Medieval Information

After the XIV century, in which gunpowder started appearing, many notorious changes occurred to medieval castles. The most important one was the building of ditches far away from a castle; impeding cannons to get close to the castle's keep.

Concentric castles were also a major improvement after the discovery of gunpowder. Having many lines of defense improved a castle's chance to withstand a siege. Nevertheless, older castles had their walls severely strengthened. Sometimes they doubled the width of a wall.

Archers were useless. In consequence, archer loops were changed in size (smaller) to make them fit for gunners. Castles usually had dozens of these loops; thus they could kill hundreds of invaders.

After all these improvements, it was also realized that the best defense against a cannon was another cannon. Round towers were shortened and on top of them, cannons were placed. The same principle that governs an arrow when fired from the top of a wall also applies to a cannon. The higher the cannon, the more damage it inflicts.

The downside for castles was that cannons began to be improved. Their caliber increased dramatically, and, after a few years; castles started to lose their newly acquired strength.

Constantinople was subject to these changes. Being a very fortified city itself, it was promptly destroyed by a combination of gunpowder and a much greater force in numbers. When it was besieged, an enormous cannon was used to destroy the walls which played a very important role in Constantinople's fall.