The indispensable account of the Ottoman Empire’s Siege of Malta from the author of Hannibal and Gibraltar.
In the first half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, had expanded his empire from western Asia to southeastern Europe and North Africa. To secure control of the Mediterranean between these territories and launch an offensive into western Europe, Suleiman needed the small but strategically crucial island of Malta. But Suleiman’s attempt to take the island from the Holy Roman Empire’s Knights of St. John would emerge as one of the most famous and brutal military defeats in history.
Forty-two years earlier, Suleiman had been victorious against the Knights of St. John when he drove them out of their island fortress at Rhodes. Believing he would repeat this victory, the sultan sent an armada to Malta. When they captured Fort St. Elmo, the Ottoman forces ruthlessly took no prisoners. The Roman grand master La Vallette responded by having his Ottoman captives beheaded. Then the battle for Malta began in earnest: no quarter asked, none given.
Ernle Bradford’s compelling and thoroughly researched account of the Great Siege of Malta recalls not just an epic battle, but a clash of civilizations unlike anything since the time of Alexander the Great. It is “a superior, readable treatment of an important but little-discussed epic from the Renaissance past . . . An astonishing tale” (Kirkus Reviews).
By:
Ernle Bradford
Imprint: Open Road Media
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 203mm,
Width: 133mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 331g
ISBN: 9781497637863
ISBN 10: 1497637864
Pages: 260
Publication Date: 04 September 2014
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword Chapter 1 - The Sultan of the Ottomans Chapter 2 - Malta of the Knights Chapter 3 - Grand Master La Valette Chapter 4 - Defences of the Island Chapter 5 - Preparations Chapter 6 - Invasion Imminent Chapter 7 -The Attack Begins Chapter 8 -The First Clash Chapter 9 - Objective, St Elmo Chapter 10 - The Janissaries Chapter 11 - The Arrival of Dragut Chapter 12 - ‘A Volcano in Eruption …’ Chapter 13 - Sentence of Death Chapter 14 - St Elmo, the Eighth of June Chapter 15 - Embattled Fortress Chapter 16 - The Territory of the Knights Chapter 17 - The Fall of St Elmo Chapter 18 - Bodies in the Water Chapter 19 - The Little Relief Chapter 20 - The Attack on Senglea Chapter 21 - Arms and the Men Chapter 22 - Death in the Marsa Chapter 23 - The Great Decision Chapter 24 - Into the Breach Chapter 25 - ‘ … The World Was Coming to an End’ Chapter 26 - No Withdrawal Chapter 27 - Dissensions in Sicily Chapter 28 - The Relief Chapter 29 - The Last Engagement Chapter 30 - ‘We Shall Never Take You’ Chapter 31 - The Impregnable Fortress Bibliography Notes Glossary
Ernle Bradford was born in 1922 and died in 1986. He was a noted British historian specializing in the Mediterranean world and naval topics. Bradford was an enthusiastic sailor himself and spent almost thirty years sailing the Mediterranean, where many of his books are set. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, finishing as the first lieutenant of a destroyer. Bradford lived in Malta for a number of years. He did occasional broadcast work for the BBC, was a magazine editor, and wrote many books, including Hannibal, Paul the Traveller, Julius Caesar: The Pursuit of Power, Christopher Columbus, and The Mighty Hood.
