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History of the Crossbow
Early Beginnings The available evidence suggests crossbows made their first appearance in the later years of the 4th century BC in the areas around China and was used in untended traps and possibly as a toy. An early Chinese document, from the 4th century BC mentions a giant crossbow catapult and Sun Tzu’s book The Art of War from the years between 500 and 300 BC also mentions the use of crossbows. By the year 200 BC the crossbow was extensively used in warfare all across China. The remains of crossbows have also been found in the tomb of the emperor Qin Shi Huang among the soldiers of the Terracotta Army. The Greek World From the Greek world the earliest date the crossbow appeared in the 5th century BC and was called a gastraphetes. It was used in the siege of Motya in the year 397 BC and also by the Greek besiegers during the siege of Tyre in 332 BC. believed to have been invented around 400 BC it was powered by a composite bow and cocked by resting the stock against the stomach and pressing down. It is very well described in the Belopoeica by Heron of Alexandria. Increasingly powerful projectiles were used and this led to the the production of oxybeles, composite bows with a stock and a trigger operated on a stand, and then to the larger ballista. Europe In Europe the crossbow was used by the Romans and was used, famously, in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In the twelfth century hand bows were almost completely replaced by crossbows. Longbows, while effective at a greater range than crossbows need years of practice while a competency in the use of a crossbow could be achieved in as short a time as a week. In Europe armies often consisted of crossbowmen, archers and javelin throwers as a central component of a battle formation. They also engaged in skirmishes before a battle and were used to protect the infantry. Crossbows could also pierce a knight’s armour and an attack by pikemen and crossbowmen against knights with lances was very effective.With the invention of ratchet and push lever drawing mechanisms crossbows could be used while on horseback and new cavalry tactics were invented to take advantage of this. Eventually the use of crossbows and other weapons was superseded by the use of gunpowder weapons, although in the early days gunpowder weapons had distinct disadvantages as they were less accurate than crossbows and were slower to reload. In Other Places Crossbows were used in Asia as siege weapons and a repeating crossbow with an automatic reload system was invented by the Chinese. The Saracens effectively used composite crossbows against the Crusaders and the Muslim armies in Spain also used crossbows.The crossbow was used in Africa for hunting and by scouts and the technology was brought to America with the slave trade. The Inuit, in North America, also used light crossbows for hunting. Today Today crossbows are mainly used for target shooting although they are still used for hunting in parts of the world |
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This intel was contributed by janetra
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May, 2012
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