Were siege ladders used as per medieval/movie art of them? It's fucking crazy?
I mean, siege towers are great because it dumps shitloads of men on the enemy. But ladders? fuck that. Men in single file with hands preoccupied climbing the rungs are easy targets for the blokes on top. It's a meat grinder.
So how were they used, /his/? Lets keep it around BCs to 1500's and all cultures combined.
>>1186367
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O47wvvEG50
>>1186367
Well for one thing: The besieged will face SHITLOADS of ladders placed upon their walls.
Another, there's covering fire from below. Stand near the ledge and waiting for enemies swarming up ladders is a good way to get your ass slain.
Finally, ladders are utilized in combination of many other siege weapons. Towers are shitting enemy soldiers on your walls, catapults are hurling stones on your asses, and justto make it fun, the enemy soldiers are moving ladders on your ass.
Pic related, there were also alternative solutions. Pay was jacked up for the first guys on top. In China, they invented a large wheeled ladder than 3 or 5 men abreast could climb and a crane holding a movable screen to protect these men as they climb.
As other anons have pointed out, there are several ladders going up at once. They are fairly fast to climb. The guys on them will be veterans in heavy armor. On the ground will be guys with heavy crossbows ready to play whack a mole with anyone who sticks his head up and archers providing covering fire. And the thing is, even if you do knock one guy of the ladder there's one right behind him and they only need to get one guy over the top to keep a few defenders busy. In the next few seconds there will be another guy there, and another one and so on.
>>1186367
You might kill the first couple of guys over the top. But you'll get tired quickly and you can't go anywhere when you're defending walls. Plus there's A LOT of ladders and A LOT of guys coming up them
>>1186367
That picture is asinine. There's no reason for ladders if you're destroying the walls with cannons.
>>1186434
>can't go anywhere when you're defending walls.
wut. Walls were generally at least 10 feet thick, in some instances 20 or more. A 5 foot thick wall would be paper to an experienced ram crew.
>>1186459
Okay but are you going to leave your post in front of the ladder? If there's 50 other guys trying to stem/push down the ladders all packed in on each other you're not going to be able to moververy effectively. 10 feet isn't much room if everyone is packing on top of each other
>>1186446
M8 they were still using ladders during the sieges in the Napoleonic wars.
Fortifications improved to meet the challenges of cannons.
>>1187140
The Mexican troops that took the Alamo in 1836 used ladders, and half the defenses there were simple palisade walls.
>>1186446
And this is why people who play Total War games aren't allowed to talk about historical warfare
>>1187732
B-but I thought dwarves and zombies were historical!
>assaulting the walls
literally why?
>>1188989
great men have deadlines.
>>1188989
If you wait for months to lay siege to the fortress, the enemy can gather an army elsewhere and march it over to meet you. Then you're sandwiched between the fortress (whose defenders will sally forth to attack you) and the approaching army, and you get your shit pushed in.
Why can't they just push the ladders?
>>1189378
>the enemy can gather an army elsewhere and march it over to meet yo
I never got how ppl managed to get ppl out of the city. When you siege a castle, don't you siege it 360 degrees round? Or is it the case that they always had allies in nearby villages who saw that there was a siege happening so they spread the word?
>>1189691
Kingdoms often had a number of places to draw troops from.
>>1189691
A combination of everything, really.
They might be proactive about it and sneak out a spy, or a bird, or a super-secret ninja or something to just slip through their defenses. Often times, a neighbouring kingdom will send out a scouting party to see why they haven't been responding to their late night text messages.
Sometimes a lone wanderer will just happen past the carnage and will alert others out of a sense of civic duty, or because he believes he will be rewarded.
Lots of reasons, desu. Not just one thing.
>>1189691
You can't ever reasonably expect to prevent everyone, especially individuals, from escaping. Also, the enemy could have allies in the area or have called for help before your forces arrived.
>>1188989
It depends on the situation. If one sufficiently outnumbers the enemy that he is besieging, then making an attempt to storm the city/fortress has a reasonable chance of success. Time is crucial and one can win without spending weeks, months, or even years sieging the city. Read this for some quick insight concerning siege warfare.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2006/09/other-september-11th.html?m=1
>>1189400
I don't think you're thinking the leverage through. The latter is leaned against the wall with one or more bodies weighing it down. At the very start you might be able to push it since the top isn't heavy, but as soon as they start climbing the prospect of pushing becomes impossible.
