Europe, somewhere about 300-400 BC, a new and wonderful weapon started turning the tide of battles. Enter the Catapult, going to war will never be the same. The Catapult refers to a family of mechanical devices designed to throw an object a great distance. The obvious would be objects such as large stones, or similar objects that could inflict destruction upon an enemy. Sometimes more gruesome approaches were taken as incentive to convince an enemy to surrender, bodies or even live captives would be hurled from these contraptions.
As stated at wikipedia.org the name Catapult is Greek in origin, seems to have been invented in 399BC in the city of Syracuse. Archimedes stated that the first versions were similar in design to a crossbow, only on a much larger scale. Alexander the Great was the first to use catapults to provide cover during battle. Using both arrows and stones as projectiles, warfare was forever changed.
Medieval catapults progressed to large machines using a wide variety of nasty projectiles to physiologically defeat their foe. Hurling dead bodies of victims of the Black Plague, dead and rotten animal carcasses, even bee hives were used. Truly the first instance of biological warfare. Castle walls were strong enough to stop a frontal attack, but the aerial assault of the Catapult, sending projectiles over the massive walls was a new and deadly force to be reckoned with.
On into modern warfare the Catapult remained in use. During World War I, small Catapults were used to hurl hand grenades from one troops trenches, across no man’s land into the apposing forces trenches. The invention of the grenade launcher replace mechanical advantage with percussion power.
Regardless the simple Catapult continues to show up, even in our current day to day life. The launcher used to send clay pigeons flying at your local gun club are nothing more then hand held Catapults. Relegated to dare devils and thrill seekers, for a while Catapults were used to entertain the masses in England. Sending people through the air was an exciting experience that was outlawed because to many were being killed as the result of missing the safety net at the end of their flight.
Today you still have the opportunity to see true Catapults, as well as other early weapons of mass destruction, display their power. Annual events are held all over the world. The annual events known as Punkin Chunkin competitions, are held in Sussex County Delaware. Including such weapons as Catapults, trebuchets, centrifugal launchers and compressed air cannons. They gather to see who’s machine will toss a pumpkin the furthest. To see pictures of the action and obtain more information about the contest be sure to visit. www.punkinchunkin.com/
Air cannons have sent pumpkins flying to a distance of 4300ft., do you realize that’s about 3/4 of a mile, quite an improvement over the simple hurling rocks over the castle wall of medieval times.
Pumpkin Chuckers use the white pumpkins as the stress of being fired out of these devices is more then the orange variety can handle. To date there has been only one fatality involving these family oriented festivities, a wayward duck that was unfortunate enough to be struck by a passing pumpkin. A true case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Over all not a bad way for a weapon used to plunder and pillage innocent people to end up, friendly competition.
