Editing Siege engine

{{short description|Pre-gunpowder fortress-warfare machines}}
[[File:Battering ram.jpg|right|thumb|Replica [[battering ram]] at [[Château des Baux]], France]]
A '''siege engine''' is a [[machine|device]] that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick [[city wall]]s and other [[fortification]]s in [[siege warfare]]. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while others have wheels to enable advancing up to the enemy fortification. There are many distinct types, such as [[siege tower]]s that allow [[foot soldier]]s to scale walls and attack the defenders, [[battering rams]] that damage walls or gates, and large ranged weapons (such as [[ballista]]s, [[catapult]]s/[[trebuchet]]s and other similar constructions) that attack from a distance by launching heavy [[projectile]]s. Some complex siege engines were combinations of these types.

Siege engines are fairly large constructions – from the size of a small house to a large building. From [[Ancient history|antiquity]] up to the development of [[gunpowder]], they were made largely of wood, using rope or leather to help bind them, possibly with a few pieces of metal at key stress points. They could launch simple [[projectile]]s using natural materials to build up force by [[Tension (physics)|tension]], [[Torsion (mechanics)|torsion]], or, in the case of trebuchets, human power or counterweights coupled with [[mechanical advantage]]. With the development of gunpowder and improved [[metallurgy]], [[Bombard (weapon)|bombards]] and later heavy [[artillery]] became the primary siege engines.

Collectively, siege engines or artillery together with the necessary [[soldier]]s, [[sapper]]s, [[ammunition]], and [[Military supply chain management|transport vehicles]] to conduct a siege are referred to as a [[siege train]].<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/siege-train#US_Military_Dictionary_d_ans "Siege train"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904015427/http://www.answers.com/topic/siege-train#US_Military_Dictionary_d_ans |date=2017-09-04 }} on [[Answers.com]]</ref>

==Antiquity==

===Ancient Assyria through the Roman Empire===
{{Further|Roman siege engines}}
[[File:Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III 720-743 BCE from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud).jpg|thumb|upright|Siege engine in Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] 743-720 BC from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud)]]

The earliest siege engines appear to be simple movable roofed towers used for cover to advance to the defenders' walls in conjunction with [[scaling ladder]]s, depicted during the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]].<ref name="Siege warfare in ancient Egypt">{{cite web |url=https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/siegewarfare.html| title=Siege warfare in ancient Egypt |publisher=Tour Egypt|access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> Advanced siege engines including battering rams were used by [[Assyria]]ns, followed by the catapult in [[ancient Greece]]. 
In [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]] siege towers as well as [[battering rams]] were built from the 8th century BC and employed in Kushite siege warfare, such as the siege of [[Ashmunein]] in 715 BC.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dodson|first=Aidan|date= 1996|title=Monarchs of the nile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jsq0AHsC-YMC&q=Kushite+siege+towers&pg=PA178|language=en|volume=1|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |isbn=978-97-74-24600-5}}</ref><ref name="Siege warfare in ancient Egypt"/>
The [[Sparta]]ns used battering rams in the [[Plataea|siege of Plataea]] in 429 BC, but it seems that the Greeks limited their use of siege engines to assault ladders, though Peloponnesian forces used something resembling [[flamethrower]]s.

The first Mediterranean people to use advanced siege machinery were the [[Carthage|Carthaginians]], who used [[siege tower]]s and battering rams against the [[Colonies in antiquity|Greek colonies]] of [[Sicily]]. These engines influenced the ruler of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius I]], who developed a catapult in 399 BC.<ref>"The Catapult: A History", Tracy Rihall, 2007</ref>

The first two rulers to make use of siege engines to a large extent were [[Philip II of Macedonia]] and [[Alexander the Great]]. Their large engines spurred an evolution that led to impressive machines, like the [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius Poliorcetes]]' ''[[Helepolis]]'' (or "Taker of Cities") of 304 BC: nine stories high and plated with iron, it stood {{cvt|40|m|ft}} tall and {{cvt|21|m|ft}} wide, weighing {{cvt|180|t|lb}}. The most used engines were simple battering rams, or ''tortoises'', propelled in several ingenious ways that allowed the attackers to reach the walls or ditches with a certain degree of safety. For sea sieges or battles, seesaw-like machines (''sambykē'' or ''[[Sambuca (siege engine)|sambuca]]'') were used. These were giant ladders, hinged and mounted on a base mechanism and used for transferring marines onto the sea walls of coastal towns. They were normally mounted on two or more ships tied together and some sambuca included shields at the top to protect the climbers from arrows. Other hinged engines were used to catch enemy equipment or even opposing soldiers with opposable appendices which are probably ancestors to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[Corvus (boarding device)|corvus]]. Other weapons dropped heavy weights on opposing soldiers.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

[[File:Roman siege machines.gif|left|thumb|upright|Roman siege engines.]]
The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] preferred to assault enemy walls by building earthen ramps (''agger'') or simply scaling the walls, as in the early siege of the [[Samnium|Samnite]] city of Silvium (306 BC). Soldiers working at the ramps were protected by shelters called ''vineae'', that were arranged to form a long corridor. Convex wicker shields were used to form a screen (''[[wikt:pluteus|plutei]]'' or plute in English)<ref>An obsolete English synonym for "pluteus" is "plute".{{cite OED|plute}}</ref> to protect the front of the corridor during construction of the ramp.<ref name=Cartwright2016>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Siege_Warfare/ |title=Roman Siege Warfare |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=24 June 2016 |access-date=19 January 2018 |encyclopedia=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> Another [[Roman siege engine]] sometimes used resembled the Greek ditch-filling tortoise of Diades, this galley (unlike the ram-tortoise of Hegetor the Byzantium) called a ''musculus'' ("muscle") was simply used as cover for sappers to engineer an offensive ditch or earthworks. Battering rams were also widespread. The [[Roman Legion]]s first used siege towers {{circa|200&nbsp;BC}}; in the first century BC, [[Julius Caesar]] accomplished a siege at [[Siege of Uxellodunum|Uxellodunum]] in [[Gaul]] using a ten-story siege tower.<ref name=Cartwright2016 /> Romans were nearly always successful in besieging a city or fort, due to their persistence, the strength of their forces, their tactics, and their siege engines.<ref name=Cartwright2016 />

The first documented occurrence of ancient siege engine pieces in Europe was the ''[[gastraphetes]]'' ("belly-bow"), a kind of large crossbow. These were mounted on wooden frames. Greater machines forced the introduction of pulley system for loading the projectiles, which had extended to include stones also. Later [[torsion siege engine]]s appeared, based on sinew springs. The [[onager (siege weapon)|onager]] was the main Roman invention in the field.
[[File:Guidoriccio mangonel.jpg|thumb|A stone-throwing machine set to defend a gate, in the fresco of ''[[Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the siege of Montemassi|Guidoriccio da Fogliano]]'' by [[Simone Martini]] (14th century).|left]]

===Ancient China===
:{{see also|Chinese siege weapons}}
The earliest documented occurrence of ancient siege-artillery pieces in China was the levered principled traction catapult and an {{convert|8|ft|m|abbr=on}} high siege crossbow from the [[Mozi]] (Mo Jing), a Mohist text written at about the 4th – 3rd century BC by followers of Mozi who founded the [[Mohism|Mohist school]] of thought during the late [[Spring and Autumn period]] and the early [[Warring States period]]. Much of what we now know of the siege technology of the time comes from Books 14 and 15 (Chapters 52 to 71) on Siege Warfare from the Mo Jing. Recorded and preserved on bamboo strips, much of the text is now extremely corrupted. However, despite the heavy fragmentation, Mohist diligence and attention to details which set Mo Jing apart from other works ensured that the highly descriptive details of the workings of mechanical devices like Cloud Ladders, Rotating Arcuballistas and Levered Catapults, records of siege techniques and usage of siege weaponry can still be found today.<ref>Liang, Jieming (2006). ''Chinese Siege Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity'', pp. Appendix D</ref>

===Elephant===
[[Indian Subcontinent|Indian]], Sri Lankan, Chinese and Southeast Asian kingdoms and empires used [[war elephant]]s as battering rams.

==Middle Ages==
[[File:MonsMeg.JPG|thumb|The medieval [[Mons Meg]] with its 20" (50 cm) [[Round shot|cannonballs]]]]

[[Medieval]] designs include a large number of [[catapult]]s such as the [[mangonel]], [[Onager (siege weapon)|onager]], the [[ballista]], the traction [[trebuchet]] (first designed in China in the 3rd century BC and brought over to Europe in the 4th century AD), and the counterweight trebuchet (first described by [[Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi]] in the 12th century, though of unknown origin). These machines used mechanical energy to fling large projectiles to batter down stone walls. Also used were the battering ram and the [[siege tower]], a wooden tower on wheels that allowed attackers to climb up and over castle walls, while protected somewhat from enemy arrows.

A typical military confrontation in medieval times was for one side to lay siege to an opponent's [[castle]]. When properly defended, they had the choice whether to assault the castle directly or to starve the people out by blocking food deliveries, or to employ war machines specifically designed to destroy or circumvent castle defenses. Defending soldiers also used trebuchets and catapults as a defensive advantage.

Other tactics included [[Early thermal weapons|setting fires]] against castle walls in an effort to decompose the cement that held together the individual stones so they could be readily knocked over. Another indirect means was the practice of [[Mining (military)|mining]], whereby tunnels were dug under the walls to weaken the foundations and destroy them. A third tactic was the catapulting of diseased animals or human corpses over the walls in order to promote disease which would force the defenders to surrender, an early form of [[biological warfare]].

==Modern era==
{{main|List of siege artillery}}
[[File:Karl6.jpg|250px|thumb|One of the super-heavy [[Karl-Gerät]] siege mortars used by the German army in [[World War II]]]]
[[File:Dicke Bertha.Big Bertha.jpg|thumb|250px|A German [[Big Bertha (howitzer)|Big Bertha howitzer]] being readied for firing]]
With the advent of [[gunpowder]], [[firearm]]s such as the [[arquebus]] and [[cannon]]—eventually the [[petard]], [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]] and [[artillery]]—were developed. These weapons proved so effective that [[fortification]]s, such as [[city wall]]s, had to be low and thick, as exemplified by the designs of [[Vauban]].

The development of specialized siege artillery, as distinct from [[field artillery]], culminated during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. During the First World War, huge siege guns such as [[Big Bertha (howitzer)|Big Bertha]] were designed to see use against the modern fortresses of the day. The apex of siege artillery was reached with the German [[Schwerer Gustav]] gun, a huge {{convert|80|cm|abbr=on}} caliber [[railway gun]], built during early World War II. Schwerer Gustav was initially intended to be used for breaching the French [[Maginot Line]] of fortifications, but was not finished in time and (as a sign of the times) the Maginot Line was circumvented by rapid mechanized forces instead of breached in a head-on assault. The long time it took to deploy and move the modern siege guns made them vulnerable to air attack and it also made them unsuited to the rapid [[Maneuver warfare|troop movements]] of modern warfare.

==See also==
{{cmn|colwidth=30em|
* [[Early thermal weapons]]
* [[Fortification]]
* [[List of siege engines]]
* [[Medieval warfare]]
* [[Military engineer]]
* [[Military history]]
* [[:Category:Siege equipment]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==<!-- Better if these were inline citations, that is, mentioned in the article to support a specific point -->
* {{cite book|title=Greek and Roman Siege Machinery 399 BC – AD 363 |first=Duncan B. |last=Campbell |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |year=2003}}
* {{cite book |last=Liang |first=Jieming |title=Chinese Siege Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity |year=2006 |publisher=Leong Kit Meng |isbn=981-05-5380-3}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}

*[http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=LIR&xsl=paginamanoscritto&chiave=101227 Paolo Santini De Machinis or De machinis bellicis de Mariano Taccola, Paris, BnF, Département des manuscrits, Latin 7239]
*[http://www.redstoneprojects.com/trebuchetstore/trebuchet_illustrations.html Scenes of Siege Warfare]

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[[Category:Siege engines| ]]