In 1565, just over a decade from the conquest of Constantinople by the Moslem Turks, the Christian island of Malta was attacked by the Sea Jihad, arriving off the island's coast on 18 May with some 200 ships and perhaps 40,000 fighters. Malta was held by around 6,000 men, led by the Knights of Malta and their Grand Master Jean de Vallette.
Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the Moslems had an enormous superiority in artillery, the Knights held out, not least at Fort St. Elmo. This brought time for a Christian relief force to arrive on the island on September 7. This multi-national Catholic army combined with the Knights proceeded to route the Islamic invaders, who reembarked and fled the scene.
It's estimated that over 30,000 Moslem invaders were killed during the siege and perhaps a third of the island's defenders. The remarkably heroic defense of Malta put to rest the myth of Ottoman invincibility and laid the foundation for the victorious sea battle of Lepanto, 6 years later.
Thanks to the extraordinary courage of Malta's Christian defenders and later Lepanto, the Jihad was stopped in the Mediterranean. But that was then. The Jihad's still very much alive today, though lacking military dominance, and instead of invading the West through force has been invited in by Quislings in search of cash and votes. Will our people, like the Maltese and their knights, stand up and be counted?
The vote's out,
LSP
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Postscript: Many years ago, back when Great Britain still had a Navy but had withdrawn from Malta, I remember sitting at the Royal Malta Yacht Club, enjoying colonial style curry and looking out at the Grand Harbour, imagining the sound and fury of the siege. Heroic stuff.
After lunch, I wandered off onto the recently deserted Naval base above the club and marveled at the greatness that had been, the place was huge, at least to my juvenile eyes, and I think it's featured in a movie or two. Quite a thing, and the thought that Britain had abandoned it filled me with a kind of fury; why had we walked away from such greatness? It seemed me to at the age of 10, and still does, a kind of betrayal. What can I say?
Faith, Hope and Charity,
L
6 comments:
Yeah, but sadly today there aren't any cannons that can fire their 'heads' back at them...
"The Two Swords of Christ" by Raymond Ibrahim is an excellent history of this time, the time before and after.
Right on, NFO, and in response to the Moslems floating crucified Christians across the harbor. Vicious, evil stuff.
I must read that, 1.
I'm afraid that 565 AD might be a better parallel. That's when the West last imploded and went into a millennium of darkness while the Eastern powers rose.
The Fall of Acre set the stage for Malta. A band of determined defenders who wouldn't leave fighting a horrid last stand in order to allow a much larger host of fighters to escape to relative freedom.
I can't imagine, and I have a good imagination, how horrid those losing years were, losing holy sites and land that was wrested from the paynim only to lose it and lose it so badly.
Have you ever noticed that 'Western Civ' talks about the horrors of the Crusades but never talks about the horrors that the Crusades were in response to or what happened in Crusader lands when the muslims conquered? If there hadn't been plague and a mini-ice age beginning, western Europe might have been able to save part of the Crusader lands.
Days like this these thoughts weigh heavy on my mind.
Deus Vult.
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