Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/239

 THE CLOSE : WEST AND EAST 227 Bey, Chiefly to John Hunyadi, and to his son, Matthias Corvinus, who was elected King of Hungary in 1457, Christendom owes its defence from the conquering arms of Fall of Con the Turkish sultan, Mohammed II. But, though stantinopie, Albanians and Hungarians held the Turk at bay, 1453, they could not rescue Constantinople, which after a heroic resistance fell before the furious assault of the Turks on May 29, 1453. The ancient Roman Empire was at an end. For two and a half centuries to come, the international politics of Western Europe were perpetually affected by the attacks of the Ottomans upon the eastern dominions of the Austrian emperor.