posted 08-12-2005 01:09 PM         

when you think about other bigger pieces of artillery used in the middle ages the trebuchet reminds me of mortars, because they are often depicted throwing large buckets filled with explosives or incindiery mixtures over walls, not at walls.

back to the romans again, what about the onager? it was a torsion type weapon that fired projectiles in a more or less straight line to batter down walls. similar to what cannons did and now like bunker piercing missles

I can't think of anything like a howitzer. but I'm sure they had something that resembled it.
I think that the purpose of the weapons did not change but the technology behind how they work changed.

posted 08-13-2005 07:44 PM         

How many sieges are there that used this form of biological warfare? do you think that there was a use of gas or perhaps smoke to confuse or force out enemies? I heard that incindiery mixes often had all kind of things added into them to make them smelly like animal feces and sulpher.

posted 01-01-2006 10:08 PM            

Speaking of landmines, there's always the caltrops. They had the same purpose: break up the advancing enemies. A knight on horseback has some similarities to a tank.

Many have claimed that the pike was the predecessor of the bayonnette. Archers would be surrounded with pikemen. Once the bayonette was attached to the gun, both battle tactics were combined.

Let us also not forget the crossbow bolts. With their armor piercing qualities, they resemble modern jacketed ammunition. I guess that comparison might be stretched a little, to liken the longbow to a machine gun, with it's rapid fire rate. That's stretching things quite a bit though.

There was also chemical warfare. Smelly gasses from the smoke might be quite real. Rumors of boiling oil may have been highly exaggerated, but sand probably was in abundance. It's not exactly a chemical, but pouring that on the enemy would leave them very itchy. I may have read something about the use of onions. A sort of tear gas?

posted 01-07-2006 07:41 PM         

I don't know about the use of poo in the way described. might have been done though. I understand that longbow users didn't just stick the arrows they were about to use in the ground for convinience it was also to make the wounds the arrows gave more prone to infection.

This isn't too medieval but the punji sticks in vietnam were similar to stimuli and I know that they were defecated and urinated upon to cause bad infections to those who were unfortunate enough to step on them.

posted 01-09-2006 11:52 PM            

Good mention of the arrows! I hadn't thought of that.

I'm surprised that urine would be used to cause infections. It contains a lot of ammonia, and can virtually be used as bleach. Some people even claim it has antiseptic qualities. (I've been told it's good for curing athlete's foot, and preventing syphilis, when used externally.) Of course, you should take any cures that involve bodily fluids with a grain of salt.

Oh, Oh! I thought of another weapon! In the castles, they would use a sort of board to launch a whole lot of arrows at once. Not very accurate, but it was probably rather useful against a large mass of enemies... Can anyone say shotgun?

MMM, In the "Life inside a castle" We're discussing the military applications of armored dogs...Where do you suppose that would fit in?

posted 01-20-2006 01:04 PM            

"A fierce, wild people from the north, called the Gauls, suddenly attacked Rome. Outlandish in speech and dress and huge in stature, these savage warriors spread terror throughout Italy. They defeated the Roman army, destroyed the city, and massacred all who could not escape.

According to stories later told in Rome, however, the Gauls could not capture the Capitol, which was held by some brave Roman soldiers. Once they nearly succeeded. A daring messenger had managed to climb up the steep side of the Capitoline Hill to bring news to the garrison. The Gauls saw his footprints and planned to take the garrison by surprise. At dead of night they stealthily made their way up the steep path, each man, by means of his weapons, helping to draw up the one following.

No one saw them. But just as they were near the top, the sacred geese which were kept in the temple of Juno cackled. A strong Roman captain, named Marcus Manlius, was awakened just in time. He rushed to the head of the path, slew a huge Gaul who was scrambling up, and hurled another down headlong upon his comrades. Other Romans sprang to his aid, and thus "the geese saved Rome."

posted 01-26-2006 05:57 PM            

Ever tried to steal their eggs? One goose may not bite hard, but several of them at the same time could more than make up for that.