Sieges and Battles
WHS within whose boundaries a "Siege" or "Battle" took place for which a reference of it subsequently being called such is available. (Possible sources - Wiki's "List of Battles" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles or "List of Sieges" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sieges).
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Agrigento | Romans 261BC | |
| Aleppo | By Saladin | |
| Ancient Nara | Taira Clan 1180 | |
| Assisi | After a period of wars, in 1174 Assisi was besieged and conquered by Frederick Barbarossa. | |
| Avignon | The bridge was damaged during the siege of Avignon by Louis VIII of France in 1226 (wiki) | |
| Ayutthaya | Burmese Army in 1569 and 1767 | |
| Bamiyan Valley | The Shahr-e Gholghola was the site of 13th century Siege of Bamyan and the massacre of the city's population by Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, avenging the murder of his favorite grandson. This is the origin of the city's moniker "City of Woe". | |
| Belfries | "Completed in 1565, [Antwerp City Hall] lasted hardly a decade before being burnt to a shell in the Spanish Fury of 1576." (Wikipedia) | |
| Berat and Gjirokastra | Siege of Berat 1455 | |
| Biblical Tells | The Battle of Hazor (Old Testament) | |
| Bikini Atoll | The islands remained relatively unscathed by the war until February 1944, when in a bloody battle, the American forces captured Kwajalein Atoll. At the battle's conclusion, there were only five surviving Japanese soldiers left on Bikini, and they chose to commit suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured. | |
| Brimstone Hill Fortress | Jan-Feb 1782. Captured by France during the American Revolutionary War. | |
| Budapest | The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. During the siege, about 38,000 civilians died through starvation or military action. The city unconditionally surrendered on 13 February 1945. It was a strategic victory for the Allies in their push towards Berlin. | |
| Cartagena | British 1741 (lifted); 1815, 4 month siege by Spain under Morillo who recaptured the city from the rebels who had declared independence in 1811 | |
| Carthage | Romans 149/6BC | |
| Champaner-Pavagadh | Of 20 months, by Mahmud Begada | |
| Chinchorro Culture | The Morro del Arica was the site of the battle in which Chile captured Arica from Peru during the War of the Pacific in June 1880. | |
| Cidade Velha | Capture of Santiago (1585) | |
| City of Luxembourg | The City and its fortifications were besieged many times in their history. The castle "was damaged, destroyed, captured and rebuilt on several occasions as the Burgundians (1473), the Habsburgs (1477), and the Spaniards (1555) attacked and took the fortress. (...) In 1684, on behalf of Louis XIV, Vauban succeeded in capturing the city of Luxembourg during a month-long siege. (...) In 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars, the city held out against a French siege for seven months. | |
| Colonia del Sacramento | Several times, by the Spanish | |
| Corfu | Sieges by the Ottoman Turks, 1537 and 1571 | |
| Crac des Chevaliers | "In 1163 the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by Nur ad-Din Zengi, ... Saladin unsuccessfully besieged the castle in 1188. " (wiki) | |
| Cuzco | Siege of Cuzco (May 6, 1536 - March 1537) | |
| Dubrovnik | Yugoslave Peoples army 1991/2 (Lifted) | |
| Durham Castle and Cathedral | Siege of Durham (1006) | |
| Edinburgh | Edinburgh Castle (The Lang Siege 1571 - 1573) | |
| Elvas | Battle of the Lines of Elvas (1659), between Portugal and Spain. | |
| Ferrara | During the War of Ferrara, Ferrara was besieged by Venice. | |
| Florence | Siege of Florence (1529-1530) | |
| Fortifications of Vauban | Neuf-Brisach was besieged by the Germans in 1870 | |
| Fortified City of Carcassonne | Siege led by Pepin the Short to expel the Arabs (759) | |
| Forts and Castles Gold Coast | Battle of Elmina 1625 | |
| Funerary and memory sites of the First World War | "The component sites include different types of necropolises – military, battlefield burial grounds,.." (AB ev), for example MA01 French Memorial of the Battles of the Marne | |
| Granada | Ferdinand + Isabella 1492 | |
| Grand Pré | Battle of Grand Pré (February 10-11, 1747) between British and French forces, Siege of Grand Pré (November 27-December 4 , 1749) between British and Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Acadians | |
| Graz | the Hackher Lion at the Schlossberg is a monument to Major von Hackher, who withstood months of siege here by the French in 1809 | |
| Guanacaste | Santa Rosa historic mansion was the site of battles in 1856, 1919 and 1955, but the most important was during the 1856-1857 National Campaign against the "Filibusteros", a group of mercenaries from the US and Europe that believed in the doctrine of the "Manifest Destiny" and after taking power in Nicaragua, intented to establish an English-speaking slavery state in all of Central America, very much on the style of the Southern US states. After their victory, the Costa Rican army proceeded to attack the city of Rivas, in Nicaragua. | |
| Gusuku of Ryukyu | Nakijin Castle during the Satsuma invasion | |
| Gwynedd Castles | (Harlech Castle) Prince Henry 1409, Edward IV 1461/8 | |
| Hegmataneh | Battle of Ecbatana (129 BC) | |
| Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region | Hara Castle - During the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638) | |
| Historic Cairo | By Saladin | |
| Hollókö | Besieged by the Turks | |
| Hué | Major losses occurred in 1947 when the Việt Minh seized the Citadel in February. The French led counter-attack laid siege and the six-week ensuing battle destroyed many of the major structures. The core of the city including the Imperial Palace was burned. The Citadel came under fire again on January 31, 1968, as part of the Tet Offensive a Division-sized force of People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong soldiers launched a coordinated attack on Huế seizing most of the city. Viet Cong troops occupied some portions of the citadel while South Vietnamese troops occupied others; and allied warplanes targeted the anti-aircraft guns the communists has mounted on the citadel's outer towers. | |
| Istanbul | (Constantinople) Umayyads 674/8 (lifted) Umayyads 717/8 (lifted), 4th Crusade 1204, Mehmet 1453 | |
| Kasbah of Algiers | The Casbah played a central role during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962). During the early years of the war, the Casbah was the epicenter of the insurgency planning of the National Liberation Front (FLN). In order to counter their efforts, the French authorities launched operations in the Casbah during the Battle of Algiers. (wiki) | |
| Kazan Kremlin | Russians 1552 | |
| Kotor | Siege of Cattaro (1813/1814 Napoleonic Wars) and the Battle of Perast (1654, Venetians defending against Ottomans). | |
| Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra | Turcic Pechenegs 968 (lifted) | |
| Lower German Limes | Krefeld-Gellep: "Gelduba is also a battlefield site associated with the Batavian revolt. Parts of the battlefield with unique archaeological features are located under the fort or in the immediate vicinity. They tell the story of the attack by the Batavians on the camp of the Governor Caius Dillius Vocula."" (Nomination file, p. 72) | |
| Lyon | Besieged during the French Revolution. Aug/Sept 1783 at the order of the committee of Public Safety for counter revolutionary activities. French Republican forces laid siege and captured the city and followed up with its partial destruction and execution of many of its citizens. | |
| Mantua and Sabbioneta | Mantua: during The War of the Mantuan Succession in 1630 by an Imperial army of 36,000 Landsknecht mercenaries | |
| Masada | Romans 73AD | |
| Medina of Tunis | During the 8th Crusade (1270) | |
| Mexico City and Xochimilco | (Tenochtitlan) Cortez 1521 | |
| Namhansanseong | Qing Emperor Taizhong led an invading force of 130,000 onto the Korean Peninsula in the 12th moon of 1636. The Joseon army at Namhan Mountain Fortress totaled a mere 12,000 men, meaning they were outnumbered by more than ten to one. The Qing soldiers were also much better trained. Despite such overwhelming odds against them, the Joseon side managed to resist for 47 days. - official website | |
| Nice | The old fortress on the Colline du Château was besieged in 1534, 1691 and 1705. | |
| Ohrid Region | On 14–15 September 1464, 12,000 troops of the League of Lezhë and 1,000 of the Republic of Venice defeated a 14,000-man Ottoman force near the city in the Battle of Ohrid, which ended in an Albanian victory over the Ottomans. (wiki) | |
| Old City of Acre | 2 sieges: first confrontation of the Third Crusade (1189-1191), and an unsuccessful French siege of the Ottoman-defended, walled city of Acre (in 1799) which was the turning point of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria | |
| Old City of Jerusalem | Assyrians 721BC (lifted), Romans 70AD, 1st Crusaders 1099, Saladin 1187 | |
| Old Havana | British 1762 | |
| Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles | Siege of Padua (1509): During the war of the League of Cambrai (1509), Padua was at the centre of the fighting and the basilica was located a short distance from the fortifications and therefore, finding itself between two fires, it suffered the fury of the besieged Venetian troops on one side and the reprisals of the besieging imperial army, which occupied it on and off. | |
| Paphos | Palaepaphos was besieged by the Persians during the Ionian Revolt and there is some debate about whether some of the archaeological remains are those of a siege mound or of an acropolis. | |
| Paris, Banks of the Seine | Vikings 885/6 | |
| Puebla | Battle of Puebla (5 May 1862), also 2 Sieges in 1847 and 1863 | |
| Québec | 1690 New Englanders (lifted), General Wolfe 1759 | |
| Rammelsberg and Goslar | "After his election in 1152, King Frederick appointed the Welf duke Henry the Lion Imperial Vogt (bailiff) of the Goslar mines; nevertheless, the dissatisfied duke besieged the town and at an 1173 meeting in Chiavenna demanded his enfeoffment with the estates in turn for his support on Barbarossa's Italian campaigns. (...) During the German throne dispute the Welf king Otto IV laid siege to the town in 1198 but had to yield to the forces of his Hohenstaufen rival Philip of Swabia. Goslar was again stormed and plundered by Otto's troops in 1206." | |
| Rhodes | Demetrius of Macedonia 304/4BC (lifted), Ottomans 1480 (lifted), Ottomans 1522 | |
| Riga | Napoleonic forces 1812 (lifted) | |
| Roman Walls of Lugo | "Lugo was unable to resist the Suevi when they swept into the peninsula in the early 5th century and destroyed the town by fire. They were to be dislodged in their turn by the Visigoths, who captured the town in 457 and settled it once again. The irresistible Moorish invasion of Spain saw Lugo overwhelmed and sacked in 714, but it was recaptured for Christendom by Alfonso I of Asturias in 755 and restored by Bishop Odarius. The town was to be ravaged once again in 968 by the Normans, on their way to the Mediterranean, and it was not restored until the following century." (AB Ev) | |
| Rome | At least 6 | |
| Salamanca | Siege of the Salamanca Forts (1812) – Peninsular War, followed by the Battle of Salamanca a month later | |
| San Antonio Missions | Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) | |
| Santiago de Compostela | In the "10th century and in the first years of the 11th century Viking raiders tried to assault the town (...) and bishop Sisenand II, who was killed in battle against them in 968, ordered the construction of a walled fortress to protect the sacred place. | |
| Siena | Siena was besieged during the Italian War of 1551–1559: "In January 1554, the Spanish started besieging the city of Siena. (...) After an 18-month-long siege, Siena fell to Spanish forces on 15 April 1555. (...) the territory of the Republic of Siena was fully annexed to the Duchy of Florence under Cosimo I de' (...) and eventually became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1569)." | |
| Solovetsky Islands | (Monastery) Tsar v "Old Believers" 1668/76 | |
| St. Petersburg | Siege of Leningrad 1941-44 (lifted) - remains are inscribed as Green Belt of glory and Road of Life | |
| Syracuse | Athenians 415BC (lifted), Romans 213/2BC, Arabs 878 | |
| Toledo | Siege of the Alcázar Jul 21 - Sep 27 1936. By the Republicans against the Nationalist force holding the Alcázar The building was largely destroyed by artillery, air bombardment and mining. In late September the building had almost been over-run but held out long enough to be relieved by Franco's forces. | |
| Trinity Sergius Lavra | During the political upheavals of the early 17th century the Monastery withstood a legendary 16-month siege, as a result of which it received many rich endowments and donations (AB ev) | |
| Troy | Acheans c1200BC | |
| Turaif Quarter | From Wiki "....led to the Ottoman-Saudi War of 1811-1818 and an invasion of Arabia by Ottoman and Egyptian forces brought the Saudi state to an end in 1818, with Diriyah capitulating after a nearly-year-long siege. The leader of the invading force, Ibrahim Pasha, ordered the destruction of Diriyah. However, when a member of the local nobility tried to revive the Wahhabi state in Diriyah, Ibrahim ordered his troops to destroy the town even further and set whatever was left of it on fire. When the Saudis revived their fortunes in 1824 and again in 1902, they made their capital further south in Riyadh, which remained their capital ever since. | |
| Tyre | Alexander the Great 332BC | |
| Upper Middle Rhine Valley | In 1688 Koblenz was besieged by the French under Marshal de Boufflers, but they only succeeded in bombing the Old City (Altstadt) into ruins. | |
| Urbino | War of Urbino: "Francesco Maria I della Rovere (...) set off with an army of some 5,000 infantry and 1,000 horses (...) reaching the walls of Urbino on 23 January 1517. He defeated the Papal condottiero Francesco del Monte and entered the city hailed by the population." | |
| Val d'Orcia | In 1199 Siena laid siege to Montalcino, which lasted 16 months, ending with the Sienese victory and the destruction of a good part of the castle. There was another siege in 1201-1202, that ended in the destruction of Montalcino. More sieges occurred in 1207, 1219, 1232 and 1252, when Montalcino rebelled against Siena. | |
| Valletta | Turks 1565 | |
| Vienna | Ottomans 1529 (lifted), 1683 (lifted) | |
| Zacatecas | Battle of Zacatecas (1914) during the Mexican Revolution when Francisco Villa captured the town (wiki) |
Suggestions?
Do you know of another WHS we could connect to Sieges and Battles?
A connection should:
- Not be "self evident"
- Link at least 3 different sites
- Not duplicate or merely subdivide the "Category" assignment already identified on this site.
- Add some knowledge or insight (whether significant or trivial!) about WHS for the users of this site
- Be explained, with reference to a source