B L O 



BLOCK-/7n//-7?;W, in Sea-Language, denotes the fitliation 

 of a tackle, when the effect is Uellioycd by the blocks meet- 

 ing together. 



Block-w^-!;/, is a name fomctimes given in our laws to 

 logwooil. 2; Ehz. c. 9. 



BLOCKADE, in the Military /Jrl, fignifies the method 

 adopted in cutting off all communication between a town 

 which it is intended to reduce by famine, and the neighbour- 

 ing country. It is effected by polling troops on all the paf- 

 fages and avenues leading to and from the place ; preventing 

 anv fnpplies of provifions or reinforcements from being 

 thrown in bv the enemy, and thus, in courfe of time, flarv- 

 ing the garrifon into a furrcnder. A blockade difiers from 

 a regidar fiege, inafmuch as there are no trenches or attacks. 

 Blockades are principally formed by the cavalry. The term 

 probably owes its origin to the German expreflion hlochus, 

 or lloclhatife, a hiihuark, or houfe of ivood ; or to tlie Gaulifh 

 biociil, a liirrifiifie ; though others derive it from the Latin 

 taailare, figiiifying tojlop a pcija^e. 



The word is fometimes ufed in fpcnking of the com- 

 mencement of a fiege, when detachments are fent forward 

 to ftize the piincipal avenues, and occupy the ground on 

 which the befiegers intend to fix their quarters. 



To ra'if a blockade is to force the troops, which keep the 

 place blocked up, from their polls. 



The only method of reducing fortreiTes in the more re- 

 mote ages of antiquity, was by blockade. The town was 

 completely invefled by a wall of mafonry conftrufted around 

 it, and furnidicd at certain dillances with redoubts and 

 places of arms ; or the bcliegers contented themfelves in 

 furrounding it with a deep ditch and intrcnchment, well 

 pallifadcd, to prevent the garrifon from making forties, or 

 any fuccour or provifions from being introduced by the ad- 

 verfary without. In this fituation the invelling, army tran- 

 quilly waited until famine brought about what at that pe- 

 riod art and force were unable to accomplifli. , From hence 

 proceeds the extreme length of thofe lieges chiefly fpoken 

 of in the more early pages of profane hiftoi-y ; that of 

 Troy, which laded ten years ; that of Azotus, by Pfamme- 

 tiehus, which continued twenty-nine ; and that of Babylon, 

 by Cyrus, who, according to Xenophon (Cyrop. ), would 

 have been much longer detained before its walls, if a lucky 

 furprize hid not_ rendered him mailer of the place. See 

 Babylon. 



The ancient Greeks, on forefceing that the fiege of a 

 fortrefs would prove a work of time, often changed it into 

 a blockade. They environed the town with a foffe and 

 rampart againft the attempts of the gai-rifon, and drew an- 

 other ditch round it towards the country, to oppofe fuch 

 troops as might advance to fuccour the place. The bcfieg- 

 ers eilablidied their camp between the two lines, and thus, 

 in procefs of time, llarved their adverfaries into a capitulation. 



In the iiillsnce of the blockade of Platvea, carried on 

 during the third year of the Peluponnefian war, the works 

 condrutled by the Lacedemonians were of a more complex 

 nature. They confided in two walls of folid mafonry, built 

 at the diftance of fixteen feet from each other, of a reafon- 

 able thicknefs, and covered in at top by a kind of roof or 

 platform. The intervening fpace formed a I'uite of apait- 

 ments, in which the troopF, dedined to carry on the block- 

 ade, were lodged during the winter. Each of thefe walls 

 was fnrnifhed with a parapet and battlements, and, at the 

 dillance of every ten of thefe lad, was ereiled a turret with 

 a flat roof, of the breadth of the whole terrace, and capable 

 of making refi dance at the fame time againft an enemy from 

 within or without. The only method of communication be- 

 tween the diffeient chambers, was by travelling thefe towers. 



B L O 



The approach to the walls on either fide was defended 

 by a deep ditch, the earth of which had been ufed in con- 

 ftruding the rampart. During the night, guards were 

 kept on the ftveial towers; centinels were eitablifhed at 

 different pods round the whole extent of the circumvallation ; 

 and a corps de rcferve of three hundred men remained 

 always under arms, ready to march on the firft fignal where- 

 evcr there might be occafion for their fervices. 



This is the mofl: remarkable in (lance of a blockade we 

 meet with in the Grecian hiftory. Notwithllanding, how- 

 ever, all the precautions above related, and the feeming 

 impradieability of flight, the i.trepid garrifon of Plstsa 

 found means to elude the vigilance of their bcllegers, and, 

 by a well concerted fortie, about one half of them effected 

 an efcape acrofs the formidable works of the Peloponne- 

 {iaiis, and reached Athens in fafety. The event is related 

 in a very interelling and circumftantial manner by Thucydi- 

 des in his fecond book. The Romans firft imitated, and 

 finally furpaffed the Greeks in this as well as in every other 

 branch of fcientific warfare. As early as the fiege of Agri- 

 gentum, in the firft Punic war, we find them dividing their 

 forces, and forming two encampments to block up the place 

 on both fides ; connefting thefe encampments by lines of 

 circumvallation, and braving within thefe defences every 

 effort made to relieve the town by the enemy from without. 

 But thefe lines were equally badlv guarded againft a fortie 

 with thofe of Platsa. The Carthaginian garrifon, imitat- 

 ing the former example, fucceeded in a like manner in forc- 

 ing a paiTage by night over the intrenchmcnts of the be- 

 fiegers. (Polyb. lib. i. c. 17.) The famous blockade of 

 Lilybxum, during the fame war, which iafted for nearly 

 ten years, is a remarkable inftance of Roman perfeverancc 

 in military undertakings, although, the place being open to 

 receiving fupplies from the fca, the affiduity of the bcficgers 

 was not attended with fuch complete iuccefs as it deferved. 

 By degrees, however, the Romans improved in the art of 

 reducing fortreffes by blockade. Syracufe, which the abi- 

 lities of Archimedes rendered impregnable by open force, had 

 been thus reduced by Marcellus, but for the treachery of a 

 townfman, which in a great mealure abridged his labour ; 

 and all the military fcience and manoeuvre of the formidable 

 Hannibal was in vain exerted f >r ti'-e prelervation of Capua, 

 during the twelve months the fiege lalled. (Polyb. Livy.) 



The works conftruftcd by .Scipio iEmilianus for tlie rc- 

 duiflion of Numantia, exceeded in magnitude all which had 

 been raifed on any former occafion, and befides furpufling 

 them in llrength, embraced a much greater extent of ground, 

 than the intrenchmcnts of the Lacedemonians before Pla- 

 ta;a. Numantia was eighty-four lladia, or nearly a league 

 in circuit. Scipio, after having inveftcd it, drew a circle 

 inclofing twice the area of the circumference of the town ; 

 and this work being compkated, he threw up his hues of 

 circumvallation and contravallalioii at a reafonable diftance 

 from each other. Each of thefe fortifications was compofed 

 of a rampart eight feet thick, and ten in height, defended 

 by fliarp pallifadcs, and flanked with turrets at a hundred 

 feet ciillant from each other. We can hardly comprehend 

 or credit the immenfe labour of fuch a circumvallation ; but 

 nothing can be better attedcd than thefe fads. (Appian. 

 deBell. Hifp.) ^ 



Among the numerous exploits of Cornelius Sylla, the 

 blockade of Pra^nefte, during his civil war with the party of 

 Marius in Italy, is not to be reckoned the lead. The in- 

 flexible afliduity, with which it was kept up during a long 

 period of time, and prefcrved unbroken againfl the bloody 

 and almoft unintermitted attacks of feveral hoftile annies, 

 fuperior in number to his own, conveys the higheft idea of 



his 



