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Medieval Siege Weapons | Medieval Warfare Weapons

What Did Ancient Medieval Siege Weapons Do and Why Were They So Feared?
 

Success in warfare during the Middle Ages depended on one thing and one thing only...can you break through your enemies' castle walls?


When you get right down to it, the main focus of all war efforts during the Middle Ages was the castle and the keeps' walls.  The only way to get at your enemy was to bust down the walls that protected them or to cause destruction on the other side of the walls.  Despite being coined "The Dark Ages", the Medieval era was certainly one of innovation, from the arts to weapon making to the art of warfare weapons.


Since most warriors died in combat whether they were mortally injured or not, most generals and knights tried the siege technique on their assailants instead.  Siege was basically building up your castle or villages' walls so they are tall enough that no one can climb them, strong enough that people cannot break them down, and sturdy enough to hold up against repeated attacks.  Then, you and your villages stay inside the walls and wait for your attackers to run out of supplies and leave.  This proved to be a rather successful way of defending one's self, however, the concept of siege can easily be turned against you.  Sometimes the attackers were the ones to wait until those inside the castle walls ran out of supplies.  But, as you can imagine, this whole process took months and sometimes years to complete successfully. 

Because of how the feudal system was set up, most castle walls enveloped a village and plots of land--making it somewhat easy to sustain a whole village within the safety of the walls.  This is why knights and other medieval warriors to devised schemes and warfare weapons to use to infiltrate the protection of the castle walls.  Though the trebuchet, or catapult was not invented during the Middle Ages (it was actually first invented during the Classical period in Greece), it's mechanics were perfected during the supposed Dark Ages.  Besides trebuchets, many other great war machines were invented to break down the castle walls.  There were enormous battering rams that took 50 stout men to carry to knock down the castle doors.  Also perfected were siege towers, which consisted of basically just a tower on wheels.  Inside the tower, there were archers and swordsmen at the ready hiding behind narrow slatted windows.  The tower brought them up above the castle wall so they could rain down arrows and blows to the interior of the castle walls.

Medieval siege weapons were certainly no joke.  Artisans tried to make them as destructive as they could possibly be, so you can find replicas with a multitude of sharp spikes and other lovely dangerous weapons.  If they couldn't break through the castle walls, with a terrifying siege weapon, you could just scare your enemies to death.



 



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