Trebuchet, or inspired catapult, is a wonderful contraption. The art to build a Trebuchet involves using a counterweight to throw an equal and even more weight to a specific destination is a great idea. The difference in weight is obviously due to certain changes in calibration, length of the middle stationed rod and the pulley power. If it has been empowered by dynamo or turbine, weight extraction would be huge. Almost incredible!
Funny thing is that it is not today’s contraption. It was conceived by BC people, and they managed to put their own designs on paper. Even if you sit and make careful reading of their manuscripts, you will be taken back by their sharpness. Little wonder then that in olden wars, armies would fear the seize catapults more than anything else. Also, the latest recruits, thought to be more dispensable than the experienced breed, would be positioned on ramparts. They would face the stones and often get crushed. But the message would be conveyed that a war is on.
Since the thirteenth century, Trebuchet took a refined form. The word is a misnomer as they would often cause brutal effects. 300 pound of stones delivered randomly at a time from numerous Trebuchets would break open the most impregnable forts. Even today, houses may be earthquake and fire proof, but how will they be power proof?
Rival armies would build Trebuchet to cater to their volcanic needs. They would make the carrier huge and hurl dead men and animals. That way, the impact would be more and the victims would loathe that. Just imagine, how would a person react to throat-cut men and bloodied animals thrown on himself?
Leonardo Da Vinci gave the exact picture, being the brilliant person that he was, of how a Trebuchet would function in old days. His mechanism was patented by many further armies. They would make it all the more interesting by spreading pestilence through dead horses, cats and rats. Rats, particularly, would cause epidemic and plague, causing consternation in those times.
They would also innovate. Boiling oil would be hurled for little distance and the advancing army would stop dead in the tracks. Nobody likes to be greeted with boiling oils! The houses of commoners would be burnt with flaming balls an people crushed and disfigured with glasses and stones. Trebushay plans would differ between different states owing to the mindset and capacity.
