Crossbow prods could be easier water-proofed than hand bows, which was essential in the European humid climate. In Central Africa simple crossbows were used for hunting and as a scout weapon, previously thought to have been first introduced by the Portuguese.
Until recently they were especially in use by different tribes of the pygmy-people, usually with poisoned and relatively small arrows. This silent technique of hunting in the tropical forest is quite similar to that of the South American indigenous hunting method with blow pipe and poisoned arrows.
It makes sure not to startle up the prey, for example if a first shot goes astray. Since the small arrow is rarely deadly itself, the animal will drop from the trees after some time because of the poisoning. In the American south, the crossbow was used by the conquistadores for hunting when firearms or gunpowder were unavailable because of economic hardships or isolation.
Crossbows are mostly used for target shooting in modern archery. In some countries they are still used for hunting, such as in a few states within the USA, parts of Asia and Australia or Africa. Other uses with special projectiles are in whale research to take blubber biopsy samples without harming the whales. The crossbow is still used in modern times by various militaries, [29] [30] [31] [32] tribal forces [33] and in China even by the police forces.
Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Project maintenance. Register Don't have an account? History of crossbows. Edit source History Talk 0. Late medieval crossbowman from ca. Chinese Chuangzi Nu stationary windlass device with triple-bow arcuballista. Chinese repeating crossbow with pull lever and automatic reload magazine. Medieval Military Technology. Petersborough: Broadview Press. ISBN Triple crossbow source. How could the effectiveness of bows be further increased?
From very early times, soldiers wore armor and used shields to protect themselves from arrows. Horses, which were more important than ever when the Song was coping with the Jin and Yuan, were also armored. Note the elaborate armor worn by the two generals below. Armor was often made from the hide of a rhinoceros and then lacquered.
So many rhinoceros were slaughtered for this purpose that the animal was largely wiped out in China and rhinoceros hide had to be imported. Can you tell from these pictures what other kind of materials were used to make armor and shields? General with bow source. General with armor and shield source. As in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, military equipment was often embellished in ways that served no utilitarian functions.
What can you infer from the style and craftsmanship of the armor, shields, and quivers shown below? To the left is an illustration of a general wearing a helmet and armor and carrying a quiver.
Armored officer seen from rear source Below are diagrams of the front and back of a shield left and armor for horses right. Heron said that gastraphetes appeared for the first time in 5th century and were used in the Siege of Motya in BC. Crossbow was also popular weapon in Medieval times so much that they almost replaced standard bow and arrow. Longbows could shoot as precise as crossbows and faster them but soldiers could shoot with crossbows with less training and be as proficient in less time.
Later crossbows called arbalests had steel bow and could shoot further and with more penetration strength than longbows but were more expensive to make and slower to reload. In the armies of Europe crossbowmen held a central position in battle formations.
They attacked the enemy before an assault of mounted knights and protect their infantry. They were held in so high esteem that they were paid higher than other foot soldiers and in some armies were granted status on par with the knightly class.
During the Crusades, the crossbow saw heavy usage against the Muslims. One variant she describes was the tzagran , which Commena described being quite unlike the form used by the Greeks. But Marianus, speaking in their language, advised the Latins to have no fear, and not to fight against fellow-Christians.
But one of the Latins hit his helmet with his cross-bow. This cross-bow is a bow of the barbarians quite unknown to the Greeks; and it is not stretched by the right hand pulling the string whilst the left pulls the bow in a contrary direction, but he who stretches this warlike and very far-shooting weapon must lie, one might say, almost on his back and apply both feet strongly against the semicircle of the bow and with his two hands pull the string with all his might in the contrary direction.
In the middle of the string is a socket, a cylindrical kind of cup fitted to the string itself, and about as long as an arrow of considerable size which reaches from the string to the very middle of the bow; and through this arrows of many sorts are shot out. A very powerful weapon, it was described as being an invention of the devil, because of its ability to penetrate armor and, likely, its prohibition by the Catholic church.
The crossbow entered more extensive use in the Middle East during the Crusades, as the weapon was used with remarkable success against Arab and Turkic horsemen. Spanning was typically undertaken with a two-hooked claw known as a khattaf , and a lock mechanism using an ut, or jawzah. A footstrapped version of the crossbow became quite popular among the Muslim armies in Iberia. The crossbow was used for hunting and as a scouting weapon, from what we have been able to gather.
According to Henry Balfour, crossbows were present in West Africa as early as , as Paul du Chaillu described the use of the weapon against the Ba-fan in that year and brought home specimens. Unfortunately, du Chaillu does not speculate as to whether the weapons were indigenous to the peoples there or adapted from European weapons. Sir Richard F. Balfour goes on to describe the prevalence of crossbows among the Fan and Mpongwe tribes of the Gaboon and Ogowe Rivers, including the specimens brought back to the Pitt Rivers collection at Oxford.
These specimens consist of a short and very rigid bow, Stout at the center and tapering towards the ends, the bow is not straight when unstrung, as most crossbows of the period were. Instead, it has a set curve when set free from strain and is set symmetrically through a rectangular hole near the fore end of a slender wooden stock The bow is then fixed with wedges. Crossbow from Gabon, Africa.
Given to the Museum in Image credit: Pitt Rivers Museum. The stock of this crossbow is split laterally for most of its length, forming an upper and lower limb. The rear ends of the stock are free and can be forced apart, remaining united in the solid front of the stock. When the two limbs are brought together, a square-sectioned peg is fixed to the lower limb and then passes upwards through the upper limb; it completely fills up a notch made on the upper surface behind the bowstring.
When the string is drawn, to its maximum 3. Firing the crossbow is accomplished by squeezing the two limbs back together; the peg forces out the bowstring when it rises into the notch, and the arrow is fired at its target. Balfour writes of J. Furthermore, Balfour notes, Sir H. Jonston mentions the use of toy crossbows among the Ba-Yaka and Ba-Kongo people. There are also records of crossbow traps, such as rat traps, throughout the French Sahara and Bornuese territory, along with German East Africa.
Inuit crossbow. There is not nearly as much research on the arrival of the crossbow in North and South America, but it is likely a reflection of both the European ancestry of early immigrants to the Americas as well as the transport of West African slaves to the countries.
While not commonly used, the crossbow was used in the American South for hunting and warfare when firearms and gunpowder were unavailable due to economic hardships or isolation. The Inuit, found in the extreme northern parts of North America, were known to use light hunting crossbows by tradition. Peruvian troops with crossbows, carrying ropes for zip lines diagonally across the body in the manner of a haversack. Image credit: Military Analysis.
Various militaries, tribal forces, and even police forces in China still use the crossbow. Notably, Serbian forces were supplied with crossbows from British-based Barnett International. They were used in ambush and anti-sniper operations against the Kosovo Liberation Army during the Kosovo War, which ended in Sometimes, they are even used with poisoned projectiles, and the crossbow is commonly used for ambush and anti-sniper offenses.
Finally, crossbows are sometimes used in conjunction with ropes to establish zip-lines in difficult terrain. In closing, the crossbow has a long history of use both as a tool for hunting and as a weapon for military use. You may think that the crossbow today is purely for recreational use and hunting, but the fact is that this ancient weapon maintains a strong place in military and law enforcement, owing to its easy learning curve and its extreme accuracy.
How We Test - The Authors. Find Crossbow Review:. Crossbow Finder Draw Weight — any — lbs.
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