A 16th-century engineer whose work almost defeated the Ottomans
A personal anecdote from a non-historian:Some years back I took a holiday in Malta.Taking the ferry to Valletta, climbing the ramp up from the dock, I was shocked to see the scale of the fortifications. I knew it was a strategically important place, but what surprised me was how obviously the entire walled peninsula of Valletta seemed to have been constructed first and foremost as a fortress.
It's easy to forget the scale and scope of historical conflict and the effort that went into it, and this was a stark reminder.The other thing that surprised me was that they had the old suits of armor of the commanders of the order, and I was surprised how big they were. I'm pretty tall (6"6) and was surprised to see the suits were close to my height. Presumably bigger than the men that wore them, but what occurred to me was "these are the guys who made it to the the top of their organization, the commanders, and they must have been very big for their time. This is probably an organization that values brute strength."I don't know if that's a valid inference or not, but Malta definitely left the impression it was created by folk who mean business.This linked article is really interesting context, makes me realize why Malta was built so well.