What happened in Russia during the fall of Constantinople in 1453?
The Grand Duchy of Moscow certainly took notice of the collapse of Byzantium. However, it was primarily preoccupied with resolving its own long-standing turmoil.
This event shocked the entire Christian world. On May 29, 1453, after a two-month siege, the troops of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople. With the fall of the capital, the Eastern Roman Empire also ceased to exist.
At that time, the Grand Duchy of Moscow dominated Russian lands. Only a few smaller principalities and the vast Novgorod Republic had not yet submitted to Moscow's rule.
Its main geopolitical rivals were the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the west and the Great Horde in the east. The latter considered itself the heir to the disintegrated Golden Horde and still collected tribute from the Russian princes.
In the year of the fall of Constantinople, the internecine struggle for the throne in the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which had lasted intermittently for about 28 years, finally came to an end. The victor was Vasily II the Dark – a nickname he earned for allowing himself to be blinded by his political rivals.
