Question 1: In the Middle Ages the defenders of a fortified place had probably their greatest advantage in history over the besiegers. That evaporated in 1460. Examine the development of fortifications and garrison weaponry from 1050 to 1700, and describe the counter developments in siege craft. Conclude with a discussion of the consequences of the defensive or offensive advantage for warfare in those eras. During the Dark Ages, along with the 17th and 18th centuries, fortified strongholds and castles were always changing and improving.
However, as these fortifications improved, so did the siege weapons used to assault these defenses. Through the course of time the siege weapons and fortifications improved steadily which created close battles between armies, which would eventually lead to the fall of the elite untouchable fortified defenses. Europe in the 1100s birthed the age of castles as a staple form of defense. Many different shapes, sizes and variations of castles were built, such as a style known as the Norman keep. Norman keeps were designed and built with stone, contrary to the traditional wood style castles.
The Motle and Baily technique consisted of a pile of dirt in the back end of the fort where the keep was built. With walls reaching heights of about 140 feet high, the keep could shelter around 100 soldiers. Because these keeps were constructed of stone, they were extremely heavy and could only be constructed on rock cutouts; otherwise the keeps would sink into the ground. This severely limited the strategic placement of these keeps, which prompted the invention of the shell keep. These lighter keeps could be built anywhere and were not limited to the terrain beneath it.
The rounded walls of these keeps allowed for the keep to deflect steal balls that ricocheted off the side. With every keep that the Europeans built, the gate tended to be the most vulnerable part of the fortifications. To counter act this phenomena, the Europeans built barbicans, which were a set of towers protruding outwards around the walls therefore fortifying the gate. The invention of the portcullis, which was a metal gate at the front of the castle further strengthened the gate. The portcullis acted as a buffer system, which allowed for the troops inside to close the main gates and fortify the castle.
While the barbicans and portcullis were essential factors that contributed to the defense of the outer perimeter of the castle, the invention of a few inner defenses played very key roles as well. Within the castle was the citadel, a last resort defense for troops to retreat and fall back to. These citadels could hold out for months of siege, with capabilities of storing men, grain, and water. Another key defense structure that allowed for troops to fire down upon their attackers was the machicolation.
This structure was located at the top of a tower providing great cover and protection as well as a great vantage point for the defense. While these defensive measures were very effective for a while, as the siege weapons developed and improved more over the years, the battlefield became much more leveled. The preferred long range weapon in the English Army was the longbow. Powerful at long range and able to be fired fairly quickly, the longbow was the premier weapon of choice. The longbow had a draw weight of about 120 pounds and could knock men down from a very long range.
Due to the power of the longbow, troops would simply fire arrows into an assaulting element rather than aim due to its accuracy. Due to the fact an average archer could have three arrows in the air at once, the fire rate of the longbow further increased its deadly impact on the battlefield. Unfortunately for the longbow, as the yew tree vanished, so did the longbow, due to the heavy drawback weight, a particular wood was required to absorbed the weight without cracking or shattering. Unfortunately, the disappearance of the yew trees led to the longbow to be phased out.
The invention of the crossbow in 1000 was a ground breaking weapon that entered the battlefield with much rage. The crossbow was capable of firing arrows with so much power at a close range; it possessed the capability to pierce chain mail armor with ease. However, as the range increased, the power and accuracy of the crossbow decreased. Therefore, the crossbow became a very effective defensive weapon due to its maneuverability and ease of use when firing from castle walls through castle slits. The crossbow quickly became a deadly weapon on the battlefield and gave defending troops a leg up on their enemy.
As more time elapsed, the original fortifications that castles possessed were no longer enough to defend from attackers by themselves. Castles needed another defense to fend off attackers and thanks to the Sangallo family; castles added another defense to their arsenal. The creation of the bastions created another line of defense that could stand alone and defend its self from attackers. The triangular out workings of the structure gave it the nickname, the Italian Trace. Bastions had casemates, or holes in the walls enabling guns to be fired from it, which provided even more protection for castles.
Two more fortifications followed the bastions which provided much more special defense for castles. The invention of the ravelins placed right in front of the curtain wall created space in between the attackers and the wall, which made it increasing difficult for attackers to breach the wall. Consequently, allowing the use of crossbows and longbows to wreak havoc on attacking forces. In addition, the creation of glacis provided archers with a clear shot to cut down the advancing enemy. Glacis were drastic slopes placed outside of the walls, which exposed any advancing troops to archer fire.
At the end of these glacis was a ditch that contained two walls, one wall facing the fort and the other facing the enemy. These ditches were preluded by a coverway, which provided defenders with excellent cover to engage the enemy from close range. Even though the fortifications and weaponry designed to defend strongholds were highly effective for unbreakable defenses, sooner or later the siege craft would evolve to counter these fortifications and weapons. Before the invention of siege weapons, the main method for countering these fortifications was mining.
This mining tactic consisted of burrowing under ground and tunneling under the wall in order to either burn the wood supports or remove enough stone to collapse the wall. To counter act these methods, walls were built much deeper and made much thicker, forcing the invention of siege weapons as early as 1099. By the year 1220, siege weapons were in full force and being used to counter fortifications. The primary siege weapon used by armies was the siege tower. Made of wood, this tower relied upon wood rollers as its main method of transportation.
Due to the careful construction required to build these towers, they were built far from the battlefield in order to avoid archers shooting at them. In order to prevent the danger of being burnt down, siege towers usually were covered in animal hides to prevent the tower from burning more quickly. Although the siege tower was the primary craft of choice for assaulting armies, it was very ineffective, which set the stage for another siege weapon to be born. One weapon that provided more range for sieging armies was the onager. Consisting of a sling and a spoon shaped device, the onager could launch 100 stone fragments at fortifications.
Another weapon that could launch a single 500 pound stone ball was the trebuchet, this allowed for massive amounts of damage to be inflicted, however the amount of resources required to build a trebuchet made it very expensive. Using a solid engineer, a trebuchet was capable of hitting the same target repeatedly, inflicting massive damage. Another close ranged siege weapon used by attacking armies was the battering ram. Rams were rolled up to the walls of a fortress usually operated by 20 to 40 men and would be swung continuously into the wall until it cracked and crumbled.
As effective as these weapons seemed to be for their time, the stage would be set for another weapon that would blow these other weapons out of the water. In 1386, the world was introduce to the pot defer, the first ever siege weapon to use gunpowder. Made of iron, these weapons were very brittle and could easily explode if mishandled. To counter these exploding issues, later designs of pot defers, known as cannons, were made out of iron and bronze. These iron cannons were known as bombards, fired stone balls rather inefficiently as they normally left over wasted gunpowder.
In order to avoid explosions, the barrel needed to be cleaned with vinegar after every shot, which affected the fire rate of bombards. The bronze equivalent to the bombards was known as culverins, these cannons fired metal balls and did not explode. Measuring 18 to 20 feet long this cannon fired metal balls weighing up to 80 pounds. These culverins were highly inaccurate but deadly if it hit on target. The inaccuracy of these weapons stemmed from the charge stimulator at the end of the barrel seriously affected the spin of the ball upon firing.
Even though there were still many issues with these two new siege weapons, their future development would prove to be deadly to fortifications of the future. The advantages and disadvantages of either attacking or defending became mostly obsolete as siege weapons and fortifications improved over the years. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, and at the end of the battle, either the fortress was still standing or it was not. If it was, then the city was safe, and those remaining lived to fight another day, if not the city would be pillaged and ransacked. Either way, the casualties piled up quickly and neither side had an easy out.
