Constantinople: The Value of Life in the Tectonic Succession of Empires

The fall of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire at the hands of the Ottoman Empire is an epoch defining moment in the history of the western world, a siege that saw the fall of arguably the greatest empire that the ancient western world had seen and one that had endured for odd 1,500 years. In my research I explore the grounds of the battlefield, and I look at human rights questions that may have been asked in the violations that occurred during the siege perpetrated by Ottoman forces. Further I delve into the justification or reasoning behind the actions that motivated the fall of Constantinople. Who was targeted in the midst of the siege? Were the civilians treated as combatants and obstacles to be slain? And if so, why were the inhabitants of Constantinople treated in the manners that played out in the processes of conquest? My research is filtered through the lenses of military and political history to determine the intricacies in the motivating factors that drove the Ottomans to take the city. What caused the Ottoman inheritance of the Imperial legacy of Rome? and at whose personal expense did the geopolitical landscape shift upon in this momentous change in rule?