Top 10 Famous Sieges in History

332 BCE

King Alexander of Macedon is one of the most well-regarded commanders in all of military history. His siege of Tyre was a notably brilliant stroke from a man famous for never having lost a battle. The Phoenician city was considered impregnable at the time, situated on an island with massive walls extending down to the sea. First, Alexander ordered his men to build a stone causeway as a bridge to the city, which still remains in Lebanon to this day. He then constructed some of the largest siege towers ever seen, also to no avail. Eventually, Alexander turned to the navy he’d taken from defeated Persian cities. He converted some ships into floating battering rams and, eventually, breached the city walls.

1854-55

“Into the Valley of Death, rode the 600.” Those words, written by Alfred Tennyson, immortalize the famous ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ during the Crimean War. The British, French, and Turkish Empires bitterly fought Russia in order to curb its extending influence in the Middle East. At Sevastopol, these imperial armies invented trench warfare during a nearly 11-month-long siege. The Russians dug into defensive positions like ticks, fighting during the day and piling fortifications by night. Nevertheless, the combined forces bombarded them, day after day, until the bitter winter took its toll on everyone involved. The harsh cold facilitated the spread of diseases, decimating the French in particular. Eventually, the Russians retreated, ceding the city to the combined European forces.

213-212 BCE

In their wars against Carthage, the Romans needed Sicily as a foothold in the Mediterranean sea. They took the island during the First Punic War, but the city-state of Syracuse eventually clashed with Rome, who feared a potential alliance between them and Carthage. Syracuse held the Romans to a stalemate for months, thanks to the efforts of Archimedes, the famous inventor and mathematician. He constructed a crane called the Claw of Archimedes that would lift Roman ships out of the water and destroy them. He also reportedly used a massive mirror to generate a heat ray that set the ships’ sails aflame. Eventually, Syracuse fell to their opponents, and Archimedes was killed in his home by a young Roman soldier.

1870-71

By 1870, France had not yet shaken off Napoleon’s vision of a pan-European French Empire. But with a growing rival in the unified German states next door, they decided to declare war. However, the French were not prepared for the military might of the Prussian Army. Just two months after the war declaration, the Prussians had already captured Emperor Napoleon III and reached the outskirts of Paris. The city was surrounded for four months, with multiple breakout attempts all repelled by the Prussians. Artillery bombardments, starvation, and rebellious Parisians led to the French surrender. Consequently, North and South Germany combined into the German Empire, and the resulting generation of resentful French leaders contributed to the outbreak of World War I.

72-73 CE

In 66 CE, Jews in the Roman province of Judea rebelled against Rome’s brutal rule of the region. This first of three Jewish rebellions led to the Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70, which resulted in the complete destruction of the city and the Second Temple. The rebellion limped on until the Siege of Masada, during which less than a thousand Jewish rebels sought refuge in the great mountain fortress. The siege lasted months, and according to the historian Flavius Josephus, the rebels refused to surrender, choosing death over slavery. The defenders, at their lowest point, seemingly opted to take their own lives and those of their families rather than give into Rome.

1521

In 1521, Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortés led thousands of forces to lay siege to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, one of the largest cities in the world at the time. After gaining entry, they were able to hold Emperor Moctezuma II prisoner in his home. The Aztecs revolted soon after, during which their Emperor was killed. Cortés fled the city, and prepared his men for a protracted siege. He joined forces with thousands of local Aztec rivals, and for over 80 days, they laid siege to Tenochtitlan. The combination of artillery and a horrific smallpox epidemic gave the Spaniards the upper hand. In the end, the city fell and tens of thousands of Aztec warriors and civilians lost their lives.

1428-29

The turning point in the Hundred Years' War between England and France came in the late 1420s, at the Siege of Orléans. The fate of France hung in the balance, as the English besieged Orléans for six months, seemingly on the verge of victory. At the same time, a young girl with holy visions began making waves in France. Many believed that she was destined to fulfill a prophecy about a warrior maiden who would save France. This girl was, of course, Joan of Arc. Over six months into the siege, Joan joined a relief convoy and entered Orléans. Her presence rallied the defenders, who launched a decisive attack and took the English bridge gatehouse at Tourelles, ultimately breaking the siege.

1836

Before Texas joined the Union, it gained independence from Mexico with the Texas Revolution. While delegates drafted the state’s Declaration of Independence, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna laid siege to a small force at the Alamo. 260 men, including famed frontiersmen Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, resisted the Mexican leader and his rank of soldiers. The small mission was not especially defensible. After less than two weeks, Santa Anna massacred the defenders, almost to a man. The siege instantly became legend, and rallied Texans and Tejanos to the cause. A few months later, Texan soldiers defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto. To this day, the Alamo remains a centerpiece of Texan lore, history, and pride.

1453

The Byzantine Empire, at its height, controlled almost all of the Mediterranean. The Empire lasted for over a thousand years after the fall of Rome until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks laid siege to the once great city. The formidable Theodosian Walls of Constantinople could not withstand a new technology: gunpowder bombardment. The battle represented a watershed moment in both world and European history: the fall of Constantinople ended Christian hegemony in the region and marked the end of the European Middle Ages. Moreover, the wild success of the Ottoman guns signaled the end of city walls as a viable defense against sieges.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Siege of Caffa, 1345-47
The Mongols Used Biological Warfare & Likely Spread the Black Plague to Europe

Battle Of Carthage, 149-146 BCE
After a Three-Year Siege, the Romans Laid Waste to Carthage & Claimed Dominance of the Mediterranean

Siege of Jerusalem, 1099
Crusaders Massacred 70,000 Citizens & Launched Two Centuries of Holy War

Battle of Megiddo, 1457 BCE
The First Recorded Battle in Human History Is the Source of the Word ‘Armageddon’

Siege Of Baghdad, 1258
The Tigris Ran Red When the Mongols Ended the Abbasids & the Golden Age of Islam

1941-44

The eastern front was home to the most gruesome battles of World War II. Stalingrad, for example, was the turning point in the east. The fight over Stalin’s namesake city lasted almost six months, ended in street-to-street warfare, and cost around 2 million lives. Leningrad, though, was arguably one of the most horrific sieges in history. For over two long, miserable years, German forces attacked the Soviet industrial center of Leningrad. The fighting lasted 872 days, with supplies for the defenders and civilians trickling to virtually nothing. There were almost 650,000 civilian casualties by the battle’s end, with the unabashed destruction of the city. Over a million Soviet soldiers died from combat, cold, and starvation. Another two million were left wounded or ill.


Is there an infamous siege battle that didn’t make our list? Lay siege to us in the comments below!