The Great Siege Of Malta: The Epic Battle Between The Ottoman Empire And The Knights Of St John By Bruce Ware Allen

In the Spring of 1565 a massive fleet of Ottoman ships descended on Malta, a small island centrally located between North Africa and Sicily, 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, desperate combat for this pivotal point in the Mediterranean