The Great Siege, Malta 1565: Clash of Cultures: Christian Knights Defend Western Civilization Against the Moslem Tide

Ernle Bradford's account of the Ottoman Empire's 1565 Siege of Malta examines a pivotal military conflict in Mediterranean history. In the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent controlled territories spanning western Asia, southeastern Europe, and North Africa. To consolidate power over the Mediterranean and advance into western Europe, Suleiman sought to capture Malta from the Holy Roman Empire's Knights of St. John. Forty-two years prior, Suleiman had successfully expelled the Knights from their fortress at Rhodes. Expecting a similar outcome, he dispatched an armada to Malta. After the Ottomans captured Fort St. Elmo and executed prisoners without mercy, Grand Master La Vallette ordered the beheading of Ottoman captives. The subsequent battle escalated into brutal warfare with neither side offering surrender. Bradford's thoroughly researched narrative presents the Great Siege as more than a military engagement—a confrontation between two civilizations comparable in scope to conflicts from the age of Alexander the Great. The work is described as a superior, readable treatment of an important but little-discussed Renaissance episode.