The gloating from millions of Muslim sympathizers around the world has also never been greater than on this 20th anniversary of 9/11. But
it wasn’t always like this on September 11. Accordingly, and since we
apparently cannot look to the present for solace or satisfaction on this
date, let us look back. As it happens, a major jihadist terror campaign
was defeated before—and celebrated on—September 11: the Ottoman siege
of the Mediterranean island of Malta.
Even more ironically, the
situation was the exact opposite of today: Those defending the tiny
island were immensely weaker and outnumbered in comparison to their
Islamic foe; but, through a superhuman effort, they actually prevailed. After
declaring jihad in the spring of 1565, 30,000 Turks, armed to the teeth
and with all sorts of heavy artillery, descended on the tiny island of
Malta, which was defended by a few thousand shabbily armed Maltese men,
under the leadership of the Knights of Saint John (formerly the Knights
Hospitallers), the Turks’ bane.
And here is where the difference
lay: If the Europeans were vastly outnumbered, they also had much
manlier leadership than we are familiar with. Enter Jean Parisot de
Valette (1494–1568), the Grand Master of the Knights: “His disposition
is rather sad,” wrote a contemporary, but “for his age [seventy-one], he
is very robust” and “very devout.” As the Muslim sails approached, he
explained to his men what was at stake: “A formidable army composed of
audacious barbarians is descending on this island,” he warned; “these
persons, my brothers, are the enemies of Jesus Christ. Today it is a
question of the defense of our Faith as to whether the book of the
Evangelist [the Gospel] is to be superseded by that of the Koran? God on
this occasion demands of us our lives, already vowed to His service.
Happy will those be who first consummate this sacrifice.”
Once the
Turks arrived, they subjected the tiny Mediterranean island to what was
then the heaviest nonstop bombardment any locale had been subjected to
in history. “With the roar of the artillery and the arquebuses, the
hair-raising screams, the smoke and fire and flame,” a chronicler wrote,
“it seemed that the whole world was at the point of exploding.” The
vastly outnumbered and soon wearied defenders, who were ordered to
“fight bravely and sell their lives to the barbarians as dearly as
possible,” did just that; and for every Christian killed defending the
fort, numerous Muslim besiegers fell.
After reducing to rubble and
storming the fort of St. Elmo, the Turks sadistically slaughtered all
1,500 of its defenders: the Knights of Saint John “were hung upside down
from iron rings . . . and had their heads split, their chests open, and
their hearts torn out.” The Muslim commander, Mustafa, ordered their
mutilated corpses (along with one Maltese priest) nailed to wooden
crosses and set adrift to deride and demoralize the other onlooking
defenders. The terror tactic failed: The seventy-one-year-old
Valette delivered a thundering and defiant speech before the huddled
Christians, beheaded all Muslim prisoners, and fired their heads from
cannon at the Turkish besiegers.
The Ottomans continued to subject
the rest of the island to a sustained bombardment (some 130,000
cannonballs were fired in total). “I don’t know if the image of hell can
describe the appalling battle,” wrote a contemporary: “the fire, the
heat, the continuous flames from the flamethrowers and fire hoops; the
thick smoke, the stench, the disemboweled and mutilated corpses, the
clash of arms, the groans, shouts, and cries, the roar of the guns . . .
men wounding, killing, scrabbling, throwing one another back, falling
and firing.” Although the rest of the forts were reduced to
rubble, much Muslim blood was spilled for each inch gained; for “when
they got within arms’ reach the scimitar was no match for the long
two-handed sword of the Christians.” Desperate fighting spilled into the
streets, where even Maltese women and children participated.
