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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. You can help by expanding it.

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 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

• Battle of the Hornburg (The Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers)
• Battle of the Pelennor Fields (The Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King)
• Battle of Tyrsis (The Sword of Shannara)

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)