![]() A sling, which has a pouch containing the projectile, is attached to the long end of the beam. The long end of the beam is pulled down, raising the counterweight. At the short end of the beam is attached the counter weight. It is believed to be a French creation, and was often used to complement the bigger siege weapons.A trebuchet works by using the energy of a raised counterweight to throw a projectile. It was used for smaller sieges, and had a much smaller firing range. It was built on the same counterweight principle as its much bigger cousin, but unlike the trebuchet, it had just one support. Couillard – 14th CenturyĪ smaller version of the trebuchet, the couillard was a lot easier to operate and needed just about 10 people to operate it. The first trebuchets are believed to have been built by the Chinese, although the more effective counterweight trebuchets were used by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. They were amongst the most extensively used siege weapons, and were an integral part of armies around the world. These were gigantic machines, which relied on using a counterweight to help generate the force to hurl heavy objects over considerable distances. The name finds its origin in the French word trébucher, which means ‘to throw over’. Trebuchets were a refined version of mangonels, and focused on reducing human effort. Its firing range was however a lot lesser than the other siege weapons that were in use. The onager was a lot smaller than most other catapults used in battles, and needed just two people to operate it. The Romans used it widely for most of their sieges. This was a rather effective and powerful siege weapon, and was also very mobile, thanks to the wheels attached. The onager was an adaptation of the mangonel, and relied on torsional force to propel the missiles. They were invented by the Romans, but were extensively modified and used by the French and the British. The one major advantage that mangonels had over ballistas was that the force of gravity was used to its advantage (the missiles followed an arc, as opposed to a straight path followed by those from a ballista) and helped cause a lot more damage, using a lot lesser force. The design of the original ballista was modified, and the new machine was now able to hurl objects (mostly rocks and at times combustible materials packed together) over longer distances. The name was derived from the Latin word manganon, which means ‘engine of war’. Mangonels were a more powerful adaptation of the catapult. As it wasn’t the most efficient of catapults, its use was restricted to a much smaller region. It was mostly installed on the top of fortifications to ward off the enemies. It was not as powerful as its other cousins, and was mainly used as an anti-personnel weapon at close range. As opposed to other catapults, this was mainly used in a defensive role, within a fort, rather than on the battlefield. Springald – 11th CenturyĪn adaptation of the original ballista, the springald was believed to have originated in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire. These were widely used by the Romans and the Greeks towards the end of the third century. Also, their limited mobility was another hindrance during war times, and they were often put together at the battlefield. ![]() Although they were deadly accurate, ballistas weren’t too effective siege weapons, as they lacked the serious muscle power needed to knock down the enemy fortifications. Ballistas were giant crossbows, which worked on the same principle as their smaller cousins, the handheld crossbow.
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