Great Siege of Malta

Great Siege of Malta
	Part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars; Ottoman-Maltese wars
	; Dimostrazione di tutte le batterie, fresco by Matteo Pérez d'Aleccio at the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta
Date	18 May – 8 September 1565; (3 months and 3 weeks)
Location	Grand Harbour, Malta35°53′31″N 14°31′06″E / 35.89194°N 14.51833°E
Result	Christian victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire; Ottoman Vassals: Regency of Algiers;	Malta:; Knights Hospitaller / Order of Malta; Maltese militia; Spanish Empire; Relief force: Spanish Empire; Kingdom of Sicily; Republic of Genoa; Duchy of Savoy; Duchy of Florence; Papal States;
Commanders and leaders
Dragut †; Mustafa Pasha; Piali Pasha; Hasan Pasha; Occhiali;	Jean Parisot de Valette; Jean de la Cassière; Mathurin Romegas; González de Medrano †; Melchior de Robles †; García Álvarez de Toledo;
Strength
35,000–40,000	2,500 (6,100, including militia, servants, and galley slaves) 900 soldiers from the Spanish Empire; 800 soldiers from Italian states outside of the empire; 600 Knights Hospitaller; 200 unaffiliated soldiers from Sicily and Greece;
Casualties and losses
25,000–35,000 killed in combat and from disease	Unknown

The Great Siege of Malta (Maltese: L-Assedju l-Kbir) occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months, from 18 May to 8 September 1565.

The Knights Hospitaller had been headquartered in Malta since 1530, after being driven out of Rhodes, also by the Ottomans, in 1522, following the siege of Rhodes. The Ottomans first attempted to take Malta in 1551 but failed. In 1565, Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan, made a second attempt to take Malta. The Knights, who numbered around 500 together with approximately 6,000 footsoldiers, withstood the siege and repelled the invaders. This victory became one of the most celebrated events of sixteenth-century Europe, to the point that Voltaire said: "Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta." It undoubtedly contributed to the eventual erosion of the European perception of Ottoman invincibility, although the Mediterranean continued to be contested between Christian coalitions and the Muslim Turks for many years.^[6]

^ At least two companies of Spanish Tercios took part in the defence of Fort St Elmo. Cañete, Hugo A. (3 July 2020). "La leyenda negra del fuerte de San Telmo y los tres capitanes españoles del Tercio Viejo de Sicilia que lo defendieron (Malta 1565) | Grupo de Estudios de Historia Militar". Grupo de Estudios de Historia Militar (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 July 2020.
^ Cite error: The named reference paoletti2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Arnold Cassola, The 1565 Great Siege of Malta and Hipolito Sans's La Maltea (Publishers Enterprise Group: Malta, 1999).
^ Cite error: The named reference SOM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Giacomo Bosio 1643 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, vol. II (University of California Press: Berkeley, 1995).

[1] At least two companies of Spanish Tercios took part in the defence of Fort St Elmo. Cañete, Hugo A. (3 July 2020). "La leyenda negra del fuerte de San Telmo y los tres capitanes españoles del Tercio Viejo de Sicilia que lo defendieron (Malta 1565) | Grupo de Estudios de Historia Militar". Grupo de Estudios de Historia Militar (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 July 2020.

[paoletti2008-2] Cite error: The named reference paoletti2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Arnold_Cassola_1999-3] Arnold Cassola, The 1565 Great Siege of Malta and Hipolito Sans's La Maltea (Publishers Enterprise Group: Malta, 1999).

[SOM-4] Cite error: The named reference SOM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Giacomo_Bosio_1643-5] Cite error: The named reference Giacomo Bosio 1643 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[6] Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, vol. II (University of California Press: Berkeley, 1995).

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