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Military history of Germany

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209-506: The military history of Germany spans the period from ancient times to the present. During the ancient and early medieval periods the Germanic tribes had no written language . What we know about their early military history comes from accounts written in Latin and from archaeology . This leaves important gaps. Germanic wars against the ancient Rome are fairly well documented from

418-594: A humiliating settlement that reduced the size of the country by half. The Electorate of Hanover , up till the Convention of Artlenburg ruled in personal union by the English King George III , was incorporated into Prussia. The King's German Legion formed in Britain from officers and soldiers of the dissolved Hanoverian Army , was the only army of a German state that was continually fighting

627-691: A Saxon army at Lobositz . Frederick would then invade Bohemia, the Prussians besieged Prague , but they were defeated at Kolin . Since Prussia looked vulnerable, the Austrians and French invaded Prussian lands. However, the French were defeated at Rossbach and the Austrians at Leuthen . In 1758, Frederick the Great tried to invade Austria, but he failed. Now, the Russians tried to defeat the Prussians, but

836-566: A burning missile fired from the siege engine struck and damaged a Victorian-era boathouse situated at the River Avon close by, inadvertently demonstrating the weapon's power. It is built on the design of a similar trebuchet at Middelaldercentret in Denmark. In 1989, Middelaldercentret became the first place in the modern era to have a working trebuchet. Trebuchets compete in one of the classifications of machines used to hurl pumpkins at

1045-586: A centralized general staff and a professional officer corps. Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia , Prussia, Austria and a few other German states saw their chance and joined the anti-French forces in the Sixth Coalition , which won a decisive victory over France at Leipzig in 1813 and forced the abdication of Napoleon. Although declared an outlaw by the Congress of Vienna , Napoleon returned and met

1254-553: A counterweight trebuchet comes from a commentary on the conquests of Saladin by Mardi ibn Ali al-Tarsusi in 1187. However cases for the existence of both European and Muslim counterweight trebuchets prior to 1187 have been made. In 1090, Khalaf ibn Mula'ib threw out a man from the citadel in Salamiya with a machine and in the early 12th century, Muslim siege engines were able to breach crusader fortifications. David Nicolle argues that these events could have only been possible with

1463-519: A counterweight trebuchet when he described one equipped with a windlass , which is only useful to counterweight machines, at the siege of Zevgminon in 1165. However the source for this was written in the 1180s to 1190s and Niketas may have been placing the engine of his own time anachronistically into the past. At the siege of Nicaea in 1097 the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos reportedly invented new pieces of heavy artillery which deviated from

1672-409: A critical concern. When the trebuchet is operated, the force causes rotational acceleration of the beam around the axle (the fulcrum of the lever). These factors multiply the acceleration transmitted to the throwing portion of the beam and its attached sling. The sling starts rotating with the beam, but rotates farther (typically about 360°) and therefore faster, transmitting this increased speed to

1881-529: A crusade would end, the Hussite armies go on "Beautiful Rides" and would invade the lands where the crusaders were from. One such place was Saxony. After Žižka's death in 1424, the Hussite armies were led by Prokop the Great to another victory at the Battle of Tachov in 1427. The Hussites repeatedly invaded central German lands, though they made no attempt at permanent occupation, and at one point made it all of

2090-505: A document in Vicenza on 6 April 1189 (835 years ago)  ( 1189-04-06 ) . Trabucha is found a decade later with predariae at the siege of Castelnuovo Bocca d'Adda in an account by Iohannes Codagnellus . It is unclear, however, whether these referred to counterweight trebuchets. Codagnellus did not specify a specific type of engine with the term and even implied that they were "fairly light in subsequent references". Only in

2299-435: A faster rate of fire, increased accuracy, and comparable range and power. It was probably also safer than the twisted cords of torsion weapons, "whose bundles of taut sinews stored up huge amounts of energy even in resting state and were prone to catastrophic failure when in use." At the same time, the late Roman Empire seems to have fielded "considerably less artillery than its forebears, organised now in separate units, so

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2508-559: A few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of the Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others. During the time period of ancient history, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to the Neolithic Revolution , which was in full progress. While in 10,000 BC, the world population stood at 2 million, it rose to 45 million by 3000 BC. By

2717-411: A final defeat at the hands of Blücher and Wellington at Waterloo in 1815. Ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity . The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in

2926-405: A great range, they added weight [to the counterpoise] and set it further back [on the arm] when they needed only a shorter distance, they set it forward, nearer [the fulcrum]. While some historians have described the counterweight trebuchet as a type of medieval super weapon, other historians have urged caution in overemphasizing its destructive capability. On the side of the counterweight engine as

3135-479: A half millennia . It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3100 BC, traditionally under Menes . The civilisation of ancient Egypt was characterised primarily by intensive agricultural use of the fertile Nile Valley; the use of the Nile itself for transportation; the development of writing systems – first hieroglyphs and then later hieratic and other derived scripts – and literature ;

3344-496: A large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old (20th to 18th centuries BC), Middle (14th to 11th centuries BC), and Neo-Assyrian (9th to 7th centuries BC) kingdoms, or periods. Mitanni was a Hurrian empire in northern Mesopotamia founded around 1500 BC. The Mitanians conquered and controlled Assyria until the 14th century BC while contending with Egypt for control of parts of modern Syria. Its capital

3553-537: A later emperor, Darius the Great , expanded the empire to the Indus River , creating the largest empire in the world to that date. But Darius and his son Xerxes I failed to expand into Greece , with expeditions in 490 and 480 BC eventually failing. The Achaemenid dynasty and empire fell to Alexander the Great by 330 BC, and after Alexander's death, much of the area previously ruled by the Cyrus and his successors

3762-527: A medieval military revolution, historians such as Sydney Toy, Paul Chevedden, and Hugh Kennedy consider its power to have caused significant changes in medieval warfare. This line of thought suggests that rams were abandoned due to the effectiveness of the counterweight trebuchet, which was capable of reducing "any fortress to rubble". Accordingly, traditional fortifications became obsolete and had to be improved with new architectural structures to support defensive counterweight trebuchets. In southern France during

3971-648: A military class, but quite contrarily avoided military conflict on the basis of their immense wealth. As well, knights would have been more likely to ravage the countryside in order to get a country to submit to their authority, rather than seek open battle to prove their point. Fortifications in Medieval Germany were built similarly to those of the Roman style , with the caveat of stone-built castles . Forts were generally well constructed and effective against attack. There were several kinds of fortifications such as

4180-451: A number of dynasties that peaked in power under the reign of Ashoka Maurya, one of India's most legendary and famous emperors. During the reign of Ashoka, the four dynasties of Chola , Chera , and Pandya were ruling in the South, while Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BC) controlled Anuradhapura (now Sri Lanka ). These kingdoms, while not part of Ashoka's empire, were in friendly terms with

4389-522: A period often known as the Vedic period . Between 1500 and 500 BC these peoples spread throughout most of India and had begun to found small cities. Vedic society was characterized by the varna system which divided society into four broad castes, which were later elaborated. By the end of the Vedic period, this way of organizing society had become central to Indian society. Religion in the late Vedic period

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4598-403: A result. This key difference makes the trebuchet much more durable, allowing for larger and more powerful machines. A trebuchet projectile can be almost anything, even debris, rotting carcasses , or incendiaries , but is typically a large stone. Dense stone, or even metal, specially worked to be round and smooth, gives the best range and predictability. When attempting to breach enemy walls, it

4807-514: A river. Leaderless, panicked and attacked on all sides, only a tiny fraction of the original forces continued onward. Towards the end of the twelfth century in 1198, there was the beginning of the German Throne Dispute . Henry VI died unexpectedly and there was a succession crisis. The direction of the empire was under scrutiny and was altered by the princes of the empire. The result was a conflict that lasted almost 17 years before

5016-471: A siege weapon are from around the year 1200. The 1174-77 edition of Roman de Renart , an epic about Renard the Fox , describes it as a "trap whose trigger mechanism consists of an assembly of balanced logs" (understood as animal trap by 1375) while the ca. 1200 edition describes it as a "war engine that throws stones to break down walls". The word trabuchellus appeared alongside manganum and prederia in

5225-465: A single arm so that the top of the machine is like a swape. The arm is arranged as to height, length and size, according to the city [which it is proposed to attack or defend]. At the end of the arm there is a sling which holds the stone or stones, of weight and number depending on the stoutness of the arm. Men [suddenly] pull [ropes attached to the other] end, and so shoot it forth. The carriage framework can be pushed and turned around at will. Alternatively

5434-475: 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. There are two main types of trebuchet. The first is the traction trebuchet , or mangonel , which uses manpower to swing the arm. It first appeared in China by

5643-582: A sovereign Teutonic Order state . Their conflict of interests with the Polish-Lithuanian state lead in 1410 to Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) where a Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive defeat and broke its military power, although the Order withstood the following Siege of Marienburg and managed to retain most of its territories. In 1212, Emperor Frederick was forced to fight a civil war to defend his title. He defended his title and owed

5852-605: A strategic objective for Christendom . Mostly, the defense of territory gained in conquest against Muslims in the Holy Land . However, it's possible some could have been built in the Prussian Crusade in the 13th century. This all changed with the influence of gunpowder weapons as used during sieges. The tactics of the Middle Ages varied greatly. A large amount of tactics were still based on Roman ideas. Such as

6061-631: A threat by the Bishop of Minden . The Battle took place at the abandoned village of Sedemuender. The result was the total defeat of the townsfolk. In 1311, Reichskrieg , (Imperial War) a war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Count of Württemberg broke out. The Count, Eberhard , was upset that the imperial Ban was placed on him for the way he handles a court case and crisis around his duties as Landvogt (Military Protector). In 1361,

6270-456: A tradition of bronze production and the manufacture of evermore refined bronze and iron objects, such as plows, axes and sickles with shaft holes, socketed arrows and spearheads and small ornamented items. By about 500 BCE, large and delicately decorated bronze drums of remarkable quality, weighing more than 70 kg (150 lb), were produced in the laborious lost-wax casting process. This industry of highly sophisticated metal processing

6479-672: A war between the Hanseatic League and the Danes broke out. The Hanseatic League won when they conquered Copenhagen . The war lasted nine years and resulted in the Treaty of Stralsund . In 1393, the " Vitalienbrüder ", or the " Victual Brothers " harassed the Hansa and other ships on the Baltic and North Seas . The pirates were brutal and by 1393 the only way for cargo ships to travel

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6688-472: A wide arc (typically over 180°). A sling is attached to one end of the beam to hold the projectile. The projectile is thrown when the beam is quickly rotated by applying force to the opposite end of the beam. The mechanical advantage is primarily obtained by having the projectile section of the beam much longer than the opposite section where the force is applied – usually four to six times longer. The difference between counterweight and traction trebuchets

6897-528: Is Harappan, after the first of its cities to be excavated, Harappa in the Pakistani province of Punjab . Harappan civilization grew out of the earlier agricultural communities as they evolved into cities. These communities created and traded jewelry, figurines, and seals that appear widely scattered throughout Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and Iran. Chickens were domesticated in addition to the earlier crops and animals. They developed their own writing system,

7106-425: Is a compound machine that makes use of the mechanical advantage of a lever to throw a projectile. They are typically large constructions, with the length of the beam as much as 15 meters (50 ft), with some purported to be even larger. A trebuchet consists primarily of a long beam attached by an axle suspended high above the ground by a stout frame and base, such that the beam can rotate vertically through

7315-437: Is a compound of (Old) French tre(s)- , variant form tra- (now tré- / tra- ) from Latin trans expressing "displacement" in that case + Old French buc "trunk of the body, bulk", itself from Old Low Franconian *būk- "belly" similar to Old High German buh , German Bauch "belly". The earliest appearance of the term "trebuchet" in French dates to the late 12th century and the first attestations of trebuchet as

7524-489: Is a smaller version of a counterweight trebuchet with a single frame instead of the usual double "A" frames. The counterweight is split into two halves to avoid hitting the center frame. Most trebuchet use in recent centuries has been for recreational or educational, rather than military purposes. New machines have been constructed and old ones restored by living history enthusiasts, for historical re-enactments , and use in other historical celebrations. As their construction

7733-520: Is crowned Holy Roman Emperor including his dominions in Germany which he gained through military conquest of Saxon tribes . Through the ninth Century, after the death of Charlemagne in 814, the empire was split in the Treaty of Verdun in 843. This created the kingdoms of France , Germany , and Lombardy . Following the Treaty of Verdun, in 870 there was the Treaty of Meerssen . This treaty replaced

7942-596: Is divided into the Paleolithic (earliest), Mesolithic , and Neolithic . The early human migrations in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia 1.8 million years ago. Evidence for the use of fire has been dated as early as 1.8 million years ago, a date which is contested, with generally accepted evidence for the controlled use of fire dating to 780,000 years ago. Actual use of hearths first appears 400,000 years ago. Dates for

8151-482: Is important to use materials that will not shatter on impact; projectiles were sometimes brought from distant quarries to get the desired properties. The traction trebuchet, also referred to as a mangonel in some sources, originated in ancient China. The first recorded use of traction trebuchets was in ancient China. They were probably used by the Mohists as early as 4th century BC; descriptions can be found in

8360-631: Is not explicitly stated what. According to a stele in Barkul celebrating Tang Taizong 's conquest of what is now Ejin Banner , the engineer Jiang Xingben made great advancements on trebuchets that were unknown in ancient times. Jiang Xingben participated in the construction of siege engines for Taizong's campaigns against the Western Regions . In 617 Li Mi (Sui dynasty) constructed 300 trebuchets for his assault on Luoyang , in 621 Li Shimin did

8569-721: Is substantially simpler than modern weapons, trebuchets also serve as the object of engineering challenges. The methods of trebuchet construction were lost at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1984, the French engineer Renaud Beffeyte made the first modern reconstruction of a trebuchet, based on documents from 1324. The largest currently-functioning trebuchet in the world is the 22,000-kilogram (49,000 lb) machine at Warwick Castle , England, constructed in 2005. Based on historical designs, it stands 18 metres (59 ft) tall and throws missiles typically 36 kg (80 lbs) up to 300 metres (980 ft). The trebuchet gained significant interest from numerous news sources when in 2015

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8778-457: Is the use of secrecy in Henry II in 1004 against Bohemians , which gave Henry the element of surprise so that he was successful in his campaign. Another strategy, employed primarily by knights, was to ravage the countryside and force people to submit when they run out of supplies. The vast majority of these tactics were learned from Roman times in surviving works. In the year 800, Charlemagne

8987-804: Is today modern eastern Germany. The following year in 908, the Hungarians scored another victory at the Battle of Eisenach and continued to ravage the German countryside and demand tribute from local lords. This trend was reversed with the First Battle of Lechfeld in 910 when the Imperial Army led by Otto I. defeated the Hungarian invaders. From 919–36, the Germanic peoples ( Franks , Saxons , Swaben and Bavarians ) were united under Henry

9196-524: Is unclear if this referred to counterweight trebuchets since the author did not specify what engine was used and described the machine as fairly light. They may have been used in Germany from around 1205. Only in the late 1210s do references to "trebuchet", describing more powerful engines and different components, more closely align with the features of a counterweight trebuchet. Some of these more powerful engines may have just been traction trebuchets, as one

9405-434: Is what force they use. Counterweight trebuchets use gravity; potential energy is stored by slowly raising an extremely heavy box (typically filled with stones, sand, or lead) attached to the shorter end of the beam (typically on a hinged connection), and releasing it on command. Traction trebuchets use human power ; on command, men pull ropes attached to the shorter end of the trebuchet beam. The difficulties of coordinating

9614-520: Is yet to be confirmed with extensive survey work. With the help of archaeological excavations mainly by Susan and Roderick McIntosh , the site is known to have been occupied from 250 BC to AD 900. The city is believed to have been abandoned and moved where the current city is located due to the spread of Islam and the building of the Great Mosque of Djenné . Previously, it was assumed that advanced trade networks and complex societies did not exist in

9823-635: The Estoire d'Eracles . Chevedden argues that given the references to new and better trebuchets that by the 1120–30s, the counterweight trebuchet was being used in a variety of places by different peoples such as the crusader states, the Normans of Sicily and the Seljuks . The earliest solid reference to a "trebuchet" in European sources dates to the siege of Castelnuovo Bocca d'Adda in 1199. However it

10032-807: The Mozi (compiled in the 4th century BC). According to the Mozi , the traction trebuchet was 17 ft (5.2 m) high with 4 ft (1.2 m) buried below ground, the fulcrum attached was constructed from the wheels of a cart, the throwing arm was 30–35 ft (9.1–10.7 m) long with three quarters above the pivot and a quarter below to which the ropes are attached, and the sling 2.8 ft (0.85 m) long. The range given for projectiles are 300 ft (91 m), 180 ft (55 m), and 120 ft (37 m). They were used as defensive weapons stationed on walls and sometimes hurled hollowed-out logs filled with burning charcoal to destroy enemy siege works. By

10241-474: The Albigensian Crusade , sieges were a last resort and negotiations for surrender were common. In these instances, trebuchets were used to threaten or bombard enemy fortifications and ensure victory. On the side of caution, historians such as John France, Christopher Marshall, and Michael Fulton emphasize the still considerable difficulty of reducing fortifications with siege artillery. Examples of

10450-531: The Baltic Sea pushing southward and eventually settling as far away as Ukraine . The Angles and Saxons migrated to England . The Germanic peoples often had a fraught relationship with their neighbours, leading to a period of over two millennia of military conflict over various territorial, religious, ideological and economic concerns. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (also referred as

10659-569: The Chaldeans in 614 BC. The Achaemenid Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great , who first became king of the Persians, then conquered the Medes, Lydia , and Babylon by 539 BC. The empire built on earlier Mesopotamian systems of government to govern their large empire. By building roads, they improved both the ability to send governmental instructions throughout their lands as well as improving

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10868-585: The Chams against the Yuan dynasty . The design of the Muslim trebuchets came originally from the Muslim countries, and they were more powerful than ordinary trebuchets. In the case of the largest ones, the wooden framework stood above a hole in the ground. The projectiles were several feet in diameter, and when they fell to the earth they made a hole three or four feet deep. when [the artillerists] wanted to hurl them to

11077-688: The Confederation of the Rhine following the battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Essentially this enlarged the more powerful states of the region by absorbing the smaller ones , creating a set of buffer states for France and a source of army conscripts. Neither of the two largest German-speaking states were part of this confederation: the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire remained outside it. King Frederick William III of Prussia viewed

11286-763: The Congo River and into the Great Lakes area. By AD 1000 these groups had spread throughout all of southern Africa south of the equator. Iron metallurgy and agriculture spread along with these peoples, with the cultivation of millet, oil palms, sorghum, and yams as well as the use of domesticated cattle, pigs, and sheep. These technologies helped increase population, and settled communities became common in sub-Saharan Africa except in deserts or heavy forests. Paleolithic tools have been discovered in India dating to 200,000 years ago, and Neolithic sites are known from near

11495-536: The Han dynasty due to long periods of peace but became a common siege weapon again during the Three Kingdoms period. They were commonly called stone-throwing machines, thunder carriages, and stone carriages in the following centuries. They were used as ship mounted weapons by 573 for attacking enemy fortifications. It seems that during the early 7th century, improvements were made on traction trebuchets, although it

11704-681: The Indus Valley dating to around 8000 BC. Agriculture began in the Indus Valley around 7000 BC, and reached the Ganges Valley by 3000 BC. Barley , cotton , and wheat were grown and the population had domesticated cattle, goats, and sheep. The Indus Valley Civilisation developed around 3000 BC in the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys of eastern Afghanistan , Pakistan, and western India. Another name for this civilisation

11913-495: The Indus Valley script , which is still mostly undeciphered. The exact structure of society and the way the cities were governed is not known. By about 1600 BC, the Indus Valley culture had abandoned many of their cities, including Mohenjo-Daro . The exact reason for this decline is not known. Indo-European speaking peoples began to spread into India about 1500 BC. The Rigveda , in Sanskrit , dates to this period and begins

12122-587: The Maccabean revolt led to independence during Hellenistic period until Roman conquest . Phoenicia was an ancient civilisation centered in the north of ancient Canaan , with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern-day Lebanon , Syria and Israel. Phoenician civilisation was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean between the period of 1550 to 300 BC. One Phoenician colony, Carthage , ruled an empire in

12331-802: The Maritime Jade Road , a jade trade network, in Southeast Asia which existed in Taiwan and the Philippines for 3,000 years from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE. The trade was established by links between the indigenous peoples of Taiwan and the Philippines, and later included parts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and other areas in Southeast Asia (known as the Sa Huynh - Kalanay Interaction Sphere). Lingling-o artifacts are one of

12540-417: The Maurya Empire . An alliance existed between Devanampiya Tissa and Ashoka of India, who sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. Most of North India was reunited under the Gupta Empire beginning under Chandragupta I around AD 320. Under his successors the empire spread to include much of India except for the Deccan Plateau and the very south of the peninsula. This was a period of relative peace, and

12749-410: The Nile Delta in the north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographical range of ancient Egyptian civilisation included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant , the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula , and the Western Desert (focused on the several oases ). Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and

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12958-439: The Old Kingdom , which saw pyramid building on a large scale. After 2100 BC, the Old Kingdom dissolved into smaller states during the First Intermediate Period , which lasted about 100 years. The Middle Kingdom began around 2000 BC with the reunification of Egypt under pharoes ruling from Thebes . The Middle Kingdom ended with the conquest of northern Egypt by the Hyksos around 1650 BC. The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt and

13167-454: The Pitcairns , the Kermadec Islands , and the Norfolk Islands were also formerly settled by Austronesians but later abandoned. There is also putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato , that Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia, where they might have traded with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas . Austronesians established prehistoric maritime trade networks in Island Southeast Asia, including

13376-400: The Pope for acknowledging him and helping him retain his title. For this, Emperor Frederick passed the Golden Bull of Eger in which he made concessions to the church. In 1244, the war of Flemish Succession broke out with two counties, one German and one French, arguing over who was to succeed Margaret II, Countess of Flanders . The conflict was between half-brothers, both of whose mother

13585-495: The Seleucid Empire . Parthia had many wars with the Romans, but it was rebellions within the empire that ended it in the 3rd century AD. The Sasanian Empire began when the Parthian Empire ended in AD 224. Their rulers claimed the Achaemenids as ancestors and set up their capital at Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia. Their period of greatest military expansion occurred under Shapur I , who by the time of his death in AD 272 had defeated Roman imperial armies and set up buffer states between

13794-515: The Treaty of Hubertusburg of 1763. Prussia had survived the combined force of its neighbours, each larger than itself, and gained enormously in influence at the cost of the Holy Roman Empire. It became recognised as a great European power, starting a rivalry with Austria for the leadership of the German-speaking lands. During the Seven Years' War , Prussia fought on the side of Britain against Russia , Sweden , Austria , France , and Saxony. Frederick II of Prussia first invaded Saxony and defeated

14003-442: The Zapotec civilization . The ancient Near East is considered the cradle of civilization . It was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture; created one of the first coherent writing systems , invented the potter's wheel and then the vehicular wheel , created the first centralized governments , law codes and empires, as well as displaying social stratification , slavery, and organized warfare. It began

14212-506: The húihúi pào (Muslim trebuchet). The English word trebuchet is first mentioned in the 14th century (13th century in Anglo-Latin) as "medieval stone-throwing engine of war". It is borrowed from (Old) French trebuchet (now trébuchet ). The French word is from the verbal root of trebucher (now trébucher ) : trebuch- + diminutive noun suffix -et , trebucher (10th century) meant "to overthrow, to bring down", then and now "to stumble", maybe earlier "to rock" or "to tilt". It

14421-464: The peasants rebelled against the nobility . The rebellion ultimately failed in the end and Emperor Charles V became much harsher. From 1618 to 1648 the Thirty Years' War ravaged Germany, when it became the main theatre of war in the conflict between France and the Habsburgs for predominance in Europe. Besides being at war with Catholic France, Germany was attacked by the Lutheran King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden , who won many victories until he

14630-485: The 1st century AD, commentators were interpreting other passages in texts such as the Zuo zhuan and Classic of Poetry as references to the traction trebuchet: "the guai is 'a great arm of wood on which a stone is laid, and this by means of a device [ji] is shot off and so strikes down the enemy. ' " The Records of the Grand Historian say that "The flying stones weigh 12 catties and by devices [ji] are shot off 300 paces." Traction trebuchets went into decline during

14839-408: The 4th century BC. It spread westward, possibly by the Avars , and was adopted by the Byzantines , Persians , Arabs , and other neighboring peoples by the sixth to seventh centuries AD. The later, and often larger and more powerful, counterweight trebuchet , also known as the counterpoise trebuchet , uses a counterweight to swing the arm. It appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around

15048-610: The Americas about 15,000 years ago. Evidence for agriculture emerges in about 9000 BC in what is now eastern Turkey and spread through the Fertile Crescent . Settlement at Göbekli Tepe began around 9500 BC and may have the world's oldest temple. The Nile River Valley has evidence of sorghum and millet cultivation starting around 8000 BC and agricultural use of yams in Western Africa perhaps dates to

15257-595: The Arresting Trebuchet appear. The earliest definite mention of the counterweight trebuchet in China was in 1268, when the Mongols laid siege to Fancheng and Xiangyang. After failing to take the twin cities of Fancheng and Xiangyang for several years, collectively known as the siege of Fancheng and Xiangyang , the Mongol army brought in two Persian engineers to build hinged counterweight trebuchets. Known as

15466-575: The Assyrians, who conquered Israel in 722 BC. The Neo-Babylonian Empire did the same to Judah in 586. After both conquests, the conquering forces deported many of the inhabitants to other regions of their respective empires. Following the fall of Babylon to the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great allowed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem , and some of the exiles from Judah returned to Judea , where they remained under Persian rule until

15675-477: The Byzantines already possessed knowledge of the traction trebuchet beforehand. Regardless of the vector of transmission, it appeared in the eastern Mediterranean by the late 6th century AD, where it replaced torsion powered siege engines such as the ballista and onager. The rapid displacement of torsion siege engines was probably due to a combination of reasons. The traction trebuchet is simpler in design, has

15884-604: The Confederation of the Rhine as a threat to Prussian interests and allied against Napoleon. At this time the reputation of the Royal Prussian Army remained high from the period of the Seven Years' War . Unfortunately they retained the tactics of that period and still relied heavily on foreign mercenaries. The lack of military reforms would prove disastrous. Prussian defeats at Jena and Auerstedt led to

16093-650: The Egyptians as a possible challenge to their hegemony , but an ethnic group rather than an organised state. Israel had emerged by the middle of the 9th century BC, when the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III named " Ahab the Israelite" among his enemies at the battle of Qarqar (853). Judah emerged somewhat later than Israel, probably during the 9th century BC, but the subject is one of considerable controversy. Israel came into conflict with

16302-518: The Fertile Crescent, alongside the first evidence for agriculture. Other animals, such as pigs and poultry , were later domesticated and used as food sources. Cattle and water buffalo were domesticated around 7000 BC and horses , donkeys , and camels were domesticated by about 4000 BC. All of these animals were used not only for food, but to carry and pull people and loads, greatly increasing human ability to do work. The invention of

16511-610: The First German Empire) emerged from the kingdom in the eastern part of Francia called Carolingian Empire at the time (first polity of Germany) in 962 after its division between the grandchildren of Charlemagne in the Treaty of Verdun of 843, and lasted almost a millennium until its dissolution in 1806. It was never a unitary state ; from the beginning it was made up of many ethnicities and languages and would at its height comprise territories ranging from eastern France to northern Italy . Its unifying characteristic

16720-608: The Fowler , then Duke of Saxony , who took the title of King. For the first time, the term Kingdom of the Germans ("Regnum Teutonicorum") was applied to East Francia. The Treaty of Bonn was signed in 921 between Charles III of France and Henry I of Germany. They established the Rhine River as the border and neutral territory of their kingdoms. The treaty was ultimately a failure and led to tensions and military conflict between

16929-755: The French. During the early part of the war, the French were successful until Camille de Tallard was victorious in the Palatinate . Later, in 1706, the Germans took back their land with the help of the Dutch and the English. The Austrians pushed the French back in North Italy and the coalition scored several successes in the low countries. At that time, half of the Dutch or the British armies were composed of German mercenaries. The German states that participated in

17138-590: The Great was forced to fight his sons Conrad the Red and Luidolf in a civil war in modern-day Germany. The war was fought over old Roman fortifications such as Mainz and Regensburg . In the subsequent year, during which the Ottonian kingdom would've been weaker, the Magyars invaded with the objective of besieging cities in search of booty. The number of forts and their organization also pointed to extensive work done by

17347-613: The Gupta rulers generally left administration in local rulers. The Gupta Empire was weakened and ultimately ruined by the raids of Hunas (a branch of the Hephthalites emanating from Central Asia), and the empire broke up into smaller regional kingdoms by the end of the fifth century AD. India would remain fragmented into smaller states until the rise of the Mughal Empire in the 1500s. The Neolithic period of Southeast Asia

17556-528: The Holy Roman Empire. The result was that Otto the Pious and John I of Brandenburg (Brothers who jointly ruled Brandenburg) expanded their holdings in eastern Germany. Following their conquest, the brothers would later go on to help the Teutonic Order defeat a Prussian uprising in the middle of the 1260s. In 1260, there was a small uprising in the town of Hamelin . The townsfolk rose up in response to

17765-534: The Huihui trebuchet (回回砲, where " huihui " is a loose slang referring to any Muslims), or Xiangyang trebuchet (襄陽砲) because they were first encountered in that battle. Ismail and Al-aud-Din travelled to South China from Iraq and built trebuchets for the siege. Chinese and Muslim engineers operated artillery and siege engines for the Mongol armies. By 1283, counterweight trebuchets were also used in Southeast Asia by

17974-517: The Iron Age in 1000 BC, the population had risen to 72 million. By the end of the ancient period in AD 500, the world population is thought to have stood at 209 million. In 10,500 years, the world population increased by 100 times. Prehistory is the period before written history. Most of our knowledge of that period comes from the work of archaeologists. Prehistory is often known as the Stone Age , and

18183-889: The Malayan-Indonesian " thalassian " zone shared these characteristics with Indochinese polities like the Pyu city-states in the Irrawaddy River valley, the Văn Lang kingdom in the Red River Delta and Funan around the lower Mekong . Văn Lang, founded in the 7th century BCE, endured until 258 BCE under the Hồng Bàng dynasty , as part of the Đông Sơn culture that sustained a dense and organised population that produced an elaborate Bronze Age industry. Intensive wet-rice cultivation in an ideal climate enabled

18392-463: The Mediterranean in the 12th century, and was carried back to China by the Mongols in the 13th century. The numerous forms of the word that appeared during the 13th century , including trabocco , tribok , tribuclietta , and trubechetum , have obscured the origin of the term. In Arabic the counterweight trebuchet was called manjaniq maghribi or majaniq ifranji . In China it was called

18601-716: The Middle East. Egypt developed its own system of hieroglyphs by about 3200 BC. By 2800 BC the Indus Valley Civilization had developed its Indus script , which remains undeciphered. Chinese Characters were independently developed in China during the Shang dynasty in the form of the Oracle Bone Script dating to the period 1600 to 1100 BC. Writing in Mesoamerica dates to 600 BC with

18810-552: The Napoleonic army. A demoralised Prussia brought its distinguished old general Gebhard von Blücher out of retirement and reorganized the army. The reforms of the Prussian military were led by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau , and converted the professional army into one based on national service. They brought in younger leaders, increased the rate of mobilisation and improved their skirmishing and unit tactics. They also organized

19019-534: The Nubians had created a new kingdom further south, known as the Kingdom of Kush , centred on the upper Nile with a capital at Kerma . In the Egyptian New Kingdom period, Kush once more was conquered by Egypt. However, by 1100 BC a new kingdom of Kush had formed, with a capital at Napata . Nubian rulers conquered Egypt around 760 BC and retained control for about a century. The Kingdom of Aksum

19228-653: The Pacific Islands to successfully retain rice cultivation. Palau and Yap were settled by separate voyages by 1000 BCE. Another important migration branch was by the Lapita culture , which rapidly spread into the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands and other parts of coastal New Guinea and Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE. They reached the islands of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This remained

19437-518: The Prussians earned a pyrrhic victory at the Zorndorf . The Swedes, however, fought the Prussians to a draw at Tornow . However, Austria gained a victory against the Prussian main army at Hochkirch . In 1759, the Prussians lost at Kunersdorf to the combined Russians and Austrians. Berlin itself was taken for a few days in 1762, but its army could not be destroyed. However, the great alliance against Prussia broke up when Elizabeth of Russia died. It

19646-681: The Roman perspective, such as the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events. Germanic tribes are thought to have originated during the Jastorf culture in Iron Age in northern Germany and Denmark , their land was later called " Germania " by the Romans. The tribes spread south, possibly motivated by

19855-568: The Sasanians and Roman Empires. After Shapur, the Sasanians were under more pressure from the Kushans to their east as well as the Roman then Byzantine Empire to its west. However, the Sasanians rebuilt and founded numerous cities and their merchants traveled widely and introduced crops such as sugar, rice, and cotton into the Iranian plateau. But in AD 651, the last Sassanid emperor was killed by

20064-514: The Siege of Acre (1291), both traction and counterweight trebuchets were used. The traction trebuchets provided cover fire while the counterweight trebuchets destroyed the city's fortifications. The counterweight-trebuchet could also be used for cover fire and as an anti-personnel weapon. King James I of Aragon employed this as a defensive tactic in many fortified structures and towns which proved effective. Trebuchets could cause mass casualties due to

20273-706: The Sudan. Like the Chinese, by 653, the Arabs also had ship mounted traction trebuchets. The Franks and Saxons adopted the weapon in the 8th century. The Life of Louis the Pious contains the earliest western European reference to mangonels (traction trebuchets) in its account of the siege of Tortosa (808–809) . In 1173, the Republic of Pisa tried to capture an island castle with traction trebuchet on galleys. Traction trebuchets were also used in India. The catapult,

20482-535: The Syrian noted that at the siege of Balis in 823 it was the defenders that suffered from bombardment rather than the fortifications. At the siege of Kaysum , Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani used artillery to damage houses in the town. The Sack of Amorium in 838 saw the use of traction trebuchets to drive away defenders and destroy wooden defenses. At the siege of Marand in 848, traction trebuchets were used, "reportedly killing 100 and wounding 400 on each side during

20691-598: The Three Henries was fought between 977–978. The war was a short lived rebellion by three German princes, all of which were named Henry, against Emperor Otto II . The three Henries were, Bishop Henry I of Augsburg, Henry the Wrangler, and duke Henry I the Younger. Shortly after the end of the rebellion of the three Henries, Otto fought a brief war with King Lothair of France , who invaded Lotharingia and attacked

20900-667: The Western Mediterranean until being defeated by Rome in the Punic Wars . The Phoenicians invented the Phoenician alphabet , the forerunner of the modern alphabet still in use today. The history of Pre-Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the AD 630s is not known in great detail. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian Peninsula has been sparse; indigenous written sources are limited to

21109-492: The ability of their military forces to be deployed rapidly. Increased trade and upgraded farming techniques increased wealth, but also exacerbated inequalities between social classes. The empire's location at the centre of trading networks spread its intellectual and philosophical ideas throughout a wide area, and its religion, while not itself spreading far, had an impact on later religions such as Christianity , Islam , and Judaism . Cyrus' son Cambyses II conquered Egypt, while

21318-483: The account of which has been translated from the Greek several times, was quadrangular, with a wide base but narrowing towards the top, using large iron rollers to which were fixed timber beams "similar to the beams of big houses", having at the back a sling, and at the front thick cables, enabling the arm to be raised and lowered, and which threw "enormous blocks into the air with a terrifying noise". The traction trebuchet

21527-542: The annual pumpkin chucking contest held in Sussex County, Delaware , U.S. The record-holder in that contest for trebuchets is the Yankee Siege II from New Hampshire , which at the 2013 WCPC Championship tossed a pumpkin 2835.8 ft (864.35 metres). The 51-foot-tall (16 m), 55,000-pound (25,000 kg) trebuchet flings the standard 8–10-pound (3.6–4.5 kg) pumpkins, specified for all entries in

21736-492: The archipelago of the Philippines , intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about 23,000 years earlier. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, Austronesians spread further west in a single migration event to both Sumatra and

21945-640: The arm and drop vertically. Hinged counterweights are attached to the arm by a swinging joint. Some fixed counterweights also had a hinged component. The type described by al-Tarsusi was a hanging counterweight. Writing in 1280, Giles of Rome claimed that hinged counterweight trebuchets had a greater range than fixed counterweight types. Chevedden argues that counterweight trebuchets appeared prior to 1187 in Europe based on what might have been counterweight trebuchets in earlier sources. The 12th-century Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates may have been referring to

22154-587: The capital of the Akkadian Empire. Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found. Akkad reached the height of its power between about 2330 and 2150 BC, following the conquests of King Sargon of Akkad . Through the spread of Sargon's empire, the language of Akkad, known as Akkadian from the city, spread and replaced the Sumerian language in Mesopotamia and eventually by 1450 BC

22363-518: The casting of iron with molds and then hammering it which enabled weapons and tools to be made stronger and also cheaper. Although chariots had been used previously, the use of spoked wheels allowed the chariots to be much lighter and more maneuverable. In 1274 BC the Hittites clashed with the Egyptians at the Battle of Kadesh , where both sides claimed victory. In 1207 the Hittite capital of Hattusa

22572-401: The city's defenders. Ibn al-Adim describes a traction trebuchet capable of throwing a man in 1089. At the siege of Haizhou in 1161, a traction trebuchet was reported to have had a range of 200 paces (over 400 m (1,300 ft)). West of China, the traction trebuchet remained the primary siege engine until the 12th century when it was replaced by the counterweight trebuchet. In China

22781-575: The civil War, Henry IV found time to siege Rome twice in 1081 and 1084. The struggle of the civil war broke German military and political power so that later the kingdom and empire would dissolve into hundreds of autonomous states for some time. By 1155, the German states had descended into disorder. Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa managed to restore peace through diplomacy and skillfully arranged marriages. He claimed direct imperial control over Italy and made several incursions into northern Italy, but

22990-614: The coastal regions of southern Vietnam, becoming the ancestors of the speakers of the Malayic and Chamic branches of the Austronesian language family. Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE or even earlier, becoming the first humans to reach Remote Oceania . The Chamorro migration was also unique in that it was the only Austronesian migration to

23199-520: The conventional design and made a deep impression on everyone. Illustrations produced later in 1270 depicted fixed counterweight trebuchets used at the siege. Possible references to counterweight trebuchets also appear for the second siege of Tyre in 1124 , where the crusaders reportedly made use of "great trebuchets". However the sources for this siege, Fulcher of Chartres and William of Tyre , only mention machinae and machinae iaculatoriae that were later translated as perrieres and mangoniaux in

23408-613: The counterweight trebuchet beforehand. From the First Crusade (1096–1099) onward, there does not appear to be any discernible difference in the technology of siege engines employed by Muslim and Frankish forces, and by the Third Crusade (1189–1192), both sides seemed well acquainted with the enemy's siege weapons, which "appear to have been remarkably similar." Counterweight trebuchets do not appear with certainty in Chinese historical records until about 1268. Prior to 1268,

23617-470: The counterweight trebuchet may have been used in 1232 by the Jurchen Jin commander Qiang Shen. Qiang invented a device called the "Arresting Trebuchet" which only needed a few men to work it, and could hurl great stones more than a hundred paces, further than even the strongest traction trebuchet. However no other details on the machine are given. Qiang died the following year and no further references to

23826-675: The counterweight trebuchet was not clear cut. Of this, the Hongwu Emperor stated in 1388: "The old type of trebuchet was really more convenient. If you have a hundred of those machines, then when you are ready to march, each wooden pole can be carried by only four men. Then when you reach your destination, you encircle the city, set them up, and start shooting!" The traction trebuchet continued to serve as an anti-personnel weapon. The Norwegian text of 1240, Speculum regale , explicitly states this division of functions. Traction trebuchets were to be used for hitting people in undefended areas. At

24035-457: The defenders than the counterweight ones. The Song dynasty described countermeasures against counterweight trebuchets that prevented them from damaging towers and houses: "an extraordinary method was invented of neutralising the effects of the enemy's trebuchets. Ropes of rice straw four inches thick and thirty-four feet long were joined together twenty at a time, draped on to the buildings from top to bottom, and covered with [wet] clay. Then neither

24244-408: The destruction of structures. During an assault on Muntcada by King James I, a trebuchet was used to target a tower, destroying the structure and causing the consequential deaths of civilians and livestock. But typically the counterweight trebuchet was used against battlements such as parapets, other defensive structures, and the lower section of walls due to its greater accuracy and longer range, which

24453-743: The deteriorating climate of that area. They crossed the River Elbe , probably overrunning the territories of the Celtic Volcae in the Weser Basin . The Romans recorded one of these early migrations when the Cimbri and the Teutons tribes threatened the Republic itself around the late 2nd century BC. In the East, other tribes, such as Goths , Rugii and Vandals , settled along the shores of

24662-416: The device exist from the time when they were supposed to have been used. The entire argument for the existence of hybrid trebuchets rests on accounts of increasingly more effective siege weapons. Peter Purton suggests that this was simply because the machines became larger. The earliest depiction of a hybrid trebuchet is dated to 1462, when trebuchets had already become obsolete due to cannons. The couillard

24871-408: The eight-month siege." During the siege of Baghdad in 865, defensive artillery were responsible for repelling an attack on the city gate while traction trebuchets on boats claimed a hundred of the defenders' lives. Some exceptionally large and powerful traction trebuchets have been described during the 11th century or later. At the Siege of Manzikert (1054) , the Seljuks ' initial siege artillery

25080-445: The emergence of Homo sapiens (modern humans) range from 250,000 to 160,000 years ago, with the varying dates being based on DNA studies and fossils respectively. Some 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa . They reached Australia about 45,000 years ago, southwestern Europe about the same time, southeastern Europe and Siberia around 40,000 years ago, and Japan about 30,000 years ago. Humans migrated to

25289-484: The empire was Aksum , now in northern Ethiopia. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1000 BC and mysteriously vanished around AD 200. The civilisation's social system is thought to have been highly advanced. The Nok civilisation was considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta which have been discovered by archaeologists. The Nok also used iron smelting that may have been independently developed. The civilisation of Djenné-Djenno

25498-497: The end of the noble line. After which, the title and its holdings would revert to the lord to give out to someone else. Ritter's were considered the elite of the German military as their entire goal was to practice for war. They did this by competing in tournaments to keep themselves practiced. A Ritter would be considered of this lowest nobility but were considered the primary means of defense for many lords. All knights were nobility but not all nobles were knights. The nobility were not

25707-450: The ends [of the beams of the framework] can be buried in the ground and so used. [But whether you use] the 'Whirlwind' type or the 'Four-footed' type depends upon the circumstances. The traction trebuchet was adopted by various peoples west of China such as the Byzantines , Persians , Arabs , and Avars by the sixth to seventh centuries AD. Some scholars suggest that the Avars carried the traction trebuchet westward while others claim that

25916-438: The entire territory. Among large, thin-walled terracotta jars, ornamented and colorized cooking pots, glass items, jade earrings and metal objects were deposited near the rivers and along the coast. Around 3000 to 1500 BCE, a large-scale migration of Austronesians , known as the Austronesian expansion began from Taiwan . Population growth primarily fueled this migration. These first settlers settled in northern Luzon , in

26125-486: The expanding Islamic Arabs. The Hittites first came to Anatolia about 1900 BC and during the period 1600-1500 they expanded into Mesopotamia where they adopted the cuneiform script to their Indo-European language. By 1200 their empire stretched to Phoenicia and eastern Anatolia . They improved two earlier technologies from Mesopotamia and spread these new techniques widely – improved iron working and light chariots with spoked wheels in warfare. The Hittites introduced

26334-551: The failure of siege artillery include the lack of evidence that artillery ever threatened the defenses of Kerak Castle between 1170 and 1188. Marshall maintains that "the methods of attack and defence remained largely the same through the thirteenth century as they had been during the twelfth." Reservations on the counterweight trebuchet's destructive capability were expressed by Viollet-le-Duc , who "asserted that even counterweight-powered artillery could do little more than destroy crenellations, clear defenders from parapets and target

26543-461: The farming communities to produce a regular crop surplus that was used by the ruling elite to raise, command and pay work forces for public construction and maintenance projects such as canals and fortifications. The earliest known evidence of copper and bronze production in Southeast Asia was found at Ban Chiang in north-east Thailand and among the Phùng Nguyên culture of northern Vietnam around 2000 BCE. The Đông Sơn culture established

26752-417: The first kings of Germany during the 10th century during the Middle Ages. In 955, the Magyars were decisively defeated at the second battle of Lechfeld by Otto the Great , ending the threat from the Eurasian steppes for four centuries. In 962, partly on the strength of this victory, Otto invaded Italy on his way to Rome and was crowned the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope . The War of

26961-512: The furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE, when there was another surge of island colonization. It reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE. For a few centuries, the Polynesian islands were connected by bidirectional long-distance sailing, with the exception of Rapa Nui, which had limited further contact due to its isolated geographical location. Island groups like

27170-460: The hand-trebuchet ( shoupao ) was invented by Liu Yongxi and presented to the emperor in 1002. It was a pole with a pin at its upper end that acted as a fulcrum for the arm. The pole was used as a shot for fixing in the ground and the user could then throw missiles at the enemy from a static position. According to Paul E. Chevedden, a hybrid trebuchet existed that used both counterweight and human propulsion. However no illustrations or descriptions of

27379-471: The imperial city of Aachen with 20,000 men. Otto was forced to flee to Dortmund where he created an effective response. He then counter-invaded France and laid siege to Paris but was forced to withdraw during the winter months. He then turned to defeating the rebellious princes, which he did by besieging Passau where the rebels had gathered. Otto took Passau and punished the three princes for their insurrection. Between 1002 and 1024, Henry II of Germany

27588-484: The incendiary arrows, nor bombs [ huo pao ] from trebuchets, nor even stones of a hundred jun caused any damage to the towers and houses." The counterweight trebuchet did not completely replace the traction trebuchet. Despite its greater range, counterweight trebuchets had to be constructed close to the site of the siege unlike traction trebuchets, which were smaller, lighter, cheaper, and easier to take apart and put back together again where necessary. The superiority of

27797-622: The kingdoms. In 933, Henry the Fowler met with an assembly in which they expressed their desire to renew their war with the Magyars (Hungarians). The Magyars attempted to catch the Saxons by surprise, but ultimately failed when they split their army in two. This resulted in Henry destroying both army sections with his superior weapons and training. The name of this conflict was known as the Battle of Riade . Henry I and his son Otto I inherited their administrative qualities from their Carolingian ancestors and thus were able to field armies much larger than medieval military historiography believed

28006-445: The land was reunited in the New Kingdom around 1550 BC. This period lasted until about 1000 BC, and saw Egypt expand its borders into Palestine and Syria. The Third Intermediate Period was marked by the rule of priests as well as the conquest of Egypt by Nubian kings and then later Assyria, Persia, and Macedonians. The Ta-Seti kingdom in Nubia to the south of Egypt was conquered by Egyptian rulers around 3100 BC, but by 2500 BC

28215-418: The large tank in the middle was the counterweight, while the bulb at the end of the arm was for adjusting between fixed and swinging counterweights. Both Liang and Needham note that the illustrations are poorly drawn and confusing, leading to mislabeling. The counterweight and traction trebuchets were phased out around the mid-15th century in favor of gunpowder weapons. With the introduction of gunpowder ,

28424-415: The last major Turkish offensive against the Austrian capital of Vienna in 1683. By the closing years of the 17th century, he was already famous for securing Hungary from the Ottoman Empire , and soon rose to the role of principal Austrian commander during the War of the Spanish Succession . From 1701 to 1714 the War of the Spanish Succession , Germany fought with the English and the Dutch against

28633-409: The late 1210s do variations of "trebuchet" in sources, described as increasingly powerful machines or utilizing different components, identify more closely with the counterweight trebuchet. Other terms, such as machina maior/magna , might have also referred to counterweight trebuchets. Traction trebuchet and counterweight trebuchet are modern terms ( retronyms ), not used by contemporary users of

28842-424: The machines of the besieged." In spite of the evidence regarding increasingly powerful counterweight trebuchets during the 13th century, "it remains an important consideration that not one of these appears to have effected a breach that directly led to the fall of a stronghold." In 1220, Al-Mu'azzam Isa laid siege to Atlit with a trabuculus , three petrariae , and four mangonelli but could not penetrate past

29051-414: The many inscriptions and coins from southern Arabia. Existing material consists primarily of written sources from other traditions (such as Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, etc.) and oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars. A number of small kingdoms existed in Arabia from around AD 100 to perhaps about AD 400. Carthage was founded around 814 BC by Phoenician settlers. Ancient Carthage

29260-520: The mayor and the town council members of Prague were thrown from the windows of the town building. Emperor Sigismund , a firm adherent of the Roman Catholic Church , obtained the support of Pope Martin V who issued a papal bull in 1420 proclaiming a crusade. In all, four crusades were launched against the heretics, all resulting in defeat for the Catholic troops. The Hussites , capably led by Jan Žižka , employed novel tactics to defeat their numerically superior enemies, decisively at Aussig . Whenever

29469-444: The middles ages were fought in similar fashion to those of ancient times. Many changes were made due to the use of siege warfare and new military technologies. During the Middle Ages, siege warfare was the primary way in which war was fought and territory taken through conquest. There were field battles fought, in which they employed a phalanx formation similar to what would have been studied in Vegetius ' De re militari . However,

29678-409: The military and trained for duty, but were sent home for ten months out of each year. Frederick the Great , king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, modernized the Prussian Army , introduced new tactical and strategical concepts, fought mostly successful wars and doubled the size of Prussia. Frederick had a rationale based on Enlightenment thought: he launched total wars for limited objectives. The goal

29887-434: The moat and bailey, earthworks, hill-forts, Urban forts, town walls , and fortified residences. Moat and bailey , the most common castles before the use of stonework's, proved ineffective against Viking invaders. In Germany, in 1200 there were only 12 towns with walls, and 9 of them were originally Roman walls . Later, crusaders built their own types of fortifications called crusader castles , meant to be used in defense of

30096-405: The notable archeological finds originating from the Maritime Jade Road. During the operation of the Maritime Jade Road, the Austronesian spice trade networks were also established by Islander Southeast Asians with Sri Lanka and Southern India by around 1000 to 600 BCE. Trebuchet A trebuchet ( French : trébuchet ) is a type of catapult that uses a rotating arm with

30305-478: The onager, mangonel, trebuchet, and other catapult types in contemporary terminology has led some historians today to use the more precise traction trebuchet instead, with counterweight trebuchet used to distinguish what was before called simply a trebuchet . Some modern historians use mangonel to mean exclusively traction trebuchets, while others call traction trebuchets traction mangonels and counterweight trebuchets counterweight mangonels . The trebuchet

30514-406: The operators were inaccurate and most of the shots missed their target. When one stone did reach their target, it "demolished the top of the rampart down to the walkway." The Byzantines adopted the traction trebuchet possibly as early as 587, the Persians in the early 7th century, and the Arabs in the second half of the 7th century. In 652, the Arabs used trebuchets at the siege of Dongola in

30723-442: The organisation of collective projects such as the pyramids ; trade with surrounding regions; and a polytheistic religious tradition that included elaborate funeral customs including mummification . Overseeing these activities were a socio-political and economic elite under the figure of a (semi)-divine ruler from a succession of ruling dynasties . Ancient Egyptian history is divided across various periods, beginning with

30932-462: The outer wall, which was soft but thick. As late as the Siege of Acre (1291) , where the Mamluk Sultanate fielded 72 or 92 trebuchets, including 14 or 15 counterweight trebuchets and the remaining traction types, they were never able to fulfill a breaching role. The Mamluks entered the city by sapping the northeast corner of the outer wall. Though stone projectiles of substantial size (~66 kilograms (146 lb)) have been found at Acre, located near

31141-413: The period 3000 BC – AD 500, ending with the expansion of Islam in late antiquity. The three-age system periodizes ancient history into the Stone Age , the Bronze Age , and the Iron Age , with recorded history generally considered to begin with the Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages vary between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin

31350-472: The population to settle in one place instead of migrating after crops and herds. It also allowed for a much greater population density, and in turn required an extensive labour force and division of labour. This organization led to the necessity of record keeping and the development of writing. Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq ), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi created an empire out of

31559-448: The projectile. The length of the sling increases the mechanical advantage, and also changes the trajectory so that, at the time of release from the sling, the projectile is traveling in the desired speed and angle to give it the range to hit the target. Adjusting the sling's release point is the primary means of fine-tuning the range, as the rest of the trebuchet's actions are difficult to adjust after construction. The rotation speed of

31768-409: The pull of many men together repeatedly and predictably makes counterweight trebuchets preferable for the larger machines, though they are more complicated to engineer. The trebuchet had further modifications to allow an increase to its range, by creating a slot for the sling and projectile to sit underneath the trebuchet, enabling the sling to be lengthened and thus extending the range, an alteration in

31977-557: The reconstruction of trebuchets after they were deconstructed for transportation to their destination, whether on carts or by ship. They could also be equipped with their own wheels, as shown in two 17th- and 18th-century Chinese illustrations, which are also the only Chinese depictions of counterweight trebuchets on land. According to Liang Jieming, the "illustration shows... its throwing arm disassembled, its counterweight locked with supporting braces, and prepped for transport and not in battle deployment." However, according to Joseph Needham,

32186-408: The region in the former savannah of the Sahara. Its inhabitants fished and grew millet. It has been found that the Soninke of the Mandé peoples were responsible for constructing such settlements. Around 300 BC, the region became more desiccated and the settlements began to decline, most likely relocating to Koumbi Saleh. From the type of architecture and pottery, it is believed that Tichit was related to

32395-465: The region until the arrival of traders from Southwest Asia . However, sites such as Djenné-Djenno disprove this, as these traditions in West Africa flourished long before. Towns similar to that at Djenne-Jeno also developed at the site of Dia, also in Mali along the Niger River , from around 900 BC. Dhar Tichitt and Oualata were prominent among the early urban centres, dated to 2000 BC, in present-day Mauritania. About 500 stone settlements littered

32604-421: The ropes and wound the trebuchets", and to shoot the machine, they "then released their ropes." They were used in England at least by 1217 and in Iberia shortly after 1218. By the 1230s the counterweight trebuchet was a common item in siege warfare. Despite the lack of clearly definable terms in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, it is likely that both Muslims and Europeans already had working knowledge of

32813-415: The same at Luoyang, and onward into the Song dynasty when in 1161, trebuchets operated by Song dynasty soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulphur against the ships of the Jin dynasty navy during the Battle of Caishi . For the trebuchet they use large baulks of wood to make the framework, fixing it on four wheels below. From this there rise up two posts having between them a horizontal bar which carries

33022-443: The same result, albeit with more shots, in a similar amount of time. Accordingly, it was only profitable to employ counterweight trebuchets if they were capable of harnessing noticeably more energy, allowing them to throw significantly larger stones or similarly sized stones greater distances. There is some evidence that the counterweight trebuchet could be transported. Armies employed a magister tormentorum ('master of trebuchets') for

33231-420: The same time period. Cultivation of millet, rice , and legumes began around 7000 BC in China . Taro cultivation in New Guinea dates to about 7000 BC also with squash cultivation in Mesoamerica perhaps sharing that date. Animal domestication began with the domestication of dogs , which dates to at least 15,000 years ago, and perhaps even earlier. Sheep and goats were domesticated around 9000 BC in

33440-412: The simple plough by 6000 BC further increased agricultural efficiency. Metal use in the form of hammered copper items predates the discovery of smelting of copper ores , which happened around 6000 BC in western Asia and independently in eastern Asia before 2000 BC. Gold and silver use dates to between 6000 and 5000 BC. Alloy metallurgy began with bronze in about 3500 BC in Mesopotamia and

33649-445: The site of the siege and likely used by the Mamluks, surviving walls of a 13th-century Montmusard tower are no more than one meter thick. There is no indication that the thickness of fortress walls increased exponentially rather than a modest increase of 0.5–1 m (1 ft 8 in – 3 ft 3 in) between the 12th and 13th century. The Templar of Tyre described the faster firing traction trebuchets as more dangerous to

33858-417: The son of Henry VI, Frederick II , was able to regain his title and power as Holy Roman Emperor. Teutonic Knights In 1226 Konrad I of Masovia appealed to the Teutonic Knights , a German crusading military order , to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic Prussians . The conquest and Christianization of Prussia was accomplished after more than 50 years, after which the Order ruled it as

34067-525: The study of the stars and the sciences of astronomy and mathematics. Mesopotamia is the site of some of the earliest known civilisations in the world. Agricultural communities emerged in the area with the Halaf culture around 8000 BC and continued to expand through the Ubaid period around 6000 BC. Cities began in the Uruk period (4000–3100 BC) and expanded during the Jemdet Nasr (3100–2900 BC) and Early Dynastic (2900–2350 BC) periods. The surplus of storable foodstuffs created by this economy allowed

34276-439: The subsequent Ghana Empire. Old Jenne (Djenne) began to be settled around 300 BC, producing iron and with sizeable population, evidenced in crowded cemeteries. The inhabitants and creators of these settlements during these periods are thought to have been ancestors of the Soninke people. Peoples speaking precursors to the modern-day Bantu languages began to spread throughout southern Africa, and by 2000 BC they were expanding past

34485-409: The subsequent development in armor, there came advancements in handheld weaponry to deal with these developments. For example, swords became thinner and pointed on the tip in order to penetrate between gaps in plate armor. Crossbows as well became more commonly used in the defense of castles during siege warfare. In order to attack castles, the Springald was created to launch spears in succession, but

34694-460: The territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad . The Neo-Babylonian Empire , or Chaldea , was Babylonia from the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II , it conquered Jerusalem . This empire also created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the still-surviving Ishtar Gate as architectural embellishments of its capital at Babylon. Akkad was a city and its surrounding region near Babylon. Akkad also became

34903-455: The throwing beam increases smoothly, starting slow but building up quickly. After the projectile is released, the arm continues to rotate, allowed to smoothly slow down on its own accord and come to rest at the end of the rotation. This is unlike the violent sudden stop inherent in the action of other catapult designs such as the onager , which must absorb most of the launching energy into their own frame, and must be heavily built and reinforced as

35112-404: The traction trebuchet was the primary siege engine until the counterweight trebuchet was introduced during the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty in the 13th century. There is little to no consensus as to where and when the counterweight trebuchet, which has been described as the "most powerful weapon of the Middle Ages", was first developed. The earliest known description and illustration of

35321-416: The trajectory, or the release point to be changed. Further increasing their complexity is that either winches or treadwheels , aided by block and tackle , are typically required to raise the more massive counterweights. So while counterweight trebuchets require significantly fewer men to operate than traction trebuchets, they require significantly more time to reload. In a long siege, reload time may not be

35530-420: The treaty of Verdun and split the empire again. The Kingdom of East Francia (Germany) continued to exist under the conditions of this treaty. However, within 10 years this led to further conflict between German and French Kings. In July 907, an army of Germans faced off against Hungarians in the Battle of Pressburg . The result was a decisive Hungarian victory in which the Hungarians were able to pillage what

35739-404: The trebuchet began to lose its place as the siege engine of choice to the cannon . Trebuchets were still used both at the siege of Burgos (1475–1476) and siege of Rhodes (1480) . One of the last recorded military uses was by Hernán Cortés , at the 1521 siege of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán . Accounts of the attack note that its use was motivated by the limited supply of gunpowder. The attempt

35948-573: The use of counterweight trebuchets. Although al-Tarsusi provided the first description and illustration of a counterweight trebuchet, the text implies that the engine was not new and had previously been built. Al-Tarsusi referred to the counterweight trebuchet as the "Persian" trebuchet whereas the "Frankish" trebuchet was a light traction engine. Later during the 13th century, Muslims used manjaniq maghribi (Western trebuchet) and manjaniq ifranji (Frankish trebuchet) to refer to counterweight trebuchets. Paul E. Chevedden suggests that manjaniq maghribi

36157-488: The use of sieges as the primary means of middle age warfare, there were changes in military technology that facilitated fighting this differing kind of warfare. That being said, advances in technology did not mean that old technology became immediately obsolete. One such advance was the trebuchet , but other smaller advancements were made as well. There were advancements such as new helmets called Spangenhelme as well as some Carolingian developments in weapon production. With

36366-448: The use of training, regimentation, and the phalanx. Medieval commanders may have been educated or read in Vegetius' De Re Militari which would have provided the bases for battle tactics. In historiography, Charles Oman believes that cavalry entirely dominated the battlefield of the Middle Ages, but others contend that the infantry continued to play the most vital role even through the early modern age. One example of tactics and strategy

36575-466: The vast majority of battles were fought in defense of or the attempt to take fortifications. The men required to partake in a siege came from different areas of society. There were some nobles, some knights, the kings personal men, as well as the vast majority being peasant farmers conscripted into fighting. Siege warfare in effect was the way in which war was fought in Germany during the Middle Ages; this led to advances in medieval military technology. With

36784-416: The war were Austria (which contributed the most), Prussia and Hanover. During the reign of Frederick William I (1713–40), the military power of Prussia was significantly improved. He organized the government around the needs of his army, and produced an efficient, highly disciplined instrument of war. The Prussian Army was expanded to 80,000 men, about 4% of the total population. Peasants were drafted into

36993-410: The way to the Baltic Sea . The Hussite movement was ended in 1434, however, at the Battle of Lipany . Historiography tends to believe that the Middle Ages end in 1453 with the emergence of the printing press in Mainz; thus, beginning the early modern age of Germany, and more broadly the early modern European age. During the German Peasants' War , spanning from 1524 to 1525 in the Holy Roman Empire,

37202-453: The weaponry that came into the hands of successor states might have been limited in quantity." Evidence from Gaul and Germania suggests there was substantial loss of skills and techniques in artillery further west. According to the Miracles of Saint Demetrius , probably written around 620 by John, Archbishop of Thessaloniki , the Avaro- Slavs attacked Thessaloniki in 586 with traction trebuchets. The bombardment lasted for hours, but

37411-407: The weapons. The term traction trebuchet was created mainly to distinguish this type of weapon from the onager , a torsion powered catapult that is often conflated in contemporary sources with the mangonel , which was used as a generic term for any medieval stone throwing artillery. Both the traction and counterweight trebuchets have been called mangonel at one point or another. Confusion between

37620-414: Was Washukanni , whose precise location has not been determined by archaeologists. The Medes and Persians were peoples who had appeared in the Iranian plateau around 1500 BC. Both peoples spoke Indo-European languages and were mostly pastoralists with a tradition of horse archery. The Medes established their own Median Empire by the 6th century BC, having defeated the Neo-Assyrian Empire with

37829-417: Was a staff sling mounted on a pole using a lever mechanism to propel projectiles. Basically a one-man traction trebuchet, it was used by troops of emperor Nikephoros II Phokas around 965 to disrupt enemy formations in the open field. It was also mentioned in the Taktika of general Nikephoros Ouranos (c. 1000), and listed in De obsidione toleranda (author anonymous) as a form of artillery. In China,

38038-414: Was a city-state that ruled an empire through alliances and trade influence that stretched throughout North Africa and modern Spain . At the height of the city's influence, its empire included most of the western Mediterranean. The empire was in a constant state of struggle with the Roman Republic , which led to a series of conflicts known as the Punic Wars . After the third and final Punic War , Carthage

38247-399: Was able to conscript forces across his entire kingdom for a campaign south of the Alps into Italy. As was common in previous centuries, all able-bodied men in the Holy Roman Empire were required to defend their home if it was under threat. Germany during the eleventh century was engulfed in civil war most notably in the 1070s and 1080s. It began during the reign of Henry IV in 1056. During

38456-438: Was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa centered in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia , it existed from approximately AD 100 to 940, growing from the Iron Age proto-Aksumite period around the 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. The Kingdom of Aksum at its height by the early 6th-century AD extended through much of modern Ethiopia and across the Red Sea to Arabia. The capital city of

38665-454: Was capable at that time. The efficiency of military organization in tenth-century Germany was much higher than believable. This can be seen in the number of sieges, which would require extensive logistics, that were conducted during the century. Otto I and his subsequent descendants were tasked with defending the military borders to the east of modern-day Germany. Their enemies were primarily Slavic and roaming Steppe peoples . In 953-954 Otto

38874-445: Was characterized by several migrations into Mainland and Island Southeast Asia from southern China by Austronesian , Austroasiatic , Kra-Dai and Hmong-Mien -speakers. Territorial principalities in both Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, characterized as "agrarian kingdoms", developed an economy by around 500 BCE based on surplus crop cultivation and moderate coastal trade of domestic natural products. Several states of

39083-416: Was countered by the defenders' own, which shot stones at the besieging machine. In response, the Seljuks constructed another one requiring 400 men to pull and threw stones weighing 20 kg (44 lb). A breach was created on the first shot but the machine was burnt down by the defenders. According to Matthew of Edessa , this machine weighed 3,400 kg (7,500 lb) and caused a number of casualties to

39292-426: Was dealt a defeat by the Polish-Lithuanian forces by King Władysław II Jagiełło . This marked an ending to the power of the German religious state in eastern Europe. The Hussite Wars , fought between 1419 and 1434 in Bohemia , had their origins in a conflict between Catholics and the followers of a religious sect founded by Jan Hus . The inciting action of the war was the First Defenestration of Prague , in which

39501-417: Was described being pulled by ten thousand. At the Siege of Toulouse (1217–1218) , trabuquets were mentioned to have been deployed, but the siege engine depicted at the tomb of Simon de Montfort , who was killed by artillery at the siege, is a traction trebuchet. Though soon after, clear evidence of counterweight machines appeared. According to the Song of the Albigensian Crusade , the defenders "ran to

39710-422: Was destroyed and then occupied by Roman forces. Nearly all of the territory held by Carthage fell into Roman hands. Ancient Egypt was a long-lived civilisation geographically located in north-eastern Africa. It was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River, reaching its greatest extent during the 2nd millennium BC, which is referred to as the New Kingdom period. It reached broadly from

39919-405: Was developed independent of Chinese or Indian influence. Historians relate these achievements to the presence of organized, centralized and hierarchical communities and a large population. Between 1000 BCE and 100 CE, the Sa Huỳnh culture flourished along the south-central coast of Vietnam . Ceramic jar burial sites that included grave goods have been discovered at various sites along

40128-609: Was developed independently in China by 2000 BC. Pottery developed independently throughout the world, with fired pots appearing first among the Jomon of Japan and in West Africa at Mali . Sometime between 5000 and 4000 BC the potter's wheel was invented. By 3000 BC, the pottery wheel was adapted into wheeled vehicles which could be used to carry loads further and easier than with human or animal power alone. Writing developed separately in five different locations in human history: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, and Mesoamerica. By 3400 BC, "proto-literate" cuneiform spread in

40337-421: Was evolving into Hinduism , which spread throughout Southeast Asia. Siddhartha Gautama , born around 560 BC in northern India, went on to found a new religion based on his ascetic life – Buddhism . This faith also spread throughout Eastern and Southeastern Asia after his death. This period also saw the composition of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata . The kingdom of Magadha rose to prominence under

40546-419: Was from her death that a pro-Prussian ruler, Peter III would sue for peace. It was thanks to this " miracle of the House of Brandenburg " and to the unshakable will of Frederick that Prussia survived. The Napoleonic era ended the Holy Roman Empire and created new German-speaking states that would eventually form modern Germany. Napoleon I of France reorganized many of the smaller German-speaking states into

40755-432: Was how it was employed by the Kingdom of Aragon . Rather than replace traction trebuchets, counterweight trebuchets supplemented them in a different role. Their slower shooting rate and greater mass made them more difficult to reposition, or even yaw, leaving few incentives to employ a small counterweight engine rather than a comparable traction type. Although less accurate, traction trebuchets might be expected to achieve

40964-469: Was in convoys. The Hansa built some defensive ships but nothing that could completely wipe of the brothers like they had hoped. It was the master of the Teutonic Knights, Konrad von Jungingen that besieged and conquered the Vitalienbrüder base at Gotland that finally ended their reign of terror as the remainder of the pirates were forced to move into other seas. In 1410, the Teutonic Order or (Deutscher Ordensstaat) in German, situated in modern-day Poland,

41173-415: Was its Carolingian heritage and strong religious connotations, its claim to "German-ness" the ethnicity of most of its subjects and rulers. The military history of Germany during the Middle Ages was full of siege warfare and the technological changes that come from fighting that kind of war. From the creation of the First German Empire in 843 until the creation of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg ,

41382-410: Was killed at Lützen . The war resulted in large areas of Germany being laid waste, causing general impoverishment and a loss of around a third of its population; it took generations to recover. It ended with the Peace of Westphalia , which stabilized the nation states of Europe. The imperial general Prince Eugene of Savoy faced the Ottoman Turks on the battlefield, first coming to prominence during

41591-455: Was located in the Niger River Valley in the country of Mali and is considered to be among the oldest urbanized centers and the best-known archaeology site in sub-Saharan Africa . This archaeological site is located about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from the modern town and is believed to have been involved in long-distance trade and possibly the domestication of African rice. The site is believed to exceed 33 hectares (82 acres); however, this

41800-418: Was mainly used outside of Germany. Stirrups were developed which was integral in the use of shock combat during the Middle Ages. The creation of greaves was important in protecting the shins. In Germany, Baronets were known as ( Ritter ) or Knights . These were a title of nobility bestowed on people by the local lord. Following this, the title of Ritter was generally passed in a hereditary fashion until

42009-456: Was most efficient as an anti-personnel weapon , used in a supportive position alongside archers and slingers. Most accounts of traction trebuchets describe them as light artillery weapons while actual penetration of defenses was the result of mining or siege towers. At the Siege of Kamacha in 766, Byzantine defenders used wooden cover to protect themselves from the enemy artillery while inflicting casualties with their own stone throwers. Michael

42218-427: Was reportedly unsuccessful: the first projectile landed on the trebuchet itself, destroying it. In China, the last time trebuchets were seriously considered for military purposes was in 1480. Not much is heard of them afterwards. In 2024, the Israeli military made at least partial use of trebuchets against Hezbollah objectives in southern Lebanon . The hand-trebuchet ( Greek : χειρομάγγανον, cheiromanganon )

42427-403: Was ruled by the Seleucid dynasty . Parthia was an Iranian civilisation situated in the northeastern part of modern Iran. Their power was based on a combination of military power based on heavy cavalry with a decentralised governing structure based on a federated system . The Parthian Empire was led by the Arsacid dynasty , which by around 155 BC under Mithradates I had mostly conquered

42636-442: Was sacked, ending the Hittite Empire . Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of the ancient Levant and had existed during the Iron Ages and the Neo-Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic periods. The name Israel first appears in the stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah around 1209 BC. This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity of the central highlands, well enough established to be perceived by

42845-407: Was the aforementioned Margaret, John I of Avesnes and Guy of Dampierre . The result of the war was John I of Avesnes defeating his mother and half brother with the aid of Count William of Holland. The Teltow-Magdeburg Wars were fought in the modern German state of Brandenburg. It was fought between 1239 and 1245 over the ownership of some eastern German territories. The war was between princes of

43054-516: Was the main language of diplomacy in the Near East. Assyria was originally a region on the Upper Tigris , where a small state was created in the 19th century BC. The capital was at Assur , which gave the state its name. Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of Anatolia , the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with Nineveh as its capital. The Assyrian kings controlled

43263-428: Was to convince rival kings that it was better to negotiate and make peace than to fight him. In the War of Austrian Succession (1740–48) Empress Maria Theresa of Austria fought successfully for recognition of her succession to the throne. However, during the subsequent Silesian Wars and the Seven Years' War , King Frederick the Great (Frederick II) occupied Silesia and forced Austria to formally cede control in

43472-441: Was ultimately defeated by the Lombard League at Legano in 1176. Despite his defeat, he did manage to receive the imperial coronation from the pope, thus aiding Barbarossa in his efforts to restore the empire to its former glory that it experienced under Otto I. In 1189, Frederick embarked on the Third Crusade . After a few initial successes against the Turks , notably at the Battle of Iconium , Frederick died when trying to cross

43681-439: Was used to describe hinged counterweight engines in contrast to previous fixed or hanging counterweight trebuchets. Sometimes counterweight trebuchets are separated into two or three different categories based on how their counterweights are attached. These being fixed, hanging, and hinged counterweights. A fixed counterweight is an intrinsic part of the swinging arm and its trajectory is circular. Hanging counterweights hang below

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