Knights of Malta and the Great Siege of 1565

A frontal attack on Fort St Elmo

Ottoman Invasion (May 1565)

On 18 May 1565, lookouts on Malta’s east coast sighted a distant fleet on the horizon. Sultan Suleiman I had at last dispatched his armada: some 180 galleys and warships carrying tens of thousands of troops. Official Ottoman registers (reported by historian Arnold Cassola) list around 23,000–25,000 regular soldiers (including ~6,300 Janissaries) for the expedition. In practice, they were joined by thousands of auxiliary corsairs from Algiers and elsewhere, swelling the invaders’ ranks to perhaps 30,000–40,000 men (some sources even cite up to 48,000). Contemporary chroniclers give wide-ranging figures: the Spanish arquebusier Francisco Balbi (an eyewitness) claimed ~29,000 Turks ashore (with more aboard ships), while some Christian accounts alleged as many as 48,000. Modern historians tend to accept a total of 30–35,000 Ottomans.

Dragut (or Torghut) Rais

The bulk of the Ottoman fleet anchored off Marsaxlokk Bay on 19 May. They were led by Grand Vizier Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha (commander of the land army) and Admiral Piyale Pasha (naval commander). Also aboard was Turgut “Dragut” Reis, the fearsome Barbary corsair who had been Suleiman’s admiral at Djerba. Opposing them, the Maltese defenders numbered only about 6,000–8,000 men. Roughly 500–600 were Knights of St. John (the core elite), about 3,000 were Spanish and Italian regulars, and the rest were Maltese militia or mercenaries. All were placed under the seasoned 70-year-old Grand Master de Valette.

The Ottoman invaders began disembarking troops on 19 May and immediately moved to secure good landing beaches. By the next day, the Ottomans had pushed ~25,000 soldiers ashore. Their plan quickly became clear: they aimed first to capture Fort St. Elmo, which dominated the Grand Harbour approach on Sciberras, then seize the neighbouring cities of Birgu (Vittoriosa) and Senglea (L’Isla) on either side of the harbour. Grand Vizier Mustafa Pasha wanted to march on the inland capital of Mdina first, but Admiral Piyale insisted on reducing the new forts. Mustafa relented to Piyale’s view, instructing that the coastal fortresses be taken first. In hindsight, this proved a fateful error: de Valette had concentrated most of Malta’s heavy artillery in Fort St. Elmo, expecting it to be the enemy’s first target.

The Siege of Fort St. Elmo (27 May–23 June)

The assault on Fort St. Elmo began on 27 May 1565. Ottoman war machines pounded the star-shaped fort with cannon fire as elite Janissary and Barbary detachments pressed in waves of attack. Eager to seize the key fort quickly, the Turks actually miscalculated the defenders’ spirit. For nearly a month, the tiny garrison of St. Elmo – only a few hundred men at first – resisted ferociously. Knights and volunteers rowed across the narrow channel at night to reinforce the fort’s defenders whenever possible.

All this resistance was enormously costly for the Ottomans. By the time Fort St. Elmo finally fell on 23 June, its walls and bastions were rubble – but they had exacted a grim toll. Chroniclers estimate that the Turks suffered around 6,000 casualties in the siege of this one fort. Ammunition and powder stocks were exhausted. Dragut himself was killed in the bombardment (a cannon shot blew his ship’s rigging, and splinters mortally wounded him). The Ottomans eventually overran the fort, slaughtered almost all defenders (knights and Maltese alike), and erected a ceremonial pile of their heads – but the delay had a huge strategic impact.

The Loss of Fort St Elmo, 1565

Siege of Birgu and Senglea (July–August 1565)

With Fort St. Elmo gone, the Ottoman army turned west toward Birgu and Senglea, the twin peninsulas bracketing the Grand Harbour. These were now the only lodestones of Christian resistance. For the next two months, the siege entered its bloodiest phase. In mid-July, Ottoman forces made a series of coordinated land-and-sea assaults on Birgu/Senglea. On 15 July, for example, the Turks launched a simultaneous attack by boat and by infantry ladder-climbs. Maltese and Spanish defenders, firing from Fort St. Angelo and Birgu, sank scores of Turkish assault boats, inflicting hundreds of casualties; that attack was repulsed.

The Ottoman commanders persisted. Day after day, they bombarded the walls and tried new tactics. By late August, they resorted to mining under the walls. Between 19 and 21 August 1565, they detonated a massive underground charge beneath the Birgu bastions, creating a huge breach. Sultan Suleiman’s troops poured through, and for a terrifying moment the defenders feared the city would fall. Grand Master de Valette, sword in hand, rushed to the threatened breach along with a small reserve – an act lionised in later legend. By this time, the garrison had been reinforced by some refugees, and veteran knights rowed across from Senglea in small boats. These defenders managed to plug the gap: they engaged in brutal close combat among the rubble and drove the Ottomans back out of the breach.

Modern historians point out that Malta’s defence was a team effort. Detailed studies note that local Maltese militia and even civilians played indispensable roles in repairing walls and ferrying supplies to the forts at night. The large Spanish garrison endured some of the fiercest fighting, carrying burdens the heroic knights alone could not. By contrast, Ottoman coordination began to fray: rivalry between Piyale Pasha’s navy and Mustafa’s land army led to uneven focus, and disease (including plague) reportedly struck the invaders hard (possibly incapacitating ~25% of them by late June). Furthermore, the late summer weather worked against the Turks: September storms would soon make sailing and siege works difficult. In sum, the defenders’ endurance was aided by factors beyond martial valour alone.

Relief and Ottoman Withdrawal (7–8 September 1565)

By early September, both sides were exhausted. The Ottomans had lost a huge share of their force; traditional estimates suggest 25,000–35,000 Ottoman dead (from combat and disease). The defenders were down to perhaps 6,000 effective men and were running short of gunpowder and food. On 7 September, a fleet bearing the Gran Soccorso (“Great Relief”) appeared off Malta. Under Viceroy Don García de Toledo, some 8,000 reinforcements (Spanish, Italian, Tuscan, Genoese, Papal and Savoyard troops) landed at St. Paul’s Bay.

The relief force’s arrival could not have been more timely. Ottoman commanders realised they risked being trapped as autumn storms approached. On the night of 7–8 September, they began a hastily organised retreat. According to accounts, only about half of the Turks managed to re-embark; others were cut down or captured in the confusion. On 8 September (the Nativity of Mary), the Great Siege was over: the Ottoman army raised its tents and sailed away, abandoning many heavy guns and supplies. The few remaining Ottomans on Malta skirmished futilely at other points (even firing on Mdina in a bluff), but the written accounts agree that the enemy had effectively broken off the campaign.

Siege Casualties and Significance

The slaughter on both sides was horrific. Chroniclers recorded that Malta’s population suffered grievously: perhaps one-third of the island’s 16,000 inhabitants perished, along with about one-third of the Order’s knights (roughly 200 of the 600 present) and countless Maltese volunteers. Ottoman losses are much debated: Balbi’s diary claims 35,000 dead, while others (like Giacomo Bosio’s 17th-century history) say ~30,000. Recent scholarly reviews caution that such figures are educated estimates – perhaps in the 20,000–30,000 range. In any case, the Ottomans lost a large fraction (perhaps a third) of their invasion army, whereas the defenders simply held the island at enormous cost.

The siege’s outcome was immediately understood as momentous. Europe’s rulers hailed it as a miraculous victory against the “Invincible” Turks. Within weeks, financial gifts and volunteers began pouring into Malta. De Valette and his Council diverted much of these resources into rebuilding and improving the island’s defences – most famously by laying out a new fortified city on Sciberras Hill. From 1566, the city of Valletta rose (planned by the Italian engineer Francesco Laparelli) with imposing bastions, granaries and a grid of streets. In effect, Malta entered a golden age of Baroque art, urban architecture and resilient economy: the “time of the Knights” that followed was marked by peace, prosperity and splendid building projects.

European geopolitics was also affected. The defence of Malta inspired the Pope and Christian princes to form a Holy League, which six years later scored a great naval victory over the Ottomans at Lepanto (1571). Historians note that de Valette’s leadership “had a key influence” in rallying Europe against Ottoman expansion. In the long view, the siege did not end Ottoman ambitions, but it checked them and showed that even a tiny island could resist a vast empire when well-led and determined.