1453: The Catastrophe That Ended Rome
2026-09-22
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, historian Anthony Kaldellis of the University of Chicago discusses his new book 1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople.
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Anthony explains:
Why the ‘Byzantines’ were really Romans
The Roman state’s extraordinary longevity
Constantinople’s strategic importance
The rise of the Ottoman state
Ottoman slavery, the devşirme, and the janissaries
Romans, Italians and Turks living side by side
Venice and Genoa’s role in the East
Ottoman cannon and the myth of Orban
Why the siege was not inevitable
The enslavement and dispersal of the Romans
How ‘Byzantium’ was reinvented after its fall
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Produced and edited by Thomas Small .
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An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.