Catapults: Large Scale Warfare

Words: 394
Pages: 2
Open Document
Catapults are an interesting device that has been used throughout human history. The catapult was influenced by another medieval weapon by the name of the crossbow. Catapults were used for large scale warfare. The word catapult comes from the Greek words, “kata” and “pultos”. Kata means downwards and pultos is a small shield that was taken into battle. The early term for a catapult, katapultos, was taken to mean shield piercer. Catapults were used by many countries, such as the Chinese, Romans, French, and English.

There were many different types of catapults. The Ballista was a large catapult that resembled a crossbow, and it was powered by tension. The Trebuchet consisted of a lever and a sling and could hurl large stones farther than three hundred yards at the time. The Mangonel was a catapult that launched projectiles from a bowl shaped bucket at the end of the arm of the device. The Springald catapult was similar to the Ballista, but it had to separate working parts instead of one giant crossbow device. The Onager catapult was a smaller version of the Mangonel catapult, meaning it was more mobile and it only had to be controlled by two people. …show more content…
Tension powered catapults used natural weight as power. Traction powered catapults used human strength as a power source. Torsion used a pull back crank mechanism as a source of power. Gravity also helps power catapults by helping to hurl the
Show More

Related Documents: Catapults: Large Scale Warfare

Essay on Middle Ages: Weapons

of a ground soldier. Here is an excerpt from The Once and Future King about polearms. " . . . every man carrying a spear or a pitchfork or a worn scythe blade on a pole (polearms)."(White145) It was simply a melee weapon mounted on the end of a large pole. The first polearm developed was the "spear". It was also used to hunt. The spear usually consisted of a sharpened metal spearhead that resembled a dagger fastened to the end of a wooden pole. This was one of the oldest polearms and was an…

Words 2227 - Pages 9

Romans Rising Essay

considered to be the best in the world. While not leagues ahead of other armies in terms of technology at the time, the methods and tactics with which they waged war are still studied today, and technology such as the ballistae, siege tower, and catapults for siege warfare. One of the key successes also brought forth by the Roman military besides their advanced tactics and metal, was the near worship of the position of soldier. There was in fact a point in time where men were chosen by lot in order to serve…

Words 1163 - Pages 5

mongols answerd Essay

The Story Begins More than 700 years ago, a group of nomads were living in east central Asia. Like most barbarians, these nomads had never been united. They had always fought with outsiders. Yet they fought just as bitterly among themselves. Then suddenly, for a short time, they were united. In the thirteenth century, they fought as one nation. They became the most terrifying military force the world had ever known. They swept across Asia on horseback, conquering most of the continent. Quickly…

Words 2948 - Pages 12

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Essay

than the equipment supports. The concept of significant figures is often used in connection with rounding. Rounding to n significant figures is a more general-purpose technique than rounding to ndecimal places, since it handles numbers of different scales in a uniform way. For example, the population of a city might only be known to the nearest thousand and be stated as 52,000, while the population of a country might only be known to the nearest million and be stated as 52,000,000. The former might…

Words 35677 - Pages 143