The Long Siege

In the spring of 1570, the Sultan of the Istanbul declared war against Venice. After conquering several cities on Cyprus Mustafa Pasha arrived in January 1571 with a host of 200,000 soldiers at the gates of Famagusta. The defenders were hardly more than 10,000, mostly Italian infantry and Greek and Albanian mercenaries. Their commander was the famous Marcantonio Bragadino. Despite the defender's unbelievable courage was the defence will among the survivors broken by the pressure of eight months of persistent bombardment, shortage of food and ammunition and continuous assaults by an enemy superior in number. From the bastion Ravelin the white flag was hoisted and the city of Famagusta surrendered.