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433:. Much of what we now know of the siege technology of the time comes from Books 14 and 15 (Chapters 52 to 71) on Siege Warfare from the Mo Jing. Recorded and preserved on bamboo strips, much of the text is now extremely corrupted. However, despite the heavy fragmentation, Mohist diligence and attention to details which set Mo Jing apart from other works ensured that the highly descriptive details of the workings of mechanical devices like Cloud Ladders, Rotating Arcuballistas and Levered Catapults, records of siege techniques and usage of siege weaponry can still be found today.
293:) were used. These were giant ladders, hinged and mounted on a base mechanism and used for transferring marines onto the sea walls of coastal towns. They were normally mounted on two or more ships tied together and some sambykē included shields at the top to protect the climbers from arrows. Other hinged engines were used to catch enemy equipment or even opposing soldiers with opposable appendices which are probably ancestors to the
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509:. When properly defended, they had the choice whether to assault the castle directly or to starve the people out by blocking food deliveries, or to employ war machines specifically designed to destroy or circumvent castle defenses. Defending soldiers also used trebuchets and catapults as a defensive advantage.
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of fortifications, but was not finished in time and (as a sign of the times) the
Maginot Line was circumvented by rapid mechanized forces instead of breached in a head-on assault. The long time it took to deploy and move the modern siege guns made them vulnerable to air attack and it also made them
520:, whereby tunnels were dug under the walls to weaken the foundations and destroy them. A third tactic was the catapulting of diseased animals or human corpses over the walls in order to promote disease which would force the defenders to surrender, an early form of
279:(or "Taker of Cities") of 304 BC: nine stories high and plated with iron, it stood 40 m (130 ft) tall and 21 m (69 ft) wide, weighing 180 t (400,000 lb). The most used engines were simple battering rams, or
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373:("belly-bow"), a kind of large crossbow. These were mounted on wooden frames. Greater machines forced the introduction of pulley system for loading the projectiles, which had extended to include stones also. Later
66:. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while others have wheels to enable advancing up to the enemy fortification. There are many distinct types, such as
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using a ten-story siege tower. Romans were nearly always successful in besieging a city or fort, due to their persistence, the strength of their forces, their tactics, and their siege engines.
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in the 12th century, though of unknown origin). These machines used mechanical energy to fling large projectiles to batter down stone walls. Also used were the battering ram and the
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The earliest documented occurrence of ancient siege-artillery pieces in China was the levered principled traction catapult and an 8 ft (2.4 m) high siege crossbow from the
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against castle walls in an effort to decompose the cement that held together the individual stones so they could be readily knocked over. Another indirect means was the practice of
283:, propelled in several ingenious ways that allowed the attackers to reach the walls or ditches with a certain degree of safety. For sea sieges or battles, seesaw-like machines (
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109:, they were made largely of wood, using rope or leather to help bind them, possibly with a few pieces of metal at key stress points. They could launch simple
494:(first designed in China in the 3rd century BC and brought over to Europe in the 4th century AD), and the counterweight trebuchet (first described by
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in 429 BC, but it seems that the Greeks limited their use of siege engines to assault ladders, though
Peloponnesian forces used something resembling
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sometimes used resembled the Greek ditch-filling tortoise of Diades, this galley (unlike the ram-tortoise of
Hegetor the Byzantium) called a
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The earliest siege engines appear to be simple movable roofed towers used for cover to advance to the defenders' walls in conjunction with
341:("muscle") was simply used as cover for sappers to engineer an offensive ditch or earthworks. Battering rams were also widespread. The
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were designed to see use against the modern fortresses of the day. The apex of siege artillery was reached with the German
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Paolo
Santini De Machinis or De machinis bellicis de Mariano Taccola, Paris, BnF, DĂ©partement des manuscrits, Latin 7239
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Siege engines are fairly large constructions – from the size of a small house to a large building. From
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or plute in
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A typical military confrontation in medieval times was for one side to lay siege to an opponent's
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were built from the 8th century BC and employed in
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The first documented occurrence of ancient siege engine pieces in Europe was the
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Siege engine in
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Chinese Siege
Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity
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Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity
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and other similar constructions) that attack from a distance by launching
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that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick
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A stone-throwing machine set to defend a gate, in the fresco of
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199:. Advanced siege engines including battering rams were used by
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601:, had to be low and thick, as exemplified by the designs of
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preferred to assault enemy walls by building earthen ramps (
300:. Other weapons dropped heavy weights on opposing soldiers.
593:—were developed. These weapons proved so effective that
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An obsolete English synonym for "pluteus" is "plute".
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125:. With the development of gunpowder and improved
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872:Greek and Roman Siege Machinery 399 BC – AD 363
775:"The Catapult: A History", Tracy Rihall, 2007
755:. Vol. 1. American Univ in Cairo Press.
113:using natural materials to build up force by
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628:gun, a huge 80 cm (31 in) caliber
187:743-720 BC from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud)
381:was the main Roman invention in the field.
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27:Pre-gunpowder fortress-warfare machines
377:appeared, based on sinew springs. The
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78:that damage walls or gates, and large
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807:participating institution membership
474:designs include a large number of
137:became the primary siege engines.
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825:Cartwright, Mark (24 June 2016).
728:"Siege warfare in ancient Egypt"
242:and battering rams against the
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870:Campbell, Duncan B. (2003).
425:of thought during the late
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427:Spring and Autumn period
356:accomplished a siege at
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211:siege towers as well as
914:Scenes of Siege Warfare
883:Liang, Jieming (2006).
852:Liang, Jieming (2006).
799:Oxford University Press
542:One of the super-heavy
534:List of siege artillery
512:Other tactics included
391:Guidoriccio da Fogliano
197:Middle Kingdom of Egypt
749:Dodson, Aidan (1996).
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271:Demetrius Poliorcetes
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173:Further information:
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752:Monarchs of the nile
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123:mechanical advantage
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641:of modern warfare.
565:With the advent of
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448:as battering rams.
267:Alexander the Great
185:Tiglath-Pileser III
175:Roman siege engines
887:. Leong Kit Meng.
707:2017-09-04 at the
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466:cannonballs
452:Middle Ages
358:Uxellodunum
256:Dionysius I
238:, who used
158:siege train
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70:that allow
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689:References
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599:city walls
597:, such as
544:Karl-Gerät
528:Modern era
409:See also:
150:ammunition
127:metallurgy
92:trebuchets
58:and other
56:city walls
591:artillery
567:gunpowder
557:A German
492:trebuchet
476:catapults
281:tortoises
276:Helepolis
217:Ashmunein
201:Assyrians
164:Antiquity
135:artillery
107:gunpowder
103:antiquity
88:catapults
84:ballistas
82:(such as
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705:Archived
645:See also
575:arquebus
571:firearms
488:ballista
480:mangonel
472:Medieval
462:Mons Meg
437:Elephant
339:musculus
252:Syracuse
221:Spartans
142:soldiers
131:bombards
42:, France
34:Replica
864:Sources
788:"plute"
321:Samnite
290:sambuca
285:sambykē
146:sappers
119:torsion
115:tension
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734:23 May
603:Vauban
587:mortar
583:petard
579:cannon
518:mining
507:castle
486:, the
484:onager
442:Indian
379:onager
330:plutei
325:vineae
313:Romans
298:corvus
248:Sicily
207:. In
152:, and
52:device
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317:agger
295:Roman
50:is a
889:ISBN
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757:ISBN
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616:and
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