The siege of the French occupiers

The 1798-1800 episode is better understood as a siege of the French occupiers than a siege of Malta. The French garrison faced at least 10,000 Maltese insurgents and perhaps much of the island's population. Sixteen British ships and five Portuguese ships supplied the maritime isolation that the local revolt could not provide alone. Horatio Nelson and Alexander Ball appear among the British commanders, while Portuguese participation reflects the durable but often overlooked Anglo-Portuguese alliance. Disease and administrative failure killed far more Maltese civilians than direct combat, showing the human cost of occupation even though the garrison eventually surrendered.