Trebuchets made square castle towers disappear in favor of round ones
Evidence
By the Middle Ages a new style of catapult was invented, the counterweight trebuchet. Trebuchets used gravity and leverage to hurl stones from a sling, and they surpassed all artillery weapons of their day. More accurate and powerful than ballistas, trebuchets could launch 350-pound boulders far enough to reach the inner fortress towers of most castles. Square corners once again proved vulnerable, and they all but disappeared. Round, cylindrical towers were less prone to collapse if they were struck directly. Even better, they were almost never hit directly, since their rounded edges deflected missile boulders to the sides. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 516
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Round towers replaced square ones because corners were vulnerable to artillery; Cannons ended the castle arms race, making thousands obsolete — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 519; Artillery ended the castle arms race and forced the rise of star forts — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 973 (+2 more)
Related
- Round towers replaced square ones because corners were vulnerable to artillery (similarity 0.94)
- Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners (similarity 0.89)
- Cannons ended the castle arms race, making thousands obsolete (similarity 0.87)
- Fortification style evolved in direct response to artillery effectiveness (similarity 0.83)
- Pushing siege weapons to longer range only drove artillery growth (similarity 0.83)
- Explosive artillery ended the era of fortified structures above ground. (similarity 0.83)
- Artillery ended the castle arms race and forced the rise of star forts (similarity 0.82)
- Bombers evolved like castles, adding all-around defenses against attackers (similarity 0.81)
- Cannons collapsed castle defenses and drove a new star-fort architecture (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners
#expands(0.65) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 513 - Artillery ended the castle arms race and forced the rise of star forts
#expands(0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 973 - Explosive artillery ended the era of fortified structures above ground.
#expands(0.50) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 974