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Monday, March 18, 2013

Middle Ages Defense (Wk 25)

During the Middle Ages, there was a great need to keep people safe from the Vikings and other attacking barbarians. You created castles in class that show different ways to defend a castle and are evaluating your peers' castles for the ability to withstand a siege.

What defense system do you think was the most effective?

This must be an actual defense system that existed at that time...not something you made up or happened later in history :)

41 comments:

Simon R. blue block said...

I believe that death holes would be the most effective defense system. This is because you kill everyone inside the closed area, and they can not attack you because you are above the enemy. This would also help because all of the soldeirs would have to enter through a small area making it the most effective way to thin the heard and take out soldiers in chunks.

Shannon S, Blue Block said...

Out of all of the many things that defended a castle, I think that having the entrance be heavily guarded was the best technique. This includes having many strategies, including murder holes, where thay could drop things down such as boiling water or some kind of toxic gas. To add to the violence, there were arrow slits in which archers could shoot the attackers. There was also several portcullis to trap the attackers, which is usually where they would drop stuff down from the murder holes. Outside, there was a moat, a drawbridge, and much more!

Kalanie T. Red Block said...

I feel like the murder holes were the most effective defense system, because there were multipule ways to attack from them. They also were helpful because the attackers could not get through them.

Norman H. Blue Block said...

To me, the murder holes were the most effective kind of defense. It was perfect for confusing the enemy when they came through the entrance, and arrows and boiling water did just the trick.

Julia W. Blue Block said...

There were many different defense systems, but I think that the most effective one was the murder holes. It was useful for many reasons; first off, it was a nice way to confuse the enemies because once they go through the entrance, there was no way out. The enemies would never know what's coming their way, it was a clever idea to have the murder holes in the ceiling. That way, when they guards from the castle shot into the room, or threw down boiling water it would come as a big surprise for the attackers. Also, it was helpful that multiple enemies could be taken out at one time, as Simon R. said.

isaac W. blue block said...

I believe murder holes were the most effective because when the enemy would go into the murder holes they were trapped and pretty much wiped out in seconds. This would also be effective because it is such a small area so you would not have to focus on hitting your target.

Hunter S Red Block said...

i think the most efective defense was the arrows loops. They could shoot in two differtnt drictions with out exposing them selves.

Cathryn Seibel, Red Block said...

I believe that the most effective system for guarding the castles were the murder holes. Without the murder holes the archers wouldn't be able to get a clear shot without making themselves vulnerable. Without this advance they might have well surrendered. Also they could cover more ground without exposing themselves. Also if the Vikings did get inside it made a great maze that they could defend from the ceiling. Without this advance a lot more castles would've been over run.

annaliese L. red block said...

Although there are many different defense systems that existed in the middle ages, I believe that murder hole were the most effective in defending castles. Murder holes were made in castles so that people could drop things such as boiling water, weapons, and large rocks. These murder hole were very effective in killing one's enemies.

Ryan C. Blue Block said...

I thinkk that the murder holes were the most effective defense system because they would b trapped anyways plus they had items dropping on them. These items consisted of large rocks, oils, boiling water, and other materials capable of killing a man. These

Arianna S. Red Block said...

I felt that the murder holes were the most effective defense system. They allowed them to attack from any where and were easy to hide. They were very useful and would take the barbarians by surprise.

Kiki L. Red Blcok said...

Out of all of the different ways to defend a castle, I thought that the murder holes were the most effective. It was very effective because when the enemies came through the first door, they would be traped in a small area. The knights can then throw dead animals, greek fire, and boiling oil on the attackers. This kept the knights safe because the holes were quite small, and the attackers would be too confused on what's happening.

Jordan Hibbs, Blue Block said...

The system that i think was the most effective was the murder holes. The were effective because the attackers were confined in a small space and could not escape. This also was effective because it kept you safe from the attackers

RYAN EARL.,RED BLOCK said...

The murder holes were the most effective by far in the middle ages. while you dropped oil, or other substances on the attackers, they couldn't harm them. they were untouchable. The only way they would become defective would be if the defenders ran out of things to throw down the hole.

Laura J., blue block said...

Even though there were many types of defense systems, I think the murder holes were the most effective. It was very hard to get through the murder holes. The defenders could do almost anything to the attackers, like pour boiling water or shoot them with arrows. The murder holes created an advantage for the defenders. It added an element of surprise and just gave them an easy way to defend themselves.

Ben Suhler Red Block :) said...

in the midevle agesarcher loves were used to great sucsess using angles and shoting with out geting killed

gareth hart, red block said...

i think the best advancement is the moat. this stoped enemies and prevented seige weapons.

Kyle B. Red Block said...

I think the best defence system is nature. Nature provides water for moats and hills that give numerous advantages to the defending army.

Sarah M. red block said...

In my opinion our greatest defense for our castle was the gates surrounding the castles. This was the greatest defense because the gates were so high that under attack it would be hard to get something over them. Another reason why this is the castles greatest defense is because the walls are very thick which makes it hard to break. The gate walls are made of stone so you would not be able to set it on fire. These are the reasons why this is our castles greatest defense.

Owen C. Red Block said...

I believe the servants were the best defense of a castle. The servants helped build the castle, and help keep the fields in order. Without serfs tending the fields, the people inside the castle would starve. Serfs also help out with defense, making the weapons and also fighting. Another reason why serfs are so important is because they can get in the way of the attackers to give time for the king to get to the keep.

Kelsey Deos said...

I believe that murder holes and location were the best defense for a castle. The murder holes gave the archers a clear view and a clean shot. Location was a very important factor in castle defense. If you lived on a hill surrounded by water it would be much harder to attack. Versus living on a big piece of land with no surrounding hills or bodies of water.

Hari Iyer, blue block said...

I think the most effective defenses are the archer loops an the murder holes. The murder holes allow the defenders to trap and vanquish several enemies at once, while the archer loops allow the archers to pick off individual enemies. Together, they would be a formidable defense in a castle.

Jack S. Red Block said...

I believe that the best form of defense is having strong walls and a moat around your castle. I think this because the moat will stop all battering rams and heavy infantry from crossing, hence forth the archers can pick of the light attackers. I also think having a gate and murder holes will keep people out. These are very effective and simple ways to keep the Castle safe.

Tiffani T. Blue Block said...

I believe that the most effective defense system was that of murder holes. I think this due to the fact that if whomever was attacking you actually got inside of your castle, you would be able to incarcerate them in the room that has the murder holes in it. After they have been successfully trapped, you will have the opportunity to pour things on them such as boiling water and large rocks. This would practically eliminate your opponent, causing your castle to be safe. That is why I think the most effective defense mechanism was the murder holes.

Jake Ferdig w/ Red Block said...

I think the archery towers were among the most powerful defense mechanisms in the middle ages. I also think that murder holes were very effective because there were a lot of ways to bombard them from when they were down there. I think the archery towers were effective because they could shoot in two different places while standing in one place.

Delaney T. Blue Block said...

I believe that the most effective defense system of a castle were the murder holes located inside of the walls. These holes allowed the guards trap a large portion of the enemies inside of the castle and shoot arrows at them or drop boiling water, hot coals, or other deadly materials onto their heads. This tactic let the defense to confuse their enemies and hold them in a small area with no battle strategies or plan of action. Murder holes probably allowed a majority of the castles in medieval times withstand many attacks from barbarians or other foreign attackers.

Kevin Miles, Blue Block said...

What I thought was the coolest and most effective defensive tactic is obviously the archer loops. Archers could kill at least five barbarians before they died from a lucky shot by a barbarian and it looks awesome and castles are know for that.

Parker Lum, red block said...

The deffence system that i thought worked the best was moats. Moats were made to slow down and stop the enemy. Enemies stuck or crossing the moat would become easy targets for archers to pick off. The whole point of a siege was to capture the enemies castle, you cannot capture a castle by shooting arrows at it. The way to capture a castle was to get close, getting slowed by the moat, and breaking down its walls. The enemy can cross the moat by filling it with rocks, and trying to swim/float across, but they would be very vulnerable to arrows. My point is moats are amazing!

Marlea G, Blue Block said...

There were many strategies used to defend castles, but I think the most effective one was the murder holes. As a whole, defending the entrance was probably the most important defensive priority. The murder holes allowed them to a great advantage against the attackers. It was nearly impossible to get by with this creative defense system.

Galen Deats, Red Block said...

The most effective defenses in a medeival castle would probably be simply using the location of the castle for defense; locating them high on a hill would make shooting arrows over the walls much harder, and would also exhaust the enemy troops that tried to charge, while locating it on a tall cliff would prevent attacks from one side entirely.

-Galen

Lucy stout (red block) said...

I think the most effective defense for the middle age castles was arrow loops. Ant intuders the happened to get neer the castle they would get shot with a arrow! I think another good defense system was murder holes. These both were key parts of out castle.

Maya W. Red Block said...

I think death holes would be most effective. because you are in an are with no escape and you're above the enemy.

Cal Lewis Red Block said...

The most effective defense were the moats, they provided protection on all sides and the only way to get across was to make another bridge.

Mason M blue block said...

I think that during the middle ages there were many war tacticas that didnt work but eventually people came up with the most effective ones that stayed. I think the Murder Holes were the most effective because it gave the defensive team a massive advantage of attack from all sides rather than just one. This made it easy for the defenders to kill most of the enimies right at the start of the battle.

winston M. red block said...

There was many forms of defense for people of the middle ages, but out of these the one that really stood out to me were the Archers towers. These towers not only gave the archers an upper hand in battle but they also allowed the castles residents to see the attackers coming and prepare.

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Griffin C. Blue Block said...

I think that the most effective defense tool were the murder holes. The reason i think this is that attackers were stuck in a room where arrows were shot at them, hot water was pored on them, and they couldn't escape.

Ariana w. red block said...

I think that the most effective defense tool in the middle ages was the drawbridge because the only way an enemy could cross a moat when the drawbridge was up would be to swim across. And since battering rams and siege towers were too heavy to swim across with, when the enemy finally got to the other side, they had no way of getting in.

Joshua Y. Blue Block said...

I think that the murder holes are the best defense that existed in that time. you can just close the two "doors" and kill everybody inside, and they can not retaliate.

Alex M. blue block said...

Some defenses that probably worked the ones that tricked the attacker. For example, murder holes could kill someone without them knowing what hit them. Another good defense is a thick wall that is hard to get through and over.

Alice P. Blue Block said...

In the defense system, I think the archer loops were the most effective. Without much room to get past the extra gates that would fall to protect the keep and the murder holes, the archers were given easy access to shoot and kill over and over again without being in the open field.