34. The Byzantine Empire’s Capital Was Besieged Dozens of Times
A key factor allowing the Byzantine Empire to last for as long as it did was the strength of the defensive walls surrounding its capital, Constantinople. The city grew rich from its strategic location at a crossroads of land and sea trade routes linking east to west and north to south. A seaside city, Constantinople was immune from getting starved out by land siege, so long as the Byzantine navy kept the sea supply routes open.
On the land side, the Byzantine capital was protected from assault by some of history’s most powerful defensive walls. Barring treachery inside the city, when Constantinople’s walls were well manned, the city was well nigh impregnable to any medieval besieger. Goths, Avars, Persians, Arabs, Bulgars, Slavs, Vikings, and Rus, all had a go at Constantinople, some of them multiple times, without success. The few who managed to enter the city only did so with the aid of fifth columnists inside the city, who helped the besiegers gain entry. It was not until the invention of gunpowder that Constantinople’s walls were finally breached in the face of determined resistance, in 1453.
