battering ram
The battering ram (also a battering ram or ram ) is a siege weapon , which until medieval times was used.
description
The battering ram was used to tear down walls , gates or towers . There are many variations. They ranged from a simple tree trunk , the racing tree that was bounced by people against the target to be torn down, to loaded wagons that were steered with momentum towards the target and, due to their high mass, had enormous penetrating power , to a swinging trunk, the Suspended under a scaffold, was repeatedly pushed against the obstacle by the attackers and was equipped with a bronze ram head.
Illustrations
Relief representation on the Arch of Septimius Severus depicting the use of a battering ram to take the besieged city of Ctesiphon .
Athenaios , Peri mechanematon : illustration of a battering ram with a hanging ram in the handwriting Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale , Graec. 2442, fol. 59v (11th / 12th century)
Battering ram of the renaissance
Replica of a battering ram
Modern ram
Modern use of battering rams
Today, battering rams in the form of door rams are used by special police forces to z. B. to break open doors in the event of a storm or police access . However, these are small, portable versions that can be used by one or two people; some of them also have a mechanism that is triggered on impact and increases the force of the door breaking. The legality of the use of battering rams in the context of searches can be checked in court.
See also
- Aries, battering ram / Roman war machine
- Ram, battering ram / medieval war machine
- Ōtsuchi, battering ram / Japanese weapon of war
- The Siege of Plataiai
- One-man ram, police equipment
- For the buffer element at the end of the track in rail traffic, see buffer stop
literature
- Stephen R. Turnbull, Siege weapons of the Far East: AD 300-1300 , Osprey Publishing, 2001, ISBN 978-1-84176-339-2
- Stephen Turnbull, Wayne Reynolds, Siege weapons of the Far East: AD 960-1644 , Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-340-8
- David Nicolle , Sam Thompson, Medieval Siege Weapons: Western Europe Ad 585-1385 , Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-235-7
