40,000 Ottomans Lay Siege to Malta — and Lose to a Few Hundred Knights
In 1565 an Ottoman fleet of 180 ships and 40,000 men besieged Malta, defended by roughly 500 knights and a few thousand Maltese. Fort St Elmo held out for a month before falling, but the delay lasted until Sicilian reinforcements landed in September and the Ottomans withdrew.
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Malta's value is its position, not its resources
Malta sits almost exactly in the middle of the Mediterranean: 80 km north of Sicily, hard against North Africa to the south, and roughly equidistant from Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. Whoever controls Malta controls the trade routes. The Grand Harbour where Valletta now stands is a rare natural deep-water port, safe to anchor in no matter which way the wind blows. The Knights did not initially want Malta — there was no ready-made fortress and no resources — and only took it because the first Grand Master insisted on having a foothold.
— Kirsty GrekWhat the Knights brought was the Italian bastion
The Knights brought Italian-style military architecture (Traccia Italiana) to Malta: no longer the tall medieval castle but low, sloped, outward-projecting bastions with thick walls packed with earth to absorb the impact of gunpowder artillery. Fort St Angelo got the first bastion. By 1552 the Knights had realised how dangerous their position was, and Grand Master Domades pushed hard to build fortifications. Between St Angelo and Fort St Michael at Senglea they also strung an underwater iron chain, functioning something like a WWII anti-submarine net, to block ships.
— Kirsty GrekWhat the defenders waited for was a fleet on the horizon
On 18 May 1565 the garrison of Fort St Elmo saw a vast fleet approaching on the horizon, signalled at once, and the whole island went to war footing. The defenders numbered about 10,000 in total, including knights, Maltese civilians and mercenaries hired from Italy. This was not a war you could surrender in: the losers would be killed or sold into slavery, so for many it was a fight to the death. The Ottomans, for their part, arrived thinking they would take the place in a few days and move on to the next target, and set their first objective on Fort St Elmo.
— Kirsty GrekFort St Elmo held only a month, but it pinned the Ottomans down
The Ottoman fleet — about 190 ships and an estimated 35,000 soldiers — arrived at the Grand Harbour and did not strike directly at the Knights' headquarters at St Angelo, but first attacked Fort St Elmo, which guarded the entrances to both harbours. Fire opened on 27 May, with hundreds of guns bombarding almost without pause and reducing the walls to rubble; every night the Knights patched the breaches, hauled ammunition and treated the wounded, then fought again the next day. Fort St Elmo had been thrown up in only about six months, its works were not good enough, and the Ottomans found it comparatively easy to climb and dismantle. The Grand Master's strategy was simply to keep the Ottomans attacking and keep them bleeding. By the night of 22 June the fort was a ruin, and the surviving defenders said Mass in the chapel, preparing not for victory but for death. At noon on 23 June the last knights died fighting and Fort St Elmo fell.
— Kirsty GrekBoth sides used corpses to send a message
This was a war with no room for surrender. After the last defenders of Fort St Elmo were killed, the Ottomans cut off their heads and lashed the bodies to rafts in the shape of a cross, casting them into the sea to warn the Grand Master what was coming next. The Grand Master is said to have fired the Ottomans' heads back at them from the guns of St Angelo in reply. On 15 July the Ottomans tried to attack Senglea, but below St Angelo at sea level there was a small battery the Ottomans had not spotted; when it opened fire it caught them completely off guard, and nearly all the attacking boats were sunk.
— Kirsty GrekScorched earth left the Ottomans the ones running out of time
By July the Knights' side was still reasonably supplied; it was the Ottomans who had the problem. The Knights and the Maltese waged scorched earth, burning everything as they withdrew, so the Ottomans could find no food at all. It was the height of summer, the heat was punishing, and Ottoman morale began to sink into panic. The Grand Master's tactic was to wear down the enemy's manpower and morale as much as possible and hold out until they gave up on their own. One Ottoman leader is said to have remarked that if St Elmo had taken this long, what would St Angelo cost them. Maltese civilians also fought in large numbers, including women who took part in nursing and in combat.
— Kirsty GrekA tiny cavalry force scared off an Ottomans army on the verge of winning
In early August the Ottomans attacked both Birgu and Senglea at once, at one point breaking through the walls and fighting a bloody melee in the streets, and they looked to have the upper hand. The Knights countered with a ruse: a commander at Mdina, the fortified city in the Maltese interior, sent out a very small force of Maltese cavalry, which raided the Ottoman field hospital and supply camp. Rumour spread fast through the Ottoman army that a huge relief force had arrived. The Ottoman commander Mustafa Pasha broke off the assault, retreating on the edge of victory. By late August both sides were locked in a war of attrition, with disease, hunger and casualties mounting, and the Ottomans had also lost experienced commanders such as Dragut.
— Kirsty GrekThe relief came, but the Ottoman Empire was not broken
On 7 September 1565, 8,000 Spanish, Italian and Sicilian troops dispatched by Don Garcia in the name of Philip II of Spain landed on Malta from Sicily and advanced on the exhausted Ottoman army. The Knights had been begging for relief for weeks; it came late, but it came. The Ottomans formally surrendered. But Kirsty stresses that this did not weaken the Ottoman Empire's power or legitimacy — it went on existing as an empire for a long time afterwards, and today people tend to inflate the significance of this victory. After the siege the Knights immediately set about building the new city of Valletta and repairing Fort St Elmo; Grand Master La Valette died before he saw the city finished.
— Kirsty GrekIn their own words · checked verbatim
Because we're sitting right at the centre of the Mediterranean. So it's always been, throughout history, everyone has always wanted to take over Malta because its strategic value is immeasurable.
Kirsty Grek3:02
So they brought with them this architecture style, which was known as the Traccia Italiana, and they created these bastions, like you're saying, protruding outwards with an angle, strong ramparts, and also thick. Because now Gunpowder could actually infiltrate pretty well. So they had to build bastions that are strong, low, of course, and filled with earth, so that the impact of the gunpowder wouldn't be as intense.
Kirsty Grek7:10
Because for him, he wanted to tire out the Ottomans by letting them fight and fight.
Kirsty Grek14:34
So when the last defenders of Fort St. Elmo gave out and they were killed immediately, what they did was they cut their heads and they stuck their bodies on wooden rafts in the shape of a cross. And they threw them out into the sea as a warning to the Grand Master that this is what's going to happen to you.
Kirsty Grek16:46
It was for the Ottomans that was the issue, because what the order and the Maltese were doing, they were practically using the scorched earth tactic, where they would just be wearing everything behind them. And so the Ottomans couldn't find any food, nothing. And that's how they start losing their morale and panicking, because keep in mind, it's the middle of summer.
Kirsty Grek18:51
A commander at the inland Maltese fortress capital of Medina sent a very small Maltese cavalry force to raid an Ottoman field hospital and supply camp. Rumours spread quickly through the Ottoman ranks that a large relief army had arrived. The Ottoman commander, Mustafa Pasha, broke off the assault and the Ottomans retreated on the very verge of victory.
Kirsty Grek22:03
And it went down really, really well, but it definitely didn't reduce the Ottomans' power or legitimacy. So, it wasn't a decisive defeat for them.
Kirsty Grek23:03
Figures
| Size of the Ottoman fleet | 180 ships | 0:00 |
| Ottoman troops carried | 40,000 men | 0:00 |
| Number of Knights | about 500 knights | 0:00 |
| Distance from Malta to Sicily | 80 km | 3:02 |
| Size of the Ottoman fleet (arriving at Grand Harbour) | about 190 ships | 13:33 |
| Estimated Ottoman landing force | 35,000 soldiers | 13:33 |
| Date Fort St Elmo opened fire | 27 May | 13:33 |
| Date Fort St Elmo fell | 23 June | 15:39 |
| Size of the relief force | 8,000 Spanish, Italian and Sicilian troops | 23:03 |
| Date the relief force landed | 7 September 1565 | 23:03 |
Glossary
- Traccia Italiana
- 16th-century Italian military architectural style, using low, sloped bastions to resist artillery.
- scorched earth
- Burning all supplies during a retreat so the enemy cannot live off the land.
- Grand Master
- The supreme head of the Knights; during the siege, Jean de La Valette.
- corsair
- An armed raider in the 16th-century Mediterranean, such as Dragut.
How to listen
Listeners interested in Mediterranean history, military history and siege warfare; anyone who wants concrete images of how 16th-century gunpowder-age attack and defence actually worked.
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