THE GREAT SPANISH RESCUE OF MALTA (1565)
THE GREAT SPANISH RESCUE OF MALTA (1565) The Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Jean Parisot de la Valette, ordered the small garrison at Saint Elmo to resist to the death. He still could not imagine that the survival of an order of crusaders with centuries of existence was going to be at stake there. Built in solid stone, this fortress located in front of the capital was defended by only 100 knights and 500 soldiers, the majority Spanish and Italian, who received fire from artillery pieces of dimensions never seen before. The impression that the defenders were supernatural beings permeated the Turkish ranks, who spent a month shelling a ruin that occasionally coughed up gunpowder, as a reminder that there was life within. A titanic effort that, among the many that the Maltese undertook in the face of the Ottoman attack of 1565, allowed the Spanish Empire to break the blockade months later and stage what is known as "The Great Rescue of Malta". In Malta the balance of