Battles that changed our destiny

Fr Mark Cauchi approaches our islands’ history from a unique albeit rather quirky perspective (May 3).

The Maltese fought for their Christian religion in 1565 and not to please the foreign Order of St John. Had they not done so, we’d all be Moslems and the correspondent would be out of a job!

The role played by the local population in the fighting tends to get downplayed by historians who give all the credit for that great victory over the Ottomans to the Knights and their mercenaries.

Had the Maltese not fought for the ‘foreigner’ (that is, the British Empire) in World War II, the islands would have fallen to the Axis powers, Rommel would have almost certainly defeated the British in North Africa and the war may well have ended differently.

Given such a scenario, would we now be a successful, independent and fully sovereign state? I think not.

Had Malta already been independent when Italy declared war on the Allies, the Italians would have quickly overrun the islands with a similar outcome ensuing.

Surely, such momentous events which have had such a profound effect on the destiny of our islands deserve perpetual national recognition and commemoration

After all, we are who and what we are directly because of them.