The Battle of Ankara was a war that broke out between the Timurid Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The war ended with the victory of the Timurid Empire and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. Even the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I himself was captured by Timur, arguably the worst defeat suffered by the Ottoman Empire since its founding. But a few are happy and a few are sad.
Although this battle was regarded as a great shame by the Ottoman Empire, in the eyes of European countries at the time, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Ankara was regarded as the most joyful news. Some would even say that the battle of Ankara was the last thing for the Byzantine Empire for half a century. Therefore, it is quite possible to say that the battle of Ankara saved the Byzantine Empire.
Is that really the case? I actually have a somewhat different view of this public opinion, and it is true that the defeat in the battle of Ankara did devastate the Ottoman Empire. But it was not enough to reverse the absolute power gap between the Ottoman and Byzantine empires. That is, even if the battle of Ankara was lost, the Ottoman Empire still had the ability to destroy the Byzantine Empire.
And the reason why it did not destroy the Byzantine Empire was only because it had more important things to do. In addition, the walls of Constantinople were indeed difficult to conquer in the era before the invention of artillery. But this is not absolute, it is just that with artillery, the Ottoman Empire was able to get Constantinople at a much lower cost. It's not that it can't take Constantinople without artillery.
Of course, the appearance of artillery objectively increased the determination of the Ottoman Empire to take Constantinople, and also accelerated the pace of its attack on Constantinople. It is not an exaggeration to say that Mehmed II decided to attack Constantinople because of the birth of artillery. Therefore, the birth of artillery was an important reason for the fall of Constantinople, but it was not the main reason. But except that Constantinople is not the highest priority.
There was another reason that seriously affected the pace of the Ottoman Empire's capture of Constantinople. That is the aid of European countries to Constantinople, the amount of which is actually gradually decreasing. Before the birth of the Ottoman Empire, European countries launched many crusades. Not only helped the Byzantine Empire solve the immediate threat, but even hit the Middle East.
On the lost provinces of Syria by the Byzantine Empire, several Crusader states were established. These crusader states, for the Byzantine Empire, held back the pressure of the Muslim world for at least a hundred years. Assuming that European countries had maintained equal assistance to the Byzantine Empire, it would have been very difficult for the Ottoman Empire to take Constantinople.
So why did European countries gradually reduce their aid to the Byzantine Empire? In addition to its own internal strife, the Ottoman Empire gradually became stronger. When the Ottoman Empire was mediocre, European countries were able to easily defend the Byzantine Empire. But if the Ottoman Empire was strong enough, then the European countries would no longer be its opponents.
On this premise, there was another crushing defeat at the Battle of Varna. Hungary and Poland, two countries that could come to the aid of the Byzantine Empire, were dealt a huge blow. If the Byzantine Empire could no longer be aided in the short term, it was only a matter of time before it fell. What do netizens think about this? Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area and communicate with me.