Why the Maltans Won the Siege of Malta

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Although the Siege of Malta is no longer listed in the top 70 great battles in history, it is still one of the greatest battles that had the highest stakes ever. A war between Ottomans and Malta with stakes of whether or not the Ottoman Empire will rule the Mediterranean Sea, with so much at stake the Siege of Malta is one of the most important sieges of history. Leading the Ottoman/Turk empire was Sultan Suleiman, commanding over 7.6 million square miles, the Ottoman empire was a force to be reckoned with. Since Sultan Suleiman at this time was too old to lead the Ottoman army into battle, Piyale Pasha and Mustafa Pasha took his place. Commanding the navy army, Piyale was a young officer compared to the old commander of the land forces, Mustafa Pasha. With a combined combination of about 20,000 whom were almost all poor and illiterate farmers, the island of Malta and its neighboring island of Gozo stood no chance against the oncoming Ottoman army. With almost no wood on Malta the people were even forced to burn cows dung for fuel and heat. While the only good thing about Malta were the 2 harbors that allowed for proper anchorage for ships. Tired of the Maltan pirate Romegas, who was stealing and bothering Ottoman trade, Suleiman orders for an attack on Malta. According to Suleiman “the Maltese have already blocked the route used by the Muslim pilgrims and merchants” so “[he] intends to conquer the island of Malta”. With 40,000 fighting men including 6,000 of Suleiman’s elite infantry, the Janissaries, not to mention 900 cavalry and 70 huge siege cannons, the Ottoman force was not to be reckoned with. Since Fort St. Elmo was expected to only last about 1 week, the Ottomans had planned to then evict the Spanish from Tunis and ...

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...mpant Ottoman forces from gaining a strategic foothold in the central Mediterranean." History Today 57.1 (2007): 12+. World History in Context.
Web. 12 Feb. 2014. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Journals&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA157745532&source=Bookmark&u=dove10524&jsid=82d20e667b46673483e397b8ba3ad08e Lafreri, Antonio. Ultimo Disegno Delli Forti Di Malta Uenuto Novamente. 1565. Photograph. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. Raremaps. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .

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