The Great Siege by Ernle Bradford

The Great Siege

Malta 1565

by Ernle Bradford

The Reprint Society, 1962, black and white photographic endpapers, lightly illustrated with one or two illustrations, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, a little discolouration to spine, no inscriptions; dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping chipping and small tears (see photographs)

“In 1565 the Ottoman Empire was at its peak.  Under their Sultan, Soleyman the Magnificent, the Turks had conquered most of Eastern Europe, and their galleys ranged the whole length of the Mediterranean.  The rulers of Christian Europe were at their wits’ end to stem the tide of disaster.
Only forty years earlier the Knights of St. John, the militant spearhead of Christianity against the infidel, fortress of Rhodes and driven to find a new home in Malta.  But so successful had the Knights’ galleys been in their raids on the Turkish seaborne tragic that Soleyman began to realize, as Hitler was to realize nearly 400 years later, that this sandstone rock, Malta, dominating the narrows between Sicily and Africa, stood between him and complete mastery of the Mediterranean world.  He determined to obliterate the Knights of St. John for all time…”