WEBVTT - On The River 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.760 Your holster is way more important than you think it is. 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:06.640 It's just way more important than you think it is. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.880 What look, and I get that. The holsters not the 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.560 sexy part of carrying firearms. All right. You want to 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:15.920 talk about your weapon and your ammunition. You want to 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:17.919 talk about your safety training. You want to talk about 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.080 how you did at the range. Oh, look at my groups. 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:21.959 I was doing these failure drills today, and all that 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.120 stuff is really important. I mean, really really important. I'm 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.560 not discounting that, but I've known so many people who 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.000 do all those things. They take all the necessary steps, 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:34.199 and then they carry with a holster they bought from 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.879 a big box hunting store that was made a thousand 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.040 at a time. Please don't put your life in one 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.360 of those holsters. You need to trust Northwest Retention Systems 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.840 because it's all custom made gear. It's the only thing 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:54.520 I carry around NW Retention dot Com. That's NW Retention 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.520 dot Com used to promo co Jesse gets you ten 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:23.680 percent off. This is a Jesse Kelly show. Should you 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:33.320 murder your own brothers maybe cousins too? Do you think 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:38.440 that is a solution to your problems? Probably not right. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.959 Probably horrified by the thought of it, I would certainly hope. 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:49.040 So hey, I welcome back to that. We've talked a 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.120 lot about the Roman Empire. Today, we are not talking 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.720 about the Roman Empire today. We're really talking about the 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:00.960 Ottoman Empire. But before we get clear to that, let's 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:06.000 begin with where exactly we are in the world. The 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:12.919 Roman Empire reached its height after Christ after all the nonsense, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.440 reached its height at one point where they controlled everything 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.120 in the Mediterranean. I mean, gosh, they were in Britain, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:26.560 they were they were king dog And as empires do 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:33.480 you peak, they peaked, and thus began a slow, steady decline. 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.320 Does not happen all at once. Sometimes it does, sometimes 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:42.280 it doesn't. Depends on the circumstances. When it comes to nations. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.880 If you've studied at all these empires who rise and fall, 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.000 some will be at their peak. I mean, it really 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:54.160 happened big time with the accumenated Persians. They were rocking 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.359 and rolling, and all of a sudden they're just freaking gone. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.600 But in order to just be freaking gone like that, 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.400 you need an Alexander the Great who helps push you along. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.400 You know, the Persians were gonna be fine. They were 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.360 just gonna slowly, steadily decline, and people were gonna chip 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:17.720 away at him, and then all of a sudden, oh 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:24.480 my gosh, there's this beast who cannot be stopped. So 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.280 if you're going to decline rapidly when you're a super 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:32.600 powerful nation, you really need another superpower to nudge you 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:38.480 along militarily most of the time, and the Roman Empire 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.760 didn't have that at this time. Eventually, the barbarians would 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.960 start chipping away at him, these these step tribes who 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:52.720 carts start swooping in. But at some point the Roman 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:58.120 Empire splits right down the middle, well kind of right 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.800 down the middle, but becomes a Western Roman Empire in 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:08.440 an Eastern Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire would eventually fall. 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:15.360 The Eastern Roman Empire would pretty much completely remake itself 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:21.799 and rise again. You've maybe heard of the Byzantine Empire, Chris, 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.320 you're an idiot. You've even heard of the Byzantine Empire. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.920 That is the Eastern Roman Empire. That's an extension of 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.920 ancient Rome. They broke off. They didn't fall like the 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:42.800 Western Roman Empire fell. They remade themselves. They were a 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:49.960 nation that spoke Greek. They were a Christian nation. Much 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:51.760 of the thing and many of the things you see 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.719 today when it comes to the church and various things, 0:04:54.839 --> 0:05:00.800 really comes from this era. They were unquestionably the greatest 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:05.560 empire of that time, and they rose and that was 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.640 you know, Constantinople. That's where what we're talking about today 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.000 modern day Istanbul, Turkey, if you're wondering where that is, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.719 that became their capital, and it was supposed to at 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:23.360 the height of the Byzantine Empire, supposed to be absurdly amazing. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.160 They built a church there under orders that it be 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.120 the greatest church in the world and also be finished 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.560 as quickly as possible. I realize those two things can 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.520 be difficult. They finished the church and reportedly, I don't know. 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.800 I can't speak to the accuracy of this. Supposedly the 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:48.720 church had the nails, Jesus was crucified within it, and 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.840 the cross itself. This thing was supposed to be awesome. 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.840 It still exists in Istanbul today. It's a museum. I've 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.359 never been there. I've never been a Turkey. I'd like 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:03.000 to go one day, maybe once he doesn't suck what Chris, 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:08.719 you can make fun of other countries. So the Eastern Rompire, 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:16.680 Eastern Roman Empire arises, becomes the Byzantine Empire, and you 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:22.320 have this wonderful city called Constantinople. And part of building 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:27.120 up Constantinople meant doing this. It meant making the city 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:35.000 absolutely impregnable. And here's the weird thing about it. They 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:42.800 did for a long time. They built up walls, defenses, 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.000 and the water played a key part of this. I 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.599 want you to do me a favor, if you're in 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.480 a place to do so. You know we do this sometime. 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.560 I want you to do me a favor and pull 0:06:55.680 --> 0:07:00.560 up a map of Istanbul, Turkey, and what you'll see 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.000 is this. If you're not on a map, allow me 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:08.000 to explain it to you as best I can. All Right, 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.520 You've got Italy, all right. I say that because it's 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.440 easiest for people to understand, because everyone can picture Italy 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.920 that big cowboy boot. Now move to the right, move 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.840 east and you see Grease. There, You got Grease. See 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.720 what I'm talking about. Just south of Greece, you have 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:33.480 the Mediterranean. Obviously the Mediterranean. Now right to the east 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:38.600 of Greece is the Aegean Sea. If you keep cruising 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.320 northeast up through the Aegean Sea. You will see if 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.720 you're zoomed out on your map, it looks like it's landlocked. 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:52.080 It is not. Zoom in. Eventually you will find yourself 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:59.920 just southwest of the Black Sea. You will see Istanbul. Now, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:06.960 zoom in on Istanbul on your little map. What is it? 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:11.760 It is not just a city on this little peninsula 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:19.600 connecting Europe and Asia. It is a gigantic gate. Look 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.880 at the Black Sea for me for a moment. Look 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:27.520 at all the nations connecting the Black Sea. Now, imagine 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:29.720 remember how big the trade is back in the day. 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.600 Imagine you want to sail a ship from anywhere in 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:38.400 the world and get it through the Black Sea. Where 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:43.000 are you passing through Istanbul? It is not only the 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:48.040 connection with that little straight between Asia and Europe. It 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.640 is a major trade route. It is, as I said, 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:57.840 controlling the gates of trade. So they very wisely set 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.200 up their capital city here. For defied it and the 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.200 empire arose. It's not as if the Eastern Roman Empire, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.200 the Byzantine Empire just exists. They didn't kind of limped 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.600 along for a few years. No, no, no, no. They 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.559 remade themselves in their own distinct culture with a lot 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:19.720 of Roman influence and rose dominant dominant power. We'll do 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.400 a ton of things on them one day, but again, 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:29.360 empires rise, in, empires fall. All of them. We are 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:34.760 no exception, which brings us to the fourteen hundreds, specifically 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:42.760 the fourteen fifties. Now, remember the Byzantine Empire was doing 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:48.080 just fine for a long long time. We're talking the 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.360 year three ninety five to fourteen fifty three. So I 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.280 don't mean to just sweep right through them. If it's well, 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.199 they were a little blip on the radar. Any American 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.120 in their mine would happily sign up for in a 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.840 thousand year empire right now, that's how long they lasted. 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.480 So I'm browsing. I'm just breezing right past them today 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.000 as if they're nothing. They were not nothing. They were major, major, 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.640 But an empire is beginning to rise in the east. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:52.240 Hang on, you're listening to the Jesse Kelly show. You're welcome. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.200 I know what you go through at night when you 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:01.520 can't sleep. I have been there, and people who can 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.880 sleep will never fully get what it's like to not sleep. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:10.720 How the days blend into each other, how you progressively 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.840 get worse and worse and worse. At some point in time, 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.280 you get physically sick because your body's not getting the 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.320 rest that needs. It takes the life out of you. 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.439 Literally takes the life out of you. Stop. There's a 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.360 solution out there. I've been telling you about it for 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.760 a long time, and it's EBB sleep by, one of 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.520 these things you can try at risk for you for 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.880 sixty days. It's a wearable device that will calm those 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.760 thoughts down and put you asleep and keep you asleep. 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.439 Go to try ebb dot com slash jesse. That's try 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.120 ebb dot com slash jesse used to promo code jesse 0:11:52.320 --> 0:12:12.960 for twenty five bucks off start sleeping. An empire is 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:20.319 rising in the East as the Byzantine Empire is crumbling. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:28.080 And this, this crumbling of the Byzantine Empire was a 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:35.040 long time coming. Didn't happen overnight, happen the way all 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:41.160 kind of empires crumble slowly over time, internal rot, lose 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.040 a little territory here, get a bad ruler or five. Here. 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.240 Europe is ripping each other. They're ripping each other to 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.320 shreds right now. This is the era of the Crusades 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.679 and the popes and kings. You have insane kings. I'll 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.640 do a whole show on him one time. Charles the 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.760 Glass or Charles the mad, whichever way you want to 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.000 put it, actually thought he was made of glass. Legitimate 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.160 mental illness, speaking of which we're going to get to 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.480 one of those here in just a couple of minutes, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.560 but legitimate mental illness. As the king of a nation, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:24.320 can you imagine what would happen to a nation and 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:29.720 the Ottoman Empire in the east rises. The Ottoman Empire 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:34.959 is a Muslim empire. Now that matters to a lot 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.200 of people today, But believe me when I tell you 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:43.640 it doesn't matter even a fraction as much today as 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:49.080 it meant back then. This was the era when men 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:56.200 believed you arm everybody in society and you go die 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.760 if that's what it takes to take back this holy 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:05.679 city or that holy city. Wars were wholly religious wars 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.120 back then, sometimes at least that's how they were sold. 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.120 Don't get me wrong, lots of these wars. We gotta 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.240 take this back for Christ, We have to take this 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:21.880 for all. It's weird how many kings and sultans ended 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.920 up a lot richer after these whole things not that 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:31.440 I'm saying anything. Be real, real careful. This is a 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:36.880 quick side note. Be real careful how things are sold 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.200 to you. Tell me if that sounds familiar at all today. 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:48.520 Be very careful how movements are sold to you. Oftentimes 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:56.640 that's not really what they're selling anyway. So this empire 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:03.600 rises in the East, and the Ottoman Empire is rising 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:08.160 as Europe is crumbling and ripping each other apart. And 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:13.960 the Ottoman Empire is a hungry, hungry empire of conquest. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.320 This is not an empire that just wants to sit 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.840 down and have their Muslim country here and be left alone. No, 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:24.320 they believe they are supposed to own it all, so 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.280 they begin to slap around everybody. They begin to push 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:31.440 into Europe. Europe can't really do much about it at 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.280 this time because there's not one power that can take 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.680 on the Ottoman Empire. Yes, they could all join up 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.800 and fight off the Ottoman Empire, but the problem is 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.400 when can Europe ever join up. They'll join for a 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.280 year or two, and then somebody will offend someone else's 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.800 daughter and then they're killing They're always fighting each other 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.600 all the time. That didn't get That didn't get invented 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.200 with World War One. By the way, why do you 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.960 think Washington was so adamant about staying of Europe's wars 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.640 in his farewell address that's a little ways before World 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.720 War one and two. He was all these freaking Europeans 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.840 man are always going at each other for some reason. 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:17.160 Just stay out of the whole thing. And the Ottoman 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:23.480 Empire sets its sights, as you can imagine on Byzantium now. 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.960 By now, the Byzantine Empire pretty much is Byzantium. There 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.160 is no more wide control. They own a little of this, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.080 a little of that. They have this great fortified city, 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.920 but they don't have really any money, they don't have 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:43.320 the troops. All they can do now is basically be 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.680 a vassal state to the Ottomans, and the Ottomans get 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:53.240 this nineteen year old kid take over as sultan, and 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.760 the whole of Europe takes a little sigh of reliefs, 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:01.560 convincing themselves this nineteen year old kid is gonna be 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.520 an idiot. He's gonna be what a nineteen year old 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:11.359 kid usually is. Only here's the problem. Oftentimes it's not 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:16.320 an age thing. There are plenty of nineteen year old 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.520 kids who are extremely capable, smart human beings. And this 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.040 nineteen year old kid who took over the Ottoman Empire 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.080 happened to be Memed the Second. Memed the Second spoke 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:32.760 like seven languages at the age of nineteen. It's not 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:37.240 some immature snot nosed a little brat. This was an 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:45.280 extremely capable human being. Now, which brings us to the problem. 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.040 An interesting problem, as they say, hindsight is twenty twenty. 0:17:55.440 --> 0:18:00.439 The Byzantines, they don't have any money. They don't have 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.400 a lot of money. I mean they've got enough. They 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.520 certainly don't have enough money for military conquests and things 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.919 like that. You're at this point, you're just trying to 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.920 have enough troops to defend yourself and maintain your empire, 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:20.040 maintain some order. And so an engineer approaches the big 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:24.280 cheese Constantine the eleventh. He's the head of the Byzantine 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:32.800 Empire at this time, and this engineer approaches him and says, hey, 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.840 I have something you might be interested in, and Constantine says, well, 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.240 I'd love to hear it. I'm making up this whole conversation, 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.200 by the way, And the engineer says, how about a 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:47.280 big fricking gun. Now there are cannons already in existence. 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.920 I understand that there are cannons in existence. And Constantine says, well, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:53.600 what do I want with a big gun? And this 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.679 guy says, no, no, no, no no, you don't understand. I 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.520 have a big, big gun, a big cannon that will 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:06.600 shoot a cannon ball that weighs a ton, and it'll 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:11.320 shoot it a mile. It's hard for us to wrap 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.320 our minds around that. But that is so much bigger 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.680 than anything in existence at that time. And Constantine says, thanks, 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.199 but no, thanks, What use do I have for a 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:29.040 canon of that size. Well, you're an engineer. You've spent 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.240 some serious time and hard work designing this super weapon. 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:39.800 If Constantine the eleventh says no, do you think you're 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.960 going to go back to your little shop and say, 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.359 well it was a good shot, I guess my million 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:47.880 dollar ideal or just have to go to the ash 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.000 heap of history? Or do you think you're going to 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:57.600 go looking for another buyer? Yeah, he went looking for 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:04.080 another buyer. Guess who decided he was a buyer. The 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:09.600 engineer finds himself in front of Memed the second says, hey, 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:15.400 look at this thing. Memed the Second says, oh, yeah, 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:21.280 do they come in bulk. And eventually you find yourself 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:27.040 as Constantine the Eleventh, facing down the very guns you 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:31.240 refuse to purchase because Memed the Second decides he's gonna 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:35.320 go ahead and take Byzantium. Constantine the Eleventh is asking 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.639 Europe for help. Europe says, oh, we'll pray for you. 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:45.639 They began knocking down your walls. Now here's something you 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:48.800 do need to know. If you're rooting for the Byzantine Empire, 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:52.159 which many of my listeners will, because it's human nature. 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:54.200 You root for who you view as your team. Right. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.359 I'm sure my Muslim listeners are probably rooting for the Ottomans, 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.359 my Christian listeners are rooting for the Byzantines. That's that's 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:05.480 how we view history, and that's human nature. You don't 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.800 have to feel bad about that. I used to watch 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.480 the major golf tournaments with my dad when I was 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.520 a kid, and we weren't golf freaks. But anytime you 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.720 can spend with your father as a kid, you treasure 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.440 and he's watching, you know, the PGA, the US Open, 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.119 And I'd always asked my dad, Dad, who are we 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:27.199 rooting for? We're rooting for the Americans. That's that's all 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.000 there is doing. We root for Americans. Screw those Europeans, 0:21:31.440 --> 0:22:00.760 screw the Japanese, we root for America. Hang on. So 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:09.520 they pull out the old mega cannon against these formerly 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:17.040 impregnable walls of Constantinople. And yeah, those walls are all 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.280 of a sudden very pregnable. Is that a word, Chris, impregnable? 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:24.160 There should be a pregnable, right? Is that? I didn't 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.919 just say a dirty word, is it? It might be dirty? 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:28.760 All right, I'm not saying it again. I'm not saying 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.720 it again, but you know what I mean. This thing 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.840 hammerhouses those walls. And it's not one of those scenarios 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:37.840 where you think you pull out the big guns and 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.159 it just bounces harmlessly. Oh no, the walls crumble in 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:47.000 one day, a big part of the wall gets exposed. 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:55.639 But met the second orders his troops in only understand 0:22:55.720 --> 0:23:00.560 this if you're a fan of the Byzantine Empire. This 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:05.000 siege does not make them look bad. They fight off 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:10.040 the guys who try to fight through and build the 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:15.120 wall back overnight. Now they didn't build up the wall 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.000 as it looked before. That's a major construction project. They 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.119 would do things like take all the rubble from the 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:25.400 crumbled wall, stack it, and then put a bunch of 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.600 cloth and wool and things in it, so when they 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:30.840 shot it again with a cannon, it would dull it 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:33.439 and it wouldn't explode. You know, when it hits a 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:39.240 soft surface, it helps. And this continued, day after day 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:42.879 after day. The Ottomans would shell a section of the wall, 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.640 it would crumble. They would try to attack, the Byzantines 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:53.399 would fight them off like warriors, repair it overnight. Now 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:55.520 I'm a mad. The second is not a man who's 0:23:55.600 --> 0:24:00.240 just going to go away. He is also dealing very, 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:07.359 very very harshly with people he captures. He wants the city. 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.040 He wants it intact, he wants to make it the 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:13.080 capital of his empire. This isn't just a random city 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:16.720 like I told you before. This place is important. He 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:21.919 wants it. He wants it badly, so he keeps sending 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:24.879 in you know, people, hey surrender the city. Well, at 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:26.959 least let the women and kids live. He didn't even 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:28.879 pretend he was going to let the men live. I 0:24:28.920 --> 0:24:30.879 mean a little look, the women and kids will be fine. 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:34.840 You well, no, not you not so much, they keep 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:38.960 saying no. In the face of certain death against this 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:43.879 massive army and their huge guns, they keep saying no. Mamed. 0:24:43.960 --> 0:24:46.359 The second even goes and conquers a couple little mini 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:51.119 Byzantine forts, brings back the guys he captures and impales 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:53.440 them in front of the city walls, in front of 0:24:53.720 --> 0:24:56.600 Constantinople or Byzantium, whichever you want to call it, the 0:24:56.640 --> 0:25:03.400 same city. Even still, they say, so, remember that map. 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:09.560 Pull up your map again of Istanbul today. It's the 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:11.840 only way to search it. All right, Istanbul, Let me 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:13.840 see you here and pull up the map again. There 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:17.560 is What do you see when you look at that 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:23.400 straight there's a harbor, isn't there? There's a big harbor 0:25:23.560 --> 0:25:28.840 in there now, Istanbul in order to defend it. You'll 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:31.879 see it's called the Golden Horn. If you're looking at it, 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:35.800 you'll see its Istanbul sitting there. There's a harbor. They 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:40.320 know they can't have somebody get on that side of 0:25:40.359 --> 0:25:45.239 the harbor. You essentially can't allow the enemy ships in 0:25:45.280 --> 0:25:47.960 the harbor, or you're going to be defending your city 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:50.520 from multiple sides and you won't be able to stand. 0:25:50.680 --> 0:25:53.679 They can maybe muster the manpower to patch up the 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:56.720 walls on one side, you can't do it on other sides. 0:25:57.119 --> 0:26:00.520 So they try to ram the auto and try to 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:06.000 ram their ships into this chain of ships that the 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.680 Byzantines have set up in the harbor. They essentially set 0:26:08.720 --> 0:26:11.320 up a big chain of ships so you can't get through, 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:13.800 because we know we have to hold this at all costs. 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:18.520 The Ottomans cannot get through that chain of ships, and 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:24.159 so they went home. No, they didn't go home. The Ottomans, again, 0:26:24.400 --> 0:26:28.720 are not incapable dullard barbarians. They have some of the 0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:32.320 most brilliant minds of the ancient world. Mamed the second 0:26:32.400 --> 0:26:35.480 goes to his brilliant engineers and says, find a way 0:26:35.520 --> 0:26:39.080 around it. The engineers come back and say, well, we're 0:26:39.080 --> 0:26:41.920 not going to ram through the ships. Here's what we're 0:26:41.920 --> 0:26:46.159 going to do. And in a construction project that I 0:26:46.200 --> 0:26:49.480 would honestly have loved to see people pull off back 0:26:49.480 --> 0:26:53.119 in the day with this level of technology, they laid 0:26:53.160 --> 0:26:58.119 down steel rails and wheels and they simply sailed up 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:02.640 to the chain, then hold the boats on shore and 0:27:02.880 --> 0:27:06.440 railed the boats, passed the chain and dropped them back 0:27:06.440 --> 0:27:09.679 in the water. In the harbor on the other side. 0:27:10.040 --> 0:27:13.800 I know, I know, I know, Chris. I just when 0:27:13.840 --> 0:27:15.760 I heard the story, I was like, wait, what, Like, 0:27:15.840 --> 0:27:18.119 I can't even picture it. Maybe somebody's come up with 0:27:18.160 --> 0:27:24.320 a picture of it somewhere. Long story short, they fall. 0:27:24.440 --> 0:27:29.280 If you're wondering about Constantine the eleventh, to his credit, 0:27:29.440 --> 0:27:31.480 I don't know anything about the man. Maybe he was 0:27:31.520 --> 0:27:34.560 a great man, maybe he was a bad man. To 0:27:34.800 --> 0:27:38.000 his credit, during the heat of the fighting, when the 0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:43.400 city was falling, threw on his sword and threw himself 0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:47.280 into the meat of the battle and was never seen again. 0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:53.320 He went down. Now the Ottoman Empire takes over. Now 0:27:53.400 --> 0:27:57.040 we're talking a couple hundred years past the Ottoman Empire. 0:27:57.320 --> 0:28:00.919 And for this, I'm not going to apologize to you, 0:28:01.000 --> 0:28:03.560 because you know I don't do that. But I should 0:28:03.680 --> 0:28:06.439 note that we're a little ways into the show, and 0:28:06.560 --> 0:28:10.000 I got distracted several times because all this stuff fascinates me, 0:28:10.040 --> 0:28:12.560 and right about now we're just getting to the thing 0:28:12.640 --> 0:28:18.560 I actually wanted to talk about today. Sorry, Chris, what, Look, 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:20.840 it's all crappy news. I can talk about history if 0:28:20.840 --> 0:28:24.560 I want. It's my show. Eight seven seven three seven 0:28:24.640 --> 0:28:26.960 seven four three seven threes the number by the way, 0:28:27.000 --> 0:28:30.240 eight seven seven three seven seven four three seven three. 0:28:31.480 --> 0:28:37.960 They throw themselves into it. Ottomans take over. They now 0:28:38.240 --> 0:28:44.040 rule this place. They rule this place with an iron fist. 0:28:44.360 --> 0:28:51.440 And they are a mega, mega empire, extremely powerful. And 0:28:51.760 --> 0:28:55.120 they have one man in charge of the Ottoman Empire, 0:28:55.200 --> 0:29:00.600 and he's always set up here in this city. And 0:29:01.040 --> 0:29:05.640 the thing about the Ottomans is this. They're a powerful empire, 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:11.840 an intelligent empire, like I said, great engineers, wealthy, fascinating, 0:29:11.840 --> 0:29:16.600 a great architecture. But they have this huge flaw that 0:29:16.720 --> 0:29:19.840 they never seemed to be able to figure out. In 0:29:19.960 --> 0:29:23.560 my word, you want to talk about flaws, it's really 0:29:23.600 --> 0:29:29.800 really bad. They don't seem to be able to figure 0:29:29.800 --> 0:29:34.520 out the whole succession thing. Now, there have been a 0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:38.800 million stories of succession of the throne throughout history, of 0:29:40.760 --> 0:29:44.120 backstabbing and murder. This guy wants to thrown and that 0:29:44.200 --> 0:29:46.880 guy wants to thrown. But the Ottomans seem to have 0:29:47.280 --> 0:29:52.920 actually perfected this dysfunction in a unique way. They would 0:29:53.440 --> 0:29:57.360 just murder everyone. Every time somebody took over as sultan, 0:29:57.480 --> 0:29:59.920 he would murder all of his brothers and cousins every 0:30:00.080 --> 0:30:02.680 single time. And part of the reason it was so 0:30:02.880 --> 0:30:10.160 rampant in the Ottoman Empire was this, they thought, remember 0:30:10.160 --> 0:30:13.080 my question in the beginning about murdering your brothers and cousins, 0:30:13.120 --> 0:30:20.760 the Ottomans swore, maybe not wrongly, The Ottomans swore, this 0:30:20.920 --> 0:30:26.000 was actually the greater good. This was actually a mercy 0:30:26.280 --> 0:30:29.840