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A catapult is a war machine used to launch projectiles. The first type was a large crossbow, while the onager and trebuchet were later developed. The trebuchet was preferred for its accuracy and used to destroy specific sections of walls during sieges.
A catapult is a war machine designed to launch some kind of projectile. While the term can be applied to modern weapons that hurl their payloads, it is usually understood to refer to a specific type of metal and wood machine popular during the Middle Ages in Europe.
The first type of catapult was essentially a large crossbow, firing a projectile straight at an enemy or with a slight arc. The Greeks were responsible for the first of these, the gastraphetes and oxybeles, the former being a large belly-slung crossbow, and the latter being a tripod-mounted crossbow. Alexander the Great put this primitive type of catapult to good use, using them to break up sieges, such as the famous Siege of Tyre. The Romans took the Greek model and transformed it into their most sophisticated ballista, which over time became one of the integral weapons of the Roman Empire and is considered by many to be the most sophisticated weapon of war made at any time prior to the Industrial Revolution.
The first type of catapult to resemble what most people imagine when they hear the word is properly known as an onager. An onager catapult consists of a sturdy wooden frame and an arm that holds a sling that can be winched down to store energy. This energy, when released, shoots the arm upward in an arc, throwing everything in the harness great distances. Onagers were very popular in sieges, used to throw huge stones to do damage on impact. Alternatively, the missiles could be coated in some sort of flammable material and fired as fireballs at the target.
A different type of catapult, which relies on the counterweight rather than the winch, is the trebuchet. This type of catapult is thought to have originated in China in the 5th century BC, although it did not reach Europe for another thousand years. A trebuchet catapult basically consists of a huge counterweight attached to the short side of a long arm and a slingshot attached to the long side. The short arm is then lifted into the air, at which point the trebuchet is cocked and need only be released for gravity to take effect and hurl any payload into the harness.
The trebuchet is much more accurate than the onager or most other types of siege weapon, and was consequently preferred for destroying specific sections of a wall when besieging a fort or castle. It was also used during medieval warfare to hurl the corpses of plague-infected people over walls in an attempt to infect those inside.
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