Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/35

 SIEGE 27 them of supplies ; and by regular siege opera- tions. When the siege seemed likely to last some time, the ancients were in the habit, if they expected sorties from the place or an at- tempt to relieve it from without, of securing their position by a double line of works, of circumvallation and countervallation. These were generally continuous lines constructed of earth, wood, and sometimes of masonry, flanked by towers. Annoying the besieged with missiles thrown from all the artillery known in that day, they pushed forward cov- ered approaches on the points of attack. These were wooden frames, 7 ft. high, 8 ft. wide, and 16 ft. long, mounted on wheels, with a roof strong enough to resist the projectiles thrown by the besieged. They were covered with raw hides or turf, or protected by other expedients from being set on fire. The ditch when reached was filled with earth, logs, and stones, upon which the battering ram could be placed in position to breach the wall; or a descent was made into it for the purpose of undermining the wall. The battering ram was ordinarily placed in the lower story of a tower and suspended by chains or other mech- anism. The tower was high enough to com- mand those of the place, and was filled with armed men, who drove the defenders away from that part of the wall in its front. They were frequently aided by other towers pushed along on the ground or on inclined planes. The besieged, besides shooting lighted arrows and throwing incendiary compositions against the approaches, made sorties, which were usu- ally bloody in their results, for want of cov- ered ways or other exterior works beyond the ditch. The battering ram being in position, the besieged suspended beams of wood, stuffed contrivances like huge mattresses, and other devices, between the head 01 the ram and the all, to deaden its blows. They sometimes ed machines on the principle of the crane, y means of which they caught the head of ' .e ram, or even the whole engine, and lifted from the ground or overturned it. Archi- edes devised such machines for the defence f Syracuse when it was besieged by the omans, in 214-212 B. 0. The wall being reached by the ram, or thrown down by un- Brmining, preparations were made to assault ' e place through the opening. Often, while e besiegers were engaged in removing the ins from the breaches, so that an assault uld be made, the besieged were building a ew wall in rear of the breach enclosing the attacked, and the whole operation of oving forward the battering rams and breach- .g the wall had to be renewed. The surren- der or capture was generally due to the ex- 1 austed condition of the besieged, rather than to the assaults. It was the custom for the besieging army to demand a surrender before they began the siege ; and usually the besieged offered to capitulate before the final assault as made, as a hopeless resistance entailed death or slavery on all the defenders. Even in modern times the lives of the garrison are jeoparded if the besieged delay making terms until the final assault is successful. Transi- tion Period. The introduction of gunpowder in military operations led to the substitution of earthen trenches for the wooden covers and other ancient expedients, and also replaced the battering ram by heavy cannon. In this pe- riod, owing to the imperfection of the artil- lery, the want of connection between the ap- proaches, and other deficiencies in the mea- sures of attack, the besieged were often able to make a vigorous and prolonged defence, and sieges became the most important military operations of the time. Before 1741 there were more sieges than battles; from 1741 to 1783 the proportion was 67 sieges to 100 bat- tles ; during the French revolution the propor- tion was about 25 to 100 ; and during the first empire there were only 16 sieges to 100 bat- tles. In recent wars these proportions have still further diminished. But the necessity for sieges still exists, and the rules and practice of taking a fortified place still hold a promi- nent position in the military art. The present method of attacking a fortified place by regu- lar approaches is practically that organized by Vauban. Previous to his time, the middle of the 17th century, although many sieges had terminated successfully, there was no uniform system in the modes of attack. Vauban is especially credited with the invention of rico- chet firing, the concentration of enfilading batteries, and the systematic arrangement of the parallels. Modern Sieges. Let it be sup- posed that siege operations are to be conducted against a fortified place immediately upon the theatre of war. As the operations against a place fortified by any of the modern systems are governed by the same general conditions, and are practically the same until the besieg- ers reach the counterscarp of the ditch, the methods used will be fully explained by con- sidering the mode of conducting an attack on a place fortified by the bastioned system. (See FORTIFICATION.) To simplify the explanation, it is supposed that the front to be attacked has the usual outworks and occupies a hori- zontal site, and that the cannon used by both the besiegers and besieged are the ordinary smooth-bore siege artillery. Irregularity of site and the use of heavier calibre or rifled cannon will only have the effect of increasing certain distances and adding to the difficulties of the siege, without affecting the principles common to them all. As the scarp walls are hidden from the besiegers' view by masks of earth, the object of the ciege works is to reach, under cover, positions where openings in the walls can be made either by breaching bat- teries or mines ; and under the shelter of these approaches troops can be brought up to make assaults through the openings. In this front, in order to make a breach in the scarp by artillery fire that will be practicable for the