Siege

For the Boston area punk band see Siege (band). For the James Mason book see Siege (book)

Modern warfare

Mainly as a result of the increasing firepower (such as machine guns) available to defensive forces, First World War trench warfare briefly revived a form of siege warfare. Although siege warfare had moved out from an urban setting because city walls had become ineffective against modern weapons, trench warfare was nonetheless able to utilize many of the techniques of siege warfare in its prosecution (sapping, mining, barrage and, of course, attrition) but on a much larger scale and on a greatly extended front. The development of the armoured tank and improved infantry tactics at the end of World War I swung the pendulum back in favour of maneuver.

Related Topics:
Machine gun - First World War - Trench warfare - Sapping - Barrage - Attrition - Tank - Infantry - Tactics

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The Blitzkrieg of the Second World War truly showed that fixed fortifications are easily defeated by maneuver instead of frontal assault or long sieges. The great Maginot Line was bypassed and battles that would have taken weeks of siege could now be avoided with the careful application of air power (such as the German paratrooper capture of Fort Eben-Emael, Belgium, early in World War II). The most important 'sieges' of the Second World War were on the Eastern Front where bloody urban warfare marked the battles of Leningrad, Stalingrad and Berlin. In these battles, the ruins of an urban landscape proved to be just as effective an obstacle to an advancing army as any fortifications. In the west apart from the Battle of the Atlantic the sieges were not on the same scale as those on the European Eastern front; however, there were several notable or critical sieges: the island of Malta for which the population won the George Cross, Tobruk and Monte Cassino. In the South-East Asian Theatre there was the siege of Singapore and in the Burma Campaign sieges of Myitkyina, the Admin Box and the Battle of the Tennis Court which was the high water mark for the Japanese advance into India.

Related Topics:
Blitzkrieg - Second World War - Maginot Line - Paratrooper - Fort Eben-Emael - Leningrad - Stalingrad - Berlin - Battle of the Atlantic - Malta - George Cross - Tobruk - Monte Cassino - South-East Asian Theatre - Singapore - Burma Campaign - Myitkyina - Admin Box - Battle of the Tennis Court - India

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The air supply methods which were developed and used extensively in the Burma Campaign for supplying the Chindits and other units, including those in sieges such as Imphal, as well as flying the Hump into China, allowed the western powers to develop air lift expertise which would prove vital during the Cold War Berlin Blockade.

Related Topics:
Chindits - Imphal - The Hump - Cold War - Berlin Blockade

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During the Vietnam War the battles of Dien Bien Phu (1954) and Khe Sanh (1968) possessed siege-like characteristics. In both cases, the Vietminh and Vietcong were able to cut off the opposing army by capturing the surrounding rugged terrain. At Dien Bien Phu, the French were unable to use air power to overcome the siege and were defeated. However, at Khe Sanh a mere 14 years later, advances in air power allowed the United States to withstand the siege. The resistance of US forces was assisted by the PAVN and PLAF forces' decision to use the Khe Sanh siege as strategic distraction to allow their mobile warfare offensive, the first Tet offensive to unfold securely. The Siege of Khe Sanh displays typical features of modern sieges, as the defender has greater capacity to withstand siege, the attacker's main aim is to bottle operational forces, or create a strategic distraction, rather than take a siege to conclusion.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - Dien Bien Phu - 1954 - Khe Sanh - 1968 - Vietminh - Vietcong - United States - PAVN - PLAF - Tet offensive

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Recent sieges

• From 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 the Siege of Sarajevo took place, where Sarajevo, then controlled by the Bosnian government, was besieged by Serb paramilitaries.
• In 2004, United States forces laid siege to the Iraqi city of Fallujah.