List of sieges - Definition and Overview

The 1453 Siege of Constantinople (painted 1499)

A siege is a prolonged military assault and blockade on a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition. What follows a chronological list of sieges.

Military sieges

Ancient

• Siege of Megiddo (c. 1457 BCE)
• Siege of Dapur (c. 1296 BCE)
• Siege of Troy (c. 1200 BCE)
• Siege of Hermopolis (c. 715 BCE)
• Siege of Jerusalem (701 BCE) - the Assyrian siege of Sennacherib
• Siege of Syracuse (415 BCE) - the Athenian siege
• Siege of Tyre (332 BCE) by Alexander the Great
• Siege of Rhodes (305 BCE) by Demetrius Poliorcetes
• Siege of Agrigentum (261 BCE) (First Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage)
• Siege of Syracuse (213–212 BCE) - the Roman siege
• Siege of Alesia (52 BCE)
• Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE) - the Roman siege of Titus
• Siege of Masada (72 CE)

Medieval

• Siege of Paris (885-886)
• Siege of Graus (Spring 1063)
• Siege of Nicaea (1097) - part of the First Crusade
• Siege of Antioch (1097-98) - part of the First Crusade
• Siege of Jerusalem (1099) - part of the First Crusade
• Siege of Acre (1189)
• Siege of Constantinople (1204) - part of the Fourth Crusade
• Siege of Caffa (1346)
• Siege of Rouen(1418) - reopening of the Hundred Years War
• Siege of Orleans (1429)
• Siege of Constantinople (1453)

Early modern

Soldiers in the trenches of the siege at Petersburg

• Siege of Tenochtitlan (1521)
• Siege of Rhodes (1522)
• Siege of Vienna (1529)
• Siege of Leith (1560)
• Siege of Malta (1565)
• Sieges of Nagashima (1571, 1573, 1574)
• Siege of Haarlem (1572)
• Siege of Nagashino (1575)
• Siege of Antwerp (1584-1585)
• Siege of Odawara (1590)
• Siege of Kinsale (1601-1602)
• Siege of Ostend (1601-1604)
• Siege of Osaka (1614-1615)
• Siege of La Rochelle (1627-1628)
• Siege of Candia (Crete) (1648-1669) - possibly the longest siege in history
• Cromwell's Siege of Limerick City, Ireland (1651)
• Siege of Copenhagen (1658-59)
• Siege of Maastricht (1673)
• Siege of Londonderry (1689)
• Williamite Siege of Limerick City, Ireland (1690-1691)
• Siege of Gibraltar (1704)
• Siege of Lille (1708)
• Siege of Quebec City (1759)
• Siege of Boston (1775–1776)
• Siege of Yorktown (1781)
• Siege of Seringapatam (1799)

Modern

• Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz (1812)
• Siege of the Alamo (1836)
• Siege of Sebastopol (1856)
• Siege of Vicksburg (1863) - Union army besieges Confederate city in the American Civil War.
• Siege of Port Hudson (1863) Union Army surrounds Confederate river stronghold for 48 days.
• Siege of Petersburg (1864–1865)
• Siege of Hakodate (1869)
• Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune (1870–1871)
• Siege of Khartoum (1884–1885)
• Siege of Mafeking (1899–1900)
• Siege of Antwerp (1914)
• Siege of Malta (1940–1943)
• Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944)
• Siege of Sarajevo (1992–1996)

Police sieges

• Sidney Street Siege (1911)
• Munich Olympic Massacre (1972)
• Norrmalmstorg robbery (1973) famous for the Stockholm syndrome
• Spaghetti House Siege (1975)
• Balcombe Street Siege (1975)
• MOVE Siege (1978)
• Iranian Embassy Siege (1980)
• Waco Siege (1993)
• Moscow Theatre Siege (2002)
• Beslan hostage crisis (2004)