Ancient Rome
The West responded with the Crusades, which eventually resulted in the Fourth Crusade, which conquered Constantinople in 1204. Several Roman states took pieces of the now-smaller empire. After the recapture of Constantinople by the Romans, the empire was little more than a Greek-speaking state confined to the coast of the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. The empire came to an end by Mehmed II conquering Constantinople on 29 May 1453.