Suleiman the Magnificent personally led an armada of some 400 ships carrying up to 100,000 troops to besiege the fortress island of Rhodes, held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege, which stretched into December 1522, ended with the Knights' surrender and their eventual relocation to Malta, cementing Ottoman control over the eastern Mediterranean.
The Knights Hospitaller, a military-religious order descended from the Crusades, had turned Rhodes into a fortress that had repelled Ottoman attacks before, including a famous siege in 1480. Suleiman, only recently ascended to the throne, saw removing this thorn in Ottoman shipping lanes as essential to his young reign's credibility.
Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam commanded perhaps 7,000 defenders against overwhelming numbers. The knights fought with famous tenacity, and Ottoman losses mounted into the tens of thousands through the summer and autumn. But attrition and the impossibility of relief from Christian Europe eventually forced surrender in December.
Suleiman, impressed by the knights' valor, granted surprisingly generous terms, allowing them to leave with their weapons, relics, and even some subjects. The Knights eventually settled on Malta in 1530, where they would face Suleiman's forces again in the epic Great Siege of 1565—this time victoriously.