The Great Siege of Malta 1565 by Ernle Bradford (1961)
Heidi sent me a copy of this book. It made for gripping reading.
In 1565 the Ottoman Empire, under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, was the strongest single military force in all the world. Suleiman tried to conquer all of Europe by land, but was stopped at the gates of Vienna. He then tried to conquer by sea.
One small obstacle opposed him: the fortified island of Malta, held by the Knights of St. John commanded by their Grand Master, Jean de La Vallette. Expecting to reduce the island in a matter of days, and so break through into the Western Mediterranean, Suleiman sent an army and a fleet, a great armada carrying at least 30,000 men, artillery and siege equipment galore. Against them, La Vallette had some 500 knights and squires, three or four thousand regular soldiers and cavalry, and another few thousand hastily-equipped native Maltese “irregulars.” With these he had three forts to defend–and no realistic help of assistance from any European power.
With day-and-night artillery support, the Turks threw wave after wave of attackers against the forts. The smallest and oldest of the forts, St. Elmo, which the Ottomans expected to wipe out in just a few days, resisted to the last man and ate up over a month, costing the attackers some 4,000 casualties.
The other two forts, St. Angelo and Birgu, with breaches torn into their walls by cannonballs, bombarded from all directions day and night, nevertheless repelled every attack. Incredibly, the Turks, having suffered terrible losses (at least 25,000 men, according to contemporary sources), were forced to withdraw. Very few of that great army made it back alive to Constantinople.
Enduring every kind of privation, forced to fight while carrying great wounds, cut off from the outside world, the knights and their soldiers held the island.
Suleiman tried one more time, in 1571, to break through Christendom’s defenses. His fleet was decisively defeated in the Battle of Lepanto. This began the long decline of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in its final destruction in World War I.
The extraordinary heroism and devotion of the Knights of St. John changed the course of world history. We can’t help but wonder if Europe will ever again be able, or even willing, to defend itself so valiantly. It is once again being attacked by Islam, this time without military force. But instead of the knights we have all these characters who seem to have crawled out from a murky Swedish movie.
Omnipotent God will decide whether Europe will survive, this time.
Who would you rather have defending you? The Knights of St. John, or a lot of self-serving globalists whose god is their bank account and whose creed is radical moral uncertainty?
Very inspiring. I don’t know if I mentioned it here before, but if your interested in that period of history I would also recommend God’s Battalions by Rodney Stark.
It’s on my bookcase. I interviewed Dr. Stark, too. My review of that book got some PC people mad at me. That’s how I knew I was right.
That’s awesome. Is there some place i could read the interview?
it will be on the newly-jazzed-up Chalcedon website, http://www.chalcedon.edu
The site is now so up-to-date, I can’t navigate it anymore; but you should be able to handle it a lot better than I can.
Come to think of it–after all, this was some years ago, and I write an awful lot of book reviews–the interview may have been about another of his books. “What Americans Really Believe.” Can’t remember which book it was.
He’s an easy guy to talk to.
Thanks Lee, I found the review and it sums up the main points of the book perfectly.
Very few people remember, or perhaps they were never aware of, the impact that the Ottoman Empire had upon Europe in the past. Likewise, few are aware that the Ottoman Empire didn’t end until WW I was concluded.
The political situation in Turkey has changed significantly and the safeguards that kept it a secular state have, for the most part, been uprooted. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Turkey increase its involvement in Syria significantly in the future and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Syria effectively become a battleground between Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey.
If we forget history, we end up doomed to repeat it.
The situation now seems to fit quite well with the Book of Revelation – the eighth (little – younger – horn) coming out of the seventh. Now is a good time to make sure we have the full armor of God on and in place.
I think you are 100% right. I think we’re at the threshold of something major, with regard to prophecy. I don’t want to be too dogmatic, but I think that the eighth horn coming from the seventh seems to be happening.
Things are happening so rapidly now, and there’s a heaviness – almost indescribable – that people are feeling and are unable to identify. Signs are everywhere. We must stay watchful and stay on our knees and in His Word. Lamps filled and trimmed. Even so, Come Lord Jesus!
I certainly feel it, all around me. Whatever happens, this has to be significant.
I believe it too, and The Comforter abides, praise God!
It’s the only way I can extract hope for, the situation.
Amen!
Glad you liked the book! I missed this post as our family was on vacation visiting the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in Kentucky. All praise to God for His gracious deliverances 🙂
Thanks again, Heidi–it was an inspiring story.
Leave it to the Church of England . . .
https://www.rt.com/uk/386357-islam-church-religion-faith/
Why is it that the more of their countrymen the Muslim terrorists kill, the more the liberals love Islam?
Strong delusion?! They must believe the lie. Utter insanity, unfortunately. The children subjected to this hardly stand a chance.
please look at my take on the apocalypse