Siege: Technology and Warfare

1. Siege Technology and Warfare

2. Understanding Siege

3. Definition • a military operation in which enemy forces surround a town or building, cutting off essential supplies, with the aim of compelling the surrender of those inside. • a prolonged period of misfortune

4. Types of Siege Engines Battering Rams Siege Towers Catapults

5. Battering Rams • Date back to before 15th century B.C. between Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III and Canaanite rebels at the Megiddo Fortress • Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.) finessed the use f battering rams. Extremely heavy and suspended by ropes with a metal plate on the business end, protected by a roof and turret. Archers lodged in the turret above the roof to provide cover for the ram • Size depended on material available, 20 to 120 feet. • Typically made on site during the siege itself.

6. Siege Towers • Siege towers were portable stair cases that reached 3 stories high. They would roll it up to the wall, drop gang plank across to the top of the wall which would allow the enemy to enter the castle and open the gates. • Some towers were so large that they held catapults and ballista inside of them to aid in protecting the tower. • The defense to this siege was to flood the area that it was going to be moved to, making the very heavy piece of siege get stuck in the mud and become virtually useless. • Towers were way to large to try take with you so they had to be built on site. A group of engineers would direct soldiers on building them.

7. The different types of Catapults • Ballista • Giant crossbow • Mangonel • Bowl shaped bucket at the end of a giant arm • Trebuchet • Consisted of a lever and a sling, was capable of hurling stones weighing 200 pounds with a range of up to about 300 yards

8. Ballista • Was designed similar to a crossbow and worked by using tension, was light weight and easily carried along. • Was designed to aim huge wooden, iron, clad, darts or arrows which were powered by twisted skeins of rope, hair or sinew • The Ballista loosed heavy bolts, darts and spears along a flat trajectory. The force of the missiles launched from the Medieval Ballista was designed to have great penetration and were capable of skewering several of the enemy at one time! • The medieval Ballista is believed to be an ancient war engine which was invented by the Greeks and modified by the romans in 400 BC • An interesting story related to Medieval Ballista history refers to Greek and Roman women who grew long hair as a patriotic gesture in case a new ballista were required.

9. Mangonel • Invented by the Romans about 400 B.C. as an alternate to the Ballista. • Capable of firing projectiles up to 1300 feet. • This was also mobile enough to carry on journeys with the aid of horses. Larger ones could be broken down as a kits. • Attackers were creative with the projectile that they would launch.

10. Trebuchet • Invented in China about 300 B.C., the initial design had ropes that were pulled down by groups of men. • Later the counter weight was added about the 12th century used by Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean. • Far to cumbersome to move as one piece from one place to another, had to be built on site, however they could be broken down and transported as kits. • Capable of throwing 200 pounds 300 yards, and could throw about 2000 missiles in a day • Like to play angry birds? Here is a midevil version • https://www.timeref.com/games/trebuchet_game.html

11. The projectiles themselves • Ballista shot arrows, spears and sometimes large rocks like a small cannonball. • Rams were used to break threw doors and sometimes thin areas of castle walls.

12. Trebuchet and Mangonel Missiles • Stones • Casks of burning tar • Pots of Greek Fire • Dung • Disease ridden bodies • Dead animals • Any rotting matter • Body parts • Quick lime • Sharp wooden poles and darts • Burning sand (this became trapped in armor) • Sometimes dead or mutilated bodies

13. Not just destructive but biological and psychological • Diplomacy, threats, terror and psychological techniques. To help weaken the will of the defenders, attackers could make threats or promises, or terrorise the defenders - for example by mutilating or executing hostages, or by using throwing machines to lob fire, or human heads or other body parts, into the the fortification. • Biological Warfare. Medieval besiegers were known to project diseased animals into fortifications with the deliberate intention of spreading disease and so weakening the garisson. I some cases it was possible to poison water supplies, though most fortifications had their own wells or water cisterns.

14. Not just destructive but biological and psychological • During the Middle Ages, victims of the bubonic plague were used for biological attacks, often by flinging fomites such as infected corpses and excrement over castle walls using catapults. In 1346, during the siege of Kafa (now Feodossia, Crimea) the attacking Tartar Forces which were subjugated by the Mongol empire under Genghis Khan, used the bodies of Mongol warriors of the Golden Horde who had died of plague, as weapons. An outbreak of plague followed and the defending forces retreated, followed by the conquest of the city by the Mongols. It has been speculated that this operation may have been responsible for the advent of the Black Death in Europe. At the time, the attackers thought that the stench was enough to kill them, though it was the disease that was deadly.[6][7] • At the siege of Thun-l'Évêque in 1340, during the Hundred Years' War, the attackers catapulted decomposing animals into the besieged area. • In 1422, during the siege of Karlstein Castle in Bohemia, Hussite attackers used catapults to throw dead (but not plague-infected) bodies and 2000 carriage-loads of dung over the walls

15. Not just destructive but biological and psychological • "The first large-scale Mongol attack in Xi Xia happened at the mighty fortress at Volohai. Unable to breach the walls of Volohai, Genghis Khan resorted to a clever trick. He sent a message from his encampment to the Tangut general announcing that he would end his siege in exchange for a gift of one thousand cats and ten thousand swallows. Astonished by the unusual request, the fortress commander gratefully complied. After the animals arrived in the Mongol camp, Genghis Khan ordered his men to tie a small cotton-wool tuft to the tail of each creature then set the tuft afire. When the panicked and frightened animals were turned loose, they made directly for their nests and lairs inside Volohai, igniting hundreds of small fires. While the panicked defenders were preoccupied with putting out fires, Genghis Khan's warriors stormed the city in conquest."

16. Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa • Gabriele de’ Mussi’s account of the origin and spread of plague appears to be consistent with most known facts, although mistaken in its claim that plague arrived in Italy directly from the Crimea. His account of biological attack is plausible, consistent with the technology of the time, and it provides the best explanation of disease transmission into besieged Caffa. This thus appears to be one of the first biological attacks recorded and among the most successful of all time. • https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/9/01-0536_article

17. Amazingly siege is still used today. • In January of 2011 Mexican soldiers, who were tipped off by U.S. National Guard troops, seized a few dozen pounds of Marijuana, a sport utility vehicle and the catapult it was towing. • Modern catapults however, are often used to propel objects at very high speeds. An example is seen on every modern US aircraft carrier. Embedded in the flight deck is a steam catapult used to assist in the launching of aircraft from a carrier deck

18. Citations • http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-weapons/ • https://sites.google.com/site/physicsofcatapults/home/history-of-catapults • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet • https://www.timeref.com/castles/castsiege.htm • https://www.historyonthenet.com/ancient-siege-warfare/ • https://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2011-01/mexican-authorities-seize-homemade-marijuana-hurling-catapult-border • https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/6dg6oc/where_did_medieval_powers_get_their_ammunition/ • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_biological_warfare • https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/9/01-0536_article • http://www.medievalwarfare.info/ • https://www.quora.com/How-are-modern-catapults-used-today

19. Pictures and Graphics Courtesy of https://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/catapult-gif.gif https://www.timeref.com/castles/castsiege.htm http://deremilitari.org/2014/03/the-siege-of-nottingham-castle-in-1194/nottingham-castle/ https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-model-medieval-siegetower/776857 http://www.kiechle.com/trips/lesbaux/baux20.jpg http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8679647.stm https://www.pinterest.com/pin/408701734906033981 http://medievalweaponinfo.com/medieval-siege-weapons-guide/medieval-siege-ballista/ http://medievalweaponinfo.com/medieval-siege-weapons-guide/siege-weapon-mangonel/ https://www.timeref.com/castles/castsiege.htm https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6dk3w7/how_did_castles_and_cities_hold_out_for_months/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a26478/donald-trump-emals-steam-catapult-aircraft-carrier/