Does a Breach in the Gates or Walls Immediately Decides a Sieges Fate?

[Pisces Axxxxx]

A question on Medieval Warfare. Whenever we read General History Textbooks and watch Medieval/Fantasy Themed Movies like Lord of the Rings and Bravehart, they always make it out that once the Castles main gate has been destroyed by battering rams or once a section of the Wall has been torn down, the attackers immediately already won and its absolutely hopeless for the Besieged.

 

Heck when history Textbooks portray Sieges like the Fall of Constantinople they always show that the Siege was lost as soon as a breach to the walls was made or the gates were either destroyed or open by traitors.

 

However in some of the more realistic Medieval games like Medieval:Total War, they don't portray the walls being torn down or the gates being smashed open as the end of a Siege and its hopeless for the Defenders to keep fighting-in fact they portray the opposite. The Attackers still have to take on the Defenders in a hard brutal melee. If the Defender holds the melee of long enough, there's a chance of reinforcements coming, of the attackrs losing morale and abandoning the siege, or the defenders slaughtering the attackers that entered the castle and then counterattacking the outside enemy camps!

 

Kingdom of Heaven exactly portrays. After a section of the wall of Jerusalem was torn opened by catapults, the Muslims started swarming into the Castle. But the Crusaders counterattacked at that moment and literally slaughtered hundreds of Muslims as they entered the city. Witnessing the Crusaders hold off against his siege forces was one of the reasons Saladin negotiated with the Christians instead of taking the city by force and let them go after a negotiation both int he movie and IRL.

 

Also the first Warcraft game portray it like this.I know its a fantasy game but it makes good counter example. Even though the Orcs breached the Stormwindkeep and ultimately killed the King's guards in a Surprise Attack during a time of peace, the humans were able to hold off the hordes of Orcs long enough for a reinforcement of Knights to come and chase the Orcs out of Stormwind and caused so much damage in the Counter-Attack that the Orcs were unable to mobilize their forces for another ten years.

 

So I'm curious-was a Castle doomed to fall once its gates were destroyed or opened or once a hole was made in the Castle Walls like Lords of the Rings almost portrayed in their sieges and like General History Books always make it seemed?

 

Or was there still hope to successfully defend the Castle and outlast the sieging enemies (even of counterattacking them after the initial wave of enemy in the breach failed)?That creating an opening was only the first part of the battle and there was still more to come like Kingdom of Heaven, Medieval:Total War, and Warcraft portrays the sieges like?

 

Also can anyone put Real life examples of Sieges where even though the besiegers were able to destroy the gates or make a hole on the Walls and enter the Castle, the defenders were still able to hold them off and even ultimately beat the attackers?

[caldrail]

A breach in the wall or gate is a signficant moment in that it allows enemy troops into the fortification. That does not mean the defenders can't repel them, only that they are under pressure and their defenses are weaker for that breach from that point.

 

The usual defensive tactic is to withdraw to inner defences which is often the case with fortifications. Many castles have an inner bailey which is an extra gate to be breached (the gates being usually the easiest point of forced entry). The defenders at Masada built crude inner defences, consisting of stone and timber layers, knowing full well the Roman legions would eventually breach the wall.

 

However, since the defenders will eventually succumb to dehydration, disease, starvation, and poor morale, a well timed assault has every chance of success.

[Melvadius]

You do not need a breach to make a castle surrender I believe that one of the 'nominally' strongest castles in the near East Krak de Chevaliers controlled by the Knights Hospitaller's fell to the Mamluks in a 36 day siege during which the defenders had been forced back into their central citdel after the outer defences had been breached one by one. Apparently the defenders received a 'forged' letter from their order saying they could surrender however I do wonder if the capture of the aqueduct supplying the castle with water may also have played a part in their surrender.

 

In comparison during the Wars of Scottish Independence Edward I of England invaded Scotland and had the 'War Wolf' built (by repute one of the largest trebuchets ever constructed) during the siege of Stirling. The defenders saw it nearing completion and tried to surrender before it could be used but Edward sent back their surrender party until he could try it out and had succeded in breaching the walls.

 

However later on after Stirling Castle had been rebuilt and now under the control of Edward II the English defenders were placed under siege for a year. The fact that the defenders promised to surrender if not relieved within a year directly led to the Battle of Bannockburn and ultimately defeat for the English despite technically having a much stronger army than the relatively poorly equipped besieging Scots.

[Kosmo]

When the walls were breached the attackers could better use their superiority in numbers and fight on equal terms, but that was no guarantee of victory.

The forces of Demetrios Poliorcetes breached the walls of Rhodes and fortified themselves in the theater, but were isolated and defeated by the defenders who would later build the Colossus in celebration.

During the Second Siege of Vienna Ottoman forces penetrated the city, but the garrison successfully hold them up until the German-Polish relief army defeated the Ottoman Army outside the walls.

Napoleon broke through the walls of Acre, but failed to take the city because a second wall was hastily built inside by the Ottomans to block his forces.

Even in The Lord of the Rings, after the outer defenses of Helm's Deep fell to the orcs of Insengard, the Rohirrim resisted sometime in Hornburg before launching a cavalry counterattack. During the Battle of Minas Tirith the forces of Sauron broke through the Great Gate, but to take the city they would have had to take 6 other internal gates because of how the White City was built.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Even in a city (thus not a castel) the breaching of a wall could be countered by the defender, who could build a second wall behind the first (if I remember well it did happen at Gaza or Tyr during the siege by Alexander the Great). And indeed remember that Pyrrhus died from a tile launched from a roof by an elderly lady, during the fighting that took place in the capture of a city.