Catapults: Siege Warfare During The Middle Ages

1305 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Physics of catapults

Catapults have been known to siege warfare even in ancient history. Though history Catapults were one of the most effective weapons in siege warfare. Various types of Catapults have been used by the Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. The first catapults that were ever built were made in the early attempts to increase the range and power of a crossbow. A Greek historian named, Diodorus Siculus, was the first to document the use of a mechanical arrow firing catapult in 399 BC. Catapults as we think of them were introduced to Europe during the Middle Ages. With war prevalent throughout Europe during the Middle Ages the popularity of fortified castle and city wall rose significantly. This made Catapults a necessity for many armies back then. Catapults …show more content…

The ballista is similar to the crossbow and it uses twisted skeins of material to create torsion as its way of storing energy for release (later it can release in such a way that will create power for the catapult to launch the projectile far). The Greek word "Ballistes" means to throw, which is why this catapult was named a ballista. It was invented by the Greeks and later modified by the Romans. Its appearance was the following: two wooden arms which look similar to a bow laid on its side with the middle section missing, are attached to a piece of rope. This rope was attached to a winch and pulled back, bending the arm back. Another type of catapult used was a mangonel. The Latin word "manganon" means engine of war, which speaks for itself: it was a catapult highly used during the war. The mangonel was invented by Romans in 400 BC and they made it with wheels so that it was easy to build and transport. It has a long wooden arm with a bucket–early models used a sling–with a rope attached to the end. The arm is then pulled back from its natural 90º angle and the energy is stored in the tension of the rope and the arm. The final catapult was designed for maximum force and destruction and was commonly used to throw stones at castle walls. It is called the trebuchet and was created by the Chinese in 500 BC. It was introduced to Europe not long after it was invented. It included a long arm which could have been up to 60 ft long, that was balanced on a fulcrum that was far from the center. The short arm was attached to a counterbalance which was usually a heavy lead weight or a pivoting ballast box filled with earth, sand, or stones. This type of catapult was one of the most feared and hated siege

Show More
Related

  • Medieval Siege Weapons

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Earlier models just used a large weight on one end of a pivoting arm. The arm was pulled back the missile was placed and then let go.

    Read More

  • The Anglo-Saxon Period: Weapons and Warriors

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people may have heard of the story of Beowulf, but not know who the Anglo-Saxons were. According to an article on BBC History, the term Anglo-Saxon refers to settlers from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony. The Anglo-Saxons made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410 and the period lasted for 600 years. During this period there where many rises and falls of bishops and kings, as well as many important battles. The Anglo-Saxon warriors had a variety of weapons and armor to defend them. This includes spears, scramaseaxes, swords, shields, helmets, and body armor.

    Read More

  • Essay On Trebuchet

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    For almost as long as civilizations began they have been fighting against each other. Often times these wars come down to who has the better military equipment. When one army creates an elite war machine another army is sure to soon copy or improve it. For example the U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased the first ever military aircraft in 1902 (Taylor). Two years later the Italians were also using aircrafts. The trebuchet catapult is no exception; it was one of the most destructive military machines of its time (Chevedden, 2000). A trebuchet works by using the energy of a falling counterweight to launch a projectile (Trebuchet). In this research paper I intend to explain the history and dynamics of a trebuchet catapult.

    Read More

  • The Trebuchet

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Trebuchets earned a reputation for being much more accurate and precise than their onager and catapult counterparts. Not only was this accuracy a benefit, but being based on rotational motion and leverage rather than torsion (spring power) and lacking in a throwing arm stop, the trebuchet proved a much safer alternative for the personnel operating it. Onagers and Mangonels would literally explode on occasion when the torsion proved too great or a crack developed in the throwing arm due to the rapid stops it experienced.

    Read More

  • Debunking Myths: Medieval Warfare Misconceptions

    1459 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article Popular [Mis]conceptions of Medieval Warfare by Peter Burkholder argues that social stereotypes of medieval warfare result in common misconceptions of what took place during the Middle Ages. Burkholder explains that the entertainment industry perpetuates misconceptions about medieval warfare through inaccurate portrayals in various media. This thesis is further developed in the article through a variety of observations about the correlation between entertainment industries and historical values. The point of the reading is to expose readers to how the entertainment industry misconstrues accounts of medieval warfare by sensationalizing the details of entertainment values. In the article Crusading Warfare and Its Adaptation to Eastern

    Read More

  • The History of the Crossbow

    2022 Words  | 5 Pages

    The crossbow is a weapon of antiquity. There is plausible evidence that the Chinese developed the weapon as early as 1500 BC Surviving examples exist in China from as far back as the third century BC These Han dynasty relics display a great deal of sophistication. The lock (chi) is comprised of a cast bronze box which holds a rotating nut and a two-lever seer and trigger that locks the release in a set position. Roman soldiers captured and ransomed in Sogdiana in central Asia in the first decades of modern reckoning are credited with bringing the technology of the crossbow to the West.

    Read More

  • How Did The Mongols Use Gunpowder

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Chinese invented the earliest gunpowder-based weapon when they discovered the great potential for using gunpowder in warfare. The Chinese military focused on outsmarting and surprising their enemies with any possible ways. Therefore, fire was used in warfare because it caused great fear and confusion amongst their enemies. To improve their strategies and efficiency in sieging their enemies, Chinese military engineers experimented with gunpowder towards the first millennial. They found that gunpowder in bamboo tubes can propel themselves just with the pressure from the released gas and generally created loud noises and fire. The Wujing Zongyao, a military manual written in 1044 CE by Zeng Gongliang and Ding Du records the fundamental composition of gunpowder (see appendix 1), the process of producing it in large scales, and illustrations with descriptions of the different types of the earliest gunpowder-based weapons (see appendix 2 & 3) such as barbed arrows propelled by gunpowder and different types of bombs. During the 13th century, The Chinese military embraced the applications of gunpowder weapons and used it to prevent the Mongols from seizing parts of the Great Wall on the Northern side of China. The weapons that the Chinese had used include small bundles of gunpowder that would be wrapped in bamboo or paper and were fixed to arrows ignited with a fuse, gunpowder mixed

    Read More

  • Crossbows

    381 Words  | 1 Pages

    Crossbows are a highly effective weapon for hunting and war even in today's standards. The first records of crossbows are from China in the 6th century BC. The knowledge then spreads slowly to the west into Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, the greatest empire of all times. The crossbow remained the favored weapon of war and hunting in Rome until the 15th century when gunpowder was also introduced from China.

    Read More

  • Medieval Weapons

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...e went into motion. Possible projectiles of the trebuchet were living prisoners, jugs of Greek fire, rocks, and animals. Another large weapon of siege was used primarily in storms, the battering ram. In its early stages, the ram was no more than a hefty beam with a mass of metal attached to the end. Men would hoist the cumbersome boom onto their shoulders and run into a wall or door as many times as needed until the surface under attack gave way. In the Middle Ages, it was developed into more of a machine, for the ram hung from the center of a tent under which the men operating the ram could hide. The ram could be swung like a pendulum much more easily than having to constantly run back and forth. Also, castle guards often poured hot oil or other things onto the ram and its engineers. The tent, which was on wheels, protected the men and the battering ram as well.

    Read More

  • Essay On Catapult

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mangonel, somehow, had some design flaw in that is called for a wooden barrier to be a concept. It is place in catapult history is nonetheless well documented as this model was still used when the trebuchet arrived on the scene. Unlike it is earlier Greek brother. The mongonel is counted as a easier design in history of catapult.

    Read More

  • Weaponry during the Elizabethan Period

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    The weaponry during the Elizabethan period was the most advance weaponry known to the world. The most common weapons used were crossbows, longbows, war hammers, spears, early forms of pistol and cannons. With all this weaponry Europeans also needed armor, like chainmail and plate armor. Different types of weapons and the different kinds of armor were a key component to warfare during the Elizabethan period, in Europe.

    Read More

  • Roman Siege Weapons

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ballista was like a much larger version of the crossbow used by besiegers. It got it’s power from being fired with sinew ropes and had two arms. Although the ballista was a great weapon it was hard to construct, therefore the Romans developed a new version called the Mangonel. It, like the Ballista also got it's power from sinew ropes but unlike the ballista which used two arms, the Mangonel only used one arm. To make the Mangonel easier to transport the Romans added wheels. It was very light and could hurl objects such as rocks and even burning projectiles.

    Read More

  • The Machine Gun

    1364 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Volley Guns” (Chivers, 2010, p.26) or also known as “Organ Guns” (Ellis, 1975, p.10) were first attempts at increasing firepower by adding several barrels at the firing itself, rather than simply attempting to increase the rate of fire. “Gunsmiths had long ago learned to place barrels side by side on frames to create firearms capable of discharging projectiles in rapid succession. These unwieldy devices, or volley guns, were capable in theory of blasting a hole in a line of advancing soldiers” (Chivers, 2010, p.26). An example of such weapons can be seen on July 28, 1835 when Giuseppe Fieshi unleashed terror on King Louis-Phillipe in Paris, France. He fired his 25 barrel “volley gun”, killing 18 of the king's entourage and grazing the King's skull. The weapon was ineffective however. Four of the barrels failed and another four ruptured. Two other barrels had exploded inside, grievously wounding Giuseppe. (Chivers, 2010, p. 27)

    Read More

  • The Trebuchet

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    First the energy of conservation. The setting of the trebuchet before firing is shown in Fig 1. A heavy counterweight of mass (M) (contained in a large bucket) on the end of the short arm of a sturdy beam was raised to some height while a smaller mass (m) (the projectile), was positioned on the end of the longer arm near or on the ground. In practice the projectile was usually placed in a leather sling attached to the end of the longer arm. However for simplicity, we shall ignore the sling and compensate for this omission by increasing the assumed length of the beam on the projectile’s side. The counterweight was then allowed to fall so that the longer arm swung upward, the sling following, and the projectile was ultimately thrown from its container at some point near the top of the arc. The far end of the sling was attached to the arm by a rope in such a way that the release occurred at a launching angle near the optimum value ( most likely by repeated trials) for the launch height. The launching position is shown in fig.2 where we have assumed that the projectile is released at the moment the entire beam is vertical. In the figures: (a)=height of the pivot, (b)= length of the short arm, (c)= length of the long arm, while (v) and (V) are the velocities of (m) and (M), respectively, at the moment of launching.

    Read More

  • Weapons: The Use Of Weapons In Beowulf

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this essay, I will uncover the countless insights that can be learned about the characters in Beowulf, as well as the society as a whole, based on the weapons the characters choose to use in battle. During the Anglo-Saxon time, roughly between 400 and 1066, swords were considered the most precious weapon someone could own. Although it is not certain who wrote Beowulf, and when, many people believe it was composed in the middle to end of the Anglo-Saxon period. Analyzing the different weapons, and significance of each, in Beowulf, and comparing them to the weaponry at the time, provides the readers with a great deal of insight into the society during this period. The use of weapons in Beowulf not only provides the readers with insight into

    Read More

More about Catapults: Siege Warfare During The Middle Ages

Open Document