

Big Huge Games is a computer game video game developer located in Timonium, Maryland, Maryland. The company was founded in February 2000 by four veteran Video game industry developers: Tim Train, David Inscore, Jason Coleman and Brian Reynolds ....
' PC strategy game, Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations

Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy Video game, developed by Big Huge Games and published by Microsoft on May 20, 2003. The development of the game was led by veteran Brian Reynolds, of Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri....
, as well as a siege weapon for the Turks in Medieval II: Total War.

See also

  • Mons Meg
    Mons Meg

    Mons Meg is a large Bombard now located at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. There are conflicting theories about its origins, but it appears from the accounts of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy that it was made to his order around 1449 and sent as a gift 8 years later to King James II of Scotland, with other artillery supplies....
  • Project Babylon
    Project Babylon

    Project Babylon was a project allegedly commissioned by the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during the Iran?Iraq War to build a series of superguns....
     - contemporary sectional super gun.


Further reading

  • Crowley, R. (2005). 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. Hyperion. ISBN 1401301916
  • Feldman, R. T. (2008). The Fall of Constantinople. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0822559188
  • Ffoulkes, Charles
    Charles ffoulkes

    Charles John ffoulkes was a United Kingdom historian, and curator of the Royal Armouries at London. He wrote extensively on medieval weapon and armour....
     (1930). The 'Dardanelles' Gun at the Tower
  • Nicolle, David
    David Nicolle

    David Nicolle is an historian specialising in the Military history of the Middle Ages, with a particular interest in the Middle East.Nicolle has worked for the BBC Arabic, and also lectured in World and Islamic art and architecture at Yarmouk University, Jordan....
     (2000). The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman conquest of Byzantium. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1846032008
  • Runciman, Steven
    Steven Runciman

    Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman Order of the Companions of Honour , better known as Sir Steven Runciman, was a United Kingdom mediaeval historian known for his work on the Middle Ages.For other people named Runciman, see Runciman ...
     (1990). The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521398320


External links