2 OF 2

From the outset, in the absence of the Sultan himself as supreme commander, its operations were hampered by discord between its military and naval arm-between Mustafa "the father' and Piale "the son." The general wanted first to occupy Gozo and the north of the island, with its central capital at Mdina, and thus to secure his rear. He would then bypass St. Elmo to strike directly at the two strongpoints of the harbour, Il Burgo and Senglea. The admiral protested that, before any such land operations were launched, a safe anchorage must be found for his fleet. None was available for this purpose but the Middle Harbour, the Marsa Muscet. To secure this it would be necessary first to capture the fort of St. Elmo. Bowing to these naval demands Mustafa thus landed his troops and began to besiege it. Dragut arrived with his own fleet two weeks later than promised. But within a day of his arrival, he had doubled with new and reinforced batteries the fire against Fort St. Elmo and it was progressively to increase, from different points of the compass, as the siege went on. Soon the Turkish armada was sailing away eastward on its thousand-mile journey to the Bosporus. Hardly more than a quarter of its total force had survived. Apprehensive as to their reception by the Sultan, the two Turkish commanders took the precaution of sending dispatches by fast galley ahead of them, to break the news and give his temper time to cool. On reaching home waters, they received orders that the fleet must on no account enter the harbour of Istanbul until after dark. Suleiman had indeed been enraged at the news of this second major defeat at the hands of the Christians. He had found means of saving face after the retreat from Vienna. But in Malta there was no concealing the hard fact that he had suffered a major reverse. Here was the beginning of the end of the Sultan's attempt to establish Ottoman dominance over the entire Mediterranean.

0n this failure Suleiman remarked bitterly: "Only with me do my armies triumph!" This was no idle boast. Malta had indeed been lost, in his old age, through the want of so strong and united a command as had won him the island of Rhodes, in his youth, from the same implacable Christian enemy. Only the Sultan himself, wielding un- challenged personal authority over his forces, could achieve such an end. Only thus had Suleiman, with his added powers of judgment in counsel, decision in leadership, and resolution in action, achieved it through forty-five years of almost unbroken Ottoman victories. But Suleiman was now nearing the end of his span.

2 OF 2