Discovery Channel - Under Siege (2004)

Under Siege looks of sieges in history and the nature and evolution of combat across the centuries.
In ancient world siege warfare was the most brutal form of war. Typically involving whole urban societies, siege warfare often ended in the sack of a city and the massacre or enslavement of entire populations.
In Medieval Europe, siege tactics were a crucial part of warfare, especially from the 11th century CE when castles became more widespread in Europe and sieges outnumbered pitched battles. Castles and fortified cities offered protection to both the local population and armed forces and presented an array of defensive features which, in turn, led to innovations in weapons, siege engine technology, and strategies. There are many significant sieges in military history, and also a few standouts worthy of mention, because the battle, the outcome or the aftermath were so consequential.
Few topics in the history of human conflict capture the popular imagination more than the drama of siege warfare. Whether it is a city, a town, a battalion or a regiment, the blood is stirred by stories of those that have stood behind walls and barricades in a last stand against their attackers.
So what makes those under siege battle on when to do so often had little logic? Who were the leaders who rallied their troops or their fellow citizens? What drives man and women to acts of extraordinary courage and self-sacrifice? Why had victory sometimes been won when bloody failure looks absolutely certain?

Eagle Media Production for Discovery Networks Europe

Part 1: Alesia 52BC: Fighting Caesar's Legions
As resistance to the Roman invasion of Northern Europe collapsed, the Gallic warrior Vercingetorix marshaled 100,000 troops against the formidable and ruthless Roman legions in a dramatic futile last stand at the famous Burgundian hilltop fort. However the last of the fighting Gaulls were up against one of military history's most inspired commanders - Julius Caesar and Roman legions of almost mythical invincibility. The extraordinary siege works constructed by the Romans not only kept Vercingetorix's army penned in but also managed to keep an enormous Gallic relief army out.

Part 2: Ciudad Rodrigo 1812: Breaching the Walls
The bloody Peninsular War, which lasted from 1807 to 1814 saw the great British commanders consistently defeat the best French generals in Napoleon's armies in a series of famous pitched battles. Ciudad Rodrigo, however, was a very different type of fight - the bloody business of siege warfare - where civilians and soldiers share the same conditions and privations. This is the story of how great and lesser breaches in the walls of the city were made and how it was eventually captured. It features some of the most famous episodes and characters of the war including the fearsome 'Black Bob' Craufurd.

Part 3: Petersburg 1864: Battle of the Crater
Fought during the American Civil War, Petersburg should never have been under siege at all. Union forces should have seized the town in June 1864, but through a mixture of confusion and incompetence they failed to do so, and a grueling year-long siege followed. Before the attack was over, 4500 Union soldiers were killed or wounded. Petersburg is best remembered for the tragedy of the great crater, the result of a huge underground explosion in July 1864, into which the Union Army inexplicably charged, creating a ready-made killing zone. This unusual tactic was an extreme answer to solving the problem of siege warfare.

Part 4: Verdun 1916: The Mill on the Meuse
This was the hellish, protracted siege known to many as 'The Mincer'. The fanatical French defense of the three forts cost hundreds of thousands of lives and was in part the reason the battle of the Somme was fought during the same year. The battle ebbed and flowed throughout the year and the forts were captured and recaptured many times before finally the fighting eased in December 1916. Toward the end of the battle almost 700,000 French and German troops had been killed or wounded, trying to take or defend the city.

Part 5: Leningrad 1941: The 900 Days
The grim, powerful story of the "Hero City" that lost one million of its citizens as it steadfastly withstood a 900-day German siege. The siege was the longest and most enduring of World War Two if not the entire twentieth century. What was initially a planned attack to take the city in four weeks turned into a nine-hundred-day siege of immense proportions. Like Stalingrad, Leningrad's refusal to buckle became a symbol of Russian resistance during Hitler's ferocious "Barbarossa" campaign. Subjected to air attacks, artillery bombardments, starvation and disease the population stood firm until January 1944 when the German forces were finally driven from the city.

Part 6: Newark 1643-1646: The Heart of the English Civil War
The story of the battles for the strategically vital town in Nottinghamshire is a classic example of how a siege was conducted during the long and bitter fighting of the English Civil War. The town of Newark was the gateway to the North of England and was the site of three separate sieges, as the armies of the King and of Parliament fought for control. In February 1643 the Royalists beat back the determined Parliamentarian attacks but the town then had to be relieved by the dashing Prince Rupert a year later.Finally, after three years of bombardment in May 1646, Newark surrendered to Parliamentary forces on the explicit orders of King Charles I, who had himself already surrendered and in doing so sealed his own fate and condemned himself to the block.