Do you know what the word siege means? The word means “to sit”. Why is that a perfect word to fit a castle under attack? Well the enemies would surround the castle like a trap to make sure no one escapes from the castle. The people would be stuck in the castle like sitting there doing nothing except defend the castle. They will be isolated unless they can get through the enemies. The next paragraph will be about castle, then sieges, and the conclusion will be about why this relates to me.

Castles

There are lots of castles, it depends on what countries they come from. There are english castles, japanese castles. Castles are more than a place for the King or the Lord of the territory. Do you know what it is also used for? It’s also for keeping order to the peasants in the territory. The castle is usually made of stone bricks, and the earlier castles were made of wood but it can burn easily. Most castles have a moat around it and if this is the case there is a draw bridge so people can get across. Then there is a gate called, “the porticullis”, and a another gate if you pass it. Enemie soldier that get in between the two gates will get a gruesome welcome. Above you stones or hot liquids would be fallen and on two sides soldiers would shoot arrows at you. The Lord in the castle would supply men to fight the kings wars and sometimes the Lord goes with his men. Then this would leave the castle a little more vulnerable but there will be at least some guards to defend the castle. The next paragraph will talk about what would happen in a siege.

Sieges

Like in the beginning castles under siege are likely trapped in their castle fortress. Tactics of the enemies is to throw stones using catapults, digging under the walls, putting posts for supports, then burning the poles, then they escape, and then the walls fall and the enemies get in, use towers to get over the walls, throw decaying animals to try to spread disease, they would stay there until they run out of food and starve, the problem is that they hope the victims starve before they do! For really desparate soldiers they would use ladders to go over the walls. For crossing the moat they would put stuff into the moat until its safe to pass. Another strategy is to demoralize the people like throwing disgusting stuff like human heads, (Yuck!)Dead people also like the decaying animals but the bodies that had diseases like leprosy. Now strategies for the besieged people. They would attack the army through a secret door and sned a messenger to get help, they shoot arrows and hide behind crennalations, hurl sones and hot liquids. Smartness can beat brute strength, cleverness and smartness can overcome hard things. The people besieged can trick the enemies like catapulting pigs stuffed with wheat and when the pig burst and the wheat flies out, the enemy would think they would have so much food they can feed their animals and themselves and then the enemy would stay longer. And if this happens they would sometimes call off the siege.