Lesson 01
Wall and engine
Before gunpowder, high stone walls defeated most attackers. Besiegers answered with ramps, towers, rams, catapults and — above all — time, blockade and starvation.
Lesson 02
The cannon changes everything
In 1453 Ottoman siege guns breached the Theodosian walls of Constantinople — walls that had held for a thousand years. Tall medieval walls were suddenly obsolete.
Lesson 03
The star fort
Engineers answered artillery with the trace italienne: low, thick, angled bastions that deflected shot and covered every approach with crossfire. Siegecraft became mathematics.