Impressive sieges

Tibi088

I thought we could make a separate thread for sieges - specifically sieges that are impressive for some reason.

First I would start off with the 1532 siege of Kőszeg.
Kőszeg was a small border fort in Hungary, and was defended by Nikola Jurišić and 7-800 coatians against an Ottoman army of 100-120.000, led by Suleiman the magnificent. The defenders held the fort for 25 days without artillery of their own, beating back 19 full scale assaults before the ottomans finally gave up and retreated (mostly because by loosing a month the aims of the champaign were no longer achievable). By that time half of the defenders were dead, but their refusal to surrender and final victory over such an owerhelming enemy is quite impressive.

If Kőszeg has fallen swiftly or was given up - as was expected - the Ottomans would have most likely conducted another siege of Vienna. A direct battle between the spanish-german forces of the Habsburgs (Charles V) and the turks might also have come about - so it doing as well as expected might be an interesting POD.
 
GameBawesome

GameBawesome

The Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji, where a group of Ikko Ikki held out against the forces of Oda Nobunaga for nearly 10 years.

And I don't know if this counts a siege, as it was more of a battle in an outpost fort, but obviously, the Battle of Saragarhi, where 21 Sikh Soldiers had their valiant last stand against hundreds of thousands of Afghans

Edit: Thought of a few more.

The Siege of Ansi - The fortress that held up Emperor Taizong from invading Goguryeo

Sieges of Osaka - Not necessarily for the siege itself, but more for the legendary figures, such as Sanada Yukimura, ensuring that the Toyotomi Clan won't go quietly into the night.

Siege of Vienna (1683) - We all know why this siege was so famous... *AND THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED.* But besides that, marked one of the last times that the Ottomans could push into Central Europe.

Siege of Vienna (1529) - The lesser known siege of Vienna, but marked the first time that the Ottomans could threaten the Habsburg heartland directly.

Great Siege of Malta - Was impressive how a small island was able to hold out against the Ottomans.

Siege of Famagusta - More hilarious to me than actually significant, since its overshadowed by the Battle of Lepanto, but in the end the Ottomans still won as they got Cyprus.
 
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Talus I of Dixie

Talus I of Dixie

The Sitio Grande ("Great Siege" in Spanish) in the appropriately-named Guerra Grande ("Great War") comes to my attention mostly because i think it's in general the greatest by scale on the Americas, as far as we're aware. The thing not only lasted almost 8 years making it nearly as long as the mythologised siege of Troy (and such reference didn't fly by the europeans involved, as we know by Dumas' The New Troy book).
 
Lothal

Lothal

Shoutout to Vauban, arguably the best and greatest military engineer of all time. He should be recognized for his ability to finish a siege. He captured a fortress he himself designed in only 2 weeks with minimal casualties on his side, managed to systemize siege warfare and built some of the most effective fortresses of the early modern period. Furthermore he redefined France's geopolitical strategy by essentially turning the Spanish Netherlands into France's cordon sanitaire for foreign armies in France's wars, leading to the "natural borders of France" ideal of the Rhine, Alps, and Pyrenees as the Revolutionary borders of France.
 
Andristan

Andristan

Siege of Rhodes 1522, about 600 knights hospitaller and 2000 men at arms hold off Sulieman and 100,00 ofbhis best friends on the very border of his empire for six-ish months
 
Domz

Domz

The Siege of Antioch in 1097 was one of the most defining moments of the First Crusade. I'd also give an honorable mention to the Sieges of Constantinople in the 670s and 717 due to the early use of Greek Fire.
 

general

The Knights of St John have a trifecta of great sieges - Rhodes - 1480, 1520; Malta - 1565/6.
 
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klauslimbek

Siege of Rhodes 305-304 BC, the great warlord Demetrios ‘Polioketes’ (lit. Besieger of Cities), who had recently obliterated every opponent he faced. The brave defiance of the Rhodians in the siege, coupled with Demetrios brilliance in siege warfare, makes it an exiting and great siege.
The siege was inconclusive, the Rhodians promised to stay neutral and not hamper Antigonid actions in the Mediterranean - but the Rhodian demos survived against an opponent thought unstoppable, 24 years after the Siege the Colossus of Rhodes was raised.
 
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