Author Description

<b>Explores the historic sieges of Rhodes in 1480 and 1522 and encompasses tales of heroism and strategic shifts in military history.</b><br><br><i>The Sieges of Rhodes 1480 and 1522</i> provides accounts of the two epic sieges when the Knight Hospitallers of the Order of St John faced the might of the Ottoman Empire. Photographs and maps included in the book illustrate what a nearly impossible task the Ottomans faced in both sieges. The two sieges illustrate the changes in warfare in the 40 years between them and the revolution in artillery that was taking place during this period. The Sieges of Rhodes contains grand tales of the greatest heroes and the worst of villains, stories of ingenuity, bravery, cruelty and cowardice, tales which echoed across Christendom.<br><br>When Grand Master Phillipe Villiers de l`Isle-Adam and the few surviving knights and brothers of the Order of St John departed from the port of Rhodes on 1 January 1523, the long history of the Crusades ended.<br><br>The Order of St John had protected the Latin States for almost 200 years until forced to leave after the fall of Acre in 1291. Unlike the Templars, they survived the disgrace of defeat and re-established themselves on the island of Rhodes. Here they remained a militant presence, always a challenge to the power of Islam and hopeful of reclaiming the Holy Land. The rise of Ottoman power in the mid-fifteenth century led to two great sieges, the first in 1480 during the reign of the Sultan Mehmed II and the second in 1522 by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.<br><br>Both sieges were epic in their character and scale and added to the fame and prestige of the Hospitallers, and on both occasions the Grand Masters provided inspiration for the garrisons and for Christendom. The sieges occurred at a critical period in Europe's political, religious and military history. In 1480, Christendom was united, and both the means of attack and the forms of defense were fundamentally late-medieval in nature -