I love how you quote actual historians and do your own historiography rather than simply regurgitating something you read off wikipedia. Keep up the good work!
@Sebo I'm not really saying anything against Wikipedia, but more of the idea of deference to academia. I use Wikipedia as a springboard for a lot of my research, but primarily use it to find source documents and more authoritative authors. The people that write the Wikipedia articles aren't any different than you or me, and the reason they have knowledge is because they read source documents, which anyone can do. I've got Josephus, Eusebius, Philo, and Pliny in my library, along with digital copies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and other resources, but I still use Wikipedia.
@Francisco Scaramanga source documents are not always accessible to everyone, again this is the point accessibility to contribute and consume think of it like KZclip
@Gerado Solusyon two years after: what if the pentagon is a star fortress and the aliens are sieging it as we speak but starving them out will never work because they have their own taco bell inside
@macgary by his lack of reply in past 2 months. He didn't survive. He truly died like a hero. May his country man remember him as brave general who led the besiege.
I used to only really read about early-medieval and ancient history, but your channel has single handedly ignited my interest in this time period. You have such consistently great content, very much appreciated.
@Dr Snobby No, he said that he **USED TO** only read about early medieval and ancient history, but the channel sparked an interest in THIS (early modern) period. Reading Comprehension: F Stop calling yourself a doctor.
@Dr Snobby "Your channel has single-handedly ignited my interest in this time period." The period covered in the video is early modern, transitioning from late Medieval. See yourself out, Snobby.
Julius Caesar: I‘m just gonna counter their walls by building more walls around them. Let‘s see how they like THAT lmao 16th Century tacticians: furious note-taking
Here in France you just have to use the name of Vauban (or an adjectiv made of it and a suffix) to make someone understand you're talking about "star fortress". Even though the guy did not invent this kind of shaped city walls, he engineered most of them or converted them to that kind of fortification, and more. He is THE reference conscerning the fortresses and sieges of that time, *no one here doesn't know about the guy* . After all, he worked with Louis XIV almost for almost the entirety of his reign, quite a long and belligerent one, starting at only 22, and there's so much to say about him it fits to say he's a legend.
"A fortress designed by Vauban can not be taken ; a fortress invested by Vauban can not be held" don't know who said it but was a quote I found doing a paper on fortifications whilst I was in college.
Indeed, I live very close to one of vaubans forts (neuf-brisach, close to the German border) it was never conquered in a real battle, the city surrendered once, in the franco Prussian war, when they were out of food
Romans generals: I wonder if in the future people will stop building stuff around the besieged city, it's so unpractical. What great times those shall be. Generals a millennia later: What a beautiful ring of stuff I built around this little town. Look at it.
Generals in 1914: Hey remember we used to dig trench rings around cities? Those were the days. Anyway I want another line of trenches form the Alps to the English Channel dug behind the three lines we already have.
Still works. I've locked my door it works so far. You could argue that this is against robbers (and undedicated once at that) and not a professional state army but the besieges aren't necessarily a state army either.
_Outside the Fortress:_ *Screams, Guns, Explosion* _Inner Fortress_ *Birds chirping, peaceful farming, fortress lasted long enough to put a child into college*
@Csongor here in India we had several forts with hundreds of acres of land inside the curtain walls and the food supply never stopped coz the citizens had enough land and cows to live through the seige for years
@Rifki Fanani Oh wait i understand what you said. It's still not a fortress just because there are walls around it. Rome had massive walls and it was simply called a city.
@Rifki Fanani In a fortress there's no people living there, just the maintenance crew. When the enemy attacks that's when they flee to the fortress from other villages and cities
Fascinating video. Thanks. I lived in Nicosia, Cyprus for many years. A classic example of a star fortress built around a city. The Venetian walls around the Cypriot capital still stand to this day. A really lovely feature of the city.
SandRhoman History I lived there for 8 years. Still have family on the island. So many great historical sites - from all eras. Love the channel, by the way! :-)
I've visited Nicosia and Cyprus with an Ancient history seminar. We've stayed at Nicosia as well. Amazing Island, amazing history, amazing food and cool people ;)
Easily one one of the most informative military history channels I've seen on here. the points are well covered and backed by historians, the visuals are simple yet effectively convey the ideas and subject matter in an entertaining way, and the narration is concise and pleasurable to the ears. If Dovahatty is the meme side of youtube history channels, this is the exact opposite of the spectrum, but still incredibly entertaining.
Ey, I I was going to do this video in just a couple of months time, but you beat me to it! One thing I would add is that the reason for the wet ditch was so the attacker couldn't dig a tunnel to undermine the bastion. In order to do that they first had to drain the ditch, and that took a lot of time. This is one of the main reasons why it was so hard to take Dutch fortifications, as water was always abundant, and often impossible to drain (as at Antwerp 1584-85). BTW would you be interested in a cooperation? I have a few ideas that might fit your roster.
Seriously, I absolutely LOVE your art style and animation. I already like history but your videos not only look AWESOME, the information and presentation are just fantastic! Kudos sir!
zztop3000 That's what I mean by "style". Colorful, simplistic and unique. It's not about realistic CGI. It's animation and having a distinct visual style is a mark of good animation. Anybody can do cheap crappy CGI.
With the rising amounts of this kind of fortification being applied for defence and housing by all kinds of potential opponent military organizations, it has become very important to stay educated on them. Thanks for the fantastic guide on this "real world" medieval RTS game that cool kids play nowadays
Yep. Indeed mining/sapping under the walls ⛏ was a very useful strategy. It often helped the attackers to destroy city walls without suffering as many casualties. But it was a long process and as shown by the siege on Vienna in 1683, ran on borrowed time and gave the defenders more time to gather a relief force.
The spanish movie Alatriste shows the famous Siege of Breda from the view of the attackers, with some rather gritty trench warfare, matchlock sniper duel and trench crawling. Great historical flick that you can find on youtube
One of the last battles of the Great War, Nov. 4th 1918, was ironically a modern 'siege' (or... Breach of) the Star fortress city of Le Quesnoy in France by the New Zealanders and against the German army. A very interesting read, and combat action.
Loved the video! The detail, actual use of photos, and a non-boring format are the difference between having a good time on KZclip and accidentally zoning out every 45secs!!
Hi, Greetings from Nicosia, Cyprus. That 21 year siege was actually of Chándax (Χάνταξ), which is modern day Heraklion in Crete. The fortifications were first made by the Saracens who just called the place Castle of the Moat (Chantax in Greek). The Venetians just changed Chandax to Cadia and made a huge upgrade to the walls. 40 meters thick and more than 20 meters tall in places. They still stand and they are an impressive sight even today. Unfortunately, and despite it’s modern walls, Nicosia fell easily to the Ottomans in 1578. Famagusta on the other side gave them a black eye. Look it up.
Fuck all that, fight like a demon to defend you and kin. My luck would take two to the chest and my last memory would be seeing shuffling feet on the cold ground.
15:28 They often did not only set the pillars on fire, they rather made a big fire below the fortification, for example with wood and animal fat to make the structure collapse. The result was anyway that the wooden pillars caught fire too. I guess gun powder worked a bit faster, but was also more expensive. As I know, the defenders used kettles filled with water to see where the enemy was digging such mines.
@SandRhoman History Great videos and animation style. I do feel your accent does make it hard to understand you. Since your audience is English speaking, I was wondering would you be open to hiring an English voice actor to narrate your videos? That's what the youtube history channel Kings and Generals do, they use a posh English professional voice actor and he does a great job. I would also caution against using background music too loudly or even too much as I feel background music is unnecessary for the middle of the video past the intro music especially since you have a thick accent that makes it harder to understand you.
Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys was built in 1861 comprised of 16 million bricks. Was never invaded. The enemy could literally sail right around it if they chose to.. Very interesting history lesson here thank you very much for making it, really like the graphics and animation.
Thanks for this guide-- it's super detailed and really easy to follow along with! My friends and I overtook and captured a star fortress this weekend with no problem!
The fact that they dug mines and countermines and even had melee battles in near dark is astonishing. If only their was a way to witness such things as they happened.
the town I live in was built as a star fortress. Nearly all the fortifications have remained intact. It's interesting to se how effective these constructions actually were
You're the only channel that knows how to make this era of history really come alive! I look forward to your videos about the early gunpowder days with the same excitement I used to feel learning about Byzantine battles and Carthaginian expansion. (I mean, I still do. But I used ta, too!)
When I visited Palmanova earlier this year, I wondered how on earth you could possibly successfully lay siege on one of those seemingly impenetrable cities. Now I have a basic idea.
What was generally more expensive? A very long siege (like 20 years one, quoted in the video) or the build plus the maintenance of a fortress to resist such a long siege?
The 20 year siege was 99% the besiegers failing to cut supply via water. Meaning they failed step 1 of siege warfare. Generally it is more expensive for the attacker: - Needs a bigger army, as his walls are longer and easier breached/destroyed by a sally - Needs to bring in supllies, having no solid storage structures - Defenders walls, quarters, storage and other infrastructure is way more solid - expensive digging work If sieges had been cheaper, people would have invested in the army rather them fortresses.
@nirfz Strategy games try sometimes in Total War games I've played the soldiers will fight against any odds but if they start getting there arses kicked they leg it.
Let's take Candia's example. The walls of Candia took over 1 hundred years to complete, hence you shall integrate the expenses over that period of time. In this regard I would say that defense was overall more expensive. During the siege itself, the walls were often repaired with second-hand material, and finally (when one of the bastions was damaged beyond repair and stone became scarce) only with soil. This job was performed basically "for free" by the sieged population, hence I believe the maintenance cost could be accounted as negligible. As a side note, until the last year of the siege, there were plans to extend the outer fortifications with new ravelines and coronas, but obviously it resulted impossible to perform under cannon bombardment, and ridiculously expensive (in terms of human efforts and lives) to achieve. But it is interesting to understand how the Venetians thought that the city could still resist until external help would have saved it.
@Ocean Bytez History is not like a game. You have to take real people into account. In a strategy game i guess you can always hire new soldiers, mercenaries, they never refuse to fight if the losses seem to high for them or the weather too bad, the "money" and recources you get from capturing a city are always intact ect. You have to take into account that bribes were possible, that cultural differences, religion, different goals of different people all played a role on both sides.
wish total war games could show more of this side of combat- the operational art of setting up the battle. imagine being able to make all these decisions and actions to wear down enemy fortifications, or setting up a field of battle with elaborate defenses. most humans rationally want to minimize risk and avoid danger, and this shapes all of warfare. Excellent video!
1:20 medieval warfare was also tremendously focused on sieges with battle being rare but much flashier and more famous; it seems there was a period in the 1400s and 1500s where cannons outpaced fortification technology making them much easier to take and making battles more important, although sieges were still very important even at the height of this period.
One of the best and most informative videos I've seen on the topic. Good graphics and animation, engaging narrator and the right amount of knowledge. Well-done.
I'm not used to seeing mountains in the background when types of dutch and flemish siege tactics are discussed ;). Ostend and geertruidenberg are very much surrounded by flat land and venlo has very small hills at best. Thanks for the informative lesson nonetheless!
Maybe in the future, you could make a video that dwells deeper into the topic of early modern fortifications? You know, how different styles came into existence and evolved, like the old-Italian style evolved into new-Italian and so on?
Great video! When a wall was breached it wasn't all over though: the defenders would erect 'half moons' around any breaches, which the attacker would then have to assail at great cost in lives. You probably know this, just missed it in the video :) Keep up the great work!
I think there are some differences and similarities between what happens in European sieges and Chinese sieges. The glaces for example, was also present in Chinese city defenses, often in the form of a small wall though. Another similarity is the tunnels. After a look at Chinese sieges of the near modern era, tunnels were probably by far the most effective method, especially sending a case of gun powder (mostly during the Taiping rebellion). The technique of burning supporting pillars also saw some usage. However, often due to the larger sizes of many Chinese cities, city gates were often protected with another 1 to 2 layers of walls, and between the walls were space to maximum firepower from above the walls. Similar designs were relatively rare in European cities I think.
The star fortifications also had tunnels, in the ravelins so that defenders could get to the outer defences safely. Many castles also had similar tunnels to outer defences. I have been through some. Often they were built so that an attacker had to climb upwards out of them, obviously at a disadvantage compared the defenders above.
Thank you for your work! this topic is very complex indeed... It must have been incredibly terrifying and wearing to fight and dig between the artillery of both sides, hiding in muddy trenches for days and weeks...
I live near the Petrovaradin Fortress that was built by Austro-Hungaria on the Danube River. Check out the shape from the sky on Google 😊 also it has kilometers of tunels underneath it and couple that are buried under Danube. My friends and I explored the tunels when we were kids, not a smart thing to do but it was fun.
Plymouth, UK had/has (they're unfortunately in varying states of restoration) a massive network of smaller star forts and redoubts built around it. Along it's northern (landward) edge alone there were at least 9 forts and redoubts that were designed to provide flanking fire on one another if any were attacked, with trench works and a covered military road (thought to now follow Crownhill Road and Fort Austin Avenue) connecting them so reinforcements could quickly move between them. Many of them were still used up to WW2 as anti aircraft batteries or billets for American GIs prior to D Day. In fact, one of the Blockhouses in Crownhill Fort has chunks missing from its internal roof where GIs used the rooms to practice grenade drill. Add to that fortifications on Rame Head and Staddon Heights and it must've been an incredible undertaking to build them all. Apparently, the Royal Artillery Regiment surveyed Crownhill Fort and said that, even today, it'd be a hard target to capture without levelling it!
So you just spent a fortune building a fortress around a fortress and finally, FINALLY you've taken it. What happens to all those trenches? That's what I want to know.
@Samuel Bunkly I'm not sure it would if you have the men then build it as big as you want but I've delivered arse kickings and received at least one arse kicking fighting the computer on total war partially because the defenders are civies partially because they didn't have the numbers meaning he attackers could just climb somewhere the defenders weren't.
It was nice to know the various different siege tactics used long ago. I don't know if I'd want to be besieged or do the besieging. It seems like it was trying for both sides.
Can you do a video on early modern naval warfare and gunnery? These videos are really awesome I find the Renaissance and early modern period one of the most interesting periods of warfare.
This is amazing information. Shadiversity covered castles and antiseigue warfare. Learning how armies countered castle fortifications still amazing stuff.
2:35 You forgot to mention that the guns in the shoulders would fire through the ditch in front of the faces of the bastions, to keep them from being stormed. That was their main function: protect the bastions. Covering the curtain wall was secondary, as anyone approaching the curtain wall would need to move through their field of fire.
While my wife and I lived in Belgium, we ended up going on a surprising number of dates to fortresses designed or inspired by Vauban - Ieper, Namur, Arlon.
finally watched after 6 months on my recommended. the back and forth arms race trying to outwit each other was far more fascinating than i thought it would be. nice vid
Saw a YT clip a while ago, that some army had a smallish bore gun, with a very long barrel. Effectively a sniper rifle. It was used against the much larger cannons. Which had a much larger calibre but lesser range. As these were all black powder muzzle loaded, with relatively large tolerances in the bore and slut a direct hit was rare, however with the slug hit the ground, cannon or crew, there was a change of damage or even blowing up the siege cannon
Almost all major (trading) cities in the Netherlands were starshaped fortresses once, including my own city Deventer, pretty sad most are gone nowadays but some remain
If the moat surrounding the besieged fortification is filled with water it might not be possible at all to dig a tunnel to get under the walls as the tunnel could fill up with water. Another advantage of having a water filled moat is that it is difficult to swim across the moat if the besiegers are wearing armour.
i just recently found out that they planed and actually almost completed a Star Fortress in my Home town. But then they ran out of monny and the citizen started to use the walls for there own buildings. Today you can only see a few earth hills :)
As an historian and a philosopher I enjoy a lot your channel. Specially the inclusion of a conceptual framework to talk about the past, one of the few channels to do that. Kudos to the SandRhoman Team!
Having visited Castillo San Marcos in St. Augustine many times...i always wondered how it could be sieged because it seems undefeatable by foot. The bay is right up to the sea-wall, but who would want to sail in with a wooden hull to slug it out with coquina walls? I believe it was sieged 3 times but never taken.
I've been looking at bastions and how to overcome a "last bastion" in my life. This has given me useful information in how to tackle the problem. Warfare goes on in other places besides the physical. Thank you. 😁
I'd very love to look in dept into the social and psychological consequences of a 20y siege, after the first 3 or 5 it probably became common to accept it but after 10-15 jeez it's like a regular part of people lives, for both involved and uninvolved parts.
@Keego Bricks >Infects population with disease >Kill them with firearms while they are suffering from plague >Continuously deny former agreements >Deny them basic rights and help promised on those agreements >"We didn't steal your land, y'all died randomly and it was just out of our control, we promise" It's sort of like Smedley wrote in "War is a racket", the US inocently ran into resource rich land, it was just the universe rewarding it for liberating the population selflessly in good Christian protestant manner.
@Jferrer1310 They were great at economics. They shipped all of their aquired wealth to the vaults of the ruling family and their supporters, and only sent back out what was needed to keep the empire afloat. Sure it wasn't sustainable for the empire, but the mass treasure hoard made it worth it for those at the top im sure.
@Mišo ElEven they were able to know that certain things spread diseases, they just didn't know why. Even without knowing about bacteria, it was still known that rotten food was bad to eat, for example.
Vienna, as many other major cities, was a star fort. Like the Vatican City, Krakow, Paris, Lille, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, Copenhague, Nicosia, Akko, and almost every city in the Netherlands.
alvi syahri So, in 1683 the Viennese placed drums with sand on it or jugs of water in the cellar. You already seem to know that. Once you notice the vibrations you know that the tunnel must be close and start digging. The vibrations get weaker if you are further away from the tunnel so you know pretty well where the tunnel is. Then it is a race against time. Just an anecdote: The croissant was invented in Austria to celebrate the discovery of such a tunnel in 1683 in Vienna.
Thanks! I was struggling to siege cities, I just want to take some foods and they closed the cities and called us bandits. This video helped me take the food! 10/10
A good movie about this subject is way overdue. I simply need to see some 17th century trench warfare. I once saw a documentary about the Seven Years’ War that did a great job at showing some trench warfare at a siege, complete with sharpshooters, muddy uniforms, and raining artillery fire. It was oddly satisfying to finally see those shiny uniforms used as they must have been in a real battle.
![Doechii - What It Is (Block Boy) feat. Kodak Black [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/phtcAd8j6Ro/mqdefault.jpg)
Glad I saw this, I was really worried about laying siege to my neighbours star fortress, but now i'm more informed than ever! SALLY FORTH!
@Mewtation Nation wait until they hit the septic tank.
The besieged sallies forth, not the besieger.
@Mewtation Nation bring out the bombard, the heavy bombard.
“Honey, the neighbors are digging sapping tunnels again”
@Liam Murphy Narratir: poor Sally was later married off to a French noble to strengthen the alliance
I love how you quote actual historians and do your own historiography rather than simply regurgitating something you read off wikipedia. Keep up the good work!
Well, to be fair, he's most likely a historian himself, so it's a lot easier to know & use secondary sources (books and historians themselves).
@Sebo I'm not really saying anything against Wikipedia, but more of the idea of deference to academia. I use Wikipedia as a springboard for a lot of my research, but primarily use it to find source documents and more authoritative authors. The people that write the Wikipedia articles aren't any different than you or me, and the reason they have knowledge is because they read source documents, which anyone can do.
I've got Josephus, Eusebius, Philo, and Pliny in my library, along with digital copies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and other resources, but I still use Wikipedia.
@Francisco Scaramanga source documents are not always accessible to everyone, again this is the point accessibility to contribute and consume think of it like KZclip
@Sebo What do the people do that write the Wikipedia articles?
Y'all act like you can't just go read source documents.
@Stephen Davies Hist-OWNED!
Before Quarantine: Who the hell cares about 17th century warfare?
Week 6 Quarantine: I must know everything about siege warfare.
If you're going to stay at home for months (or even more than a year) you definitely need to know how to defend your home from a seige.
@PortoStrengthUnion Mongols actualy did that
@Gerado Solusyon two years after: what if the pentagon is a star fortress and the aliens are sieging it as we speak but starving them out will never work because they have their own taco bell inside
Fast learner: week 7, F8ck it, airforce made it obsolete.
Slow learner: week 52 we need to dig a tunnel
I’m so glad this got recommended to me. I’m actually laying siege to a star fortress next week, and this has been really helpful! Thanks!
@macgary I don’t think he succeeded in his goal. He probably ran out of powder and died of dysentery
Same! Shout-out to historical accuracy
@SoldierGG1 F
@macgary by his lack of reply in past 2 months. He didn't survive. He truly died like a hero. May his country man remember him as brave general who led the besiege.
I have to defend a star fort next week, now I have a basic idea on how to counter the enemy use these tactics.
I used to only really read about early-medieval and ancient history, but your channel has single handedly ignited my interest in this time period. You have such consistently great content, very much appreciated.
L
@Garret LeBuis eu4
You should also study the Protestant Reformation, especially Lutheran, and Anglican.
@Dr Snobby No, he said that he **USED TO** only read about early medieval and ancient history, but the channel sparked an interest in THIS (early modern) period.
Reading Comprehension: F
Stop calling yourself a doctor.
@Dr Snobby
"Your channel has single-handedly ignited my interest in this time period."
The period covered in the video is early modern, transitioning from late Medieval.
See yourself out, Snobby.
Me at 3am with instant ramen: I wonder how to siege a star fortress
Same lol, except for the ramen
Same
@Oscar Sandström" pornstar fortresses ":search history
@vukashin88 gunpowder
this is me rn while I should actually lern for a test lol
Julius Caesar: I‘m just gonna counter their walls by building more walls around them. Let‘s see how they like THAT lmao
16th Century tacticians: furious note-taking
@Ray Last Yeah, but taking inspiration from antiquity was kind of the shtick in the Renaissance era
@Sheezy I‘m not saying the SF is „copying“ from Caesar, I‘m saying the method for besieging one kind of is.
Nope. What makes star fortress different is not he outer walls but the lack of blind spots.
@Haannibal777 so basically fortnite
@Jakobi Nobles they can just magically teleport it in.
Seriously it's a battle of resources
Here in France you just have to use the name of Vauban (or an adjectiv made of it and a suffix) to make someone understand you're talking about "star fortress". Even though the guy did not invent this kind of shaped city walls, he engineered most of them or converted them to that kind of fortification, and more. He is THE reference conscerning the fortresses and sieges of that time, *no one here doesn't know about the guy* . After all, he worked with Louis XIV almost for almost the entirety of his reign, quite a long and belligerent one, starting at only 22, and there's so much to say about him it fits to say he's a legend.
@JRD where ?!
I live 6 years in a Vauban forteress!! Maybe the only one in North America!!!
"A fortress designed by Vauban can not be taken ; a fortress invested by Vauban can not be held" don't know who said it but was a quote I found doing a paper on fortifications whilst I was in college.
There's a (very mediocre) Russian alt-history book which mentions him
Indeed, I live very close to one of vaubans forts (neuf-brisach, close to the German border) it was never conquered in a real battle, the city surrendered once, in the franco Prussian war, when they were out of food
Romans generals: I wonder if in the future people will stop building stuff around the besieged city, it's so unpractical. What great times those shall be.
Generals a millennia later: What a beautiful ring of stuff I built around this little town. Look at it.
Generals in 1914: Hey remember we used to dig trench rings around cities? Those were the days. Anyway I want another line of trenches form the Alps to the English Channel dug behind the three lines we already have.
@OuroborosFlux lmao, probably typed that out in my sleep. Thanks for the laugh
Generals even later: hey guys guess what i build a lot of stuff from the Atalantic to swizerland
Still works. I've locked my door it works so far. You could argue that this is against robbers (and undedicated once at that) and not a professional state army but the besieges aren't necessarily a state army either.
_Outside the Fortress:_
*Screams, Guns, Explosion*
_Inner Fortress_
*Birds chirping, peaceful farming, fortress lasted long enough to put a child into college*
@Csongor here in India we had several forts with hundreds of acres of land inside the curtain walls and the food supply never stopped coz the citizens had enough land and cows to live through the seige for years
This is reference to Attack on Titan
@Rifki Fanani Oh wait i understand what you said. It's still not a fortress just because there are walls around it. Rome had massive walls and it was simply called a city.
@Rifki Fanani In a fortress there's no people living there, just the maintenance crew. When the enemy attacks that's when they flee to the fortress from other villages and cities
@Rifki Fanani Well a walled city is not a fortress.
Fascinating video. Thanks. I lived in Nicosia, Cyprus for many years. A classic example of a star fortress built around a city. The Venetian walls around the Cypriot capital still stand to this day. A really lovely feature of the city.
SandRhoman History I lived there for 8 years. Still have family on the island. So many great historical sites - from all eras. Love the channel, by the way! :-)
I've visited Nicosia and Cyprus with an Ancient history seminar. We've stayed at Nicosia as well. Amazing Island, amazing history, amazing food and cool people ;)
Easily one one of the most informative military history channels I've seen on here. the points are well covered and backed by historians, the visuals are simple yet effectively convey the ideas and subject matter in an entertaining way, and the narration is concise and pleasurable to the ears. If Dovahatty is the meme side of youtube history channels, this is the exact opposite of the spectrum, but still incredibly entertaining.
How to do SIEGES!!
Me taking notes in these difficult times.
durrderrr
I too am thinking on how to lay siege to the strongest of fortresses as well as learning how to build such a place for my people in case the shtf
what are those ninja stars in the contravallations and circumvallations called?
@wiwerse windemer it aged well :3
@Silent_Stalker Huh?
Ey, I I was going to do this video in just a couple of months time, but you beat me to it! One thing I would add is that the reason for the wet ditch was so the attacker couldn't dig a tunnel to undermine the bastion. In order to do that they first had to drain the ditch, and that took a lot of time. This is one of the main reasons why it was so hard to take Dutch fortifications, as water was always abundant, and often impossible to drain (as at Antwerp 1584-85).
BTW would you be interested in a cooperation? I have a few ideas that might fit your roster.
Did they not use an explosive Fireship loaded with Cannon(sakers) and a great many barrels of B.P. at one siege.
@SandRhoman History And thus the alliance was forged
cool info, thought that about that thing with the watery ditch too :)
@Justin Okraski I guess this was the point
also the defenders can see the water level going down
Seriously, I absolutely LOVE your art style and animation. I already like history but your videos not only look AWESOME, the information and presentation are just fantastic! Kudos sir!
@4f52 Right? Kid's a prodigy!
zztop3000 Sign me up with your kid, I love his art style.
zztop3000 That's what I mean by "style". Colorful, simplistic and unique. It's not about realistic CGI. It's animation and having a distinct visual style is a mark of good animation. Anybody can do cheap crappy CGI.
With the rising amounts of this kind of fortification being applied for defence and housing by all kinds of potential opponent military organizations, it has become very important to stay educated on them. Thanks for the fantastic guide on this "real world" medieval RTS game that cool kids play nowadays
Sieging the same fortress for 21 years: OMG im tired of playing this map.
"You are wrong, Total war taught me that the walls were stormed using ropes that come from nowhere"
Skyhooks are awesome!
@Niepoważny Człowiek But your statement is still false then because the Japanese used star forts
Or just fire your cannons straight at the walls until it crumbles in less than 3 mins lol
"As in ancient Jericho, duh wawls fawl befoah duh roightchous. Send our men trough to slay our ungodly foe!"
@Sabine Kine you're not listening at all. 2 star forts? Compared to europe that has hundreds of these
Yep. Indeed mining/sapping under the walls ⛏ was a very useful strategy. It often helped the attackers to destroy city walls without suffering as many casualties. But it was a long process and as shown by the siege on Vienna in 1683, ran on borrowed time and gave the defenders more time to gather a relief force.
The spanish movie Alatriste shows the famous Siege of Breda from the view of the attackers, with some rather gritty trench warfare, matchlock sniper duel and trench crawling. Great historical flick that you can find on youtube
here:
kzclip.org/video/Aco1IK-qyts/бейне.html
@Robertas Vaicius epic
@Buckstone they take turns to 360 no-scope one another until one of them wins.
You didn't mention Aragorn is the lead role. lol
Looks pretty good so far.
Damo2690 believe it or not that happened. You have to be very skilled though and extremely lucky.
One of the last battles of the Great War, Nov. 4th 1918, was ironically a modern 'siege' (or... Breach of) the Star fortress city of Le Quesnoy in France by the New Zealanders and against the German army. A very interesting read, and combat action.
Thanks, was a good read
Loved the video! The detail, actual use of photos, and a non-boring format are the difference between having a good time on KZclip and accidentally zoning out every 45secs!!
Hi,
Greetings from Nicosia, Cyprus. That 21 year siege was actually of Chándax (Χάνταξ), which is modern day Heraklion in Crete. The fortifications were first made by the Saracens who just called the place Castle of the Moat (Chantax in Greek). The Venetians just changed Chandax to Cadia and made a huge upgrade to the walls. 40 meters thick and more than 20 meters tall in places. They still stand and they are an impressive sight even today.
Unfortunately, and despite it’s modern walls, Nicosia fell easily to the Ottomans in 1578. Famagusta on the other side gave them a black eye. Look it up.
I rather prefer to be quarantined in my living room than caged in a beleaguered city...
You weren't quarantined, you were inprisoned
Still valid after a year? :-D
@Harry Mills no the puny and skinny would die back then before their 20s
Oh, that's how that word is spelled? I thought it's belligered
Fuck all that, fight like a demon to defend you and kin. My luck would take two to the chest and my last memory would be seeing shuffling feet on the cold ground.
15:28 They often did not only set the pillars on fire, they rather made a big fire below the fortification, for example with wood and animal fat to make the structure collapse. The result was anyway that the wooden pillars caught fire too. I guess gun powder worked a bit faster, but was also more expensive. As I know, the defenders used kettles filled with water to see where the enemy was digging such mines.
Watching this September 15th 1608, really helpful. Captured a french star fort in no-time.
@SandRhoman History Great videos and animation style. I do feel your accent does make it hard to understand you. Since your audience is English speaking, I was wondering would you be open to hiring an English voice actor to narrate your videos? That's what the youtube history channel Kings and Generals do, they use a posh English professional voice actor and he does a great job. I would also caution against using background music too loudly or even too much as I feel background music is unnecessary for the middle of the video past the intro music especially since you have a thick accent that makes it harder to understand you.
good luck!
Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys was built in 1861 comprised of 16 million bricks. Was never invaded. The enemy could literally sail right around it if they chose to.. Very interesting history lesson here thank you very much for making it, really like the graphics and animation.
Thanks for this guide-- it's super detailed and really easy to follow along with! My friends and I overtook and captured a star fortress this weekend with no problem!
The fact that they dug mines and countermines and even had melee battles in near dark is astonishing. If only their was a way to witness such things as they happened.
Imagine spending 21 years of your life taking down one fort. Honestly worth it.
I would love to see a video on how these armies kept themselves supplied and what their sanitation policies were.
Your videos are higher quality than most history TV shows nowadays. Really great stuff man.
the town I live in was built as a star fortress. Nearly all the fortifications have remained intact. It's interesting to se how effective these constructions actually were
You're the only channel that knows how to make this era of history really come alive! I look forward to your videos about the early gunpowder days with the same excitement I used to feel learning about Byzantine battles and Carthaginian expansion. (I mean, I still do. But I used ta, too!)
When I visited Palmanova earlier this year, I wondered how on earth you could possibly successfully lay siege on one of those seemingly impenetrable cities. Now I have a basic idea.
What was generally more expensive? A very long siege (like 20 years one, quoted in the video) or the build plus the maintenance of a fortress to resist such a long siege?
The 20 year siege was 99% the besiegers failing to cut supply via water. Meaning they failed step 1 of siege warfare.
Generally it is more expensive for the attacker:
- Needs a bigger army, as his walls are longer and easier breached/destroyed by a sally
- Needs to bring in supllies, having no solid storage structures
- Defenders walls, quarters, storage and other infrastructure is way more solid
- expensive digging work
If sieges had been cheaper, people would have invested in the army rather them fortresses.
@nirfz Strategy games try sometimes in Total War games I've played the soldiers will fight against any odds but if they start getting there arses kicked they leg it.
Let's take Candia's example.
The walls of Candia took over 1 hundred years to complete, hence you shall integrate the expenses over that period of time. In this regard I would say that defense was overall more expensive.
During the siege itself, the walls were often repaired with second-hand material, and finally (when one of the bastions was damaged beyond repair and stone became scarce) only with soil. This job was performed basically "for free" by the sieged population, hence I believe the maintenance cost could be accounted as negligible.
As a side note, until the last year of the siege, there were plans to extend the outer fortifications with new ravelines and coronas, but obviously it resulted impossible to perform under cannon bombardment, and ridiculously expensive (in terms of human efforts and lives) to achieve. But it is interesting to understand how the Venetians thought that the city could still resist until external help would have saved it.
Not protecting your cities & citizens is how you get replaced as a monarch. So the cost of not building a fortress is much larger than anything else.
@Ocean Bytez History is not like a game. You have to take real people into account. In a strategy game i guess you can always hire new soldiers, mercenaries, they never refuse to fight if the losses seem to high for them or the weather too bad, the "money" and recources you get from capturing a city are always intact ect. You have to take into account that bribes were possible, that cultural differences, religion, different goals of different people all played a role on both sides.
wish total war games could show more of this side of combat- the operational art of setting up the battle. imagine being able to make all these decisions and actions to wear down enemy fortifications, or setting up a field of battle with elaborate defenses. most humans rationally want to minimize risk and avoid danger, and this shapes all of warfare. Excellent video!
1:20 medieval warfare was also tremendously focused on sieges with battle being rare but much flashier and more famous; it seems there was a period in the 1400s and 1500s where cannons outpaced fortification technology making them much easier to take and making battles more important, although sieges were still very important even at the height of this period.
One of the best and most informative videos I've seen on the topic. Good graphics and animation, engaging narrator and the right amount of knowledge. Well-done.
I'm not used to seeing mountains in the background when types of dutch and flemish siege tactics are discussed ;). Ostend and geertruidenberg are very much surrounded by flat land and venlo has very small hills at best. Thanks for the informative lesson nonetheless!
Very much the kind of country in Brel's "Mijn vlaake land" :P Of course, he was Bruxellois...it's a bit less "vlaake" in the south :P
I love to hear about 16th and 17th century warfare. It is a very unique topic and you do a good job showing it.
Maybe in the future, you could make a video that dwells deeper into the topic of early modern fortifications? You know, how different styles came into existence and evolved, like the old-Italian style evolved into new-Italian and so on?
This is so fascinating! Until now I've had only a vague idea of post-medieval sieges despite being interested in military history.
Well done! Great use of graphics to create an engaging lesson in military history. Thank you!
Great video! When a wall was breached it wasn't all over though: the defenders would erect 'half moons' around any breaches, which the attacker would then have to assail at great cost in lives. You probably know this, just missed it in the video :) Keep up the great work!
I think there are some differences and similarities between what happens in European sieges and Chinese sieges. The glaces for example, was also present in Chinese city defenses, often in the form of a small wall though. Another similarity is the tunnels. After a look at Chinese sieges of the near modern era, tunnels were probably by far the most effective method, especially sending a case of gun powder (mostly during the Taiping rebellion). The technique of burning supporting pillars also saw some usage. However, often due to the larger sizes of many Chinese cities, city gates were often protected with another 1 to 2 layers of walls, and between the walls were space to maximum firepower from above the walls. Similar designs were relatively rare in European cities I think.
The star fortifications also had tunnels, in the ravelins so that defenders could get to the outer defences safely. Many castles also had similar tunnels to outer defences. I have been through some.
Often they were built so that an attacker had to climb upwards out of them, obviously at a disadvantage compared the defenders above.
Thank you for your work! this topic is very complex indeed...
It must have been incredibly terrifying and wearing to fight and dig between the artillery of both sides, hiding in muddy trenches for days and weeks...
These animations are amazing! That combined with great knowledge have made an absolutely perfect video! Hope your channel does well this is awesome.
This is fantastic! Thank you for your time and effort in this. I have been reading a lot about the 16th century and Europe and this video helps a lot!
I live near the Petrovaradin Fortress that was built by Austro-Hungaria on the Danube River. Check out the shape from the sky on Google 😊 also it has kilometers of tunels underneath it and couple that are buried under Danube. My friends and I explored the tunels when we were kids, not a smart thing to do but it was fun.
I think it is fantastic that you explicitly included your method for simplifying and creating an ideal type
Plymouth, UK had/has (they're unfortunately in varying states of restoration) a massive network of smaller star forts and redoubts built around it.
Along it's northern (landward) edge alone there were at least 9 forts and redoubts that were designed to provide flanking fire on one another if any were attacked, with trench works and a covered military road (thought to now follow Crownhill Road and Fort Austin Avenue) connecting them so reinforcements could quickly move between them.
Many of them were still used up to WW2 as anti aircraft batteries or billets for American GIs prior to D Day. In fact, one of the Blockhouses in Crownhill Fort has chunks missing from its internal roof where GIs used the rooms to practice grenade drill.
Add to that fortifications on Rame Head and Staddon Heights and it must've been an incredible undertaking to build them all.
Apparently, the Royal Artillery Regiment surveyed Crownhill Fort and said that, even today, it'd be a hard target to capture without levelling it!
So you just spent a fortune building a fortress around a fortress and finally, FINALLY you've taken it. What happens to all those trenches? That's what I want to know.
@Samuel Bunkly I'm not sure it would if you have the men then build it as big as you want but I've delivered arse kickings and received at least one arse kicking fighting the computer on total war partially because the defenders are civies partially because they didn't have the numbers meaning he attackers could just climb somewhere the defenders weren't.
If the fortress is worth keeping, it provides a good outter defence ring to protect the newly captured fortress.
@D-Rangatang That's actually a good idea
They double as the graves for all the men you used to take it
@Генадий Самобранцев lol two fortresses for the price of one
It was nice to know the various different siege tactics used long ago. I don't know if I'd want to be besieged or do the besieging. It seems like it was trying for both sides.
Can you do a video on early modern naval warfare and gunnery? These videos are really awesome I find the Renaissance and early modern period one of the most interesting periods of warfare.
This is amazing information. Shadiversity covered castles and antiseigue warfare. Learning how armies countered castle fortifications still amazing stuff.
Nice video, the phases and steps of a siege well explanied. I wish total war would allow us to lay that kinda sieges :D
2:35 You forgot to mention that the guns in the shoulders would fire through the ditch in front of the faces of the bastions, to keep them from being stormed. That was their main function: protect the bastions. Covering the curtain wall was secondary, as anyone approaching the curtain wall would need to move through their field of fire.
That was a great video, informative, entertaining and with an interesting art style and animations. You sir, have gained a subscriber.
Very much Appreciated.
Just the tutorial I've been looking for! You guys are lifesavers!
While my wife and I lived in Belgium, we ended up going on a surprising number of dates to fortresses designed or inspired by Vauban - Ieper, Namur, Arlon.
I was literally 2 seconds into this and I subscribed just from the artwork. My first time seeing your videos. Unbelievable work!
Thank you so much!
finally watched after 6 months on my recommended. the back and forth arms race trying to outwit each other was far more fascinating than i thought it would be. nice vid
Saw a YT clip a while ago, that some army had a smallish bore gun, with a very long barrel. Effectively a sniper rifle. It was used against the much larger cannons. Which had a much larger calibre but lesser range. As these were all black powder muzzle loaded, with relatively large tolerances in the bore and slut a direct hit was rare, however with the slug hit the ground, cannon or crew, there was a change of damage or even blowing up the siege cannon
Finally, a helpful tutorial i can use in my everyday life.
Almost all major (trading) cities in the Netherlands were starshaped fortresses once, including my own city Deventer, pretty sad most are gone nowadays but some remain
If the moat surrounding the besieged fortification is filled with water it might not be possible at all to dig a tunnel to get under the walls as the tunnel could fill up with water. Another advantage of having a water filled moat is that it is difficult to swim across the moat if the besiegers are wearing armour.
It's amazing how much of this applied to WW1.
i just recently found out that they planed and actually almost completed a Star Fortress in my Home town. But then they ran out of monny and the citizen started to use the walls for there own buildings. Today you can only see a few earth hills :)
Thanks for the tutorial, I’ve had a lot of problems with Star fortresses in the past
As an historian and a philosopher I enjoy a lot your channel. Specially the inclusion of a conceptual framework to talk about the past, one of the few channels to do that. Kudos to the SandRhoman Team!
Hey, thanks for the comment. We appreciate your words a lot! It's so nice when people notice and value the effort that goes into the vids :)
Finally, a tutorial about stuff I can really use in my everyday life.
I really like your animations ! It's kinda outstanding compared to many similar channels. Keep up the good work
can't imagine more how a decade long siege gonna looks like compared to this 2 years quarantine
Having visited Castillo San Marcos in St. Augustine many times...i always wondered how it could be sieged because it seems undefeatable by foot. The bay is right up to the sea-wall, but who would want to sail in with a wooden hull to slug it out with coquina walls? I believe it was sieged 3 times but never taken.
I wish you make illustration of siege of Famagusta one day. Because, it is probably the most challenging conquest that ottomans ever seen
Excellent. Renaissance warfare getting the attention it deserves. Just subscribed.
this was great, my class had to lay siege to a star fortress as a final project, this was a big help!
I've been looking at bastions and how to overcome a "last bastion" in my life. This has given me useful information in how to tackle the problem. Warfare goes on in other places besides the physical. Thank you. 😁
Fascinating period of military history for its mix of tactical elements
I'd very love to look in dept into the social and psychological consequences of a 20y siege, after the first 3 or 5 it probably became common to accept it but after 10-15 jeez it's like a regular part of people lives, for both involved and uninvolved parts.
Just painting my Renaissance army today, your super video is a first class break... Gorgeous!
I think I have found another in depth and well informed history channel I can enjoy. You sir, have earnt yourself a subscriber.
Ngl but, was kinda hoping he would mention Badajoz
One has to wonder could the attackers build their own city with the amount of time, resources and labor it took to have a siege.
This will definitely help me next time I siege one, thank you for the tutorial.
I live right next to the fully preserved Naarden star fortress. Whenever I go running on its walls, I always imagine it being sieged!
glad i found your channel. well done. interesting and enjoyable animations. you sponsors are well served as your segways are unmatched.
Man, the spanish weren't fooling around at amiens....
@Keego Bricks
>Infects population with disease
>Kill them with firearms while they are suffering from plague
>Continuously deny former agreements
>Deny them basic rights and help promised on those agreements
>"We didn't steal your land, y'all died randomly and it was just out of our control, we promise"
It's sort of like Smedley wrote in "War is a racket", the US inocently ran into resource rich land, it was just the universe rewarding it for liberating the population selflessly in good Christian protestant manner.
@DudeWat oh you mean like litteraly putting in a loophole to allow prison slavery when banning slavery lol
@Jferrer1310 They were great at economics. They shipped all of their aquired wealth to the vaults of the ruling family and their supporters, and only sent back out what was needed to keep the empire afloat. Sure it wasn't sustainable for the empire, but the mass treasure hoard made it worth it for those at the top im sure.
With their ships either. Spanish galleons are legendary.
@Mišo ElEven they were able to know that certain things spread diseases, they just didn't know why. Even without knowing about bacteria, it was still known that rotten food was bad to eat, for example.
Thank you so much for uploading this video. It is helping me get through the pandemic!
Hope you will eventually cover the Polygonal forts at some point; I really like your content.
This is such a fascinating topic for me. Is there a book or other resource available to learn more about strategies and perhaps historical sieges?
@SandRhoman History I saw that, thanks, but I was hoping for more of a general introduction to the topic. Perhaps that's unrealistic.
there’s a bibliography in the description!
On the issue of ceaser, he basically IMPROVISED that tactic when faced with an impossible situation and a bigger enemy army + fort.
Good to know…very useful nowadays! I always wondered how could I attack the fort at St. Augustine in Florida…now I know! Thanks!
This video reminded me of the siege of Vienna by the ottomans , especially the idea of digging under the city to destroy the walls.
@destry lett COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN SIDE
But then..... THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED
Vienna, as many other major cities, was a star fort. Like the Vatican City, Krakow, Paris, Lille, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, Copenhague, Nicosia, Akko, and almost every city in the Netherlands.
alvi syahri So, in 1683 the Viennese placed drums with sand on it or jugs of water in the cellar. You already seem to know that. Once you notice the vibrations you know that the tunnel must be close and start digging. The vibrations get weaker if you are further away from the tunnel so you know pretty well where the tunnel is. Then it is a race against time.
Just an anecdote: The croissant was invented in Austria to celebrate the discovery of such a tunnel in 1683 in Vienna.
Elvas in Portugal's Alentejo, near Badajoz in Spain, has a star fort in very good condition.
Found this while falling through the star fort rabbit hole. So far they are on every continent and pre-deluvian. Wish me luck!
Thanks! I was struggling to siege cities, I just want to take some foods and they closed the cities and called us bandits. This video helped me take the food! 10/10
Please provide a DIY tutorial on turning your home into a star fortress.
Great Video!!
A good movie about this subject is way overdue. I simply need to see some 17th century trench warfare. I once saw a documentary about the Seven Years’ War that did a great job at showing some trench warfare at a siege, complete with sharpshooters, muddy uniforms, and raining artillery fire. It was oddly satisfying to finally see those shiny uniforms used as they must have been in a real battle.