Название: The Great Siege of Malta: The Epic Battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John
Автор: Bruce Ware Allen
Издательство: ForeEdge
ISBN: 1611687659
Год: 2016
Формат: PDF
Страниц: 238
Для сайта: litgu.ru
Размер: 8,7 МБ
Язык: Английский
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 combat, often hand to hand, embroiling knights and mercenaries, civilians and slaves, in a desperate struggle for this pivotal point in the Mediterranean.