Most Maltese children grew up hearing the epic story of the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. Every Maltese person knows that the Turkish Ottoman Empire brutally attacked Malta in an attempt to conquer Malta, but the heroic Knights of Saint John bravely and victoriously fought back.

But what truly happened during those last few days before Malta and its people went down in European history for their incredible courage and perseverance?

When the Turks arrived in Malta in May, it didn’t take long before they captured Fort Saint Elmo. Needless to say, this resulted in loads of panic in Malta and Europe as a whole, as this made Christianity around the continent extremely vulnerable.

After failing to capture Birgu and Isla throughout the summer months, the Turks were getting tired. By the end of August, the Turks were slowly giving up their will, with thousands of them having already been massacred.

Towards the end of August, the Turks tried desperately to attack Fort Saint Michael using a siege tower but failed miserably. This failure was a result of Maltese engineers who dug and tunnelled right under the siege towers and destroyed them with chain shots.

September finally arrived and the weather was getting colder, and storms were approaching. Because of that, the Turks decided to attack Mdina in the hopes of finding shelter. At the time, Mdina was not well defended so this seemed easy enough, however, destiny had other plans.

The knights stationed in Mdina started to fire their cannons poorly at a long range. This was not a mistake, but a clever tactic, as this made the Turks think that the Knights had a lot of ammunition to spare. The Turks ended up leaving Mdina without ever attacking.

By 8th September, the already tired and unmotivated army of Turks began making their way back home, with Malta being declared victorious.

Whilst this was happening, a relief fleet of 8,000 men led by Don Garcia arrived in Malta. The Turks might have been ready to return home, but the knights were eager for a fight.

This resulted in an absolute massacre of the Turks. What remained of the Turkish fleet officially left the islands on 13th September.

Malta managed to defeat the Ottoman Empire’s army of 40,000 men with just 6,000 soldiers.

The Great Siege left such a huge impact on Europe at the time that French philosopher Voltaire is even known to have said: “Nothing is better known than the Siege of Malta.”

Monarchies all over Europe were grateful for the bravery showed by the Knights and the Maltese, and thus, showered the islands with money.

It is with this money that the Knights eventually built Valletta.