What is a Catapult and the History of Catapults

A Catapult is a device that accumulates tension and suddenly releases it, in order to hurl or project an object some distance. Catapults work very similarly to crossbows or archery bows in the sense that they store tension in either twisted rope or string, or in a flexible piece of wood. The first catapult was built in 399 BC in order to improve the power and range of crossbows. It was the first documented us of a mechanical arrow firing catapult build by the Greek historian Diodrous Siculus. Catapults made were first seem in battle in England in 1216, when the French attacked and used catapults against the English. Catapults at that time were used in order to launch many different types of objects at the highly fortified castle and city walls to cause maximum damage. As well, they were used to fire objects over the walls in order to maximize damage to the populations within the city. The 3 main types of Catapults were Ballista, Mangonel, and Trebuchet. Click Here to see the 3 main types.

Example of early catapult use