Malta under the Knights has become a…

Malta under the Knights has become a fortress and withstands the Ottoman siege, which lasts until September 11.

The ultra-modern star shaped fort of St. Elmo is taken only with heavy casualties; the rest of the island is too much.

The number of casualties is in as much dispute as the number of invaders.

Estimates of Turkish casualties (including sailors) range from twenty-five thousand to thirty-five thousand.

The knights have lost a third of their number, and Malta a third of its inhabitants.

Birgu and Senglea have essentially been leveled.

Still, nine thousand Christians, most of them Maltese, have managed to withstand a siege of more than four months in the hot summer, despite enduring a bombardment of some one hundred and thirty thousand cannon balls.

The Turks' failure to capture the island from the Knights checks the advance of Ottoman power in southern Europe.

Money begins pouring into the island soon after the Great Siege, allowing the Knights to begin construction of a new city, Valletta, on a rocky promontory overlooking two deepwater harbors on the Malta’s northwestern coast.

The Turks will never attempt to besiege Malta again.

Even so, Barbary piracy continues and the victory at Malta has no effect on Ottoman military strength in the Mediterranean.