From 1299, the newly founded state of the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

had been slowly but surely capturing territory from the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

. The loss of Nicaea was the beginning of a series of Ottoman expansions that led to the final dissolution of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and its scattered Greek successor states.

Siege

While the Turks were occupying and devastating

Lydia Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

and

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; el, Μυσία; lat, Mysia; tr, Misya) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the ...

, Osman attempted, after the Battle of Bapheus, to take the great pass leading to Bythinia. Devastating everything in their path, the Ottomans overran the population in the countryside, which, at that time of the year, was busy with heavy field work while gathering the harvest. Many peasants were massacred, others taken as slaves. A few managed to find refuge in the nearby fortified towns. The majority of the refugees took shelter in the port of

Nicomedia Nicomedia (; el, Νικομήδεια, ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocletia ...

. Osman Decided not to attack it for the time being due to its strong walls. Byzantine historian

George Pachymeres George Pachymeres ( el, Γεώργιος Παχυμέρης, Geórgios Pachyméris; 1242 – 1310) was a Byzantine Greek historian, philosopher, music theorist and miscellaneous writer. Biography Pachymeres was born at Nicaea, in Bithynia, wher ...

reports that every day, "A veritable anthill of panic-stricken, exhausted people arrived in Nicomedia. Not one of these fugitives had been spared the loss of his property or the sorrow of lamenting the death of a near relative. The women bewailed the death of their husbands, mothers—the death of their children, sisters—the death of their brothers. Along the roads leading to Nicomedia lay women, the elderly, and abandoned children. In the city itself, filled with refugees and besieged by the enemy, famine and sicknesses soon made their appearance."https://books.google.com/books?id=_gmVSgoSOacC&pg=PP4&dq=Georgii+Pachymeris+De+Michaele+Et+Andronico+Palaeologis+Libri+Tredecim,+Volume+2&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnjLegsNz7AhVYM1kFHe4aDOIQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false Following the Byzantine defeat at Nicaea in 1331, the loss of Nicomedia was only a matter of time for the Byzantines.

Andronikos III Palaiologos , image = Andronikos_III_Palaiologos.jpg , caption = 14th-century miniature. Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek. , succession = Byzantine emperor , reign = 24 May 1328 – 15 June 1341 , coronation = ...

, the Byzantine emperor, attempted to bribe the Ottoman leader Orhan, but in 1337, Nicomedia was attacked and fell to the Ottomans. The Byzantine Empire did not recover from this defeat; the last Anatolian stronghold of Byzantium had fallen, except

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, which was surrounded by the

Germiyanids The Germiyanids ( tr, Germiyanoğulları Beyliği or ''Germiyan Beyliği'') was a prominent Anatolian beylik established by the Oghuz Turkish tribes (probably the Afshar tribe) after the decline of Sultanate of Rûm. However, while the beyl ...

until 1396.

Aftermath

Following the loss of Nicomedia, the situation of the Byzantine Empire remained untenable. Unlike the Byzantine Empire at 1096, the Byzantine Empire now possessed very little land, except a few cities in the Peloponnesian Peninsula. With its Serbian and Bulgarian neighbours pressing against its frontiers from the west and the Ottomans dismantling their hold on the east, the Empire was at bay. What's more, this long-held history of Nicomedia in the

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

hands since the Alexandrian Conquest, including

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

's first eastern court in the Roman history which is to evolve into concept of its own court in the

Greek East Greek East and Latin West are terms used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world and of Medieval Christendom, specifically the eastern regions where Greek was the ''lingua franca'' (Greece, Anatolia, the southern Balkans, the ...

- ultimately

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

- irreversibly ended.

References

* R.G. Grant, ''Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat'', Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd, 2005. Conflicts in 1333 Conflicts in 1334 Conflicts in 1335 Conflicts in 1336 Conflicts in 1337

Sieges involving the Byzantine Empire Sieges involving the Ottoman Empire 1330s in the Byzantine Empire History of Izmit 1330s in the Ottoman Empire 1333 in the Ottoman Empire 1337 in the Ottoman Empire {{Byzantine-stub

Siege

Aftermath

See also

References