The era commonly known as Early Modern Warfare began in the mid-15th century and lasted until the late 18th century. The widespread use of gunpowder along with weapons designed to use it drastically changed the methods of warfare.
China had been using gunpowder for centuries before European countries started using it. Cannons were the first common weapons to use gunpowder. But at the time, all gunpowder weapons were generally large, very heavy, required many men to deploy, and unwieldy to say the least. Cannons first appeared in Europe in the late Middle Ages and their main use was to attack castles. The development of the siege gun quickly made the use of castles and their high walls, as the main defense, obsolete. The siege cannon meant that the attacker was now favored to be the ultimate winner of the battle. As a result, the character of the defensive position had to be changed. The high castle walls gave way to sloping walls. These sloping walls would deflect cannon fire and allow the main defense mechanism, the wall itself, to remain intact. Castles with their high and relatively thin walls became obsolete as a defense tool.
Castles gave way to fortresses. These fortresses were built with thick sloping walls. To defend themselves, the cities had to spend a large amount of money to build the new fortresses. These fortresses, with their ability to withstand cannon fire, recaptured the siege as the primary tactic for attacking a position.
A siege is the assault on a city or fortress with the intent to win by attrition, a more modern term is a blockade. When an attacker could not make the city or fortress surrender and realized that a direct frontal attack would not succeed, he resorted to the siege tactic. A siege generally meant that the attackers would surround the target, either the city or a fortress with the intention of blocking supplies and provisions from entering the inhabitants.
Common siege tactics were
1. Mining or extraction
Mining or extraction involved digging a tunnel under the walls of the castle or fortress. The mines would have walls reinforced with wood for support. Once complete, the attackers filled the mine with flammable materials and set it on fire. Later, with the use of gunpowder, the mines would be filled with explosives, which meant a much more effective use of “saping or mining”. The purpose of excavation or mining was to break down the wall above the mine and allow an entry point for attackers.
2. Artillery bombardment. Using everything imaginable to jump over the fortress or castle wall and deal damage.
3. The use of seat motors.
There are many types of seat movers. The general categories are ballista, battering ram, catapult, helepolis, mangonel, onager, siege tower, and trebuchet.
Ballista – This is a powerful weapon that resembles a giant crossbow. The purpose of the crossbow was to shoot heavy arrows. He could shoot the arrows one by one or in groups. The ballista is also known as a bolt launcher. In earlier times, the Romans used the ballista to launch large stones, but during the Middle Ages the ballista was modified to launch arrows, which at the time were known as bolts. The crossbow is believed to have been inspired by early ballistae. The crossbow was made of wood and used animal sinew as string or rope. Winches were used to pull back (hammer) the ballista.
ballista: The crossbow was a very accurate weapon when firing bolts (arrows), but accuracy was gained at the expense of range. The first known use of a ballista was in Italy in 400 BC. C. The catapult was a natural evolution of the ballista.
Battery ram: Battering rams are devices used to break through fortification walls or gates. They have been in use since ancient times. The simplest form of a battering ram is a large heavy log carried by various attackers to strike the gate or wall of the fortress or castle. The goal is to deal enough damage to the wall or door to allow the attackers to enter.
A more efficient design of the ram was to use a wheeled frame to transport it. The ram was suspended by ropes or chains, which allowed the ram to be much larger and to swing more easily. The sides and roofs of this improved type of ram were sometimes covered with protective materials to prevent them from catching fire and to protect attackers.
Some battering rams were not suspended by ropes or chains, but were placed on rollers. This would allow the ram to gain much higher speed and therefore deal much more damage. The writer Vitruvius described this type of rolling ram as the one used by Alexander the Great.
To defend against a ram, defenders would drop obstacles in front of the ram or use grappling hooks to immobilize the ram or set the ram and/or its structure on fire. Another defense was to simply launch an attack at the ram when it came close to them.
The use of battering rams dates back to the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Rome. They were also used during the Crusades.
Catapult: A catapult is a type of siege engine used to launch a long-range projectile. Catapults were not weapons that attackers carried with them into battle, and were usually built on the spot of battle. They are made of wood and were abundant on most battlefields.
The differentiation of the different types of catapults comes from the way they used to store and release their energy.
The first type of catapult was a variation of the Roman ballista. These used ropes or animal tendons to throw the objects. The string or sinew was pulled back under tension and when the tension was released, the energy carried the projectile. So if the catapult stored and released energy through tension, it is considered a tension catapult.
Another type of catapult is the torsion catapult. These have an arm with a bucket, cup, or sling to hold the projectile. The force is transferred to the sling through the use of a rope at the other end of the throwing arm. These strings are laid and tensioned to “charge” the catapult with torsion energy.
Helepolis: This is an ancient type of siege engine and was known as the Taker of Cities. It was invented by Demetrius Poliorcetes for use during the siege of Salamis in Cyprus.
The shape of the original helepolis was a tall square tower that stood on four wheels. The helepolis was internally divided into nine different floors. The lower floors had machines used to launch projectiles (large stones). The center section contained dart-launching catapults (large spears). The upper section was used to launch smaller stones and smaller catapults. The helepolis was manned by two hundred soldiers and was propelled via a large drive belt and wheel inside the helepolis. The soldiers could propel the helepolis from the inside without having to take direct fire from the defenders.
Mangonel: This type of siege engine is a type of catapult used to launch projectiles at the castle walls. The mangonel could launch projectiles great distances (1,300 feet). This is a much longer distance than the trebuchet, which was invented later. The mangonel was not very accurate and launched the projectiles at a much lower angle than the catapult.
The mangonel was a torque arm catapult that used a sling to hold the projectile. Energy was stored by twisting ropes or sinew.
In battles, the mangonels hurled rocks, burning objects, or whatever else occurred to the attackers. Containers filled with flammable materials were popular and created a large fireball on impact.
Onager: The Onager is a type of torsion catapult. Torsion energy is stored by twisting the strings. The release of the energy provided a type of kicking action and hence the name onager meaning wild donkey.
The construction of the onager was quite simple. It consisted of a frame that remained on the ground. The front of the frame had a solid wood vertical frame attached to it. The vertical frame had an axis running through it with a single large spoke protruding from it.
In battle, the radius was brought down by the use of twisted ropes or lowered with a winch to store energy. When the energy was released, the beam would violently strike the crosspiece of the vertical frame and the projectile would be shot forward.
A variation of the onager is the mangonel. The mangonel used a bowl to hold the projectile instead of the sling and was less powerful than the onager.
Headquarters Tower: This is a specialized siege engine used to protect attackers as they approach fortress or castle walls. They were often rectangular in shape and sat on four wheels. They were built at a height of about the height of the wall, and sometimes even higher. When built higher than the wall, the siege tower allowed archers to shoot at the castle or fortress.
These were heavy and difficult to maneuver and were usually built on the spot of battle. They took a long time to build and were mainly used when all other types of siege tactics had failed, such as mining or direct ladder assault.
Its large size made it an easy target for approaching defending guns.
If the siege tower was successful, the last thing to do was to place planes between the tower and the wall to allow the attackers to enter the fortress or castle.
The outcome of a siege falls into one of four categories:
1. If the defenders repelled the attackers without the help of outside forces, the position is considered to have “held”.
2. If the defenders repelled the attackers with the help of external forces, the position is considered to have been “relieved” or “elevated”.
3. If the attackers manage to take the fortress, castle or town, but the defending forces manage to escape, the position is considered to have been “evacuated”.
4. If the attackers manage to take the fortress, castle or city and also destroy and/or capture the defenders, the besieged entity is considered to have “fallen”.
