An overview of Byzantine Response to Ottoman Advance

In the 13th century, a crisis emerged in Anatolia deriving from the Mongol invasion.The devastation of the Seljuk rule led to a power vacuum in Anatolia, and the Ottomans existed as a small principality in such a milieu.The Ottomans had an desire to expand their rule from the beginning and become a major power in the region in a short span of time.The direction of the Ottomans was Byzantine so;they raided Byzantine lands.The Latin invasion of Constantinople had devastated the empire, and it could never regain its strength.In time, the Ottoman raids were replaced by sieges of the cities systematically.Even the Ottomans started to pose a threat to Constantinople. As the Ottomans maintained their advance, the Byzantine Empire made an effort to protect,but the Byzantine Empire was aware that it could not be dealt with the Ottomans unless support was provided. The remedy for this situation was the West, but there was a separation between East and West. To protect the Byzantine Empire, the unification of the churches came to the fore, and Council of Ferrara-Florance gathered.However, the short-lived unification led the chaos in the Patriarchate. Finally, the attempts failed, and the conquest of the Constantinople brought the Byzantine Empire an end.