The trebuchet is a type of siege engine originating in China sometime before the fourth century and used primarily during battle throughout the middle ages. This large artillery weapon worked by launching projectiles great distances to destroy walls to rubble or to throw diseased corpses over castle wall. One of the first documented use of a trebuchet was a traction trebuchet used at the Battle of Caishi in 1161, where trebuchets operated by the Song Dynasty fired bombs composed of lime and sulfur at the ships belonging to the Jin Dynasty navy during the Jin- Song wars. The traction trebuchets were also frequently used by the Islamic armies during the Muslim conquests in the seventh century.…
medieval catapult used for hurling heavy stones. The trebuchet is thought to have been invented by the Chinese and made it’s way to Europe by…
The muslims had many valuable inventions, but these three really advanced their culture. The hybrid trebuchet a combination of two different trebuchet, was a weapon and helped them via giving them an advantage against their adversaries on the battlefield. A different invention which advanced that culturally, was the oud, better known as the lute. This…
13. Iron weapons- Iron casting was in use from at least the fifth century B.C. It revolutionized weapon making as iron objects could be made much more cheaply than bronze…
The Romans would also give careful consideration to where the battle should be fought. The Roman commanders would like to try and get the higher ground when possible; and would also like to ensure that the sun and wind were behind their soldiers. Romans military were extremely good at siege tactics. Roman engineers developed several different devices that could throw stones and javelins long distances; the most important of these were the catapulta, ballista, ad onager.…
Legionaries carried small javelins called pilum and would throw them en masse as the formations got close to each other. The tips were made of a soft metal, with the rest of it being made of wood that was designed to bend after impact so as to render it useless and would not allow the enemy to throw them back. These javelins would often impact enemy shields and embed themselves into them rendering the shield useless due to the heavy, awkward weight of the javelin sticking out, striping the enemy of some their protection. Closer in the Romans relied on a short, very well tapered, stabbing sword to attack their enemies with called a gladius. Legionnaires were also equipped with a small dagger but this is more for use outside of combat but could probably be used as a last resort if the need…
Both East Asia and the Middle East and Byzantium were similar in their use and development of projectile weapons. The Byzantine Empire developed a very powerful, projectile weapon called Greek fire. It was mainly used in naval warfare, and essentially could burn while floating on water for very extensive periods of time. This weapon was exclusive to the Byzantine people and has been lost with them. Gunpowder was also first developed in China. Gunpowder could be used to fuel the first guns, which while simple at the time, were deadly to the rest of the world. This idea spread through trade to the Islamic people, and later the rest of the world, transforming warfare for the rest of time.…
Over 800 years ago the world was intrigued by the discovery of gunpowder. The mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal sparked creation in the minds of many for the use of the invention. Gunpowder became commonly used across the Old World in cannons and the one of the world’s first firearms, the hand cannon. The hand cannon was actually not…
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte share similar connections in how they depict women. Both novels embody the idea that women are lesser than men. Each author sheds light on the issue of gender roles, and how woman are controlled by men. However once they break their submissive bond, the women find strength they never knew they had.…
One of the many siege weapons used during the crusades was the Trebuchet. It was extremely important to sieges and resembles the catapult, however the trebuchet was more complicated, intercut and damaging than its close relative. The trebuchet used a sling attached on one end to a wooden beam with a heavy weight at the other end of the beam. The beam was fixed at the top of two vertical supported arms to balance the horizontal, elevated beam. The trebuchet was loaded using a crank and pulley system to lower the sling side of the beam and raise the heavy weight side. Then the rope holding down the sling side was loosed which, in turn, would drop the weight causing the sling attached to the arm to quickly raise up releasing the projectile. The trebuchet had a very versatile arsenal, it was capable of firing boulders, sharp wooden poles and darts, fire, burning tar, burning sand, dung, dead and sometimes mutilated bodies or even disease ridden bodies, body parts, and dead animals, all of which caused utter chaos inside the castle walls. The force of the Trebuchet was capable of reducing castles, fortresses and cities to rubble with its immense firing power and its ability to launch up to 2000 missiles a day. The trebuchet was an extremely important and vital piece of any siege, capable of destroying even the most fortified cities, however its one downfall was its immobility. Trebuchets were built on-site…
A trebuchet is built by using the energy of a falling counterweight to launch the payload, using mechanical advantage to get the highest speed possible. For maximum launch speed the counterweight has to be much heavier than the payload. This is due to the face that the counterweight will fall quickly to launch the payload. A trebuchet basically involves a lever and a sling. On one end of the lever, there is the counterweight, which is the force for the trebuchet. The sling is then attached to the other end of the lever. The trebuchet relies on the principle of the counterweight, which stores potential energy that can be converted to kinetic energy of the payload. This action will then cause the payload to launch into the air. To achieve the…
Gunpowder is one of the revolutionary Chinese inventions that has greatly changed the modern world. Gunpowder is mainly used to fuel military weapons, such as bombs and guns. Gunpowder was first introduced during the Song and Mongol periods where it was developed and used by the Chinese to overthrow the Mongols. After gunpowder’s introduction, alchemists recorded the formula for gunpowder and developed the first weapon that used gunpowder, which was the flamethrower. “In 850 CE, during the tong dynasty, alchemists recorded a formula for gunpowder…. And in the 10th century, the Chinese made the first weapon that used gunpowder, the flamethrower,” (History Alive, 200). Gunpowder was first developed by alchemists, people…
Weaponry The high renaissance has many weapons ranging from swords to bows. They were used to protects oneself and family, but they were also used for war. Most of these weapons were easy to make out of everyday tools you use. The weapons most commonly used were known as the mace, longbow, and longsword.…
In my observations of the Medieval time period I found the weapons to be brutal, and atrocious. From war hammers to napalm to the arquebus, this was by far the most in-humane advancement in weapons apart from modern day. The Medieval time went from about the 11th century to the 14th. During this time survival depended on the power of the certain ruler people served under. The power of the ruler depended directly upon his army and the army upon their weapons. This is why we see such rapid advancement of the weapons in Medieval times. In this time "might" was right. "A knight or any other warrior is only as effective as his skills and the quality of his weapons" (Medieval Weapon Links). This paper will cover the making and use of a broad range of weapons used from about 1000-1400 A.D.…
Though the discovered by accident, gunpowder changed the trajectory of combat operations. Discovered in the ninth century Chinese alchemist developed something with the potential of conquering nations. Gunpowder is used in many weapons throughout history and to this day, but one of the first was flying fire. With the simple invention of the gunpowder cannon, a totally new type of defense was unearthed. When the devastating power of the cannon was shrunken down into a handheld weapon, the course of warfare changed forever.…