Page 39 - All About History - Issue 26-15

Through History

The very first rams were
powered by human
muscle, but a rope and
pulley system was soon
1
BATTERING RAM 800BC developed for added force ULVERIN 5TH CENTURY
The simplest of all the siege weapon The invention of the cannon spelled the end of
ram could still be very effective. Woo the castle age. Able to blast huge holes in stone,
doors didn’t stand a chance against t fortifications would crumble in an instant. The
its metal cap crashing and breaking earliest cannons were slow and inaccurate but the
structures. Later versions utilised a r culverin was one of the first to be a true success.
cover its users from projectiles. The Used frequently in the English Civil War, they
ram soon became obsolete in helped lay waste to many of Britain’s castles and
sieges but it has made a return in the were assisted by other types of cannon such as
modern day, with police forces falconets, sakers and minions. Cannons were also
around the world using an Sultan essential in the defence of a fortification, with star
updated version to break Mehmet II forts in the American War of Independence built
into sealed buildings. 1432-1481, TURKISH specifically to tailor for defensive artillery.
An Ottoman military hero,
Mehmet II sanctioned the creation 500BCE
of devastating artillery pieces similar to Ascastlesandotherfortificationsgrewin
the Great Bombard. Influenced by the
western cannon, the Ottoman Empire’s size,siegeengineshadtoevolveaswell.
finest engineers used them to topple The siege tower was designed to combat
the walls of Constantinople in 1453, themightiestofallfortresses,itscolossal
and they were even used as late
as 1807 against the mighty height allowing invaders to storm over
British fleet. battlements.Asadeptonwaterasitwason
land, the bulk of the tower stored rams and extra
infantrywithinandcouldprotecttrebuchetsfrom
Older mortars
were so heavy enemy fire. Moats were the true enemy of the siege
they had to be tower and defenders would do anything they could
transported to stop this monster nearing their stronghold.
by rail. Later
models were
light enough to
be handheld
As well as cannonballs,
cannons could also fire
shrapnel, explosive shells
and chain shots

Arrow slits in the
side of the towers
allowed archers to get
a few shots off at the MORTAR 5TH CENTURY
1
defenders while on
the move As defenders got wise to the use of
cannons, more and more complex devices
RAILWAY GUNS 1940 were created. One such device was the mortar.
Originating in the 15th century, mortars came into
The final artillery piece could well be World War
their own in the 18th century. Launching their
II railway guns. Coming in a variety of forms, the
projectiles with a looped trajectory, the shells could
most famous was the gigantic 80-centimetre (31.5- Big Bertha was originally
fire over walls and deep into enemy territory. An
inch) Gustav Schwerer constructed by the Third transported by rail but was
example of the brilliance of the mortar was in the adapted to use on the roads
Reich. Developed to bring the French Maginot Line of war-torn Europe
Russo-Japanese War, when the heavily defended
to ruin, it was used in the latter stages of the war to
Russian naval base at Port Arthur was destroyed by BIG BERTHA 1914
besiege Soviet fortifications in Leningrad and help
Japanese mortar fire By World War I, the traditional siege engine
bring down the 1944 Warsaw Rising. The British
was obsolete, but some still remained.
and French also created their own versions in both
Germany’s Big Bertha was one such example,
world wars. This form of weapon was regarded as
and could fire a 900-kilogram (2,000-pound)
the pinnacle of artillery until flying bombs and
shell further than 14,500 metres (48,000 feet).
nuclear weapons came about and
During the war, it fired its huge shells at the
changed everything.
Belgian city of Liege, reducing a ring of 12 forts
Friedrich to rubble. The gun was the biggest in the
Krupp world at the time and took six hours to © Alamy, Thinkstock; Dreamstime; Csaba Gyulai (Codename: Panzers Phase One).
The Gustav cost 10 1787-1826, GERMAN assemble. Namur and Antwerp were
million Marks and could Friedrich Krupp was the founder of two other cities that were targeted by
fire explosive 4.7 ton the steel business of the same name, Bertha before it met its match with
shells up to a range of which created some of the biggest
47km (29miles) siege engines ever made. His company reinforced French concrete forts at the
was used prominently in World War Battle of Verdun in 1916.
II, as Nazi Germany built a legion of
artillery pieces that pummelled
Soviet Sevastopol in
April 1942. 39