{"product_id":"the-great-siege-of-malta-9780241523650","title":"The Great Siege of Malta","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA major new account of the epic siege of the island fortress of Malta\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEven as the great siege began it was understood by both sides to be an epic - a potentially decisive encounter between an uneasy assortment of soldiers, native Maltese, adventurers and Knights Hospitaller on a strategically crucial but near waterless island and a vast, seemingly all-powerful Ottoman armada. With three quarters of the Mediterranean's coasts already in the hands of the Sultan and his allies, all eyes were now on Malta. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis superb new account of the siege emphasises the crucial importance of the siege while at the same time putting it in a far wider context. While since mistakenly recast as a climactic battle between the West and the East, it was also much more interesting \u003ci\u003eand\u003c\/i\u003e nuanced than that - both sides had many other interests and priorities beyond Malta. S?leyman the Magnificent had conquered and subsumed regions from Hungary to the Persian Gulf; Philip II was building an empire in America and Asia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on a wide range of eyewitness stories, Marcus Bull gives a vivid sense of the period's technologies, values and assumptions. It was a grim world built on the labour of many thousands of disposable galley-slaves, shockingly brutal forms of warfare and religious absolutism. But it was also a world filled with the most extraordinary new discoveries and ideas. Both these worlds come together in the siege and in this book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Allen Lane\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/25\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780241523650\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.49h x 6.42w x 1.30d","brand":"Marcus Bull","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45097003024565,"sku":"9780241523650","price":48.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_10f005be-65a4-47f0-855d-015765c8495e.jpg?v=1739282984","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-great-siege-of-malta-9780241523650","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}