Is 1453 a date that you often think about? Is it one of those dates in history that will live on in our heart and minds? Have you ever heard of the date? Likely the answer is no. However, this is not the case in Turkey. Remember. Turkey is really the remnants of the old Ottoman Empire. It took a World War to finally collapse that Empire. Modern day Turkey, especially under Prime Minister Erdogan, would like to resurrect the old system. Their stance on Israel has taken a marked turn for the worse. They are increasingly hostile to the West. And now, there is a blockbuster film dedicated to the defeat and annihilation of their ancient enemy, the Byzantines. The film is called Fetih 1453, or Conquest 1453 for Western audiences. This date marked the final destruction of the Western Roman Empire, a Christian Empire, albeit with its many faults.
The fact that Turkey has created what is for them a big budget movie glorying its destruction illustrates its importance. It should also be important to the West. It shows that we are willing to allow Islam to spread without consequence. Up until that date, Byzantium battled back and forth, first with Persia and then with Islam, to retain its territory and the people that went with that territory. Now, the former Christian lands in the Middle East are virtually all Muslim. War is indeed hell, but sometimes war is necessary to hold back the hounds of hell that want to destroy you in this life and in the life to come. Take back Constantinople!
