Siege of Nicomedia

The Siege of Nicomedia, or Siege of Izmit (Ottoman Turkish: فتحِ ازمیت, romanized: Feth-i İzmit), took place from 1333 until 1337, when Orhan sieged the city of Nicomedia (nowadays İzmit). The Byzantine garrison surrendered due to lack of food and resources. Orhan's victory sealed Ottoman control of Bithynia.

Siege of Nicomedia
Part of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars
Date 1337 Location Nicomedia, Opsikion, Byzantine Empire (modern-day İzmit, Kocaeli, Turkey) 40°46′0.01″N 29°55′0.01″E / 40.7666694°N 29.9166694°E / 40.7666694; 29.9166694 Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Byzantine Empire	Ottoman Beylik
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Orhan Ghazi
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Siege

Following the loss of Nicaea in 1331, Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos proposed the payment of tribute to Orhan. Andronikos needed a free hand in the Balkans where Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria were in revolt against Byzantine rule. Orhan rejected his overtures and laid siege to Nicomedia (modern İzmit). In 1337, Andronikos effectively abandoned Nicomedia as he led his army to Albania. The besieged garrison was desperately short of food and supplies by then and so Nicomedia surrendered to Orhan. The inhabitants were allowed to leave the city for Constantinople.

Aftermath

The fall of Nicomedia enabled Orhan to overrun Bithynia and extend Ottoman rule to the eastern shore of the Bosporus. Apart from the city of Philadelphia, which fell to the Ottomans in 1390, the fall of Nicomedia marked the end of Byzantine rule in Asia Minor.

Additional source

• R.G. Grant, Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat, Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd, 2005. ISBN 0-7566-1360-4