Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A siege hook is a weapon used to pull stones from a wall during a siege. The method used was to penetrate the protective wall with the hook and then retract it, pulling away some of the wall with it. Scorpio: 52 BC Gaul: Similar to the ballista, but smaller. Was sometimes mounted on a mule-drawn cart. [6] Harpax: 36 BC Rome
Siege engine in Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III 743-720 BC from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud). The earliest siege engines appear to be simple movable roofed towers used for cover to advance to the defenders' walls in conjunction with scaling ladders, depicted during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. [2]
While mostly used for offensive purposes, the first recorded use of a cannon in Europe was to defend the city of Algeciras during the siege of 1343-44. [2] However slow to load, cannons proved to be devastating weapons that could level a city's walls or destroy siege engines with only a single projectile.
Siege towers were used to get troops over an enemy curtain wall. When a siege tower was near a wall, it would drop a gangplank between it and the wall. Troops could then rush onto the walls and into the castle or city. Some siege towers also had battering rams which they used to bash down the defensive walls around a city or a castle gate.
The use of chevaux de frise spread to Europe during the Middle Ages and became a common feature of medieval fortifications. They were used extensively in castle defenses and military campaigns, particularly during the Renaissance and early modern periods. During the American Civil War the Confederates used them more than the Union forces. [2]
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages.Technological, cultural, and social advancements had forced a severe transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery (see military history).
Where this is the case, a siege castle refers to one built near the enemy castle within the range of trebuchets and catapults that could act as a strongpoint, a route barrier, a refuge in the event of counter-attacks, a barracks and a battery position for ballistic weapons. A counter-castle is often used to describe a castle that was built at a ...