The Turkish Bombard: The Ultimate in Medieval Weaponry

The Turkish Bombard, otherwise known as the Dardanelles Gun, was introduced to the Ottoman army of Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453 to lay siege on the powerful mega-fortification of Constantinople. Cast out of bronze materials, this revolutionary medieval weapon could fire stone cannon balls measuring a diameter of around 63 centimeters. The cannon balls were loaded in the back of the cannon where gunpowder was filled all the way up to the back of the cannon ball for rapid fire.

The cannon was lite with fire and within seconds, an enormous explosion of gun fire was able to create damage on fort walls measuring sometimes 4 feet in every direction.

The harbor of the Golden Horn was blocked by a boom chain and defended by twenty-eight warships. On April 22, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony Galata and onto the Golden Horn's northern shore; eighty galleys were transported from the Bosphorus after paving a little over one-mile route with wood. Thus the Byzantines stretched their troops over a longer portion of the walls.

After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople. The great ruler Constantine died as a result of protecting his beliefs to the very end during the siege.


Dismantled Dardanelles Gun at Fort Nelson

For 1000 years, the city of Constantinople was indestructible, however with the assistance of the Bombard, the city fell to the Ottoman army after a fifty three day siege.