The Great Siege of Malta : the epic battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John
Bruce Ware Allen (Author)
In the spring of 1565 a massive fleet of Ottoman ships descended on Malta, a small island centrally located between North Africa and Siciliy, home and headquarters of the crusading Knights of St. John and their charismatic grand master, Jean de Valette. The knights had been expelled from Rhodes by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, and now stood as the last bastion against a Muslim invasion of Sicily, southern Italy, and beyond. The siege force of Turks, Arabs, and Barbary corsairs from across the Muslim world outnumbered the defenders of Malta many times over, and its arrival began a long, hot summer of bloody combat, often hand to hand, embroiling knights and mercenaries, civilians and slaves, in a desperate struggle for this pivotal point int he Mediterranean
Print Book, English, 2015
ForeEdge, an imprint of University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH, 2015