page_title: Siege of Trebizond (1461)
section_title: Mehmed advances
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Trebizond (1461) / Mehmed advances
caption_attribution_description: English: Ottoman Galley in the Hymn-Book of Ferenc Watthay
context_page_description: The Siege of Trebizond was the successful siege of the city of Trebizond, capital of the Empire of Trebizond, by the Ottomans under Sultan Mehmed II, which ended on 15 August 1461. The siege was the culmination of a lengthy campaign on the Ottoman side, which involved co-ordinated but independent manoeuvres by a large army and navy. The Trapezuntine defenders had relied on a network of alliances that would provide them with support and manpower when the Ottomans began their siege, but failed at the moment Emperor David Megas Komnenos most needed it.
  The Ottoman land campaign, which was the more challenging part, involved intimidating the ruler of Sinope into surrendering his realm, a march lasting more than a month through uninhabited mountainous wilderness, several minor battles with different opponents, and ended with the siege of Trebizond. The combined Ottoman forces blockaded the fortified city by land and sea until Emperor David agreed to surrender his capital city on terms: in return for his tiny realm, he would be given properties elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire, where David, his family, and his courtiers would live.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1461, Mehmed fitted out a fleet comprising 200 galleys, and ten warships. At the same time, Mehmed crossed the Dardanelles to Bursa with the Army of Europe and assembled the Army of Asia; one authority estimates the combined force consisted of 80,000 infantry and 60,000 cavalry. According to Doukas, as word of the Sultan's preparations circulated the inhabitants of places as far apart as Lykostomion (or Chilia Veche) at the mouth of the Danube, Caffa in the Crimea, Trebizond and Sinope, and the islands of the Aegean Sea as far south as Chios, Lesbos, and Rhodes, whether or not they had acknowledged his hegemony, all worried they would be his target. This appears to have been Mehmed's intent, for when later asked by a confidante where this force was destined, the Sultan scowled and said, "Be certain if I knew one hair of my beard knew my secret, I would pull it out and consign it to the flames."
caption: An Ottoman galley, circa 17th century
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