1.
Battering ram
–
A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. Later rams encased the log in an arrow-proof, fire-resistant canopy mounted on wheels, inside the canopy, the log was swung from suspensory chains or ropes. Rams proved effective weapons of war because old fashioned wall-building materials such as stone and brick were weak in tension, with repeated blows, the cracks would grow steadily until a hole was created. Eventually, a breach would appear in the fabric of the armed attackers to force their way through the gap. Smaller, hand-held versions of battering rams are used today by law enforcement officers. Frequently, the point would be reinforced with a metal head or cap while vulnerable parts of the shaft were bound with strengthening metal bands. Vitruvius details in his text On Architecture that Ceras the Carthaginian was the first to make a ram with a base with wheels. Within this the ram was hung so that it could be used against the wall and this structure moved so slowly, however, that he called it the testudo. Another type of ram was one that maintained the shape and structure. The frame was covered in hides as normal to defend from fire. The only solid beam present was the ram that was hung from the frame. The frame itself was so light that it could be carried on the shoulders of the men transporting the ram, many battering rams possessed curved or slanted wooden roofs and side-screens covered in protective materials, usually fresh wet hides, presumably skinned from animals eaten by the besiegers. These hide canopies stopped the ram from being set on fire and they also safeguarded the operators of the ram against arrow and spear volleys launched from above. A well-known image of an Assyrian battering ram depicts how sophisticated attacking, the defenders of a town wall are trying to set the ram alight with torches and have also put a chain under it. The attackers are trying to pull on the chain to free the ram, alternatively, the ram could be set ablaze, doused in fire-heated sand, pounded by boulders dropped from battlements or invested by a rapid sally of troops. Some battering rams were not slung from ropes or chains, but were supported by rollers. This allowed the ram to achieve a greater speed before striking its target, such a ram, as used by Alexander the Great, is described by the writer Vitruvius. Alternatives to the battering ram included the drill, the mouse, the pick, the siege hook
2.
Machine
–
A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to perform an intended action. Machines are usually powered by chemical, thermal, or electrical means, historically, a power tool also required moving parts to classify as a machine. However, the advent of electronics has led to the development of power tools without moving parts that are considered machines, a simple machine is a device that simply transforms the direction or magnitude of a force, but a large number of more complex machines exist. Examples include vehicles, electronic systems, molecular machines, computers, television, the word machine derives from the Latin word machina, which in turn derives from the Greek. The word mechanical comes from the same Greek roots, however, the Ancient Greeks probably have borrowed the word mekhane from the ancient Hebrews. The ancient Greeks were familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures and language, a wider meaning of fabric, structure is found in classical Latin, but not in Greek usage. This meaning is found in late medieval French, and is adopted from the French into English in the mid-16th century, in the 17th century, the word could also mean a scheme or plot, a meaning now expressed by the derived machination. The modern meaning develops out of specialized application of the term to stage engines used in theater and to siege engines. Simple Machines are commonly reckoned to be Six in Number, viz. the Ballance, Leaver, Pulley, Wheel, Wedge, compound Machines, or Engines, are innumerable. The word engine used as a synonym both by Harris and in later language derives ultimately from Latin ingenium ingenuity, an invention, perhaps the first example of a human made device designed to manage power is the hand axe, made by chipping flint to form a wedge. A wedge is a machine that transforms lateral force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force. The idea of a simple machine originated with the Greek philosopher Archimedes around the 3rd century BC, who studied the Archimedean simple machines, lever, pulley and he discovered the principle of mechanical advantage in the lever. Later Greek philosophers defined the five simple machines and were able to roughly calculate their mechanical advantage. Heron of Alexandria in his work Mechanics lists five mechanisms that can set a load in motion, lever, windlass, pulley, wedge, and screw, however the Greeks understanding was limited to statics and did not include dynamics or the concept of work. In 1586 Flemish engineer Simon Stevin derived the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane, the complete dynamic theory of simple machines was worked out by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1600 in Le Meccaniche. He was the first to understand that simple machines do not create energy, the classic rules of sliding friction in machines were discovered by Leonardo da Vinci, but remained unpublished in his notebooks. They were rediscovered by Guillaume Amontons and were developed by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb. The word mechanical refers to the work that has produced by machines or the machinery
3.
Defensive wall
–
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements, beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick, depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the city gate and are often supplemented with towers. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts, ringworks, early castles, from very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer is one of the worlds oldest known walled cities, before that, the city of Jericho in what is now the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 B. C. hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain, many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. Mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks, babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate. Exceptions were few — notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar. In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida, the fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, in classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus. Large tempered earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang Dynasty, although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States, mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty. The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example, likewise, the famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls, the most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln, apart from these, the early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe and these cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces
4.
Fortification
–
Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
5.
Siege warfare
–
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. This derives from sedere, Latin for to sit, Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy, a siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by direct assault and refuses to surrender. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease and this form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. During the process of circumvallation, the force can be set upon by another force of enemies due to the lengthy amount of time required to starve a position. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world, during the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork, Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined, with the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, the Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified, by about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets, mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun-dried bricks. City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East, the walls were built of mudbricks, stone, wood, or a combination of these materials, depending on local availability. They may also have served the purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation, the walls were 9.5 km in length, and up to 12 m in height. Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats, in Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities atop hillsides, taking advantage of the terrain. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards squared
6.
Sapper
–
They are also trained to serve as infantry personnel in defensive and offensive operations. A sappers duties are devoted to tasks involving facilitating movement, defence and survival of allied forces, the term sapper is used in the British Army and Commonwealth nations, Polish Army and the U. S. military. The phrase sapper comes from the French saper, saps were excavated by brigades of trained sappers or instructed troops. When an army was defending a fortress with cannon, they had an obvious height, the attacking armys artillery had to be brought forward, under fire, so as to facilitate effective counter-battery fire. This was achieved by digging what the French termed a sappe, using techniques developed and perfected by Vauban, the sappers began the trench at such an angle so as to avoid enemy fire enfilading the sappe. As they pressed forward, a position was prepared from which cannon could suppress the defenders on the bastions, the sappers would then change the course of their trench, zig-zagging toward the fortress wall. Each leg brought the attackers artillery closer until the cannon would be sufficiently suppressed for the attackers to breach the walls. Broadly speaking, sappers were experts at demolishing or otherwise overcoming or bypassing fortification systems. An additional term applied to sappers of the British Indian Army was miner, the native engineer corps were referred to as sappers and miners, as for example, the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners. The term arose from a task done by sappers to further the battle after saps were dug, the saps permitted cannon to be brought into firing range of the besieged fort and its cannon, but often the cannon themselves were unable to breach the fort walls. This was dangerous work, often lethal to the sappers, and was resisted by the besieged enemy. Since the two tasks went hand in hand and were done by the troops, native Indian engineer corps came to be called sappers and miners. Sapper is the Royal Engineers equivalent of private, the term sapper was introduced in 1856 when the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was amalgamated with the officer corps of the Royal Engineers to form the Corps of Royal Engineers. During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I Australian sappers repaired a bridge at the crossing of the Jordan River at Jisr Benat Yakub. Here the retreating Ottoman and German rearguard had blown up the central arch which was repaired in five hours by sappers attached to the Australian Mounted Division. Australian Sappers in the Vietnam War were also honoured in the Cold Chisel song Khe Sanh with the line I left my heart to the Sappers round Khe Sanh, in the Canadian Forces, sappers exist both in the regular force and reserve force. The rank of sapper is used instead of private trained to signify completion of the Engineer DP1 course, Canadian sappers have been deployed in many major conflicts in recent history including World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the War in Afghanistan. Ultimately, the objective of the sappers is to facilitate the living, moving, and fighting for friendly troops on the battlefield, the motto of the Canadian Military Engineers is Ubique a motto shared with the Royal Canadian Artillery
7.
Siege tower
–
A siege tower or breaching tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. Because the towers were wooden and thus flammable, they had to have some non-flammable covering of iron. Taking considerable time to construct, siege towers were mainly built if the defense of the fortification could not be overcome by ladder assault. The siege tower sometimes housed spearmen, pikemen, swordsmen, archers or crossbowmen who shot arrows, because of the size of the tower it would often be the first target of large stone catapults but it had its own projectiles with which to retaliate. Siege towers were used to get troops over an enemy curtain wall, when a siege tower was near a wall, it would drop a gangplank between it and the wall. Troops could then rush onto the walls and into the castle or city, the oldest known siege towers were used by the armies of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 9th century BC, under Ashurnasirpal II. Reliefs from his reign, and subsequent reigns, depict siege towers in use with a number of siege works, including ramps. Centuries after they were employed in Assyria, the use of the siege spread throughout the Mediterranean. The biggest siege towers of antiquity, such as the Helepolis of the siege of Rhodes in 305 BC, could be as high as 135 feet, such large engines would require a rack and pinion to be moved effectively. It was manned by 200 soldiers and was divided into nine stories, subsequent siege towers down through the centuries often had similar engines. But this huge tower was defeated by the defenders by flooding the ground in front of the wall, the siege of Rhodes illustrates the important point that the larger siege towers needed level ground. Many castles and hill-top towns and forts were virtually invulnerable to siege tower attack simply due to topography, smaller siege towers might be used on top of siege-mounds, made of earth, rubble and timber mounds in order to overtop a defensive wall. The remains of such a siege-ramp at Masada, for example, has survived almost 2,000 years and can still be seen today. On the other hand, almost all the largest cities were on large rivers, or the coast, furthermore, the tower for such a target might be prefabricated elsewhere and brought dismantled to the target city by water. One of the oldest references to the siege tower in Ancient China was a written dialogue primarily discussing naval warfare. Before labeling the types of warships used, Zixu said, Nowadays in training naval forces we use the tactics of land forces for the best effect. With the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West into independent states, and the Eastern Roman Empire on the defensive, the use of siege towers reached its height during the medieval period. At this siege the attackers also made use of sows - mobile armoured shelters which were used throughout the medieval period, however, the construction of a sloping talus at the base of a castle wall could have reduced the effectiveness of this tactic to an extent
8.
Catapult
–
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during warfare, in modern times the term can apply to devices ranging from a simple hand-held implement to a mechanism for launching aircraft from a ship. The word catapult comes from the Latin catapulta, which in turn comes from the Greek Ancient Greek, καταπέλτης, itself from κατά, downwards + πάλλω, to toss, Catapults were invented by the ancient Greeks. The catapult and crossbow in Greece are closely intertwined, primitive catapults were essentially “the product of relatively straightforward attempts to increase the range and penetrating power of missiles by strengthening the bow which propelled them”. The historian Diodorus Siculus, described the invention of a mechanical arrow-firing catapult by a Greek task force in 399 BC, the weapon was soon after employed against Motya, a key Carthaginian stronghold in Sicily. Diodorus is assumed to have drawn his description from the highly rated history of Philistus, a detailed description of the gastraphetes, or the “belly-bow”, along with a watercolor drawing, is found in Herons technical treatise Belopoeica. Zopyrus has been equated with a Pythagorean of that name who seems to have flourished in the late 5th century BC. He probably designed his bow-machines on the occasion of the sieges of Cumae, the bows of these machines already featured a winched pull back system and could apparently throw two missiles at once. Philo of Byzantium provides probably the most detailed account on the establishment of a theory of belopoietics circa 200 BC. The central principle to this theory was that parts of a catapult. This kind of innovation is indicative of the rate at which geometry. An extant inscription from the Athenian arsenal, dated between 338 and 326 BC, lists a number of stored catapults with shooting bolts of varying size and this move to torsion springs was likely spurred by the engineers of Philip II of Macedonia. Another Athenian inventory from 330 to 329 BC includes catapult bolts with heads, as the use of catapults became more commonplace, so did the training required to operate them. Many Greek children were instructed in catapult usage, as evidenced by “a 3rd Century B. C. inscription from the island of Ceos in the Cyclades catapult shooting competitions for the young”, arrow firing machines in action are reported from Philip IIs siege of Perinth in 340 BC. At the same time, Greek fortifications began to feature high towers with shuttered windows in the top, projectiles included both arrows and stones that were sometimes lit on fire. Onomarchus of Phocis first used catapults on the battlefield against Philip II of Macedon, philips son, Alexander the Great, was the next commander in recorded history to make such use of catapults on the battlefield as well as to use them during sieges. The Romans started to use catapults as arms for their wars against Syracuse, Macedon, Sparta, the Roman machine known as an arcuballista was similar to a large crossbow. Later the Romans used ballista catapults on their warships, ajatshatru is recorded in Jaina texts as having used a catapult in his campaign against the Licchavis
9.
Ballista
–
The ballista, plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched a large projectile at a distant target. And his name spread far abroad, for he was marvellously helped, developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a prod, the springs consisting of several loops of twisted skeins. Early versions projected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare and it developed into a smaller precision weapon, the scorpio, and possibly the polybolos. The early ballista in Ancient Greece was developed from two weapons called oxybeles and gastraphetes, the gastraphetes was a hand held crossbow. It had a composite prod and was spanned by bracing the front end of the weapon against the ground while placing the end of a mechanism against the stomach. The operator would then forward to arm the weapon while a ratchet prevented it from shooting during loading. This produced a weapon which, it was claimed, could be operated by a person of average strength, the oxybeles was a bigger and heavier construction employing a winch, and was mounted on a tripod. It had a rate of fire and was used as a siege engine. With the invention of torsion spring bundle technology, the first ballista was built, the advantage of this new technology was the fast relaxation time of this system. Thus it was possible to shoot lighter projectiles with higher velocities over a longer distance, the earliest form of the ballista is thought to have been developed for Dionysius of Syracuse, circa 400 BC. The Greek ballista was a siege weapon, all components that were not made of wood were transported in the baggage train. It would be assembled with local wood, if necessary, some were positioned inside large, armoured, mobile siege towers or even on the edge of a battlefield. Polybius reports about the usage of more portable ballistae, called scorpions. Since these weapons delivered lighter munitions it is a widely held opinion that they were used more as an anti-personnel role, or to destroy lighter structures. A less accurate weapon like an onager or other single-arm artillery could hit with more force, ballistae could be easily modified to shoot both spherical and shaft projectiles, allowing their crews to adapt easily to prevailing battlefield situations in real time. After the absorption of the Ancient Greek city-states into the Roman Republic in 146 BC and this included the great military machine advances the Greeks had made, as well as all the scientific, mathematical, political and artistic developments. The early Roman ballistae were made of wood, and held together with iron plates around the frames, the main stand had a slider on the top, into which were loaded the bolts or stone shot. Attached to this, at the back, was a pair of winches, the slider passed through the field frames of the weapon, in which were located the torsion springs, which were twisted around the bow arms, which in turn, were attached to the bowstring
