The great city of Byzantion/Constantinople/Istanbul stands on a commanding cape overlooking a busy waterway. It has been the target of repeated attempts to capture it for the past two and a half millennia. Most of these attacks failed, but some did so in spectacular fashion, such as the great Arab sieges. The inhabitants fought hard in almost every siege, with the result that when the city was captured it was also destroyed, or at least suffered a hideous sack. Almost every nation between the Atlantic and the Steppes of Asia have made attempts to capture the city, some repeatedly but only a few - a Roman emperor, the Crusaders, the Turks - have succeeded. And there is no sign that some have given up the hope of taking it - the last sieges were just before and then during the Great War, by the Bulgars, and then by the Allies, who got no closer than Gallipoli, but the city had to submit to enemy occupation when the empire it ruled collapsed. It is still surrounded by envious neighbours, who wish to control it. The city has been besieged forty times, and has been captured on three or four occasions; it cannot be said to be safe yet. It is still 'The City of the World's Desire'.

Byzantium was the last bastion of the Roman Empire following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It fought for survival for eight centuries until, in the mid-15th century, the emperor Constantine XI ruled just a handful of whittled down territories, an empire in name and tradition only. This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the history of Byzantium, the evolution of the defenses of Constantinople and the epic siege of the city, which saw a force of 80,000 men repelled by a small group of determined defenders until the Turks smashed the city's protective walls with artillery. Regarded by some as the tragic end of the Roman Empire, and by others as the belated suppression of an aging relic by an ambitious young state, the impact of the capitulation of the city resonated through the centuries and heralded the rapid rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire.

The siege of Malta: A brutal combat. A test of courage. A battle that will change history. Previously published as CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE GREAT SIEGE. 1565: a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean stands gatekeeper between East and West. It is about to become the scene for one of the most powerful stories of bravery, battle and bloodlust: the siege of Malta. Formed in the Holy Land in the 11th century, a small band of knights had long sought a home. Driven from their lands by Ottoman might, they came to rest in Malta from where they watched the Turks and corsairs raid the Spanish empire. As word came from Constantinople that Malta was in the sights of the Ottoman Empire, all of Europe watched a force of over 30,000 men besieged the island - peopled by 500 knights and a few thousand local soldiers. On that small rock an epic struggle will be played out - the story of individual men, warriors and slaves, but also the story of two worlds colliding.

The great city of Byzantion/Constantinople/Istanbul stands on a commanding cape overlooking a busy waterway. It has been the target of repeated attempts to capture it for the past two and a half millennia. Most of these attacks failed, but some did so in spectacular fashion, such as the great Arab sieges. The inhabitants fought hard in almost every siege, with the result that when the city was captured it was also destroyed, or at least suffered a hideous sack. Almost every nation between the Atlantic and the Steppes of Asia have made attempts to capture the city, some repeatedly but only a few - a Roman emperor, the Crusaders, the Turks - have succeeded. And there is no sign that some have given up the hope of taking it - the last sieges were just before and then during the Great War, by the Bulgars, and then by the Allies, who got no closer than Gallipoli, but the city had to submit to enemy occupation when the empire it ruled collapsed. It is still surrounded by envious neighbours, who wish to control it. The city has been besieged forty times, and has been captured on three or four occasions; it cannot be said to be safe yet. It is still 'The City of the World's Desire'.

Reproduction of the original: Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa in the Seventeenth Century by Evliyá Efendí