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This is a list of siege engines invented through history. A siege engine is a weapon used to destroy fortifications such as defensive walls, castles, bunkers and fortified gates. Petrary is the generic term for medieval stone throwing siege engines.
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This is a list of siege engines invented through history. A siege engine is a weapon used to destroy fortifications such as defensive walls, castles, bunkers and fortified gates. Petrary is the generic term for medieval stone throwing siege engines.
| Name | Image | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siege tower |  | 9th Century BC | Assyria | A giant mobile tower, often constructed at location. |
| Battering ram |  | 9th Century BC | Assyria | First siege engine recorded to be used, soon adopted by Sparta. [1] |
| Catapult |  | 500 BC | Greece | A signature siege engine, used until World War I. [2] |
| Escalade |  | 5th Century BC | China | Consists of attacking soldiers advancing to the base of a wall, setting ladders, and climbing to engage the defending forces. |
| Ballista |  | 400 BC | Syracuse, Sicily | A very large and powerful crossbow. Could be mounted on carts. Similar weapons mounted on elephants were used by the Khmer Empire. [3] |
| Onager |  | 353 BC | Rome | The Onager was a Roman torsion powered siege engine. It is commonly depicted as a catapult with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm. |
| Trebuchet |  | 4th Century BC | China | Similar to the catapult, but uses a swinging arm to launch projectiles. It is usually considered to be stronger than the catapult. [4] |
| Helepolis |  | 305 BC | Rhodes | Roman siege tower first used in Rhodes. [5] |
| Siege hook |  | 2nd Century BC | Rome | A siege hook is a weapon used to pull stones from a wall during a siege. The method used was to penetrate the protective wall with the hook and then retract it, pulling away some of the wall with it. |
| Sambuca |  | 213 BC | Sicily | Roman seaborne siege engine build on two ships. |
| Scorpio |  | 52 BC | Gaul | Similar to the ballista, but smaller. Was sometimes mounted on a mule-drawn cart. [6] |
| Cheiroballistra |  | Alexandria | A Roman imperial era siege engine designed by Hero of Alexandria and mostly composed of metal. It shot bolts that were smaller than those in other forms of ballistae and was the next major improvement after the scorpio. | |
| Catapulta | Rome | A Roman siege engine for throwing arrows and javelins. The name comes from the Greek katapeltes because it could pierce or 'go through' (kata) shields (peltas). The catapulta was made of wood and were placed on stands. | ||
| Mangonel |  | 6th Century AD | China | A type of trebuchet which uses traction. |
| Springald |  | 11th century | Byzantium | An inward shooting piece of siege equipment. [7] |
| Artillery |  | First seen in 14th century, only called artillery around the 15th and 16th century [8] | China | After the invention of gunpowder in China, the ability to create firearms and siege artillery was open, siege technology advanced from here but, under the artillery category. There is fewer use for this kind of technology today after the invention of rockets and high grade explosives. [9] |
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon.
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored potential energy to propel its payload. Most convert tension or torsion energy that was more slowly and manually built up within the device before release, via springs, bows, twisted rope, elastic, or any of numerous other materials and mechanisms.
The howitzer is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon and a mortar. With their long-range capabilities, howitzers can be used to great effect in a battery formation with other artillery pieces, such as long-barreled guns, mortars, and rocket artillery.
A trebuchet is a type of catapult that uses a rotating arm with a sling attached to the tip to launch a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weights and further distances than that of a traditional catapult.
The mangonel, also called the traction trebuchet, was a type of trebuchet used in Ancient China starting from the Warring States period, and later across Eurasia by the 6th century AD. Unlike the later counterweight trebuchet, the mangonel operated on manpower-pulling cords attached to a lever and sling to launch projectiles.
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe. It was the first US missile to carry a live nuclear warhead, in the 1958 Pacific Ocean weapons test, Hardtack Teak.
A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. 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. 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 that attack from a distance by launching projectiles. Some complex siege engines were combinations of these types.
Schwerer Gustav was a German 80-centimetre (31.5 in) railway gun. It was developed in the late 1930s by Krupp in Rügenwalde as siege artillery for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line, the strongest fortifications in existence at the time. The fully assembled gun weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes, and could fire shells weighing 7 t to a range of 47 km (29 mi).
The Ordnance BL 9.2-inch howitzer was a heavy siege howitzer that formed the principal counter-battery equipment of British forces in France in World War I. It equipped a substantial number of siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery. During World War II a limited number were used in the Battle of France, with the remainder being kept in the United Kingdom.
In military contexts, a train is the logistical transport elements accompanying a military force. Often called a supply train or baggage train, it has the job of providing materiel for their associated combat forces when in the field. When focused on provision of field artillery and its ammunition, it may be termed an artillery train. For sieges, the addition of siege engines to an artillery train was called a siege train. These military terms predate, and do not imply a railway train, though railways are often employed for modern logistics, and can include armoured trains.
A torsion siege engine is a type of siege engine that utilizes torsion to launch projectiles. They were initially developed by the ancient Macedonians, specifically Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, and used through the Middle Ages until the development of gunpowder artillery in the 14th century rendered them mostly obsolete.
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The siege of Astorga was an attempt by French forces to capture Astorga, Spain in a campaign of the Peninsular War. Astorga was located on the flank of the French invasion of Spain and Portugal, and was meant to be used as a headquarters during the campaign. For several weeks no attack took place, as neither side had artillery enough to fight well. Shortly after the French guns arrived, however, a hole was made in the wall and the city fell shortly thereafter. The French overpowered the Spanish garrison inside and took the city on 22 April 1810.
1st Regiment Indiana Heavy Artillery was a heavy artillery regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was nicknamed the "Jackass Regiment". Before being converted into an artillery unit in 1863, it served as the 21st Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Princess Anne's Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on Willis's Plateau at the northern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, above Princess Caroline's Battery. It was named after Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, the eldest daughter of George II. However, its name is often confused with those of other batteries in the area. In 1732, guns were first mounted on the battery, which also saw action during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. Princess Anne's Battery was updated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the latter modernisation entailing the installation of four QF 5.25 inch guns with both anti-aircraft and coastal defence capabilities. The battery was manned into the early 1980s, after which it was decommissioned. The guns were refurbished in the early twenty-first century, and represent the world's only intact battery of 5.25 inch anti-aircraft guns. Princess Anne's Battery is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.
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