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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.
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]
Murder holes at Bodiam Castle. A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime, or boiling oil, down on attackers. Boiling oil was rarely used because ...
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.
A makeshift weapon is an everyday object that has been physically altered to enhance its potential as a weapon. [62] It can also be used to refer to common classes of weapons such as guns, knives, and bombs made from commonly available items. [1] Examples of makeshift weapons include: Millwall brick; Molotov cocktail; Shiv; Improvised firearms
The Palladium Book of Weapons & Castles was compiled by Matthew Balent, and was published by Palladium Books in 1982 as a 48-page saddle-stitched book, with another printing that same year as a square-bound book. [1] The information from this book was later revised and included in The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles. [1]