We look at the fate of the Roman people after 1453. Many were enslaved while others searched desperately for loved ones. Those who adapted quickly to Ottoman rule could gain great wealth. While some fled to the West.
Pic: Thomas Palaiologos from the Pintoricchio fresco of Pius II’s arrival at Ancona, in the Siena Cathedral
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The History of Byzantium 
Countless numbers of people throughout history have undergone the horrific experience of living in a city that has been besieged, invaded and conquered. The siege, conquest by force and post-conquest of a city in the past nearly always entailed an incredible amount of suffering and huge traumas: people dying horrible deaths, the enslavement of the population, the looting and destruction of property, the loss or destruction of works of art and documents, people losing everything and everybody, rape, murder, exile, etc.1453 Constantinople is perhaps one of the best examples of all this appalling horror, before, during and after.
I understand that for a people to learn that their ancestors conquered this or that city against all odds must be a reason for national pride in many respects. Usually because the whole process has been romanticised, because they are told the event from the winners’ point of view and because history can be manipulated very easily. And it is very easy to demonise and dehumanise the enemy. If you think that those inside the city you are besieging deserve their fate because they are evil, subhuman, inferior or different, or simply because they naturally oppose your supposed right to conquer them, then it is much easier for you to perpetrate all kinds of atrocities to them.In my view, there is really nothing to celebrate or commemorate about the conquest of famous historic cities like Constantinople, Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Tenochtitlan, Delhi or any other city, town or even village in the world.