Top 10 Famous Sieges in History
Thank your lucky stars you didn't have to endure any of these horrific sieges. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most famous sieges of all time, widely remembered for the ferocity of the defenders, the brutality of the attackers, or the battle’s place in history.
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00:00 You're beautiful!
00:01 Let's see if you're powerful!
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:07 for the most famous sieges of all time,
00:09 widely remembered for the ferocity of the defenders,
00:12 the brutality of the attackers, or the battle's place in history.
00:16 And it's through here, probably with battering rams,
00:18 they remove the gate and they break through
00:21 and you've got this wave of soldiers entering.
00:24 Number 10. Siege of Tyre.
00:28 Once this army comes on the scene,
00:30 it's designed for the complete subjugation of entire peoples,
00:35 or the killing of thousands of peoples.
00:38 Alexander of Macedon is one of the most well-regarded commanders
00:41 in all of military history.
00:43 His siege of Tyre was a notably brilliant stroke
00:45 from a man famous for never having lost a battle.
00:48 The Phoenician city was considered impregnable at the time,
00:51 situated on an island with massive walls extending down to the sea.
00:55 First, Alexander ordered his men to build a stone causeway
00:58 as a bridge to the city, which still remains in Lebanon to this day.
01:01 These Roman remains are from the 1st and 3rd centuries AD,
01:05 but down here are some of the original fortifications of the city
01:08 from Alexander's time.
01:10 He then constructed some of the largest siege towers ever seen,
01:13 also to no avail.
01:15 Eventually, Alexander turned to the navy he'd taken
01:18 from defeating Persian cities.
01:20 He converted some ships into floating battery rams
01:23 and eventually breached the city walls.
01:25 Outraged by the disgraceful murder of his men,
01:28 Alexander resolved to lay siege to the city.
01:32 Number 9. Siege of Stevastopol
01:35 "Into the valley of death rode the 600."
01:38 Those words, written by Alfred Tennyson,
01:40 immortalized the famous Charge of the Light Brigade
01:43 during the Crimean War.
01:44 The British, French, and Turkish empires bitterly fought Russia
01:48 in order to curb its extending influence in the Middle East.
01:51 At Stevastopol, these imperial armies invented trench warfare
01:55 during a nearly 11-month-long siege.
01:58 The Russians dug into defensive positions like ticks,
02:01 fighting during the day and piling fortifications by night.
02:05 Nevertheless, the combined forces bombarded them day after day
02:09 until the bitter winter took its toll on everyone involved.
02:12 The harsh cold facilitated the spread of diseases,
02:15 decimating the French in particular.
02:17 Eventually, the Russians receded,
02:19 ceding the city to the combined European forces.
02:22 Number 8. Siege of Syracuse
02:25 "All catapults! All catapults!"
02:28 In their wars against Carthage,
02:38 the Romans needed Sicily as a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea.
02:42 They took the island during the First Punic War,
02:45 but the city-state of Syracuse eventually clashed with Rome,
02:48 who feared a potential alliance between them and Carthage.
02:51 Syracuse held the Romans to a stalemate for months,
02:54 thanks to the efforts of Archimedes,
02:56 the famous inventor and mathematician.
02:58 "I'll take you!"
03:00 He constructed a crane, called the Claw of Archimedes,
03:03 that would lift Roman ships out of the water and destroy them.
03:07 He also reportedly used a massive mirror to generate a heat ray
03:11 that set the ship's sails aflame.
03:13 Eventually, Syracuse fell to their opponents,
03:16 and Archimedes was killed in his home by a young Roman soldier.
03:19 "I did it in the interest of everyone.
03:21 Of all of us, you understand?
03:23 Don't be unreasonable.
03:26 You have to believe that I did the right thing.
03:27 It was the only thing I could do."
03:29 Number 7. Siege of Paris
03:32 By 1870, France had not yet shaken off Napoleon's vision
03:36 of a pan-European French Empire.
03:38 But, with a growing rival in the unified German states next door,
03:42 they decided to declare war.
03:43 However, the French were not prepared for the military might of the Prussian army.
03:48 "Detailed plans were drawn up, objectives set,
03:51 and above all, steps were taken to ensure that all could proceed swiftly and efficiently."
03:57 Just two months after the war declaration,
03:59 the Prussians had already captured Emperor Napoleon III
04:03 and reached the outskirts of Paris.
04:05 The city was surrounded for four months,
04:07 with multiple breakout attempts, all repelled by the Prussians.
04:10 Artillery bombardments, starvation, and rebellious Parisians
04:14 led to the French surrender.
04:16 Consequently, North and South Germany combined into the German Empire,
04:20 and the resulting generation of resentful French leaders
04:23 contributed to the outbreak of World War I.
04:26 "On the 28th of May, 1871, the Paris Commune finally fell."
04:32 Number 6. Siege of Masada
04:35 "Imagine coming here to provide food for your family,
04:38 or just outside the walls, there's this mass of Roman soldiers,
04:43 thousands of them, armed to the hilt."
04:45 In 66 CE, Jews in the Roman province of Judea
04:49 rebelled against Rome's brutal rule of the region.
04:52 This first of three Jewish rebellions led to the Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70,
04:56 which resulted in the complete destruction of the city and the Second Temple.
05:00 The rebellion limped on until the Siege of Masada,
05:04 during which less than a thousand Jewish rebels sought refuge in the Great Mountain Fortress.
05:09 "They think they can breach our walls if they get their catapults to a higher level."
05:13 "Well, could they?"
05:16 The siege lasted months, and according to historian Flavius Josephus,
05:21 the rebels refused to surrender.
05:23 Choosing death over slavery, the defenders, at their lowest point,
05:27 seemingly opted to take their own lives and those of their families,
05:31 rather than give in to Rome.
05:33 "Oh, we live in fear of the pain of death.
05:41 But we were born to die."
05:42 Number 5. The Fall of Tenochtitlan
05:45 In 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes led thousands of forces
05:51 to lay siege to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan,
05:54 one of the largest cities in the world at the time.
05:57 After gaining entry, they were able to hold Emperor Moctezuma II prisoner in his home.
06:02 The Aztecs revolted soon after, during which their emperor was killed.
06:06 Cortes fled the city and prepared his men for a protracted siege.
06:10 "Cortes' plan was to lay siege to the city and cut off its food and water supplies.
06:15 Then, supported by his ships, he would attack it along the causeways,
06:19 whose line is still marked today by the main routes into the city."
06:23 He joined forces with thousands of local Aztec rivals,
06:27 and for over 80 days, they laid siege to Tenochtitlan.
06:31 The combination of artillery and a horrific smallpox epidemic
06:34 gave the Spaniards the upper hand.
06:36 In the end, the city fell and tens of thousands of Aztec warriors and civilians lost their lives.
06:43 Number 4. Siege of Orleans
06:46 "Wake up! Two arms! Two arms! Wake up! Wake up! We must fight the battle!"
06:53 The turning point of the Hundred Years' War between England and France
06:57 came in the late 1420s at the Siege of Orleans.
07:00 The fate of the French hung in the balance as the English besieged Orleans for six months,
07:05 seemingly on the verge of victory.
07:07 At the same time, a young girl with holy visions began making waves in France.
07:12 Many believed that she was destined to fulfill a prophecy
07:15 about a warrior maiden who would save France.
07:18 That girl, of course, was Joan of Arc.
07:21 "Death by fire is a horrible thing."
07:24 Over six months into the siege, Joan joined a relief convoy and entered Orleans.
07:30 Her presence rallied the defenders, who launched a decisive attack
07:34 and took the English bridge gatehouse at Turela, ultimately breaking the siege.
07:38 "Brave men! Good soldiers! Hurry!"
07:41 "Fire!"
07:42 "Fire!"
07:43 "Fire!"
07:45 Number 3. Siege of the Alamo
07:48 "Take it easy!"
07:51 "Behind us!"
07:53 Before Texas joined the Union, it gained independence from Mexico with the Texas Revolution.
07:58 While delegates drafted the state's declaration of independence,
08:02 General Antonio López de Santa Anna laid siege to a small force at the Alamo.
08:07 260 men, including famed frontiersmen Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett,
08:12 resisted the Mexican leader and his rank of soldiers.
08:15 The small mission was not especially defensible.
08:18 After less than two weeks, Santa Anna massacred the defenders almost to a man.
08:23 The siege instantly became legend and rallied Texans and Tejanos to the cause.
08:28 A few months later, Texan soldiers defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto.
08:33 To this day, the Alamo remains a centerpiece of Texan lore, history, and pride.
08:38 "I propose that we surrender."
08:43 "Excellency!"
08:46 "I beg you to spare his life."
08:48 Number 2. Siege of Constantinople
08:51 The Byzantine Empire at its height controlled almost all of the Mediterranean.
08:56 The empire lasted for over a thousand years after the fall of Rome,
08:59 until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks laid siege to the once great city.
09:04 The formidable Theodosian walls of Constantinople could not withstand a new technology, gunpowder bombardment.
09:11 The battle represented a watershed moment in both world and European history.
09:16 The fall of Constantinople ended Christian hegemony in the region and marked the end of the European Middle Ages.
09:22 Moreover, the wild success of Ottoman guns signaled the end of city walls as a viable defense against sieges.
09:30 "Archers!"
09:33 "Archer!"
09:34 "Shoot!"
09:37 "Shoot!"
09:38 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
09:42 Siege of Kaffa.
09:43 The Mongols used biological warfare and likely spread the Black Plague to Europe.
09:48 Battle of Carthage.
09:50 After a three-year siege, the Romans laid waste to Carthage and claimed dominance of the Mediterranean.
09:56 "That's it! Get back! Pull harder!"
10:00 "Go! Go!"
10:02 Siege of Jerusalem.
10:03 Crusaders massacred 70,000 citizens and launched two centuries of holy war.
10:09 Siege of Megiddo.
10:11 The first recorded battle in human history is the source of the word "Armageddon."
10:15 As Syrian bodies drop around him, Kadesh's dreams of conquest evaporate.
10:21 Siege of Baghdad.
10:23 The Tigris ran red when the Mongols ended the Abbasids and the Golden Age of Islam.
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10:42 Number 1. Siege of Leningrad.
10:47 "Leningrad's baptism of fire didn't stop with the darkness."
10:55 The Eastern Front was home to the most gruesome battles of World War II.
10:59 Stalingrad, for example, was the turning point in the East.
11:02 The fight over Stalin's namesake city lasted almost six months, ended in street-to-street warfare, and cost around two million lives.
11:11 Leningrad, though, was arguably one of the most horrific sieges in history.
11:15 For over two long, miserable years, German forces attacked the Soviet industrial center of Leningrad.
11:21 The fighting lasted 872 days, with supplies for the defenders and civilians trickling to virtually nothing.
11:28 There were almost 650,000 civilian casualties by the battle's end, with the unabashed destruction of the city.
11:36 Over a million Soviet soldiers died from combat, cold, and starvation. Another two million were left wounded or ill.
11:43 Is there an infamous siege battle that didn't make our list?
11:46 Lay siege to us in the comments below.
11:49 Yes, here too the legend of Nazi invincibility was shattered, against the iron will and courage of a determined people.
11:57 Check out these other clips from WatchMojo, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
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