Europe, somewhere around 300-400 BC, began to turn the tide of battle with a new and wonderful weapon. You will enter the catapult, you will never do the same war. A catapult refers to a family of mechanical devices designed to throw an object a great distance. It would be clear that large stones, or the like, could bring destruction to the enemy. Sometimes, as a more serious approach to persuading the enemy to surrender, the bodies of prisoners or even their lives were thrown away.
As stated at wikipedia.org, the name Catapult is Greek in origin, it seems to have been invented in the city of Syracuse in 399BC. Archimedes stated that the first versions were similar to the ballista, but on a much larger scale. Alexander the Great was the first to use artillery in battle. Both arrows and stones were used as missiles, and warfare changed forever.
Medieval catapults evolved into large machines using a variety of nasty projectiles to physiologically overwhelm their enemy. The shooting of the corpses of the victims of the Black Plague, the corpses of dead and rotting animals, even bee hives were used. But the first instance of biological warfare. The walls of the fort were strong enough to resist the assault from the front, but the aerial assault of catapults, thrown against the bulk of the walls, was to be considered a new and deadly force.
The military catapult remained in use. During World War I, small hand catapults and cannons were fired from individual trenches across no man’s land. in the laying of trenches. The invention of a grenade launcher with a striking power mechanism restores the advantage.
However, simple catapults continue to show up even in the present day of our lives. The launcher used to send clay pigeons flying at you local gun club with nothing but hand held catapults. Relegated to the devils of adventure and daring seekers, for some time the masses of catapults were encouraged in England. Sending people through the air was an exciting experience because many were killed because of the safety net at the end of the flight.
Today there is still a chance to see real catapults, then another morning weapons of mass destruction display their prowess. An annual event celebrated throughout the world. The annual event known as the Punkin Chunkin competition is held in Sussex County, Delaware. These include weapons such as catapults, trebuchets, centrifugal blasters and compressed air guns. They gather to see who will throw the pumpkin to the machine. To see pictures of the action and get more information about the competition be sure to visit. www.punkinchunkin.com/
The air cannons sent the pumpkins flying to a distance of 4300ft., that would be about 3/4 of a mile, quite an improvement over the simple rocks along the castle wall. .
Pumpkin Chuckers use white pumpkins as the power fired from these crafts can handle more than the orange variety. For the day there is only one oddity among these family feasts, a duck unlucky enough to be struck by a passing pumpkin. The real reason for being in a bad time. All in all, not bad: the weapon was used to rob and rob innocent people until the end of a friendly competition.
