Siege
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Siege. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
literally a sitting down. When the assault of a fortified place would be too hazardous and costly and its reduction by blockade too slow , recourse is had to the "regular siege or systematic attack." In order to cross the open ground swept by the fire of the fortress with as little loss as possible the besieger makes use of sunken roads or trenches. The revetments having been breached by his artillery or mines, he continues these roads through the breaches into the place. To prevent these " approaches" being enfiladed by the guns of the fortress they are made at first in zigzags; the prolongations of which are directed so as to clear the works of the fronts attacked, and, when a direct advance becomes necessary, they are provided with traverses at short intervals, or "blinded sap" is used-i.e., a trench covered in with timber and earth. Two or three such lines of approach are used. To protect and connect them lateral trenches are formed from which large bodies of troops can fire upon any sortie that may be made . These are termed "parallels," being parallel to the general front of the parts attacked. The ancients used to surround the place attacked with a high bank of earth, called a "line of circumvallation " and protected themselves against attack from the outside by another called a "line of contravallation," and a similar arrangement was in vogue till the middle of the 19th century. Now a covering field army is employed, which by its greater mobility, is able to meet the relieving army many miles from the besieging force, and a chain of fortified localities takes the place of the continuous line of circumvallation. In order that a siege may be safely undertaken the strength of the besieger should be about four times that of the garrison. In 1870 Strasburg, with a garrison ison of 20,000, was captured by a besieging force of 60,000 strong . Metz was starved into surrender, the presence of so many men (some 170,000) besides the proper garrison only hastening that result. The "siege parks," or main depôts, for the artillery and engineer trains must be out of range of the enemy's guns, containing as they do powder, ammunition, guns. and warlike stores of all descriptions. The batteries necessary are "enfilade" batteries, placed on the prolongations of all the important works attacked; "counter" batteries, to overcome the fire of the works bearing upon the field of attack; "mortar" and "howitzer" batteries, to search by high angle fire the interior of all the works attacked; and "breaching" batteries, to breach by curved fire the scarps and flanking casements. Light pieces, such as the seven-pounder mountain guns and machine guns, are placed in the second and third parallels, and in the "demi-parallels" or lodgments, 100 to 150 yards long, made on each approach about half way between these parallels. Beyond the third parallel the besieger will probably be met by counter mines, and himself have to resort to mining in order to carry out the crowning of the covered way. The World War developed a more or less new system of siege. See WORLD WAR: ARTILLERY. Siege in History. -Among great sieges in the world's history may be mentioned those of Troy, Tyre (572, 332 b. c.), Syracuse (396 b. c.), Saguntum (219 b. c.), Jerusalem (A. D. 70), Acre (1192, etc.), Calais (1347), Orleans (1428), Constantinople (1453), Haarlem (1572-1573), Leyden (1574), Breda (1625), Rochelle (1628), Magdeburg (1631), Breisach (1638), Taunton (1644-1645), Londonderry (1689), Gibraltar (1731, 1779, 1782- 1783), Prague (1741-1744), Leipsic (1757, 1813), Quebec (1759-1760), Seringapatam (1799), Genoa (1800), Saragossa (1808-1886 he gave 500,000 marks for the 1809), Ciudad Rodrigo (1810, 1812), New founding of an imperial institute of Orleans (1814), Antwerp (1832), Rome (1849), Sebastopol (1854-1855), Kars (1855), Lucknow (1857), Delhi (1857), Gaëta (1860-1861), Vicksburg (1863), Charleston (1864-1865), Richmond (1864- 1865), Metz (1870). Strasburg (1870), Belfort (1870-1871), Paris (1870-1871), Plevna (1877) (1877), Khartum (1884), Ladysmith (1900), Port Arthur (1904), Adrianople (1912); Liége (1914), Przemysl 2 (1914-1915); Verdun (1915-1916). SIEGE ARTILLERY. See ARTILLERY.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the sitting down of a military force before a fortified place and continued offensive operations for the purpose of taking it. To invest a fort is to surround it by a hostile force. The investing force is known as the besieging force. The defenders are the garrison. To raise a siege is to abandon the attempt. Preparations for an expected siege include strengthening the fortifications and laying in a supply of munitions of war and of provisions. In modern warfare hostilities are not begun until the garrison has been summoned to surrender and has declined or neglected to do so. It is considered humane to allow women, children, and non-combatants to depart before hostilities begin. The cutting off of supplies has ever been considered an important and first step in conducting a siege. In modern sieges the use of explosives bears a prominent part. Heavy artillery is employed to make breaches in the walls, and bursting shells are thrown within the fortifications to dismay and destroy the defenders. Tunnels or mines are led beneath the walls, and heavy charges of dynamite or other powerful explosives are set off. Storming columns yet enter the breaches in the walls, but shells-heavy shells-grape, and shrapnel now take the place largely of surprise and of assaulting forces. Before the day of powder, nitroglycerin, and lyddite, a siege was an affair of catapults, battering rams, scaling ladders, storming towers, assaults, and hand to hand conflicts. Among the sieges noted in ancient history are those of Troy by the Greeks at an uncertain date; Tyre by Alexander, 332 B. C.; Syracuse by the Athenians, 413 B. C.; Saguntum by Hannibal, 219 B. C.; and Carthage by the Romans, 149-146 B. C. Rome was besieged several times. The Romans are said to have taken sooner or later every walled town they ever laid siege to. The siege of Acre, 1191, belongs to the period of the Crusades. The siege of Rochelle, 1628, is one of the most noted in French history. Others are Metz, 1870; and Paris, 1870-1. British history is full of sieges. Among those of note are Calais, 1347; Orleans, 1428; Taunton, 1644-5; Londonderry, 1689; Gibraltar, 1782-3; Sebastopol, 1854-5; Lucknow, 1857; and Ladysmith, 1900. Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453; the Spaniards laid siege to Leyden in 1573-74. "High Belgrade," the frontier of the Danube, witnessed a dozen sieges. Prince Eugene took the city in 1717, and it was again hombarded by the Turks in 1862. Scarce a hill or pass in Europe but had its fortress, and scarce a fortress, however ruined, but has its story of siege and defense. In Scott's Ivanhoe the story of taking a castle is told vividly. The defense of Port Arthur by the Russians in 1904 established a new era in the history of warfare by siege. American soil is not noted for sieges. Those of Quebec in 1759-60. New Orleans in 1814, Vicksburg in 1863, and Richmond in 1864-5, may be mentioned. Detroit was besieged by Pontiac in 1763-4. A siege in the middle ages. Siege engine. Siege machines A testudo. Battering ram. Siege machines