With the development of gunpowder and improved metallurgy, bombards and later heavy artillery became the primary siege engines.Ĭollectively, siege engines or artillery together with the necessary soldiers, sappers, ammunition, and transport vehicles to conduct a siege are referred to as a siege train. They could launch simple projectiles using natural materials to build up force by tension, torsion, or, in the case of trebuchets, human power or counterweights coupled with mechanical advantage. From antiquity up to the development of gunpowder, 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. Siege engines are fairly large constructions – from the size of a small house to a large building. Some complex siege engines were combinations of these types. There are many distinct types, such as siege towers that allow foot soldiers to scale walls and attack the defenders, battering rams that damage walls or gates, and large ranged weapons (such as ballistae, catapults/ trebuchets and other similar constructions) that attack from a distance by launching projectiles.
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.
Pre-gunpowder fortress-warfare machines Replica battering ram at Château des Baux, FranceĪ siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare.
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