The capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople also known as "New Rome", grew to be the largest European city of its time with over 400,000 inhabitants. Byzantium flourished as a world powerful Empire with its borders stretching from southwest Europe to Middle East Asia. Constantinople had a very complex fortification system which consisted of a triple system of inner wall, outer wall and a moat to protecting the city from outside threats. Although this wall was successful in steering away any opposition from foreign military, it stood little chance against the heavily armed Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Ottoman Turks eventually brought an end to the Byzantine Empire in 1453 due to the construction of the Bronze Cannon and the efficient use of gunpowder. The efficient use of cannons and gunpowder heralded the end to a powerful and yet struggling Byzantine Empire.
Until the reign of Theodosius in 408 AD, the defense of Constantinople heavily relied on upon one main line of fortification built on the western front of the city. This one line of fortification was built by the Byzantine Empire's original emperor Constantine the Great served as the city's line source of security for over eight decades. In 413 during his reign, Theodosius built a second line of defense walls around the city which are known as the Theodosian walls. After the Theodosian walls were built, emperor Anastasios I initially built long walls in 447 AD which stretched sixty five kilometres from the imperial city and also from Selybria to the Black Sea at a length of forty five kilometres. These walls protected the city from any outside attack or threat. .
According to author Gabor Agoston, many European military experts assume that the development of Ottoman arms missed out on developments in European artillery. While these developments in European artillery lead many European armies to possess smaller and more efficient arms while the Ottoman Turks mostly characterised their armies with large siege cannons.