Editing Siege (section)

==Classical antiquity==

{{Main|Siegecraft in Ancient Greece}}

During the [[Peloponnesian War]], one hundred sieges were attempted and fifty-eight ended with the surrender of the besieged area.<ref name="oxford handbook">{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Brian |last2=Tritle |first2=Lawrence A. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199333806 |page=644 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JneX52Op-s8C&q=success+rate+of+sieges&pg=PA644 |access-date=31 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Alexander the Great]]'s army successfully besieged many powerful cities during his conquests. Two of his most impressive achievements in siegecraft took place in the [[Siege of Tyre (332 BC)|siege of Tyre]] and the [[siege of the Sogdian Rock]]. His [[engineer]]s built a [[causeway]] that was originally {{convert|60|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide and reached the range of his torsion-powered artillery, while his soldiers pushed [[siege tower]]s housing stone throwers and light catapults to bombard the city walls.

Most conquerors before him had found [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], a [[Phoenicia]]n island-city about {{cvt|1|km|yd}} from the mainland, impregnable. The Macedonians built a [[Mole (architecture)|mole]], a raised spit of earth across the water, by piling stones up on a natural [[land bridge]] that extended underwater to the island, and although the Tyrians rallied by sending a [[fire ship]] to destroy the towers, and captured the mole in a swarming frenzy, the city eventually fell to the Macedonians after a seven-month siege. In complete contrast to Tyre, Sogdian Rock was captured by stealthy attack. Alexander used commando-like tactics to scale the cliffs and capture the high ground, and the [[demoralization (warfare)|demoralized]] defenders surrendered.

[[File:Roman siege machines.gif|thumb|left|Roman siege machines]]

The importance of siege warfare in the ancient period should not be underestimated. One of the contributing causes of [[Hannibal]]'s inability to defeat Rome was his lack of [[siege engines]], thus, while he was able to defeat Roman armies in the field, he was unable to capture Rome itself. The legionary armies of the [[Roman Republic]] and [[Roman Empire|Empire]] are noted as being particularly skilled and determined in siege warfare. An astonishing number and variety of sieges, for example, formed the core of [[Julius Caesar]]'s mid-1st-century BC conquest of [[Gaul]] (modern France).

In his ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'' (''Commentaries on the Gallic War''), Caesar describes how, at the [[Battle of Alesia]], the [[Roman legion]]s created two huge fortified walls around the city. The inner circumvallation, {{convert|10|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}}, held in [[Vercingetorix]]'s forces, while the outer [[contravallation]] kept relief from reaching them. The Romans held the ground in between the two walls. The besieged Gauls, facing starvation, eventually surrendered after their relief force met defeat against Caesar's auxiliary cavalry.

The [[Sicarii]] [[Zealots (Judea)|Zealots]] who defended [[Masada]] in AD 73 were defeated by the Roman legions, who built a ramp {{convert|100|m|ft}} high up to the fortress's west wall.

During the [[Roman–Persian Wars]], siege warfare was extensively used by both sides.