25 of the Most Epic Sieges in History

the modern world was built in many ways on the destruction of what came before Wars have been waged for centuries across the globe between nations intent on domination and Conquest in many of these cases battles were decided by epic sieges that in some cases lasted for years I'm Mike with list25 and here are 25 of the most epic sieges in history but before we get started don't forget to like share comment subscribe click that notification Bell so you don't miss out on any new content also come join us in Discord we have lots of conversations there we have Discord no wait don't uh anyway with all that out of the way let's go Siege the day go Bucks [Music] 25. Siege of Vienna in 1683 the Ottomans waged war against Vienna and the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold the first for about three months the Ottomans had broken through outer fortifications and were in the process of tunneling under Vienna's walls even though the emperor had already fled the city Vienna might have fallen had Pope Innocent the 11th not enlisted aid from a wide range of armies including forces from Poland Germany Bavaria and Saxony the reinforcements routed the Ottomans killing or taking them prisoner the loss was a crushing blow for the Ottoman Empire and marked a turn in their powerful hold on Europe 24. great Siege of Gibraltar you know a Siege has to be impressive if history remembers it as the great Siege the great Siege of Gibraltar happened when France and Spain decided to capitalize on the Revolutionary War by taking a shot at Great Britain while the forces were distracted in America technically joining the American side France and Spain conspired to take the island of Gibraltar which had been a key Naval stronghold for England they set up a blockade while infantry forces set up on land Gibraltar had a force of 5 000 men in Spain and France hoped to starve them out but give England credit they know how to go to war twice the British Navy broke through the blockade to resupply Gibraltar while their forces managed to do serious damage to the attackers from their fortified position it was nearly four years after it started that France and Spain had to retreat in defeat 23. Siege of Troy maybe one of the most well-known Wars in history despite being seriously steeped in fiction as well the siege of Troy was famously detailed in Homer's Iliad this is the story that gave us the legend of Achilles and also the Trojan Horse The Story Goes that Paris Prince of Troy kidnapped Helen from Sparta and took her back home her husband assembled an absolute All-Stars of war with the invulnerable hero Achilles King Agamemnon and the unbeatable Ajax to get her back the Greeks couldn't get past the Trojan walls so they pretended to retreat left a giant horse as a peace offering and when the Trojans took it in the walls Greek warriors leapt out and opened the gates while long thought totally fictitious archaeologists have found the place where they believe Troy once stood 22. the fall of Philadelphia before America had a Philadelphia there were several in Europe and Asia the city of Alice here in modern turkey was once Philadelphia and in 1390 the Byzantine emperor bayazide decided to wage war on the neutral City it was the only city left in Asia Minor that was both Christian and Byzantine a final holdout that the Ottoman Empire wanted the emperor along with two fellow Emperors of Byzantium riding with Turkish forces came to Philadelphia some years after it was supposed to have surrendered to the Ottomans and forced it to yield did you know that Constantine was oh wait Istanbul was once constant now I messed that up Istanbul was once constant nope what stands his elbow was one I was you know what I meant been a long time gone 21. Siege of Jerusalem for a time during the Crusades and specifically in 1099 the city of Jerusalem was in the control of the fatimides a group of Muslims who saw control of the Muslim World an army of Christians at the end of the First Crusade Limited in number and resources set up camp outside Jerusalem and began a Siege the city was confident in its ability to hold out and was expecting reinforcements but Christian forces arrived first Siege weapons and Towers were built and eventually the city fell 20. the Alamo you can't discuss the siege and not mention the most famous Siege in American history the Alamo before Texas was part of the U.S it was part of Mexico Texas wanted to become its own country oh that rings a bell and Mexico wasn't happy about it Mexican soldiers were sent to the Alamo an Old Mission that had been fortified as a fortress and was occupied by 150 Texas Soldiers the Texans refused to surrender and called for Aid The Siege lasted just 13 days and though some help came a large force was unable to arrive in time the Alamo fell but it served as an inspirational tale of heroism for Texans and Americans thereafter 19. the siege of Roads most people today know roads from one thing and that's if they know it at all the Colossus which was built with metal abandoned by the armies of an earlier Siege but the Ottomans had a real hankering to take control of the island and had tried unsuccessfully in the past before the siege of 1522. strategically it would have been an invaluable asset for the Ottomans in the Mediterranean a force of 300 ships and 75 000 soldiers attacked the island though the Ottomans made some Headway the forces inside the walls wore resilient The Siege began in June and lasted until December when roads finally surrendered to prevent further loss of life though it was an ottoman Victory they lost eight times as many men 18. Siege of kapha the Mongol Siege of kapha is a standout in the history of warfare it took place in the year 1345 and it was the first time in history that biological warfare had been used as a tool of war the city had already fought off the Mongol hordes just two years earlier so when they attacked again they thought they might have been prepared the first Siege came as a result of a seemingly simple dispute Christians and Muslims in a neighboring Town had fought and a Muslim was killed the Christians fled to kapha the Mongols chiefly Muslim came to punish the criminals but kafa refused they held off the Mongols who suffered great losses bitter at his defeat Mongol leader Johnny Begg devised a new plan when he returned his men were dying from plague so he loaded their corpses onto catapults and hurled them into the city infecting kapha as well it's unknown how many people the infected who fled may have killed as a result 17. the Battle of Elysia Elise Hill was located near present-day Ali saharen in France Julius Caesar himself laid Siege to the city in the year 52 BCE in an effort to find the Gaelic general of asanjits and his 80 000 troops in The Twist on the idea of a Siege Caesar had his men build walls around the city so no one could get in or out the effort worked and he suppressed the would-be revolt against Rome 16. Siege of Orleans the siege of Orleans was a major event in the Hundred Years War and a massive part of the legend of Joan of Arc this was her first military victory in the beginning of a story that endures to this day Orleans was a strategic and symbolic Outpost and there was a fear if it fell France would fall the English were making Headway and for months they had been beating the Defenders down and then Joan of Arc showed up and in nine days the battle was over when the English were defeated 15. Siege of Syracuse during the Second Punic War the two-year Siege of Syracuse took place from 214 to 212 BCE Romans took the city of Syracuse and even killed nonan mathematician and inventor Archimedes in the process not often you hear about a siege-killing historical figures who weren't technically military Syracuse once loyal to Rome switched to Carthage under the rule of a new leader and Rome was not amused Rome attacked by sea and Archimedes used his knowledge to devise numerous creative defenses like a massive crane to drag ships from the water and allegedly his famous son Ray which was a giant mirror to focus the beams of the sun which MythBusters busted The Siege ended when Romans sneaked in during a holiday festival to open the gates 14. Fall of Constantinople Constantinople and the Byzantine empire fell in 1453 after a 55-day Siege at the hands of Ottoman forces the once a powerful City had been on a steady decline for years and when the ottoman armies arrived with a powerful battery of cannons they were able to Pummel the city from Land and Sea until the ancient walls finally fell 13. Siege of Antwerp in 1584 Spanish General Alexander farnese started what would be a year-long Siege of the city of Antwerp in an attempt to control the Netherlands a massive network of forts Bridges and blockades were used to cut the city off from any reinforcements and he inroads the Dutch Maid were quickly countered by the Spanish in the end the city fell and those who refused to convert to Catholicism fled 12. great Siege of Malta another Siege remembered historically as great and the siege of Malta took place in 1565. the remember the siege of Rhodes Malta is where their Defenders went after they surrendered and well the Ottomans followed the Knights of Malta had been expecting the Ottomans literally for years which is why the place was so well defended when it finally happened confusion and division among the ottoman forces led to bad choices and multiple losses at one point they even retreated after mistakenly believing a larger force was attacking when it was not in the end after several months the ottoman forces retreated having lost tens of thousands of troops in a defeat that permanently weakened their position 11. fall of Tenochtitlan tenochitlan was once the capital of the Aztec Empire and is now the center of Mexico City in 1521 Cortez and Spanish forces laid Siege to the city for nearly a hundred days until they had destroyed the Defenders with a mix of advanced weaponry and smallpox the Aztec empire fell and Spanish rule spread 10. see wayi the siege of way lasted 10 years from 405 until 396 BCE and saw Roman forces taking on the Etruscan city of UAE which today is a village called Isola farnesi about 10 miles from Rome back in the day however way in Rome were bitter Rivals and had gone to war several times the history of The Siege is sketchy at best since it was only written about a hundred years after it happened but it's believed that numerous Roman leaders took over The Siege at different times and Rome was even involved in different Wars over the decade The Siege was maybe just a simple blockade at some points making it oddly significant in how lazy the whole Affair seemed 9. Siege of kandia one of History's longest sieges it took 21 years for kandia to give in though tensions between the Ottomans and Venice had been ongoing when some Venetian Knights raided ottoman ships and fled to kandia events came to a head located on an island Candia was a strategic location and well fortified even the 60 000 ottoman soldiers who arrived couldn't take it right away but no persistence pays off even if it takes decades 21 years after it began and at a cost of numerous lives on both sides not to mention gold the walls finally fell eight Siege of tire it was the year 332 and Alexander the Great had already more than proven himself in battle as he extended his work of Conquest he met with leaders of the island of tire off the coast of Lebanon and said he'd like to go there to make an offering to Heracles which no one entire believed was anything other than a ruse to take the island the people of Tire had no fear of Alexander since they were on a fortified Island still they cautiously evacuated the women and children leaving forty thousand behind to defend against Alexander he sent envoys asking for surrender and tire through their bodies into the sea Alexander was unamused in one of the most clever military tactics of the age Alexander had his men build a massive bridge to the island so that he didn't need to match their Naval might instead he rolled Siege weapons onto the bridge and bombarded tire from afar while bringing in over 200 of his own ships with both land and sea forces at their door tire fell quickly seven Siege of Carthage as part of the third Punic War the Roman Siege of Carthage was a bloody and vengeful act instigated by a Roman thirst for Revenge from a previous war and also inspired by the desire to claim carthaginian lands carthage's 60-foot walls and Maid attacking the city an apparent impossibility for most armies but the Romans were very persistent they surrounded the city and The Siege lasted a remarkable three years it's said that nearly everyone in Carthage joined the fight and even women cut their hair to make rope for catapults the Romans for their part showed no mercy three years into The Siege when they toppled the walls they fought through the city for seven full days every house had been fortified within the walls and the Romans needed to take them all one by one in the end the city was torn apart and burned to the ground an estimated 62 thousand citizens died and 50 000 more were enslaved 6. Siege of Paris one Vikings are more well known for their raiding tactics than Siege Warfare but that doesn't mean they never tried it back in the year 885 Viking forces laid Siege to Paris for the better part of a year they made a habit of attacking the city which was not so well fortified or protected as it is today and had come around for another attack in the hopes of either pillaging or being paid off the French Having learned from past raids had built new fortifications and were able to put up a fight this time plus the Vikings had a habit of leaving the pillage elsewhere so the French could get resupplied eventually Charles III paid the Vikings off and forced to drag their boats over land to leave the Vikings never raided Paris again 5. Siege of Paris two Paris just can't stop being besieged in 1870 France declared war on Germany after the various smaller German states came together to make a unified Germany France was trying to flex their military might maintain control of Europe nor as much control as they felt they already had but it didn't go well Napoleon surrendered at the Battle of Sudan and essentially ended the second French Empire the third Republic was not interested in peace but Germany proved too powerful and within months German forces had surrounded Paris they were happy to surround the city and starve those Inside Out rather than risk lives in a direct attack the result was that the French ate all the animals in the zoo as well as cats and dogs the French eventually surrendered and a French German relations only got worse from there four Siege of seyuta back in 1694 Moroccan forces began what was known as the 30-year Siege against the Spanish hold city of syuta in Northern Africa don't worry though that was just a name the actual Siege was only 26 years Sultan Ismail bin Sharif was looking to consolidate his powers in the region and had managed to force most Europeans out the only major stronghold in the area was the Fortified city of Syota on the coast the longest Siege in history proved to be mostly unsuccessful as the Moroccans took the city in 1720 but Spanish reinforcements arrived and a second Siege began that lasted until 1727 when the sultan died and the Moroccans gave up 3. Siege of Vicksburg one of the most significant battles of the Civil War The Siege of Vicksburg is often overlooked in favor of the Battle of Gettysburg which was just one day earlier in this battle Ulysses S Grant had trapped Confederate forces in the town of Vicksburg Mississippi back in 1863. when Grant realized that taking the city would be too hard the uni forces were ordered to dig trenches and commence with the siege The Siege lasted 40 days and saw the Union Army digging under the city and Mining it from below the Confederate Army held out as long as they could but they were outnumbered and short on Supply and thus surrendered on July 4th taking the city allowed the union to maintain control of the Mississippi River for the rest of the war 2. Siege of Leningrad arguably one of the most horrifying sieges in history World War II's Siege of Leningrad saw to what brutal deaths Humanity can sink in times of War Nazi forces had met much resistance from the Soviets and so they launched Operation Barbarossa which included a sneak attack on the industrial city the Germans weren't trying to take the city The Siege was the goal it lasted from September 1941 until January 1944. barely any supplies reached the city the entire time and it's believed at least one million people nearly all civilians died along with a staggering number of soldiers the lack of food pushed many of those who remained to cannibalism in over 2 000 people were arrested for that crime one age of megido the Battle of megido holds a special place in the history of warfare because it was the first thoroughly documented battle that ever took place during the 15th century BCE the Egyptian pharaoh tutmost III LED his forces against the Canaanites in a coalition of rebellious city-states in what is now modern day Palestine the battle became a Siege as the Canaanites retreated to the city of megiddo and the Egyptian forces held them in the city for months the battles were Fierce and the Pharaoh himself fought on the front lines with Egyptian charioteers causing serious damage to enemy forces once The Siege began the Egyptians cut off all supply lines and for seven months the city held but starvation finally won over the besieged Army begged for mercy and the Pharaohs spared them in exchange for their loyalty so I don't really have a question for that because sieges aren't really cool so I don't want to say what's the coolest Siege you ever know um so what are some other sieges throughout history we may have missed let us know in the comments below and as always like I said like share comment subscribe click that notification Bell join our Discord as always I love you guys and I'll see you next time enjoying our lists be sure to click that subscribe button and the notification Bell so you don't miss out on new videos every Monday Wednesday and Friday share them with your friends and help us consistently conciliate curiosity and if you want even more lists check out these videos here or just head to our website at list25.com

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Id: ZlFtpGUF-OY

Length: 19min 9sec (1149 seconds)

Published: Fri May 26 2023