The Great Seize of Malta 1565

The great seize of Malta 1565 

On this day, 11 September, 1565 AD, the Ottoman forces attempted to capture Malta under Suleiman the magnificent, which was then held by the Knights Hospitaller. This endeavour resulted in the Great Siege of Malta. With 400 Maltese adults and children and 2,000 foot soldiers, the Knights survived the siege and drove the invaders away. Nothing is better known than the Malta siege, as Voltaire remarked, as this victory became one of the most memorable occasions in sixteenth-century Europe. Although the Mediterranean was still fought for many years between Christian coalitions and the Turks, it probably helped to eventually undermine the European notion of Ottoman invincibility."