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The fall of Gallipoli to the Ottomans occurred 1354. After suffering a string of defeats at the hands of the Ottomans, the Byzantines had lost all possessions in Anatolia. Access to the Aegean meant that the Ottomans could now implement the conquest of the Peloponnese, Greece and further north into Serbia and Hungary.
For some time, Turkish settlements on the peninsula of Gallipoli, still under Byzantine authority, had been in existence. In the early 1350's, the small fortress of Zympa, close to the city, was taken by the Ottomans. In 1354 Gallipoli was struck by an earthquake, which caused the inhabitants to evacuate it. Following this, the Ottomans took possession of the city and made it into a major stronghold which could facilitate further expansion into Europe.[1]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ A.A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453. Second edition (Madison, 1952), p. 622
