Engineers would erect fortifications to shield the attackers from harassing fire from within the walls or to fend off any attempt by the defenders to sally forth and surprise the besiegers. Infantry would then movie in to throw a more substantial cordon around the target. Typically, cavalry would encircle the town, seizing and holding all roads in and out of the city. Vauban also wrote the specifics on how to carry off a successful siege. However, if the defenders refused to capitulate within the allotted time, the attacking army was well within its rights to plunder the settlement and slaughter its inhabitants without mercy once the defenses were overcome. Attackers, on the other hand, were expected to provide ample opportunity for those behind the fortifications to give up the town, fort or castle without bloodshed. These included de facto formulas for determining how long a defender should hold before surrendering a city (while still retaining his honour). According to the website, the “rule” of siege warfare, were actually compiled by the 17 th Century French military engineer Marquis de Vauban.
Unlike the struggle for Aleppo, many historical sieges (at least among European powers) would unfold in a set-piece manner, often in accordance with a series of rules laid down by military strategists over the centuries. Here are some of the more remarkable facts about siege warfare. Since then, there have been nearly 500 sieges recorded in military history. History’s first recorded siege was in the 15 thCentury BCE, when an Egyptian army under the leadership of Thutmose III wore down the Canaanite defenders of Megiddo, in present day Israel. What Assad is doing is by no means revolutionary - the idea of surrounding and starving defenders into submission (rather than defeating them in open battle) has been a common feature of war going back as far as the earliest walled settlements and Bronze Age hill forts.
Syrian president Bashar Hafez al-Assad has fallen under intense criticism internationally for the bloodshed in Aleppo, which is Syria’s largest city. Already, the fighting has claimed as many as 300 on each side and more than 500 civilians have perished in the ongoing battle. Elements of the 11 th and 18 th divisions of the Syrian Army along with that country’s Republican Guard have spent the past six weeks hammering away at anti-government rebels, Mujahedeen, Kurdish militia and various foreign fighters entrenched throughout the city. Image courtesy WikiMedia.Įncircled, cut off and facing attack by government troops, the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has been under what’s being described as a state of siege since late July. The Mexican army’s siege of the Alamo lasted 11 days in 1836 - not very long at all when considering that there have been other sieges throughout history that have lasted a decade or more.
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