By Order of Napoleon: The Taking of Malta

 
 

From the publishers:

Napoleon Bonaparte issued thousands of dispatches directives and orders during the many campaigns of his military career. This e-book is a chronological compilation of his orders concerning the taking of Malta in 1798. They include orders to capture Gozo, Mdina and of course the city of Valletta. Napoleon's orders were very specific in terms of how the French were to treat the Knights, the Maltese, and the clergy. They included radical health and education reforms intended to align Malta's administration to the new revolutionary ideology of the French republic. He abolished nobility and slavery. He reorganized the clergy and redefined its sphere of influence. His also ordered the pillaging of the Order's silver and precious stones from St. John's Cathedral in Valletta.

This book does not seek to judge, praise or criticize the French occupation of Malta, but to give the reader access to source documents and provide some perspective to those momentous events that changed the course of Malta's history.
 
 
Joe Scicluna was born and raised on the island of Malta. Passionate about the culture, the heritage and the rich history of the Maltese islands, he has previously published translations from French of eyewitness accounts during the period of Napoleon's invasion and the subsequent occupation in 1798. He has just launched a historical novel set in the early 19th century during the first years of Malta's British rule.