Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent prepared to launch the largest amphibious invasion of the age and attack Malta. He was determined to end the depredations of the knights, and to open a path of conquest to southern Europe.
Warned of impending attack, the Knights of Malta worked feverishly to strengthen and prepare their fortifications and gather reinforcements from all over Europe. The response was tepid at best, but some contingents of troops, predominantly Spanish and Italian, arrived to bolster the defenders. Most of Europe was represented in some unit by volunteers.
The Knights of Malta were led by the very capable Jean Parisot de Valette. Under his unified authority, the Hospitallers organized a highly cohesive defence of Malta, with around 500 knights, a couple of thousand soldiers, including Spanish, Italian, German, and French troops, and perhaps 3000 Maltese volunteers, along with some other units mostly drawn from ships’ crews (and even prisoners); Valette gathered around 6000 defenders in total. A relief force of Christian troops was also being mustered on Sicily, but these only arrived towards the end of the siege. De Valette’s strategy was to hold out and wear down the attackers until this relief force could arrive.
The Ottoman command was fragmented between Admiral Piyale, a naval commander, and Mustafa Pasha, a renowned commander of the land forces. Both, however, were nominally
