Hi. Recently I came across Scheidels 'great-leveling' these, stating that mass-mobilization warfare, state failure, transformative revolution and plagues are four phenomena that level economic inequality between rich and poor. As siege warfare is quite often a form of mass mobilization warfare and total war, one would expect that in some cases economic inequality between rich and poor would level.Scheidel gives some examples of how sieges may contribute to leveling social inequality, but does not extend too much on the topic.

Do any of you know some examples of sieges where Scheidels phenomena could be applied to (even if it is in a very minor form)? Or do you rather think that the these does not really apply to roman siege warfare? I have strong believes that it does, but could not find any convincing examples...

Excited to hear some of your responses and thanks in advance :)

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Posted by2 days ago

Discussion/Question

Has metal ever been used in ancient/medieval fortifications or any equivalent

In other word: Has anyone tried slapping some metal plates in their castle walls, whether permanently or temporarily?

Or has metal been used in other ways for that purpose?

I’ve heard that as the Mongol expanded and incorporated new technologies from annexed populations, they came to possess many new artillery engines, such as counterweight trebuchets, that can defeat any defensive walls, including some that utilized metal plates as wall reinforcement.

However I can’t seem to find anything that mention such practice, whether common or rare, permanent or temporal/desperate.

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Posted by2 days ago

Article

Flavia Sabora: Lost Roman town is rediscovered under a crop field in Spain

english.elpais.com/cultur...

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