Name: The Great Siege
ISBN: 9781840222067

Ernle Bradford

In 1565 the Ottoman Empire was at its peak. Under their sultan, Solyman the Magnificent, the Turks had conquered most of Eastern Europe. The rulers of Christian Europe were at their wits' end to stem the tide of disaster. The Knights of St John, the fighting religious order drawn from most of the nations of Christendom had been driven from their island fortress of Rhodes 40 years earlier. From their new base of Malta their galleys had been so successful in their raids on Turkish shipping that the Sultan realised that only they stood between him and total mastery of the Mediterranean. He determined to obliterartethe Knights of Malta.

Malta 1565

The Great Siege

Matthew Royal

I hadn't realized that this period of history in the late Renaissance overlapped the Crusades so much! Very interesting reading, especially considering the message of jehad [Bradford's spelling] in exchange for eternal paradise full of carnal pleasures disallowed in this life amount to the same propaganda being used today by radical groups.

Bryan Alexander

A very satisfying account of the epic 1565 Ottoman attack on Malta. 

Bradford traces out the story from Suleyman's decision to assault the island, focusing on the details of the battle. He has a good eye for character, focusing on individual leaders and combatants. He also has a good habit of detailing landscapes and battle sites as they change under violence.

Bradford is deeply biased towards the Knights of Malta and the Maltese people. This has the advantages of humanizing people often depicted as simply fierce, victimized, and/or faceless. We read of some fascinating details, like the medical advantage the knights had (208).

Unfortunately, this leads to too rosy a treatment of the knights. Their violence and barbarism becomes harder to glimpse and even harder to understand as The Great Siege thunders on. de Vallette's monument praises him as a pirate; that's not supported by most of the book.

Bradford doesn't offer as much detail and sympathy to the Turks. Their side appears as villainous, most of the time. His descriptions of Ottoman planning and guesses as to motivation are helpful, especially his targeting of the naval commander as the epicenter for mistakes.

Bradford is a very engaging writer. He infuses paragraphs with energy and tension. Some sentences are pleasing, like :While they buried their dead, they remembered that they who were left must still bear the ordinary guilts of life, while these had gone stainless into Paradise.(223)I read this during a return visit to Malta, which was, of course, the perfect setting.

Ruth Muscat

Suleiman the Magnificent, the most powerful ruler in the world, was determined to conquer Europe. Only one thing stood in his way: a dot of an island in the Mediterranean called Malta, occupied by the Knights of St. John, the cream of the warriors of the Holy Roman Empire. A clash of civilizations was shaping up the likes of which had not been seen since Persia invaded Greece. Determined to capture Malta and use its port to launch operations against Europe, Suleiman sent an armada and an overwhelming army. A few thousand defenders in Fort St. Elmo fought to the last man, enduring cruel hardships. When they captured the fort the Turks took no prisoners and mutilated the defenders' bodies. Grand Master La Vallette of the Knights reciprocated by decapitating his Turkish prisoners and using their heads to cannonade the enemy. Then the battle for Malta began in earnest: no quarter asked; none given. The Siege of Malta is not merely a gripping tale of brutality, courage, and tenacity, but the saga of two mighty civilizations struggling for domination of the known world.

The Great Siege Malta 1565

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