Summary of Bruce Ware Allen's The Great Siege of Malta

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 In 1521, Gabriele Tadini de Martinengo was a military engineer who was working for the Venetian governor of Crete. He was sent to improve the defensive works on the Venetian colony, but he fled to the Knights of St. John, who were under siege by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman I.

#2 In 1521, the Order elected Philippe de Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, then grand prior of France, as their new grand master. He set sail from France to Rhodes in September of 1521, and after going through the obligatory ceremonies, settled into his office.

#3 The first Ottoman troops arrived on Rhodes in June 1522. They began the process of unloading men and matériel for what would be a long summer. By the end of July, the total number of men reached one hundred thousand.

#4 The Knights of St. John, who were in charge of Rhodes, had prepared the city for attack. The city was encased in the best defensive works Italian military engineers could contrive. Any attackers would initially have to run across a counterscarp, a wide flat upward incline every inch of which was vulnerable to gunfire from the fort.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822526419

IRB Media

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Insights on Bruce Ware Allen's The Great Siege of Malta

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 1521, Gabriele Tadini de Martinengo was a military engineer who was working for the Venetian governor of Crete. He was sent to improve the defensive works on the Venetian colony, but he fled to the Knights of St. John, who were under siege by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman I.

#2

In 1521, the Order elected Philippe de Villiers de L’Isle-Adam, then grand prior of France, as their new grand master. He set sail from France to Rhodes in September of 1521, and after going through the obligatory ceremonies, settled into his office.

#3

The first Ottoman troops arrived on Rhodes in June 1522. They began the process of unloading men and matériel for what would be a long summer. By the end of July, the total number of men reached one hundred thousand.

#4

The Knights of St. John, who were in charge of Rhodes, had prepared the city for attack. The city was encased in the best defensive works Italian military engineers could contrive. Any attackers would initially have to run across a counterscarp, a wide flat upward incline every inch of which was vulnerable to gunfire from the fort.

#5

The siege of Rhodes was carried out by the Ottoman Empire in 1522. The sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, was confident that he would win, and his mother had appeared to him in a dream and promised him victory. The defenders of Rhodes had their own artillery, and they knew the ranges of the guns to the inch.

#6

The siege of Rhodes was a difficult nut to crack, and it took over a month for the first shots to be fired. But the Christians were able to defend the breaches, and the Ottomans were not able to gain entrance.

#7

The defenders of Rhodes were getting tired of waiting for help to arrive from Naples. They were able to hold off the Ottomans for a long time, but they eventually had to surrender.

#8

The Knights of St. John were ready to surrender, but the citizens of Rhodes were not. They wanted to keep their faith for a full five years without penalty, then convert to Islam or pay the customary tax owed by the infidel.

#9

The last of the crusading knights, L’Isle-Adam, was sent off to trouble Islam no more. Suleiman had defeated the last of the crusading knights