You mean the Siege of Malta in 1565?
Great Siege of Malta:
Ottoman Commander: Baja Mustafa Piali
Troops: 45,000 men
Artillery: 70 pieces
Casualties: 30,000 soldiers
Casualties: 3000 soldiers + 7500 civilians
Catholic Commanders: Grand Duke of Alva and Grand Master of the Order of Malta La Valette
Infantry: 15,000 men (5,000 Maltese + 700 Spanish soldiers)
(reinforcements: 9,000 men from the Spanish Tercios)
Cavalry: 200
In 1565, the Ottoman Sultan decides to conquer the strategical island of Malta. The defense of the island was in charge of the Order of St. John and consequently the Catholic King of Spain took in his hands the defense of the island. At the siege, the Order of St. John had 500 knights, 4,500 militia men and 500 soldiers of the Spanish Tercio of Sicilia. Quickly, the king sent 200 Spanish infantry soldiers and 100 Italian cavalry in addition. During 4 months, these men resisted against the assaults of the Turks with big losses on their side (to take Fort San Telmo, the Turks needed 30 days and they lost 6,000 men). In September 1565, King Felipe II of Spain organized an army of 9,000 (from the Spanish Tercios of Nápoles, Córcega and Lombardía) in 60 fast ships to reinforce the defense of Malta. The troops were quickly disembarked and they started the attack on the Turks. After a brief resistance, Mustafa decided to withdraw. That was the en of the Siege of Malta. |
Or did you mean the Battle of Lepanto which dispelled the threat of the Ottoman hegemony in the Mediterranean? Or the many fights against the Berberiscs, included the capture of Tunis?
If you have a little decency left you should withdraw those infamous and ungrateful words which are proper of the most ignoble and lowest life form.
The one accusation of betrayal by a Grand Master of the Order was against Napoleon, the man that you revere, for violating the neutrality of the island and usurping the power of the Grand Master. The behaviour of the Napoleonic troops was such that the Maltese rebelled against the occupation. But you are typically of those who revere their invaders.
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'Dardanidae duri, quae uos a stirpe parentum
prima tulit tellus, eadem uos ubere laeto
accipiet reduces. Antiquam exquirite matrem:
hic domus Aeneae cunctis dominabitur oris,
et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis.'
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
–Plato–
'Many people, I believe, wish for a society where faith, decency, pro-life convictions and national self-determination within Europe can flourish; and not be swallowed up in a dictatorial EU bureaucracy.'
–Gerry McGeough, Irish Nationalist and POW–