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{{Infobox Mmilitary Cconflict
|conflict=Siege of Ladysmith
|partof=[[Second Boer War]]
|image=[[File:Ladysmith Town Hall 1900 - Project Gutenberg eText 15972.png|300px]]
|caption=The town hall at Ladysmith, showing shell damage to the tower.
|date=2 November 1899 – 28 February 1900
|place=[[Ladysmith, South Africa|Ladysmith]], [[Colony of Natal|Natal]], [[South Africa]]
|casus=
|territory=
|result=British victory
|combatant1={{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
|combatant2={{flagicon|Transvaal}} [[South African Republic]]<br/>{{flagicon|Orange Free State}} [[Orange Free State]]
|commander1={{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[George Stuart White]]
|commander2={{flagicon|Transvaal}} [[Petrus Jacobus Joubert]]<br/>{{flagicon|Transvaal}} [[Louis Botha]]<br/>{{flagicon|Orange Free State}} [[Christiaan De Wet]]
|strength1=12,500
|strength2=max 21,000 men
|casualties1=c. 850 killed and wounded<br/>800 prisoners
|casualties2=52+ killed<br/>Total casualties unknown
}}
{{fFix  bunching|mid}}
{{Campaignbox Second Boer War}}
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The '''Siege of Ladysmith''' was a protracted engagement in the [[Second Boer War]], taking place between 30 October 1899 and 28 February 1900 at [[Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal|Ladysmith]], [[Colony of Natal|Natal]].

==Background==
As war with the Boer republics appeared likely in June 1899, the [[War Office]] in Britain dispatched a total of 15,000 troops to [[Colony of Natal|Natal]], expecting that if war broke out they would be capable of defending the colony until reinforcements could be mobilised and sent to South Africa by steamship. Some of these troops were diverted while returning to Britain from [[British India|India]], others were sent from garrisons in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Lieutenant General Sir [[George Stuart White|George White]] was appointed to command this enlarged force. White was 64 years old, and suffered from a leg injury incurred in a riding accident. Having served mainly in India, he had little previous experience of South Africa.

==Outbreak of war==
{{mMain|Battle of Talana Hill|Battle of Elandslaagte|Battle of Ladysmith}}

Contrary to the advice of several British officials such as Sir [[Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner|Alfred Milner]], the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, the Boer governments were not over-awed by the despatch of British troops to Natal. Instead, they regarded it as evidence of Britain's determination to seize control of the Boer republics. The Transvaal government under President [[Paul Kruger]] considered launching an atta(contracted; show full)

At noon, de Villiers made another attack on Wagon Point. Some exhausted defenders panicked and fled, but Hamilton led reserves to the spot and recaptured some empty gun pits. Late in the afternoon, a terrific rainstorm broke, and the Boers withdrew under cover of it. 

The British suffered 175 killed and 249 wounded. 52 dead Boers were left in the British positions, but their total casualties were not recorded.

==The later siege and relief==
{{
mMain|Relief of Ladysmith}}
[[File:The Relief of Ladysmith by John Henry Frederick Bacon.jpg|thumb|The Relief of Ladysmith. Painting by [[John Henry Frederick Bacon]] (1868-1914)]]
[[File:Rejoicing at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, on Water Street on Receipt of the News of the Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa.jpg|thumb|Rejoicing in St. Andrews, Canada upon receipt of the news of the relief of Ladysmith.]]

(contracted; show full)
[[File:Varieties of Ammunition collected at Ladysmith - Project Gutenberg etext 21280.jpg|thumb|Varieties of ammunition collected at Ladysmith]]

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Donald|first=MacDonald|title=How We Kept the Flag Flying: The Story of the Siege of Ladysmith|publisher=Ward, Lock & Co|year=1900}} Available as {{internet archive|howwekeptflagfl00macdgoog|How We Kept the Flag Flying: The Story of the Siege of Ladysmith}}

==References==
{{
rReflist}}

==References==
*Kruger, Rayne; ''Goodbye Dolly Gray'', New English Library, 1964
*McElwee, William; ''The Art of War: Waterloo to Mons'', Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1974. ISBN 0-253-20214-0 
*Pakenham, Thomas; ''The Boer War'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979, ISBN 0-7474-0976-5

==External links==
*{{gutenberg|no=16603|name=Ladysmith, The Diary of a Siege by Henry W. Nevinson}}
*{{gutenberg|no=16466|name=Four Months Besieged, The Story of Ladysmith by H. H. S. Pearse}}
*{{gutenberg|no=14426|name=London to Ladysmith via Pretoria by Sir Winston S. Churchill}}
*{{gutenberg|no=15972|name=The Record of a Regiment of the Line by M. Jacson}}, Being a Regimental History of the 1st Battalion [[Devonshire Regiment]] during the Boer War 1899-1902.  Deals extensively with the Siege of Ladysmith
*[http://www.pinetreeweb.com/conan-doyle-chapter-07.htm Conan Doyle, Arthur; The Great Boer War]
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26198/26198-h/26198-h.htm#Page_38 Creswicke, Louis; South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 2 (of 6)]
*[http://www.free-ebooks-uk.netfirms.com/great-boer-war/13-the-siege-of-ladysmith.html free ebooks uk]

{{cCoord|28|33.6|S|29|46.8|E|type:city_region:ZA|display=title|name=Ladysmith}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladysmith, Siege Of}}
[[Category:Conflicts in 1899]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1900]]
[[Category:Battles of the Second Boer War|Ladysmith, Siege of]]
[[Category:1899 in South Africa]]
[[Category:Sieges of the Second Boer War]]
[[Category:History of Kwa-Zulu Natal]]
[[Category:Histories of cities in South Africa]]

[[es:Sitio de Ladysmith]]
[[eu:Ladysmitheko setioa]]
[[fr:Siège de Ladysmith]]
[[it:Assedio di Ladysmith]]
[[no:Beleiringen av Ladysmith]]
[[pl:Oblężenie Ladysmith]]