Assertion: fortress's gate | /r/CapableOf | hold the east
Facets:
value: at bay
type: LOCATION
value: for critical centuries
type: TEMPORAL
Source sentences:
text: It is pertinent today, as historians look upon the tragic history of the Balkans, to recognize the consequences for the West and the implications for the world had it not been for Constantinople’s role as the citadel at the gate of Europe, which for critical centuries held the East at bay through the long night of the Dark Ages.