City siege 5
By about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, or extreme resisting arrest situations.Īssyrians using siege ladders in a relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III 720–738 BCE from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud) While traditional sieges do still occur, they are not as common as they once were due to changes in modes of battle, principally the ease by which huge volumes of destructive power can be directed onto a static target. With the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of ever more powerful cannons reduced the value of fortifications. Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork. During the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is both textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Picture of the siege of Rancagua during the Chilean War of IndependenceĪncient cities in the Middle East show archaeological evidence of fortified city walls. A defensive ring of forts outside the ring of circumvallated forts, called contravallation, is also sometimes used to defend the attackers from outside. During the process of circumvallation, the attacking force can be set upon by another force, an ally of the besieged place, due to the lengthy amount of time required to force it to capitulate. The attacking force can circumvallate the besieged place, which is to build a line of earth-works, consisting of a rampart and trench, surrounding it. This form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. This is typically coupled with attempts to reduce the fortifications by means of siege engines, artillery bombardment, mining (also known as sapping), or the use of deception or treachery to bypass defenses.įailing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease, which can afflict either the attacker or defender. Sieges involve surrounding the target to block the provision of supplies and the reinforcement or escape of troops (a tactic known as " investment" ). The art of conducting and resisting sieges is called siege warfare, siegecraft, or poliorcetics.Ī siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by a quick assault, and which refuses to surrender.
Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy.
Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static, defensive position. This derives from Latin: sedere, lit.'to sit'. A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault.