Product Description

The epic siege of the island fortress of the Knights Hospitaller by the Turkish army of Suliman is a compelling tale of bravery against the odds. A Turk army of 30,000 men believed the 500 knights would be easily crushed. Despite heavy casualties and appalling suffering, the knights held.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3072613 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic good read
This is the best book of the Osprey series .I bought this book on arrival to Malta and I can say that I have read it more than 4 times .I used it as a guide when I went to Valletta and I suggest reading this book before visiting the siege museum.

Written by Tim Pickles, it describes the siege for Malta by the Ottomans in 1565 ,in which the defenders endured incredible hardship and had to fight against overwhelming numbers of Turks.
Is very easy to read and will satisfy the general public and amateur historian rather as it does not have much in-depth information.

The illustrations and the maps are very good and give an excellent idea of the situation and movement of the forces during the siege.

The chapters covering the assault on the forts are excellent and found it very difficult to put the book down.

5 stars

A total waste of money
The siege of Malta is a seminal event in European History, much of which would have been significantly different if the Knights had not held out against the odds. As such the 1565 Siege has attracted more than its fair share of studies both Academic and General. This title from Osprey seems to be a distillation and synopsis of a particularly popular modern history of the Siege. No use has been made of the small number of contemporary accounts... There is therefore no new interpretation of events and the details present in other studies is severly lacking. Overall, therefore the text has nothing to commend it.

The illustrations are almost all from much later works and as such do not illustrate the dress, the weaponry or the tactics of the mid sixteenth century. A cynic might comment that they were chosen because they were were cheap to reproduce and not becuase they illuminate the text. (An illustration of Napoleon's Imperial Guard Mamelukes is really going too far).

Overall this is a book best avoided, there are a number of better books on the Siege readily, available both for text and for illustrations.

Last Battle of the Crusades
I am Maltese and well steeped in the history of the Malta 1565 Great Siege.
I must say that the author did a good job in his relating with the heroic deeds of the besieged. One must also remain aware of the actual fighting skills of the Maltese in the routing of the infidels indeed never for a moment did the besieged falter in their Faith while being attacked by the fierce islamic hordes renowned for their ruthless and cruel ways when conducting war.
This Great Siege also was a prelude for the Turkish final defeat in the naval battle of Lepanto.