Ernle Bradford was a noted 20th century British historian specializing in the Mediterranean world and naval topics. A keen yachtsman himself, Bradford spent almost 30 years sailing the Mediterranean and many of his books are set here. He lived in Malta for a number of years. The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ...
Sometime BBC broadcaster and magazine editor, Bradford was a prolific author. The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of £4 billion. ...
Bradford did a great job with his book on the siege of Malta, so I thought it would be interesting to see how he would do with a slightly bigger subject.
As the subtitle indicates, Bradford isn't interested as much in the history of the various countries and empires that have bordered the Mediterranean, as he is in the sea itself.
Bradford is somewhat of an oldfashioned historian, and it's clear in each part of his history who his favourites are: Greece over Persia, Athens over Sparta, Rome and Byzantium over their eastern challengers, and so on.
ErnleBradford gives a clear and informative account of the events of the siege, based on good research.
Bradford describes a remarkably sophisticated military operation, spearheaded by the immortal la Valette, the Grand Master of the Knights, supplemented by individual acts of courage, plus, of course, the bravery of St. Elmo, the doomed fortress outpost whose defenders' self-sacrifice bought valuable time and blunted the Turkish advance.
Bradford himself wrote another work on this second siege, so the bravery of this little island it clearly aroused his passions, as did the cause of the Knights, for whom he wrote a history.
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