Siege of Jerusalem, 70 CE

At the climax of the First Jewish­–Roman War, the future emperor Titus was given charge of the troops in Judaea following his father’s return to Rome to take the position of Emperor. He surrounded Jerusalem with four legions which built large camps around the city, virtually unchallenged by the Jewish soldiers in Jerusalem due to their own internal power struggle. The siege began around Passover so many tens of thousands of pilgrims were also trapped inside. With the aid of battering rams and siege towers, the Romans managed to break through the outer wall after two weeks and engaged the Jewish soldiers in the new city. The Romans struggled to breach the walls of the Antonia Fortress, resorting to building a palisade around the remaining Jewish stronghold in order to starve the defenders of supplies. They eventually passed through the fortress and destroyed the sacred temple, before stamping out the last resistance on 8 September.