The Great Siege of Malta, 1565, and the three places that still explain it

VisitMalta quotes Voltaire saying nothing is better known than the Siege of Malta. Back home it rarely gets a mention, but on the islands it’s everywhere, in the 8 September holiday, in the palace paintings and in the name of the capital itself. Here’s what happened in 1565, using the figures the official sources give, and where the story still makes sense on the ground.

Why the Ottomans came for Malta

The Knights of St John had been in Malta for 35 years and knew how exposed they were. In 1551 an Ottoman raid carried off most of Gozo’s population into slavery, and in 1559 the Order hit back with a disastrous attack on Djerba, off the Tunisian coast. Malta had fine harbours and two forts, St Angelo in Birgu and the brand-new St Elmo at the tip of the Sciberras peninsula, where Valletta stands today.

Grand Master Jean de la Valette asked Charles V, the Pope and the Viceroy of Sicily for reinforcements. VisitMalta sums up the reply in three words. No help came. On the other side was Dragut, the corsair commanding Suleiman the Magnificent’s fleet.

The numbers, taken with a pinch of salt

In May 1565 the Ottoman fleet surrounded the islands. VisitMalta gives some 40,000 men against about 700 Knights and around 8,000 Maltese troops. Country people fled into Mdina and Birgu, burning crops and poisoning wells as they went so the invaders would find nothing.

I treat these numbers with respect but not blind faith. They’re the round figures of Malta’s official story, useful for grasping the imbalance rather than for precise arithmetic.

Fort St Elmo, the month that wrecked the plan

The Ottomans hit St Elmo first because it commanded the entrance to both harbours. Heritage Malta says it took the brunt of the attack and held out for a month, until 23 June. VisitMalta counts 36 days of assaults and 8,000 Ottoman dead to take it, and adds that Dragut was fatally wounded there.

For me, this is what decided the siege. One small fort tied down the bulk of the army for weeks the Ottomans would later badly miss. The building’s full story, including the first air raid on the islands in 1940, is in Fort St Elmo.

A summer of assaults on Fort St Angelo and Birgu

With St Elmo taken, Mustafa Pasha turned on Fort St Angelo and the fortified towns across the harbour. VisitMalta speaks of some ten attacks through the long, hot summer. On 18 August a huge part of the defences was breached and still the Ottomans couldn’t get in, with La Valette himself in the thick of it and refusing to surrender.

By September the attackers dreaded wintering on the island and morale was sinking. Then the long-awaited relief force landed at Mellieħa Bay and seized the high ground inland. The Ottoman army retreated, losing thousands more on the way out. It was 8 September, still a national holiday. Heritage Malta points out that the day marks both the end of the Great Siege and the announcement of Fascist Italy’s surrender in 1943, and, by pure chance, the Church celebrates the Nativity of Mary on the same date.

Where can you still see the Great Siege?

Three places explain it better than any book. Fort St Elmo, where the National War Museum’s gallery on the early Knights and the siege reopened on 1 August. Fort St Angelo, which the Order made its headquarters in 1530, which Heritage Malta credits with a major role in the defence. And the Grandmaster’s Palace, with the siege cycle painted by Matteo Perez d’Aleccio.

The fourth piece is the city itself. Valletta was born of the siege, founded in 1566 by the Grand Master whose name it carries, and VisitMalta says La Valette was buried there about three years later. A wander round Birgu, the town that took the summer’s assaults, closes the loop.

How I’d do it in a day

I’d start at 09:00 at Fort St Elmo, which stays open until 19:00 in summer, allowing the hour and a half Heritage Malta suggests as a minimum. Then up to the Grandmaster’s Palace, open 10:00 to 18:00, to see the paintings with the fort still fresh in mind. In the afternoon I’d cross to Birgu and give Fort St Angelo the two hours Heritage Malta recommends, with the Grand Harbour views as the light drops. If you’re going in autumn, bear in mind that all three close at 17:00 from 1 November, so the day gets shorter. What came before and after is in the history of Malta.