Medieval Warfare & The Castle Attack
Medieval Warfare
The Middle Ages was known for its rough times and brutal warfare. With this warfare came new technological innovations that made war even more dangerous. Such creations included the ballista, siege towers, and Greek fire. Creating pretend castles, we will combine these technologies with strategic choices to successfully "siege a castle" and "protect" ours from another's attack. Check out our website on medieval warfare and siege warfare!
What is a siege?
A siege is when an army surrounds a castle so that no one can escape or enter the castle, like a lock down. A siege can last months at a time until the people inside the castle ran out of food and resources. Siege warfare was when armies surrounded castles and had long and dangerous battles with the defenders of the castle. The purpose for the fighting varied, but often involved conquering land or tension among manors.
Our Castle Has...
- A moat 30 feet deep, and filled with wooden stakes - a large body of water surrounding the castle on all sides, filled with sharp wooden nails
- A drawbridge - to stop attackers from crossing over the moat
- An iron-gated double-door entrance (Gatehouse) - this provides more protection from battering rams and invaders
- 4 Catapults - that launch projectiles over long distances
- 8 Ballistas - that fire damaging and large arrows
- Two layers of double-doors -
- A Stone Keep - A final resort or emergency tower during attacks, which also served as a lookout
- 305 Archers - soldiers who shot arrows from long-range
- Battlements - open areas at the top of a wall devoted for creating openings for archers on top of the castle to shoot from
- 4 Fortified Towers (Archer Tower) - towers where archers could shoot from high up and have less of a risk of being killed
- Curtain Wall - A fortified wall that links two of the four towers together in the castle
- Arrow Loops - small slits in castle walls where archers could shoot freely without need for cover