A quick read on the art of the siege

It’s easy to speculate that the Greeks avoided sieges for as long as they could because they had the sense to realise how nasty things could get. The ancient and medieval world was under no illusions about the misery of sieges. The Mongols made that common knowledge into a military tool. When they wanted a city, they offered it three chances to surrender; three refusals, and the city would be razed to the ground and the inhabitants massacred.

via On Sieges by K. J. Parker — Subterranean Press.

Meanwhile, modern warmakers don’t have the sense to stop when they should, lacking a sense of how nasty things get before they get worse.