List of sieges.html

War Portal v • d • e

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 is a chronological list of sieges.

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. Sourced additions are welcome and you can help by expanding it.

1 Military sieges
2 Police sieges

Military sieges

Ancient

Siege of Megiddo (c. 1457 BC)
Siege of Dapur (c. 1296 BC)
Siege of Troy (c. 1200 BC)
Siege of Hermopolis (c. 715 BC)
Siege of Lachish (c. 715 BC)
Siege of Jerusalem (701 BC) - the Assyrian siege of Sennacherib
Siege of Syracuse (415 BC) - the Athenian siege
Siege of Tyre (332 BC) by Alexander the Great
Siege of Rhodes (305 BC) by Demetrius Poliorcetes
Siege of Agrigentum (261 BC) (First Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage)
Siege of Saguntum (218 BC) - casus belli for the Second Punic War
Siege of Syracuse (213–212 BC) - the Roman siege
Siege of Carthage (149–146 BC) by Scipio Aemilianus Africanus
Siege of Numantia (134–133 BC) by Scipio Aemilianus Africanus
Siege of Alesia (52 BC)
Siege of Jerusalem (70 AD) - the Roman siege of Titus
Siege of Masada (72 AD)
Siege of Byzantium (193 AD–196 AD) by Septimius Severus forces.

Medieval

The First Siege of Constantinople by Avars and Sassanid Persians in 626
The Siege of Tbilisi (628)
Siege of Ansi fortress (645)
The First Arab Siege of Constantinople in 674-678
The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717-718
Siege of Pavia (773–774)
Siege of Constantinople (860)
Siege of Syracuse (878)
Siege of Paris (885–886)
Siege of Kiev (968)
Siege of Dorostolon (971)
Siege of Graus (Spring 1063)
Siege of Nicaea (1097) - part of the First Crusade
Siege of Antioch (1097–1098) - part of the First Crusade
Siege of Capua (1098)
Siege of Jerusalem (1099) - part of the First Crusade
Siege of Edessa (1144)
Siege of Lisbon (1147)
Siege of Damascus (1148)
Siege of Sanjō Palace (1160) - the main action of the Heiji Rebellion took place in Kyoto
Siege of Nara (1180) - during Genpei War
Siege of Jerusalem (1187)
Siege of Acre (1189)
Siege of Zara (1202) - part of the Fourth Crusade
Siege of Constantinople (1204) - part of the Fourth Crusade
Siege of Beijing (1215) - Genghis Khan conquers Beijing
Siege of Bilär (1236) - Batu Khan conquers the city of Bilär.
Siege of Kiev (1240) - Mongol conquest of Kiev.
Siege of Xiangyang (1267-1273) - Mongol conquest of the city of Xiangyang in the invasion of the Southern Song.
Siege of Gibraltar (1309) - first siege of Gibraltar, by Juan Alfonso de Guzman el Bueno in the Reconquista
Siege of Gibraltar (1316) - second siege of Gibraltar, by the Nasrid caid Yahya in the Reconquista
Siege of Nicaea (1328-1331) - part of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars
Siege of Kamakura (1333) - end of Ashikaga shogunate.
Siege of Gibraltar (1333) - third siege of Gibraltar, by a Marinids army, lead by Abd al-Malik in the Reconquista
Siege of Gibraltar (1333) - fourth siege of Gibraltar, by King Alfonso XI of Castile in the Reconquista
Siege of Nicomedia - part of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars
Siege of Caffa (1346)
Siege of Calais (1346–1347) - Hundred Years' War
Siege of Gibraltar (1349–1350) - fifth siege of Gibraltar, by Alfonso XI in the Reconquista
Siege of Gibraltar (1374) - sixth siege of Gibraltar, by the Nasrid in the Reconquista
Siege of Maastricht (1407)
Siege of Marienburg (1410) - in the aftermath of the Battle of Grunwald
Siege of Rouen (1418) - reopening of the Hundred Years War
Siege of Constantinople (1422) - first siege of Constantinople, by the Murad II
Siege of Orleans (1429)
Siege of Gibraltar (1436) - seventh siege of Gibraltar, by the count of Niebla in the Reconquista
Siege of Constantinople (1453) - second siege of Constantinople by the Mehmed II

Early modern

Monks successfully defended the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra against the Poles from September 1609 to January 1611.

Siege of Belgrade (1456) - part of Ottoman wars in Europe
Siege of Gibraltar (1462) - eighth siege of Gibraltar, by a Castilian army in the Reconquista
Siege of Harlech Castle (1461- 1468) - part of Wars of the Roses. Longest siege in British history.
Siege of Gibraltar (1467) - ninth siege of Gibraltar, by the Duke of Medina Sidonia
Siege of Rhodes (1480) - first siege of Rhodes
Siege of Gibraltar (1506) - tenth siege of Gibraltar, by the Duke of Medina Sidonia
Siege of Smolensk (1514)
Siege of Tenochtitlan (1521)
Siege of Rhodes (1522) - second siege of Rhodes
Siege of Vienna (1529) - first siege of Vienna
Siege of Beijing (1550)
Siege of Eger (1552) - part of Ottoman-Habsburg wars
Siege of Kazan (1552) - part of Russo-Kazan wars
Siege of Leith (1560)
Siege of Malta (1565)
Siege of Szigetvár (1566) - Ottoman siege during which Suleiman the Magnificent died
Turkish siege of Nicosia, Cyprus (1570)
Turkish siege of Famagusta, Cyprus (1570–1571)
Siege of Ishiyama Honganji (1570–1580) - longest siege in Japanese history
Siege of Moscow (1571) - part of Russo-Crimean Wars
Sieges of Nagashima (1571, 1573, 1574)
Siege of Haarlem (1572)
Siege of Nagashino (1575)
Siege of Pskov (1581–1582)
Siege of Ypres (1584)
Siege of Ghent (1584)
Siege of Bruges (1584)
Siege of Brussels (1584)
Siege of Antwerp (1584–1585)
Siege of Odawara (1590)
Siege of Jinju (1592)
Siege of Kinsale (1601–1602)
Siege of Ostend (1601–1604)
Siege of Smolensk - (1609–1611) - 20 months
Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra (1609-1611) - 16 months
Siege of Osaka (1614–1615)
Siege of Breda (1624–1625)
Siege of La Rochelle (1627–1628)
Siege of Nuremberg (1632), Thirty Years' War
Siege of Hara fortress (1637–1638)
Siege of Azov (1637–1642) - part of Russo-Turkish Wars
Siege of Candia (Crete) (1648–1669) - possibly the longest siege in history
Siege of Drogheda (1649) -Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Siege of Wexford (1649)
Siege of Waterford (1649–1650)
Siege of Clonmel (1650)
Cromwell's Siege of Limerick City, Ireland (1651)
Siege of Galway (1652)
Siege of Jasna Góra (1656) - during The Deluge
Siege of Riga (1656) - in the Russo-Swedish War of 1656-1658
Siege of Copenhagen (1658–1659)
Siege of Lille (1667)
Siege of Solovetsky Monastery (1668–1676) - eight years

Batteries at the Siege of Québec (1690).

Siege of Groningen (1672)
Siege of Maastricht (1673)
Siege of Vienna (1683) - second siege of Vienna
Siege of Derry (1689)
Siege of Québec City (1690) - first siege of Québec City
Siege of Athlone (1691)
Williamite Siege of Limerick City, Ireland (1690–1691)
Siege of Gibraltar (1704) - eleventh siege of Gibraltar, by Sir George Rooke's Anglo-Dutch fleet

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Siege of Gibraltar (1704–1705) - twelfth siege of Gibraltar, by a Spanish-French army)
Siege of Turin (1706)
Siege of Lille (1708)
Siege of Barcelona (1714) - during the War of the Spanish Succession
Siege of Gibraltar (1727) - thirteenth siege of Gibraltar, by a Spanish army
Siege of Danzig (1734)
Siege of Cartagena of Indies (1741) - by Edward Vernon in the War of Jenkins' Ear
Siege of Olomouc (1758) - by Frederick the Great in the Seven Years' War
Siege of Québec City (1759) - second siege of Québec City
Siege of Kolberg (1761)
Siege of Havana (1762) British fleet headed by George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle lays siege to Spanish controlled Havana for a month.
Siege of Boston (1775–1776)
Siege of Gibraltar (1779–1783) - fourteenth siege of Gibraltar, by a Spanish-French army in the American Revolutionary War
Siege of Yorktown (1781)
Siege of Mantua (1796–1797)
Siege of Seringapatam (1799)

Modern

First and Second sieges of Saragossa (1808–1809) - Peninsular War
Siege of Gerona (1809) - Peninsular War
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810) - Peninsular War
Siege of Badajoz (1812) - Peninsular War
First, Second and Third Sieges of Missolonghi (1822, 1823, 1825—1826)
Siege of the Alamo (1836)
Siege of Veracruz (1847) - First U.S. amphibious landing
Siege of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (1854)
Siege of Taganrog (1855) - Crimean War
Siege of Kars (1855) - Crimean War
Siege of Sevastopol (1854-1855) - Crimean War
Siege of Cawnpore (1857) - The Indian Mutiny
Siege of Lucknow (1857) - The Indian Mutiny
Siege of Medina Fort (1857) - Toucouleurs besiege French for 97 days
Siege of Fort Sumter (1861)Beginning of the Civil War, by Confederates, but was also later besieged later in the War by Union soldiers.
Siege of Vicksburg (1863) — Union army besieged a Confederate city in the American Civil War.
Siege of Port Hudson (1863) - Union Army surrounded Confederate river stronghold for 48 days.

Soldiers in the trenches of the siege at Petersburg.

Siege of Petersburg (1864—1865)
Siege of Hakodate (1869)
Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune (1870–1871)
Siege of Cartagena (1873–1874)
Siege of Pleven (1877–1878) - Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
Siege of Khartoum (1884–1885)
Siege of Mafeking (1899–1900) - Second Boer War
Siege of Kimberley (1899–1900) - Second Boer War
Siege of Ladysmith (1899–1900) - Second Boer War
Siege of Port Arthur (1904–1905)
Siege of Antwerp (1914) - World War I
Siege of Maubeuge (1914) - World War I
Siege of Alcazar (1936) - Second Spanish Republic militias besieged the Alcazar of Toledo in the Spanish Civil War
Siege of Gijon (1936) - Spanish Civil War
Siege of Oviedo (1936) - Spanish Civil War
Siege of Madrid (1936—1939) - Spanish Civil War
Siege of Malta (1940–1943) - World War II
Siege of Tobruk (1941) - World War II
Siege of Odessa (1941) - World War II
Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942) - World War II
Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944) - also known as the 900-Day Siege, probably the most gruesome in history, World War II.
Siege of Stalingrad (1942–1943) - World War II
Siege of Budapest (1944 - 1945)
Siege of Breslau (1945) - World War II
Siege of Jerusalem (1947–1948) - 1948 Arab-Israeli War - Palestinian Arabs laid siege to the Jewish quarters of Jerusalem, but were driven back. Siege was resumed in May by regular Jordanian and Egyptian forces. Ended in armistice.
Berlin blockade (1948-1949) - No military action, but the tactic to starve a city by cutting her supply lines is a feature of a siege. The famous Berlin Air Lift supplied the city with food, coal, medical supplies and other goods for nearly a year.
Siege of Dien Bien Phu (1954) - Vietnamese Viet Minh forces besieged French forces, effecting a final defeat on France's colonial occupation.
Siege of Erenköy (1964) - Turkish Cypriots holding out against attacking Greek and Greek Cypriot forces.
Siege of Beirut (1982)
Siege of Vukovar (1991) - Croatian War of Independence
Siege of Dubrovnik (1991–1992) - Croatian War of Independence
Siege of Sarajevo (1992–1996) - Bosnian War
Siege of Monrovia (2003) - Second Liberian Civil War
CIMIC-House (2006) - Iraq War
Siege of Nahr el-Bared (2007) - Lebanon
Lal Masjid siege (2007) - Pakistan

Fictional

Police sieges

Sidney Street Siege (1911)
Attica Siege (1971)
Munich Olympic Massacre (1972)
Wounded Knee Siege (1973)
Norrmalmstorg robbery (1973) famous for the Stockholm syndrome
Spaghetti House Siege (1975)
Balcombe Street Siege (1975)
MOVE Siege (1978)
Iranian Embassy Siege (1980)
Ruby Ridge Siege (1992)
Waco Siege (1993)
Montana Freemen Siege (1996)
Japanese embassy hostage crisis (1996–1997)
Republic of Texas Embassy Siege (1997)
Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002)
Beslan hostage crisis (2004)