A Concise History of Malta
Author: Carmel Cassar
Publisher:
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 312
ISBN-13:
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The Great Siege, Malta 1565
Author: Ernle Bradford
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-04-01
Total Pages: 278
ISBN-13: 1497617308
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe indispensable account of the Ottoman Empire’s Siege of Malta from the author of Hannibal and Gibraltar. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, had expanded his empire from western Asia to southeastern Europe and North Africa. To secure control of the Mediterranean between these territories and launch an offensive into western Europe, Suleiman needed the small but strategically crucial island of Malta. But Suleiman’s attempt to take the island from the Holy Roman Empire’s Knights of St. John would emerge as one of the most famous and brutal military defeats in history. Forty-two years earlier, Suleiman had been victorious against the Knights of St. John when he drove them out of their island fortress at Rhodes. Believing he would repeat this victory, the sultan sent an armada to Malta. When they captured Fort St. Elmo, the Ottoman forces ruthlessly took no prisoners. The Roman grand master La Vallette responded by having his Ottoman captives beheaded. Then the battle for Malta began in earnest: no quarter asked, none given. Ernle Bradford’s compelling and thoroughly researched account of the Great Siege of Malta recalls not just an epic battle, but a clash of civilizations unlike anything since the time of Alexander the Great. It is “a superior, readable treatment of an important but little-discussed epic from the Renaissance past . . . An astonishing tale” (Kirkus Reviews).
Empires of the Sea
Author: Roger Crowley
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2008-07-01
Total Pages: 378
ISBN-13: 1588367339
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world. In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date–a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, “The King of Evil,” the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria. This struggle’s brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto–one of the single most shocking days in world history. At the close of this cataclysmic naval encounter, the carnage was so great that the victors could barely sail away “because of the countless corpses floating in the sea.” Lepanto fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world that we know today. Roger Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality, technology and Inca gold. Empires of the Sea is page-turning narrative history at its best–a story of extraordinary color and incident, rich in detail, full of surprises, and backed by a wealth of eyewitness accounts. It provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilizations.
Historical Dictionary of Malta
Author: Uwe Jens Rudolf
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2010-04-27
Total Pages: 340
ISBN-13: 0810873907
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Malta compiles the unusually rich and long history of the islands comprising the country of Malta. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-reference dictionary entries describing all of the major places, persons, institutions, and events that have shaped the history of the archipelago.
Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe
Author: Thomas M. Eccardt
Publisher: Hippocrene Books
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 364
ISBN-13: 9780781810326
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"This unique book examines the history, culture, and inner workings of the seven smallest independent countries in Europe. These are among the oldest states on the continent and, despite their diversity, they have much in common. Most have relatively high per capita incomes and life expectancies, and relatively low unemployment. This narrative presents the unique issues that confront small countries, including maintaining their independence, economic viability, preserving their native languages, and sustaining their governments. The second part of the book describes each microstate in turn, showing how each one has met these challenges and adapted over time. These concise and engaging chapters contain cultural information on subjects including the arts, gastronomy, and popular tourist sites."--Provided by publisher.
The Order of Malta
Author: Val Horsler
Publisher: Third Millennium Information
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781906507244
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTracing its origins to the 11th century, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta can look back over a history of fortitude in the face of challenge, of courage in battle, of compassion for those in need. Today, the Order is one of the world's most effective humanitarian organisations, with 12,500 members, 80,000 permanent volunteers, and over 20,000 medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, auxiliaries and paramedics.Compelling photo-reportage from the front line brings the day-to-day commitment of the Order's members and volunteers vividly to life as well as portraying the humanity of those they serve; and testaments from individual members about their involvement with the Order and its work highlight both the spiritual and the practical aspects of its importance to the thousands of people worldwide who are part of it, whether as knights and dames, as volunteers or as recipients of its humanitarian aid.Themes and topics include: the history of the Order (with a timeline), the work of the Order's associations round the world, the work of its international aid agency Malteser International, volunteers and youth associations, the Order's spirituality and the Order as a sovereign state.'Handsome and eloquent...a thoroughly worthy portrait of the unceasing efforts of a vast and unique organisation.'- The Tablet
Malta of the Knights
Author: Elizabeth Wheeler Schermerhorn
Publisher:
Published: 1978
Total Pages: 408
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Shield and the Sword
Author: Ernle Bradford
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-04-01
Total Pages: 116
ISBN-13: 1497625807
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn authoritative history of the Knights of St. John, from Jerusalem to Malta, told by the bestselling author of The Great Siege. Known by many names through their centuries-long career, The Knights Hospitaller of Saint John dedicated themselves to defending the poor and sick. First formed in Jerusalem during the Crusades of the eleventh century, the Order of Saint John grew in wealth and power rivaled only by the Knights Templar. They survived exile from the Holy Land, settling first in Rhodes and then in Malta, which they famously defended against the Ottoman Empire’s epic invasion of 1565. Even after losing Malta to Napoleon Bonaparte two centuries later, the Order of Saint John continued its mission. Ernle Bradford, whose bestselling book The Great Siege recounts their historic battle for Malta, follows the Knights of Saint John through centuries of war, politics, rivalry, and perseverance in The Shield and the Sword.
Economic Thought
Author: Heinz D. Kurz
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2016-05-03
Total Pages: 221
ISBN-13: 0231540752
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this concise yet comprehensive history, Heinz D. Kurz traces the long arc of economic thought from its emergence in ancient Greece to its systematic presentation among the classical thinkers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to the influential work of scholars such as Paul Samuelson and Kenneth J. Arrow. With a keen eye for how economic insights are acquired, lost, and reborn, Kurz focuses on the dynamic individuals who give old ideas new life and the historical events that provoke different approaches and theories. Over the course of this journey, Kurz explains what Adam Smith meant by the "invisible hand"; how Karl Marx's "law of motion" works in capitalist economies; the roots of the Austrian economists' emphasis on the problems of information, incomplete knowledge, and uncertainty; John Maynard Keynes's principle of effective demand and economic stabilization; and the insights and challenges offered by growth theory, welfare economics, game theory, and more. He concludes with a deft summation of world economists' major concerns today and their critical relation to world events.
The Santa Marija Convoy
Author: Dennis Angelo Castillo
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 273
ISBN-13: 0739128957
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDuring World War II, Malta played a key role in the Mediterranean campaign, its submarines, light surface forces, and aircrafts destroying supplies desperately needed by Rommel's forces in North Africa. The price the Maltese paid for this effort was the most sustained and intensive bombing campaign in the war, enduring over 130 tons of bombs per square mile. This, compounded by the Axis blockade that attempted to starve Malta into surrender, set the stage for numerous convoy battles, the most dramatic being Operation Pedestal, remembered on Malta to this day as the Santa Marija Convoy. In this book, Dennis Castillo uses published histories as well as interviews and oral histories to explore the experiences of the Maltese and how their faith sustained them through this dark period of Malta's history.
