Five Reasons for the Fall of the Byzantine Empire having paid his debts in Venice. John was forced four years later to make Byzantium a vassal state, pay tribute and provide military support to the Turkish sultan. This agreement ended in 1421 CE when Sultan Murad II withdrew all privileges granted to the Byzantines during the reign of Emperor John V; Murad set out to capture Constantinople. His plan was executed by his successor Mehmed II who launched the final attack on May 29, 1453 by liberating the Ottoman army on Constantinople. Constantine XI was killed during this battle, thus concluding the existence of the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the Roman Empire as a whole was inevitable, and the reasons for this fall are both uncertain and infinite. The following quote from historian Guy Halsall sums up what the end of the Roman Empire really was like.

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