Siege Warfare (Early Modern)

Abstract

Early modern warfare was dominated by sieges rather than battles. Sieges were far more numerous and more decisive for the outcome of a war, and many of the major battles were actually fought between a besieging army and a relief force, as at Pavia (1525), St. Quentin (1557), Mezokeresztes (1596), Nördlingen (1634), Rocroi (1643), and Vienna (1683). Moreover a failed siege could prove just as destructive to the beleaguering army as a lost battle, and equally damaging to princely prestige; witness the ruinous defeats of the Emperor Charles V's troops before Metz (1552), the Ottomans at Malta (1565), or the French royal army at La Rochelle (1573).