<story><title>A 16th-century engineer whose work almost defeated the Ottomans</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/a-16th-century-engineer-whose-work-almost-defeated-an-empire/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>feral</author><text>A personal anecdote from a non-historian:&lt;p&gt;Some years back I took a holiday in Malta.&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;s easy to forget the scale and scope of historical conflict and the effort that went into it, and this was a stark reminder.&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;m pretty tall (6&amp;quot;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 &amp;quot;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.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if that&amp;#x27;s a valid inference or not, but Malta definitely left the impression it was created by folk who mean business.&lt;p&gt;This linked article is really interesting context, makes me realize why Malta was built so well.</text></comment>
<story><title>A 16th-century engineer whose work almost defeated the Ottomans</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/a-16th-century-engineer-whose-work-almost-defeated-an-empire/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jballanc</author><text>Suleyman was not only a great military mind, but an extremely astute politician as well. One thing the article fails to mention is that Suleyman didn&amp;#x27;t just let the people of Rhodes &amp;quot;go free&amp;quot; after their defeat, the Knights Hospitaler had to hand over their fortresses in Kos and Bodrum as part of the deal. This was a smart move as the castle in Bodrum was much better fortified, and Suleyman got it without, in essence, firing a shot. For this reason, the castle in Bodrum is extremely well preserved and a must see if you want to get a sense of crusader architecture.</text></comment>