Siege Warfare Across Civilizations

Compares sieges of Tyre, Baghdad, Constantinople and Vienna as cases of fortification vs engineering/artillery.

Details

| siege | date | attacker | defender | outcome | casualty note |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|

| Tyre | 332 BCE | Macedonian | Tyre (Achaemenid vassal) | fell after ~7 months | defender deaths 6,000-7,000 + 2,000 executed (stub) |

| Baghdad | 1258 | Mongol | Abbasid | fell, 13 days | 200,000 - 2,000,000 claimed (LOW confidence) |

| Constantinople | 1453 | Ottoman | Byzantine | fell | see existing event record |

| Vienna | 1683 | Ottoman | Habsburg | relieved | Ottoman 66,000-79,000 (stub) |

Sources: Campbell 2006; Duffy 1979; plus event records.

Citations

• campbell2006-besieged [formal] Duncan B. Campbell (2006). Besieged: Siege Warfare in the Ancient World. Osprey Publishing. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4910107W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
• duffy1979-siege-warfare [formal] Christopher Duffy (1979). Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660. Routledge & Kegan Paul. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL21295439W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).

Review status

SOFT draft; not Official.