They Burned Them Alive: The Weapon The Ottomans Feared

In the summer of 1565, the waters of the Grand Harbour did not just run red; they churned with the bodies of the fallen in a conflict that would determine the fate of Western civilization. Against an unstoppable tide of forty thousand elite Ottoman warriors, a mere seven hundred knights stood on a crumbling rock, sworn to die before yielding.

This documentary explores the Great Siege of Malta, a brutal clash of empires that pit the terrifying dominance of Suleiman the Magnificent against the desperate resolve of the Knights Hospitaller. Led by the seventy-one-year-old Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette, a small garrison of defenders faced one of the largest armadas in history. What followed was not merely a battle for territory, but a war of extermination where the rules of chivalry were replaced by psychological terror, beheadings, and biological warfare.

We dissect the strategic blunders and superhuman endurance displayed at the star-fort of St. Elmo, examining how the design of 16th-century fortifications forced the Ottomans into a deadly war of attrition.

From the use of primitive flamethrowers and "hoops of fire" to underwater knife fights, witness the technological horrors that defined this engagement.

Join us as we uncover how a barren, sun-scorched island became the graveyard of the Ottoman invincibility and the shield of Europe.

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Sources & References:

Ernle Bradford – The Great Siege: Malta 1565

Francisco Balbi di Correggio – The Siege of Malta 1565 (Translated from Spanish edition of 1568)

Roger Crowley – Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World

Lord Kinross – The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire

H.J.A. Sire – The Knights of Malta

Tim Pickles – Malta 1565: Last Stand of the Crusades (Osprey Military Campaign)

Stephen C. Spiteri – The Great Siege: Knights vs. Turks, 1565