Siege tower

They were used extensively in warfare of the ancient Near East after the Late Bronze Age collapse, and in Egypt by Kushites from Sudan who founded the 25th dynasty.

Taking considerable time to construct, siege towers were mainly built if the defense of the opposing fortification could not be overcome by ladder assault ("escalade"), by mining, or by breaking walls or gates with tools such as battering rams.

In the First Intermediate Period tomb of General Intef at Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt), a mobile siege tower is shown in the battle scenes.

Having assembled his army for their lack of success so far, the King then undertook the personal supervision of operations including the erection of a siege tower from which Kushite archers could fire down into the city.

At the time of Emperor Aggripa, ship towers were built with a lighter, collapsible design that could be stowed flat on the deck when not in use, lowering the center of gravity.

Smaller siege towers might be used on top of siege-mounds, made of earth, rubble and timber mounds in order to overtop a defensive wall.

[8] One of the oldest references to the mobile siege tower in Ancient China was a written dialogue primarily discussing naval warfare.

However, the construction of a sloping talus at the base of a castle wall (as was common in crusader fortification[11]) could have reduced the effectiveness of this tactic to an extent.

However, later constructions known as battery towers took on a similar role in the gunpowder age; like siege-towers, these were built out of wood on-site for mounting siege artillery.

During the Imjin War, the Japanese utilized siege towers to scale the walls of Jinju but were beaten back several times by Korean cannons.

[15] In modern warfare, some vehicles used by police tactical units, counterterrorists, and special forces can be fitted with mechanical assault ladders with ramps.

On 1 March 2007, police officers entered Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark using boom cranes in a manner similar to siege towers.