Short answers, pulled from the story.
Pope Paschal II issued a papal bull on the 15th of February 1113 that recognized the group as a distinct order. This document granted them protection and confirmed their properties across Europe and Asia.
After Acre fell in 1291, the knights sought refuge in Cyprus before acquiring Rhodes on the 15th of August 1310. They gained control of neighboring islands and the Anatolian port of Halicarnassus during this period.
The defenders numbered only 700 knights and 8,000 soldiers when Suleiman sent an invasion force of about 40,000 men to besiege Malta. When the Ottomans departed on the 8th of September, Hospitallers had but 600 men able to bear arms.
Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam led the order during the Siege of Rhodes in 1522. Sultan Suleiman deployed 400 ships carrying as many as 100,000 men against the island while the knights had only about 7,000 men-at-arms available for defense.
Malta was captured by Napoleon in 1798 during his expedition to Egypt. French soldiers disembarked at seven points on the morning of the 11th of June and attacked before western Maltese forces surrendered after several hours of fighting.