Also available as an e‐book at £65.50 or at a cost of £89.95 for both editions, this work will be very useful for many collections with a historical interest. Printed in double columns, each siege is described over six pages, with maps and plans as appropriate. Each entry starts with a summary of date, forces engaged and an assessment of the siege’s importance. The event’s historical importance is then analysed in about 750 words and this is followed by a similar length description of the siege itself. The entry is concluded by a brief account of the results of the action and a short list of further readings. There is a glossary and index. The coverage is world‐wide, from Calais to Dien Bien Phu, and extensive in its historical period, from Jericho in 1405 bc to Grozny in 1994‐1995.
As the Preface reminds us, a siege is “the surrounding of a town or fortified place in an effort to seize it” and, since urban living is an essential mark of civilisation, sieges have always been a standard method of subduing an enemy. Besieged considers some of the most important sieges in history, examining the actions of both attackers and defenders, exploring the motivations of both, and looking at the conditions both inside besieged positions and in the besiegers’ ranks. In some cases, one gets the impression that overcoming the besieged community was more of an intellectual challenge for the attacking forces than a strategic necessity. This was surely the case in ad 73‐74, when Roman troops under Flavius Silva sought to root out 960 Sicarii men, women and children who had made the mountain stronghold of Masada their final retreat. Faced with sheer cliffs of 600 feet rising to 820 feet, the Roman Legion devised two schemes, a three‐mile siege bank surrounding the cliffs and a ramp up the less steep approach to the fortress. Although historians still debate the precise happenings leading to the conquest of the Sicarii, the final outcome is only too well‐known. Rather than be taken captive, the Jewish sect committed communal suicide; each man killed his own wife and children, then ten men chosen by lot killed the others, with one of the ten killing the other nine and finally killing himself. This method meant that only one person “would suffer a horrific after‐life for committing the sin of suicide”.
The author, Paul K. Davis, holds a PhD from King’s College, University of London, in war studies. He teaches history at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and at St Mary’s University in San Antonio.
