At school "oh no, not another boring 45 minute history lesson" Later that day- "oh boy! 52 minutes on the history of ladders! What a treat!" Difference - the teacher
I think it has more to do with how much you have to pay attention, what the stakes are if you miss information, and how much you're exposed. 8 hours of Beige daddy 5 days a week plus studying would get taxing
French "machicoulis" with the "ch" pronounced "sh". Given that most of these guys were speaking some form of French (they were actually called Franks by their enemies), it's the most likely pronunciation IMHO. None of them spoke Greek after all. Edit: Archers could have shot through machicolations I think, not just from towers. And there were sometimes projecting wooden structures that performed the same function.
24:55 bro i think he missed the point with that raven thing: when the enemies put the ladder on your wall some body run there with a rope and tie or hook it to that mofoka and YEEET that ladder out. Preferably full of argentinians. Cuz im Brazilian.
@@johnladuke6475 yeah it's like a portuguese or venitian duke who keeps crap tons of imported africanized bees, on top of his fortifications, size some clay hives to be used as onager ammunition too.
^^^^ there was a story on some french chateau where there was apiary right against some wall, and monastery was nested relatively alongside wall trees wildflowers in the area. one morning the guard was making ruckus up above on catwalk (wood board extension along stone path) accidently dropped one of the honey nest which was glued underneath the wood planks. it unleashed hell. however how humorous it was the guards fled inside the tower and shut the doors. pulled wool blanket over arrow silts. wedged it with tankards, food plates and random stuff they found at arm length. went downstairs, between corridors, and alerted others not to go to this certain tower and/or catwalk. it took about 2 days for the bees to settle down. Beekeepers urged guards to torch very dry burlap sacks and walk all over the tower. The guards did whilst beekeepers came and harmlessly gathered queens and rehomed inside wooden boxes. That was around 1390s France.
Send him wine / an vodka , I bet he gets booted out of local bars - " no no shut him up /0ut ! " ..mope - walk- fogs roil - the slap o wet concrete - "L A D D E R S ! "
I can imagine people gathering around Lindy in pubs like Socrates for thirty minutes at a time as he talks about the uses of game fowl in the preindustrial world
What's the use of being a royalist, when you live in a rock solid monarchy already? My King is an airliner pilot! "This is your King speaking, welcome to the KLM flight to London Gatwick. I wish you a peasant fight."
@@voornaam3191 it has two uses. 1. I support the furtherance and/or establishment of monarchy elsewhere than Great Britain 2. I am in active support of the monarchy I live under (even if the MONARCH herself hasn't been perfect)
Shad: Do you want to be in my short film? Lloyd: Sure, I'm free. By the way, you've been mispronouncing machicolations. Shad: I've rewritten your part. You're now French.
@@TealWolf26 You're not far from the truth. They're called "match[e]-col-ation" because you "mache" (beat) the "col" (neck) of those climbing up. It's a soft "ch".
43:20 The fact he scoured all his harddrives first and THEN the internet, clearly reveals that he has direct access to an offline medieval 𝖂𝖎𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖕𝖆𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖆.
Yeah, not for his countless frankophob remarks... that people seem to have no problem with. He´s just joking. Over and over and over again... sure. How many jokes exactly until humor becomes xenophobia? I need an exact number. With Lindy, it´s gonna be a high one. I like Lindy, but he´s like an older uncle that is very knowledgable but keeps making racist remarks that everyone is just pretending not to hear... or they´re just jokes...
"My memory's not perfectly reliable." -guy who can rattle on for an hour with correct dates, pronunciations, facts, and figures. Yeah, I wish my memory was that unreliable.
This throws me an perspective on my own speechcraft. I have similar skills of talking on topic of expertise, even if I've just read on it, for hours with dates, details, rtc
Seriously, I'm not saying anything new here but I will reiterate: Lloyd is the only person who can get me interested in ladders enough to listen to him speak about them for almost an hour.
I am watching a video by a man who themes his channel on the color beige talk about ladders, and I am absolutely enraptured. I don't know what this says about me as a person but here we are.
24:55 bro i think he missed the point that raven thing: when the enemies put the ladder on your wall some body run there with a rope and tie it to that mofoka and YEEET those bitch.
@CipiRipi00 I am pretty sure Ceasar had knowledge about Greek History. Greece was allready integrated in to the Roman Empire to that time and he was the highest religious figure in Rome. If he knew about that Battle and used the same tactics is debatable. Kinda funny if two army's found the same approach for the same problems without knowing from each other isnt it?
@CipiRipi00 either way weather he knew or not does it change anything? Is it really least impressive that he was studied enough in war to know past battles and then know when, how and the right way to implement it.
Lindy has clearly not had 30 000 to 50 000 thousand angry bees trying to sting him, some castles stopped whole attacks with a few beehives. (I remember one in France which had beehives engraved over the gates to commemorate an attack on their city that was repulsed by bees.)
@@christophe5954 thirty thousand to fifty thousand thousand? lol that does sound absolutely godawful though, I could see how it would be effective. same as spiked pits, same as boiling liquids, etc. besieging castles during medieval times must've been a nightmare.
@@refinedbrass Now I understand why the guy jumped off the ladder backwards and sideways. Been there -- done that. It took me a long time to learn to control my fear of bees.
Lindy is my favorite scholar on youtube. He can literally ramble for an hour about one topic, complain about his unreliable memory while also quoting and crediting specific chapters of a book and properly remembering dates, the exact details of things, and all the while still delivering an informative and gripping lecture. Freakin awesome, love your work! Please never stop!
44:46 'This carries me to the main point I'm going to make' That was said after nearly three quarters of an hour of talking about ladders. Lindy really is amazing.
As someone who has nearly died a number of times I can say I have never screamed. I don't think most people would. It's just not a realistic reaction. I've fallen out of a tree stand and my reaction was to say nothing because I was to busy trying to stop myself. I know a guy who fell while repelling out of a black hawk. You don't have time to scream. People don't even always scream when they get shot. It would be way more brutal if a director showed a guy trying to figure out what to do as the ladder starts to go back and slowly panicking as the inevitable happens.
@@marcosphillips4232 -- For my near-death or injury experiences, it has generally been a muttered, "Oh f-ck." Often, the "Oh" was omitted. And "grunting and such" seems to have been my go-to response for extreme pain, such as having a doctor fish around under my kneecap with a huge needle sucking out debris from a torn cartilage (decades ago). And a kidney stone. And a spinal disc rupture. And so on. No screams though. It takes too much energy to scream. And you have to take a deep breath first. I don't trust screamers. Screaming seems too deliberately histrionic and attention-seeking.
Fun fact: the most important festival in Geneva is the "Escalade". It's a celebration of the citizens of Geneva repulsing a surprise escalade by Savoy troops in 1602. According to legend, the escalade was repulsed by pouring hot vegetable soup on the invaders. The escalade is not celebrated by eating soup, though. Rather, the good people of Geneva do it the swiss way and eat chocolate shaped like a soup cauldron.
I'm surprised Lindybeige did not mention this. "Ainsi périssent les énemies de la république!" the children cry as they smash open the chocolate cauldrons to get at the marzipan vegetables inside. Mère Royaume was the name of the woman cooking soup on the battlements when the Savoyards attacked by night.
simple -- "are you scared of heights?" assigned to sapping "are you scared of enclosure?" assigned to escalade "scared of falling and cave-in?" assigned to frontal assault
@@glenpope4955 I wonder about the historical training of archers and artillery realistically they wouldn't be weak strong arms to to pull back the bow strings or strong in general to transport the artillery either in pieces or towed plus someone smart enough to put it back together if they move it in pieces
@@glenpope4955 Im sure the soldiers love archers and artillery lmao what are you on abt. They provide so much firepower and support for the sieging troops and the artillery also get used to breach the castle walls.
Me, a forward thinking rival duke: "boye I sure love measuring the walls arounde this castle using bothe the shadowe and stringe methods" Some Guard: "Heye what are you doinge here with that stringe? Awaye Withe Thee!" Me: "Hahe! I am butte one man! Art thou reallye going to waste thine limited resourcese to rebuke me?" The same guard, nervously considering his three arrows, two rocks, and the bag of lime he had to bring from home: _"Ie Saide Awaye Withe thee-e!"_
"I think it's far more compelling showing large number of people's trying not to die, and contending in a rational way." I think this is part of what makes 1964's Zulu such a fantastic film.
Lindy has clearly not had 30 000 to 50 000 thousand angry bees trying to sting him, some castles stopped whole attacks with a few beehives. (I remember one in France which had beehives engraved over the gates to commemorate an attack on their city that was repulsed by bees.)
Id like to imagine one knight started beekeeping as a hobby and everyone else was constantly complaining anytime they had to take over watching the tower. Of course thatd be one of the first objects thrown during an attack.
Looks like he *puts on sunglasses* won't be climbing back up. *YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!*
And like, not even modern ladders made of fancy materials with interlocking parts that can accomplish all sorts of tasks, just plain wooden ladders lol
He reminds me of my favorite history teacher. She could talk for hours and you'd just be enraptured. I didn't always retain all the facts, but it made me WANT to learn more about the subject. Mission accomplished. Good teachers are rare jewels.
There are still many ways to protect against this however as a person who regularly uses laders for my job I'll tell you pushing a lader away from the wall wouldn't really work very well at all, instead push it to one side or the other. Not only is it much easier but if there are any others close buy its going to hit them too.
Might be a width thing, we use pretty narrow ladders nowadays , but siege ladders could be pretty wide. But with narrow ladders that would be pretty effective I think
@jerry93y I won't say it's impossible, but I think a really wide ladder (like maybe 2 m) pinned down by a bunch of guys on the floor will be pretty hard to push away or sideways. But I guess what would need a try.
@@ToabyToastbrot Pushing it away would definitely be difficult with the ladder full. You'd have to get the center of mass completely out of whack, past vertical probably. That means you'd have to reach far out from the wall becoming exposed. I guess you could use a large stick with many men behind it, maybe with a fork on the end to hook on to the ladder or some kind of karabiner mechanism to latch on, but then you'd lose your stick.
@@JoshLathamTutorials Well for pushing away you should watch the video, if the ladder is at an angle of 30 Degree or so it would be pretty much impossible to just push it away with men on it and guys holding it back on the bottom. That point I fully believe in the video
The more steeply they angle the ladder against the wall the stronger the ladder has to be to support all the weight. Which makes it heavier and harder to hoist up the wall. For one near vertical just hook it with a pole weapon and get two or three guys to push. Or if there isn't too much wind, pour a sack of fine flour over the wall and toss a torch down after it...
*explains how archers would have trouble shooting people down at the bottom of the tower* Wait do I hear Shad screaming? Do you hear Shad screaming? *MACHICOLATIONSSSSSS* [edit: I wrote this like 5 minutes after the video was up, Shad hadn’t commented yet.]
Considering that most sieges ended due to one side giving up, and months of siege was commonly seen as a preferable option to attacking, I would argue that escalades like all other forms of attack were seen as a bad option. Ladders were probably just among the least terrible options.
Agree. Hundreds of ladders going up on a wall overwhelms the defender. So, like any assault, a certain amount of losses is expected. A siege generally required a 2:1 ratio because you expect to suffer more casualties. Ladders in combination with rams, siege towers and artillery of some sort (all depending on era) overwhelms the defender.
Well, i daresay these Ladds where still tremendously though , just thinking everybody from on top of the Battlements throwing and shooting at them. I,for my part would post guards with short spears in top of the Battlement, so its okay come on here Ladds ,stab stab ,you got the picture? But anyway it seems to my opinion , this Ladderattack was a pretty costly option and therefore used only as a kind of last resorts.
@@commmarine9547 yes, a siege required about a 2:1 ratio, storming would require much, much more and there are examples from history where a handful of defenders have been able to defend agains armies. It should be noted that in modern combat, to assault a prepared defense it usually takes a unit class above the defenders; that is, a platoon in a prepared defensive position will take at least a company to dislodge, a company defending will require a battalion. And this is without permanent installations, just field engineering.
@@bewing77 thanks. Military guy here so understand the doctrine of besieging. Will say that the example of few holding off many was only achieved through tactical advantage via equipment, training, or location. Example, without going into detail, battle of Thermopylae. Spartan training (actual professional military force, not slaves or citizen army) bronze armor (not wicker which was main "armor" of Persians and the hot gates themselves, the narrow pass, as the location that provided the advantage.
Engineer: Sir we can build massive catapults and siege weapons taller than the sun! What do you request? General: *L A D D E R engineer: Years of academy training wasted
Engineer: sir are you sure? We can make a trebuchet, or maybe use some of them new cannons! Maybe tunnel under them collapsing the wall and if not then we can go through the tunnel and.... General: rope ladder, with little hooks at the end, and two guys holding it down.
@@Harabeck more men equals more people to push siege to equipment, breaching a wall with only a few ladders and a few thousand men is going to be a bad idea, so I think ladders are more useful for skirmishers trying to annoy archers and kill the first wave of defense so the initial attack can face less resistance, or better yet for lightly armored infantry troops to lead a counter-attack and flank those men fighting your main breaching squad.
@@generalgrievous2055 Well, the point is, if, for example, you push a massive siege tower (assuming there are no moats and stuff like that and the terrain allows for it) you don't want for the defenders to wait for you in front of it, spear and bow in hand. So you need a few guys to strike in more position. And the last thing you want on ladders is lightly armored guys. You want the heavies on them because they can resist being pelted by arrows and other missile.
A point on beehives, if you drop it early enough as they start to place ladders, it could be a rather disturbing experience to have an angry swarm around you.
People died from that back in the day you know. Although, granted, despite potential nonnewtonian physics, a ten meter fall was probably more unhealthy even back then
Just discovered this channel, and as a person with ADD I just watched this whole video with hyper focus. Wow, an hour on ladders, and it was the most interesting hour talk about ladders ever. I hit the bell button, nobody has the privilege of sending me notifications, but now you do ❤️
As someone with ADD, I find ADD to do the opposite of what people think. When it’s something I am interested in, I can pay attention for literally more than 10+ hours straight. It’s just boring stuff that I find myself unable to force myself to keep paying attention to.
The physics from @lindybeige doesn't seem to be the same as newtons physics. You can't make a falling ladder swing back to the wall by pulling it toward you, neither by pushing it away from you. The center of mass will stay the same and you cant give the entire system an impulse while you are part of the system, thus it will continue falling. The only way could be to change the center of mass towards the wall. This could be by switching sides on the ladder, quickly. Or to give it a thrust momentum by propelling yourself away from the ladder and sacrifice your life for the ladder. Or to use a grappling hook.
@@Isometrix116 Still not possible. If you push yourself forward, you'll pull the ladder back at the same time because of the conservation of angular momentum. One possibility would be to climb further up the ladder while it was still further forward than at a 90 degree angle with the ground. You are effectively transferring the force through the ladder into the ground (out of the system), so you could change the angular momentum of the system that way. That is, if there is any more ladder to go up on (this doesn't work if you're the guy at the very top of course).
Can we appreciate how his style of videos hasn't changed in the slightest? I swear every time I re watch a video if it wasn't for the image quality changing and the date I wouldn't know when the video was uploaded.
Soldiers dying in troves with no attempt to protect themselves in battle scenes was what got me interested in ancient, medieval, and modern tactics. I think it was the cavalry charge in Return of the King that made me start researching why anyone would ever agree to fight in the front line where it looks like you have a 100% chance to die.
My totally-unvalidated pet theory is that this is one reason why pretty much all cultures had religions which promised an afterlife: soldiers who don't fear death fight harder and defeat their less-zealous neighbours.
but you realize, even with 6000 horsemen, you would not charge a mass of infantry that large right? You'll lose most of your cavalry. And when it comes to fighting a war, 6000 cavalrymen are worth a whole lot more than even 20,000 infantry. In terms of both training, and resources. Plus as the commanding officer, your master would probably behead you for taking such a risk. So if LotR ever followed any reality when it comes to battles, its really the Rohirrim who are outmatched. Not the armies of orc infantry.
@@LumenP1023 not if your line immediately breaks upon contact, then its pretty much a mop up job. Better example of an absurd cavalry charge is at The Two Towers where the rohirrim charged pikes head on.
When I was in training as a rookie firefighter decades ago, we used a “pole ladder“. An extension ladder with two poles, one on each side attached high up on the ladder, which could be pivoted outward and forward to support the ladder . While heavy, this ladder could be set up by four men, two at the base and one on each pole. This in effect made a freestanding ladder that could be adjusted for placement as necessary. Perhaps technology carried on from ancient and medieval times?
That would actually not be a bad design for a siege ladder. you can approch the wall with the ladder flat and don´t have to flip it over to lean it against the wall, which I imagine is almost impossible to handle depending on the length of ladder, but simply could push up the top along the wall while others push the bottom closer at the same time. I also wonder about how heavy those would be. a few years ago I had a roofer take a look with a ladder leaning against the gutter. The problem was that with the gutter being about 8 meters up, the ladder remaines far from straigth with anyone standing on it. actually the upper third turned almost vertical. This one was made of aluminium, but I doubt wood wouldn´t do the same.
I was also a firefighter. In my country we call this an extension ladder. It can be carried and deployed by two men. After standing it up on the "poles" you pull ropes to extend three separate parts of the ladder up, then you tilt it to the wall. It can reach 14 meters high and does not go flat.
"If you want to, go ahead and be my guest. But I'm just warning you, it does makes you sound a little bit French" - Is the most British thing ever said by anyone, ever.
From what I've heard in history-of-language circles, Medieval Latin was moving toward pronouncing the letter "c" in the soft manner rather than the hard "c" of classical Latin. That may have affected the pronunciation of "ch."
One thing we learned working on Fighting In Built Up Areas is that you always want the ladder's top to press against the wall just below the level of where you are climbing to. It makes it a lot easier to get off the other end, but also makes it a lot harder for defenders to do anything directly to the ladder. Ladders are also normally held at the bottom.
In the fire service we routinely use ladders, for rescue we place them just below the window sill so that no one can accidentally push one away, we also keep a firefighter under the ladder holding it the same way. It’s called footing a ladder. We also use the ladder with legs on them.
and the fastest guide to being sure your ladder is at the prescribed angle is to stand with your toes against the feet of the ladder and your arms straight out from the shoulder - if you can grip the rungs, you're good.
A beseiged force would sometimes collect together wasps nests and drop them on the brave fools on ladders. Medieval cluster munitions, each containing 5,000 independent homing warheads. Not many people would carry on climbing a ladder while being furiously stung. On occassion besiegers would use artillery to throw wasp/bees nests at the defenders to try and clear the ramparts. Presumably at points the attackers weren’t intending to assault themselves.
"You Gauls give up, or are you thirsty for more?" I don't see an army carrying a beehive into battle, either as defender or attacker, in a way where they don't get stung more than the people they use it on. But maybe there's some ancient bee-pacifying techniques that I am unaware of.
The "supports" on the ladder at 47:12 can also be used to very quickly raise the ladder. Used to call them "Pompier ladders" in the fire service. One person "foots" the ladder to keep the base from sliding, and several on each of the poles can heave it up into position in one movement rather than slowly walking it up.
Gonna take 50 weeks and spend it all in isolation. Until they end this virus with a United nations. Well I called my Congressman, and he said, QUOTE: We tried to save y'all, but you're all gonna croak. Sometimes I wonder, "What am I gonna do?" 'Cause there ain't no cure for the Trump End Times Flu. Escalade . . . from the French for "Over the Top" Cadillac's Flagship SUV
This video is spectacular and sums up this channel so well. Many channels choose to take a broad topic and cover it in scant detail. Lindy takes a topic that many might not even consider feasible and manages to talk about it in fascinating detail for nearly an hour. I didn't even know I was so interested in the logistics of ladders in sieges until watching this. Now I want to know more! And not only that, but it's all done in one take! ONE TAKE!
@@whysrumgone well, from my part, being a bit french is waaaay better than being even slightly british , so yeah, call me french all ya want *laughs in metre*
Man I'd really like to see someone handle a 35 foot ladder with arrows, rocks and boiling water raining down around you. I work construction and handle longish ladders all the time, and it's hard enough to set up the taller ones without fear for your life added in
Even in English it's confusing. A is allied with B and defend from attack by C. D decides to attack C's ally E. B changes their mind and allies with C. Then C and D ally with A and attack F, who was pissed off with G. So B pays H ... Confused yet?
@@AndrewBlucher Idete paylikois umin grammaso egpaza tay emay keiri... (sorry, can't get the Greek alphabet working so I spelled it phonetically). KILLER B
A 30ft wall would be quite effective to combat 30ft ladders considering a ladder loses length depending on the angle. A 30ft ladder would be perfect for a 30ft wall if you wanted to climb it while it was straight up and down.
Yeah was about to comment something along the lines of “more like a lecture on siege ladders”, it’s getting out of hand how these titles are compared to actual video runtime.
BROKE: Build a wall around the city you're besieging. WOKE: Build another wall around yourselves AND the city you're besieging, so other enemies have to besiege YOU. BESPOKE: Plaster all your walls so they look nice because war is no excuse for sloppiness.
The true love that radiates from this guy towards what he's talking about. Like I've been watching him for like 4 hours now, I started with only a 3 minutes long video. I have to call my boss that I can't go to work until I watch all of the videos from Lindybeige. Amazing.
"I bet Julius Caesar when he invaded Britain attacked at tea time and the weekend." There is an album of Asterix titled Asterix in Britain (Astérix chez les Bretons) where Caesar does exactly that. 😂
@@thalivenom4972 it wouldnt. Wax has pretty little heat capacity and would cool off fairly quickly. The attacker with a shield climbing the ladder now is an attacker with a wax covered shield. Well done. Bees on the other hand are really nasty when you can get them to attack the people you want to be miserable.
1:26 - Even as a metricly inclined Norwegian I have to admire they way he 'phlegms up' the word 'metre'. Perversely I find such loathing impressive. I could never sustain it myself. Well, there is the swedes, I guess ...
@@JohnyG29 History is your answer ;) The Danes "dislikes" the Swedes too but mostly in a lighthearted and for old times sake kind of way. I assume it's the same in Norway.
@@JohnyG29 For the obvious reason, that Denmark has fought Sweden over Norway for about 500 years... they hold the world record in official wars between two countries. The last time they fought, Denmark lost and Norway became a Swedish province for about 70 years. The Norwegians didnt like that very much...
Anders Hoegild I heard Egil Skallagrimsson didn’t much care for even when the Norwegian kings tried to rule the Norwegians, let alone Sweden. Hence Iceland.
I have my own "point about ladders". At 1:05 Loyd mentions that: "Ladders do have a limitation...in the ancient world anyway" (1:05). I had a ladder slide away beneath me, and I fell 3 meters. Result: Open fracture of my leg. Saw my own bone! I'm alright now. It took two operations, and a year and a half to heal. In the "Modern World". In the Ancient World I had probably been dead as a door nail - from infections. So, I ASSURE you that modern ladders still have their limitations. Always make sure that ladder stands firm and take care when you "escalade" everyone!
The hypotenuse of a triangle the 30 feet high with enough angle to be stable would need to be at least 40 feet, and if a ladder longer than 30 feet was hard to build, a 30 foot wall would be a good height.
Well, the whole thing is based on the assumption that a ladder can only be 30 feet long, a claim with no evidence or argument backing it. My experience as a woodworker tells me that a 10 meter ladder may be the limit for what you could improvise, but I imagine a siege engineer would have no challenge in constructing something exeeding that length. The maximum length of a ladder would instead be limited by the materials avaliable, wich varies from place to place. Likewise, the heigth of the wall is limited by avaliable materials, ground conditions, engineering skills and the cost of labour. There is a lot more challenges involved in constructing a wall than it is in constructing a ladder. The wall becomes exponentially more costly the higher it gets, and 30-40 feet may very well be the point when cost and effort just becomes ridiculous. ( this limit would be greatly altered by the invention of reinforced concrete and steel beam construction, but that is a long time in the future) Of course, you’d want to build your wall taller than the surrounding trees, or it’s just an open invitation to aspiring escalators.
Probably a daft idea but if they can only build a 30 ft ladder then you could only have the same to build the wall same would apply to scaffold i would imagine anyway great vid who else would get people having to comment about ladders 🤔
I envy this guy so much for his passion, he just lights up my screen, totally absorbs me for fifty or so minutes (but who's counting) and leaves me gobsmacked, blinking and almost breathless. Thank you Mr Beige. It's a year later, you've given me a lot of brain fodder during this time of plague, I really am grateful for the opportunity to find you.
"How tall should we build our walls sir?" ""Well, ladders can only be 35 ft. long." "So let's build our walls 30 ft. high." "Can't have a battle if the enemy can't get in." "Brilliant idea sir."
I never knew I’d be interested in “the level of bee-hivery” used to defend castles, but Lloyd could talk to us about pretty much anything for an hour and it would be entertaining after he’s done some research about a subject.
That and I think they would use the non-fighters to cock the strings so there is a conveyor belt of loaded crossbows coming up. (And crossbows are very good at penetration in short distances)
I've seen pictures of devices mounted on the walls, that could be used to span a crossbow quicker and easier than with handheld devices, so it would make sense to have some designated guys to take and load them in order to avoid too much chaos on the narrow wall. If they have lighter crossbows they can load them themselves quite quickly, but you would still need guys running around and supplying bolts.
The importance of morale: a wise leader never says, "Get your siege ladders, we're doing an escalade." That sounds far too dangerous. A wise leader says, "We're going to need to take steps to get into the castle."
Thank you for the highly detailed bit about ladders. I used to think they were suicidal (in the movies). Now I see they were quite practical. Good show.
@@lostalone9320 Nah dont push that on Italy (the Nation wich was very young to that time) the fault was all cadorna's. There where multiple protests from the Gouverment, the King, his Officers and the army itself. After the 10th Battle mutinys became less of a rarety. Dont forgeth that the average Italian Soldier was just a farmer with basically no education, most of them couldnt even read. The defeat of Caporetto was what saved Italy from a total grind down like the French experienced at the western front. Without the germans kicking our asses and bringing out a reform, we would be Battling at the Isonzo till today. Has nothing to do with Bad position if you think about it, the mountains on wich they defeated the Austro-Hungarians later under Diaz was way worse in that aspect. But good knowledge about Italian-Austrian history Respect.
At school "oh no, not another boring 45 minute history lesson"
Later that day- "oh boy! 52 minutes on the history of ladders! What a treat!"
Difference - the teacher
In a traditional school setting this would be less exciting, but still more exciting than normal history class lol
History MUST be taught by people with the gift of story telling. It's not about dates and facts and figures, it's about STORIES.
@@cerebralm unfortunately that's not what the exam boards think
I think it has more to do with how much you have to pay attention, what the stakes are if you miss information, and how much you're exposed. 8 hours of Beige daddy 5 days a week plus studying would get taxing
basically don't be too quick to diss your teachers
I was summoned here by machicolations and feel more French for some reason. This video is peak Lindybeige and I love it!
MACHICOLATIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS!!!!!!!
French "machicoulis" with the "ch" pronounced "sh". Given that most of these guys were speaking some form of French (they were actually called Franks by their enemies), it's the most likely pronunciation IMHO. None of them spoke Greek after all.
Edit: Archers could have shot through machicolations I think, not just from towers. And there were sometimes projecting wooden structures that performed the same function.
24:55 bro i think he missed the point with that raven thing: when the enemies put the ladder on your wall some body run there with a rope and tie or hook it to that mofoka and YEEET that ladder out. Preferably full of argentinians. Cuz im Brazilian.
Chadiversity
Shaaaaad!
Ladders are ok. They've got their ups & downs.
I laughed harder than I should have
that rung a laugh out of me
I completely agree between ropes and ladders ill always prefer the latter.
this comment section is really stepping up its pun game.
oh my
Now I can't stop thinking about specifically bred anti-siege attack bees, whose existence depends on a very bored guard
Selected for their aggressive tendencies and rapid breeding, and the guards wear bee-striped livery.
@@johnladuke6475 yeah it's like a portuguese or venitian duke who keeps crap tons of imported africanized bees, on top of his fortifications, size some clay hives to be used as onager ammunition too.
Like any biological weapon, the issue in its deployment is ensuring its specificity in targeting the enemy alone...
The castle covered in strange full netting. Exits points on the wall for billions of bees to be released from......
^^^^ there was a story on some french chateau where there was apiary right against some wall, and monastery was nested relatively alongside wall trees wildflowers in the area. one morning the guard was making ruckus up above on catwalk (wood board extension along stone path) accidently dropped one of the honey nest which was glued underneath the wood planks. it unleashed hell. however how humorous it was the guards fled inside the tower and shut the doors. pulled wool blanket over arrow silts. wedged it with tankards, food plates and random stuff they found at arm length. went downstairs, between corridors, and alerted others not to go to this certain tower and/or catwalk. it took about 2 days for the bees to settle down. Beekeepers urged guards to torch very dry burlap sacks and walk all over the tower. The guards did whilst beekeepers came and harmlessly gathered queens and rehomed inside wooden boxes. That was around 1390s France.
Almost an hour on ladders, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Send him wine / an vodka , I bet he gets booted out of local bars - " no no shut him up /0ut ! " ..mope - walk- fogs roil - the slap o wet concrete - "L A D D E R S ! "
@@garymingy8671 I'd be the one buying him drinks right up until the point he was kicked out!
I imagine a top 10 points on ladders would be at least 10 hours long...
I was going to say .an hour on latter's that sounds about right but you beat me to it
What about hour and half?
I love the irony of the title, as it should more accurately read: "A Voluminous Inquiry into Siege Ladders"
Escalades are used by Karens to run "them" over.
That’s Lloyd for you
@@northwesttravels7234 based Karens.
“A point about siege ladders”... 52 Minutes... Is it Christmas already?
My thoughts exactly
Was wondering something similar. That's a LONG ladder to climb. ;)
same
Stole the exact words from my mouth! 😃👌
Guys, don't forget to watch "how to build a perfect castle" by epic history tv, it goes realy well after Lloyd's video
I can imagine people gathering around Lindy in pubs like Socrates for thirty minutes at a time as he talks about the uses of game fowl in the preindustrial world
What's the use of being a royalist, when you live in a rock solid monarchy already? My King is an airliner pilot! "This is your King speaking, welcome to the KLM flight to London Gatwick. I wish you a peasant fight."
@@voornaam3191 it has two uses.
1. I support the furtherance and/or establishment of monarchy elsewhere than Great Britain
2. I am in active support of the monarchy I live under (even if the MONARCH herself hasn't been perfect)
@@rextheroyalist6389 😬😬😬😬
I entirely would just sit there nursing a pint listening to Lindy eludicate on some fascinating if obscure topic.
Id destroy him. I'm a professional soldier. There are many myths in his videos. Good fun though
Shad: Do you want to be in my short film?
Lloyd: Sure, I'm free. By the way, you've been mispronouncing machicolations.
Shad: I've rewritten your part. You're now French.
I thought you called them mah-kick-olations because you kicked at the enemy trying to climb up. 🙃
'Merde!'
@@TealWolf26 You're not far from the truth. They're called "match[e]-col-ation" because you "mache" (beat) the "col" (neck) of those climbing up. It's a soft "ch".
@@MrMaxBoivin I think matche comes from the french "macher" what means mash in english. Neck masher sounds sufficiently metal.
@@njarlblack1467 metal content approved by metalhead.
43:20 The fact he scoured all his harddrives first and THEN the internet, clearly reveals that he has direct access to an offline medieval 𝖂𝖎𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖕𝖆𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖆.
Which-apedia
Witch-ipedia
Maybe Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae?
Bichipaedia
Eyyyyy ch spoken like c
Only Lindy could make “a point” last more than 50 minutes, and that’s why we’re subscribed
Yeah, not for his countless frankophob remarks... that people seem to have no problem with.
He´s just joking. Over and over and over again... sure. How many jokes exactly until humor becomes xenophobia? I need an exact number. With Lindy, it´s gonna be a high one.
I like Lindy, but he´s like an older uncle that is very knowledgable but keeps making racist remarks that everyone is just pretending not to hear... or they´re just jokes...
@@prince-solomon What wrong with racism?
@@prince-solomon
That's why everyone makes jokes about you, you take these joke way too serious and that makes them all the better.
@Zacchary Francis AREVALO am I?
@@aweliano Idk. Everyone knows we're all different. Why not acknowledge that?
"My memory's not perfectly reliable." -guy who can rattle on for an hour with correct dates, pronunciations, facts, and figures.
Yeah, I wish my memory was that unreliable.
Same
He has notes
This throws me an perspective on my own speechcraft. I have similar skills of talking on topic of expertise, even if I've just read on it, for hours with dates, details, rtc
@@CraftQueenJr i feel like we need a what we see what he sees meming of this comment, because that seems to be a wall of notes
"a point..." goes on for 1hour
Seriously, I'm not saying anything new here but I will reiterate: Lloyd is the only person who can get me interested in ladders enough to listen to him speak about them for almost an hour.
Had to listen to an OSHA lecture on ladders for almost 2... this is thrilling after that
Frankly I easily could've gone another hour of ladder talk
At 3AM no less
@@LiT_Moose89 are you forwarding them his contact information?
@@Zraknul i should!
"Ladders"
52 minutes
Never change Loyd
Jackindabox LADDERS
I assume his one point is "they make you go up, but wobbly"?
I am watching a video by a man who themes his channel on the color beige talk about ladders, and I am absolutely enraptured. I don't know what this says about me as a person but here we are.
Was bout 2 say.. Let me go get my 2 gallon jug of Orange Juice. for this one.
Lloyd isn’t it?
Lindybeige is probably the only person I'd listen to who talks about ladders for an hour
+1
24:55 bro i think he missed the point that raven thing: when the enemies put the ladder on your wall some body run there with a rope and tie it to that mofoka and YEEET those bitch.
His video on the scholar's craddle was wonderful too.
I come back to this video every now and then. I've watched the whole thing 3 times by now, and I'm not ashamed of it.
Spartans: *Build a double wall during a siege*
Julius Caesar: Write that down, write that down!
yo dawg, I heard you like sieges...
always good to take note's from history wish we still did that lol
Vercingetorix must’ve been real disappointed by that. I must say, I do feel sorry for him.
@CipiRipi00 I am pretty sure Ceasar had knowledge about Greek History. Greece was allready integrated in to the Roman Empire to that time and he was the highest religious figure in Rome. If he knew about that Battle and used the same tactics is debatable. Kinda funny if two army's found the same approach for the same problems without knowing from each other isnt it?
@CipiRipi00 either way weather he knew or not does it change anything? Is it really least impressive that he was studied enough in war to know past battles and then know when, how and the right way to implement it.
Boiling water: no big deal
Hot sand: whatever
Lyme: Eeerr I'll just keep my eyes shut
Beehive: *No Not the Bees! Not the Bees!*
Lindy has clearly not had 30 000 to 50 000 thousand angry bees trying to sting him, some castles stopped whole attacks with a few beehives. (I remember one in France which had beehives engraved over the gates to commemorate an attack on their city that was repulsed by bees.)
@@christophe5954 thirty thousand to fifty thousand thousand? lol
that does sound absolutely godawful though, I could see how it would be effective. same as spiked pits, same as boiling liquids, etc. besieging castles during medieval times must've been a nightmare.
Double Whammy: Bees sauteed in hot oil!
just imagine like 40-50 bees on the inside of your armor under your padding
@@refinedbrass Now I understand why the guy jumped off the ladder backwards and sideways. Been there -- done that. It took me a long time to learn to control my fear of bees.
"Hot sand could be really irritating ..." Anakin Skywalker approves.
To be fair anakin never walked on the sky
banesnoN7 And coarse!
And it gets everywhere! 🤬
Lindy is my favorite scholar on youtube. He can literally ramble for an hour about one topic, complain about his unreliable memory while also quoting and crediting specific chapters of a book and properly remembering dates, the exact details of things, and all the while still delivering an informative and gripping lecture. Freakin awesome, love your work! Please never stop!
I love how this is a 50 minute rant about Ladders
I'm ready
“A point” about ladders.
And beehives
You think that's funny, we're watching it!
@@TheRhysj5 no, that's why I love it.
I’m already looking forward to “a follow up to ladders”
And you just know, it's gonna be 47 minutes at least ...
Curathol one can only hope
To cover what wasn't covered in the 1st almost hour long video.
44:46 'This carries me to the main point I'm going to make'
That was said after nearly three quarters of an hour of talking about ladders. Lindy really is amazing.
As someone who has nearly died a number of times I can say I have never screamed. I don't think most people would. It's just not a realistic reaction. I've fallen out of a tree stand and my reaction was to say nothing because I was to busy trying to stop myself. I know a guy who fell while repelling out of a black hawk. You don't have time to scream. People don't even always scream when they get shot. It would be way more brutal if a director showed a guy trying to figure out what to do as the ladder starts to go back and slowly panicking as the inevitable happens.
I come from Australia its the same when someone gets grabbed by a crocodile no screaming apparently
@@Jackomantaco I've seen a guy nearly get his arm cut off. He didn't scream. Just went into shock.
Lots of grunts and such though
@@marcosphillips4232 -- For my near-death or injury experiences, it has generally been a muttered, "Oh f-ck." Often, the "Oh" was omitted. And "grunting and such" seems to have been my go-to response for extreme pain, such as having a doctor fish around under my kneecap with a huge needle sucking out debris from a torn cartilage (decades ago). And a kidney stone. And a spinal disc rupture. And so on. No screams though. It takes too much energy to scream. And you have to take a deep breath first. I don't trust screamers. Screaming seems too deliberately histrionic and attention-seeking.
hubbub u
Fun fact:
the most important festival in Geneva is the "Escalade". It's a celebration of the citizens of Geneva repulsing a surprise escalade by Savoy troops in 1602. According to legend, the escalade was repulsed by pouring hot vegetable soup on the invaders.
The escalade is not celebrated by eating soup, though. Rather, the good people of Geneva do it the swiss way and eat chocolate shaped like a soup cauldron.
That must have been the last soup they ever had...
"I put the Lamborghini doors on the escalade."
I'm surprised Lindybeige did not mention this. "Ainsi périssent les énemies de la république!" the children cry as they smash open the chocolate cauldrons to get at the marzipan vegetables inside. Mère Royaume was the name of the woman cooking soup on the battlements when the Savoyards attacked by night.
Fun fact indeed! Alas, if only it had been tea. The jokes write themselves.
That was a very risky thing to do; Savoy gets seriously cold in Winter. The hot soup provision might have encouraged them to come back.
simple --
"are you scared of heights?"
assigned to sapping
"are you scared of enclosure?"
assigned to escalade
"scared of falling and cave-in?"
assigned to frontal assault
Afraid of dying? archer and artillery
@@glenpope4955 lol no all men are afraid of dying only cowards can't beat that fear
@@kellynolen498 yeah well considering the time we are talking about archers were considered cowards. Imagine the same for the artillery
@@glenpope4955 I wonder about the historical training of archers and artillery
realistically they wouldn't be weak strong arms to to pull back the bow strings or strong in general to transport the artillery either in pieces or towed plus someone smart enough to put it back together if they move it in pieces
@@glenpope4955 Im sure the soldiers love archers and artillery lmao what are you on abt. They provide so much firepower and support for the sieging troops and the artillery also get used to breach the castle walls.
Me, a forward thinking rival duke: "boye I sure love measuring the walls arounde this castle using bothe the shadowe and stringe methods"
Some Guard: "Heye what are you doinge here with that stringe? Awaye Withe Thee!"
Me: "Hahe! I am butte one man! Art thou reallye going to waste thine limited resourcese to rebuke me?"
The same guard, nervously considering his three arrows, two rocks, and the bag of lime he had to bring from home: _"Ie Saide Awaye Withe thee-e!"_
The guard grymly noted his buddye had forsooth neglected to bring the tower beehyve....
"I think it's far more compelling showing large number of people's trying not to die, and contending in a rational way." I think this is part of what makes 1964's Zulu such a fantastic film.
That escaladed quickly
Ba-dum-tish!
I was looking for this comment and the internet did not disappoint me. Well done.
@@MirthfulMind_ Don't condescend.
@@attemptedunkindness3632 we have to finally ascend above that
@@lindybeige Hello, an associate of mine has made a debunk video concerning your ''why men are expendable''
ua-cam.com/video/d-8_ARcPbBs/v-deo.html
“Call off the attack...there are some bees”
Yeah, that sounds like a thing I’d say
Hell yeah, I ain't getting stung
Lindy has clearly not had 30 000 to 50 000 thousand angry bees trying to sting him, some castles stopped whole attacks with a few beehives. (I remember one in France which had beehives engraved over the gates to commemorate an attack on their city that was repulsed by bees.)
Naked and the dead
@@christophe5954 do you happen to remember the name of the bee castle? I'd love to read more about it and searches weren't yielding anything
Would be very effective if everyone is allergic to bees
Id like to imagine one knight started beekeeping as a hobby and everyone else was constantly complaining anytime they had to take over watching the tower.
Of course thatd be one of the first objects thrown during an attack.
@G L.C meanwhile all the other knights high fiving in the background
It would be the first object thrown whether there was an attack or not
“So, thank you, Polybius.”
This is so darned refreshing. And I concur, thank you, Polybius.
Me, About to get in a fight: "Be careful, we don't want to escalade this"
Other guy:"Wait do you mean Escelate"
Me:*Swings a ladder at him*
Looks like he *puts on sunglasses* won't be climbing back up.
*YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!*
Jackie Chan is famous for his escalade kung fu techniques.
😁
Fancy jump-kicks are for people who don't carry stepladders. Also useful in the grapple!
@@clockworkkirlia7475 yeah they're quite effective in wwe
Friend : "Hey, you've been watching that video for quite a while now. What's it about?
Me : Uh........ *Ladders*
No, no, it's called "30 steps to victory". Gotta sell it a little.
If you put it boringly like that but in reality its a video about storming the battlements of a castle.
@@felixmervamee7834 nah mate its more like the slope formula equation
friend: .....are you planning to climb something?
me: .....a castle......
And like, not even modern ladders made of fancy materials with interlocking parts that can accomplish all sorts of tasks, just plain wooden ladders lol
"I'm warning you that it does make you sound a little bit French."
Important safety tip.
It could save your life.
So basically, Ford is saying that their similarly named SUV model can climb over castle walls.
Born French -- at least the name has survived in America since 1683. As my Father always said, "A little French goes a long way."
@@johnlloyddy7016 No. It means "Over the Top." And it's Cadillac.
He reminds me of my favorite history teacher. She could talk for hours and you'd just be enraptured. I didn't always retain all the facts, but it made me WANT to learn more about the subject. Mission accomplished. Good teachers are rare jewels.
There are still many ways to protect against this however as a person who regularly uses laders for my job I'll tell you pushing a lader away from the wall wouldn't really work very well at all, instead push it to one side or the other. Not only is it much easier but if there are any others close buy its going to hit them too.
Might be a width thing, we use pretty narrow ladders nowadays , but siege ladders could be pretty wide. But with narrow ladders that would be pretty effective I think
@jerry93y I won't say it's impossible, but I think a really wide ladder (like maybe 2 m) pinned down by a bunch of guys on the floor will be pretty hard to push away or sideways. But I guess what would need a try.
@@ToabyToastbrot Pushing it away would definitely be difficult with the ladder full. You'd have to get the center of mass completely out of whack, past vertical probably. That means you'd have to reach far out from the wall becoming exposed. I guess you could use a large stick with many men behind it, maybe with a fork on the end to hook on to the ladder or some kind of karabiner mechanism to latch on, but then you'd lose your stick.
@@JoshLathamTutorials Well for pushing away you should watch the video, if the ladder is at an angle of 30 Degree or so it would be pretty much impossible to just push it away with men on it and guys holding it back on the bottom. That point I fully believe in the video
The more steeply they angle the ladder against the wall the stronger the ladder has to be to support all the weight. Which makes it heavier and harder to hoist up the wall. For one near vertical just hook it with a pole weapon and get two or three guys to push.
Or if there isn't too much wind, pour a sack of fine flour over the wall and toss a torch down after it...
*explains how archers would have trouble shooting people down at the bottom of the tower*
Wait do I hear Shad screaming? Do you hear Shad screaming?
*MACHICOLATIONSSSSSS*
[edit: I wrote this like 5 minutes after the video was up, Shad hadn’t commented yet.]
I was thinking that in my head - and I see I am not alone ^^
Macchiatolattechocolations.
MACHICOLATIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS!!!!!!!
I was about to comment this. Glad there are more of us here
Just look at the top comment on the vid, it's shad
He kept talking in one long incredibly unbroken sentence moving from topic to topic so no one could interrupt it was quite hypnotic.
Marcel Proust has entered the chat
@@blacksquirrel4008 Jean-Luc Picard has entered the chat
Come cheer up my lads
Come cheer up my lads
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all
😂Halfway through reading the sentence in my head, the beat kicked in.
Imagine climbing a siege ladder and the guy on the wall just yells out "ya like jazz?" Before beaning you in the dome with a beehive
That would be a nightmare.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
It amazes me, the talent of this man to make literally any subject, no matter what it is or how boring it is, sound interesting.
True... but not if its french
That’s what I thougt when his last video had me on the edge of my seat and it was only about some cows having a friendly shoving contest in a field.
It amazed me years ago, when I started watching his videos. Now it’s expected :)
Considering that most sieges ended due to one side giving up, and months of siege was commonly seen as a preferable option to attacking, I would argue that escalades like all other forms of attack were seen as a bad option.
Ladders were probably just among the least terrible options.
Yeh, Also most movie he complaining about it only the first few ladders that get this treatment, then they overwhelm and the fight moves to the top.
Agree. Hundreds of ladders going up on a wall overwhelms the defender. So, like any assault, a certain amount of losses is expected. A siege generally required a 2:1 ratio because you expect to suffer more casualties. Ladders in combination with rams, siege towers and artillery of some sort (all depending on era) overwhelms the defender.
Well, i daresay these Ladds where still tremendously though , just thinking everybody from on top of the Battlements throwing and shooting at them. I,for my part would post guards with short spears in top of the Battlement, so its okay come on here Ladds ,stab stab ,you got the picture? But anyway it seems to my opinion , this Ladderattack was a pretty costly option and therefore used only as a kind of last resorts.
@@commmarine9547 yes, a siege required about a 2:1 ratio, storming would require much, much more and there are examples from history where a handful of defenders have been able to defend agains armies. It should be noted that in modern combat, to assault a prepared defense it usually takes a unit class above the defenders; that is, a platoon in a prepared defensive position will take at least a company to dislodge, a company defending will require a battalion. And this is without permanent installations, just field engineering.
@@bewing77 thanks. Military guy here so understand the doctrine of besieging. Will say that the example of few holding off many was only achieved through tactical advantage via equipment, training, or location. Example, without going into detail, battle of Thermopylae. Spartan training (actual professional military force, not slaves or citizen army) bronze armor (not wicker which was main "armor" of Persians and the hot gates themselves, the narrow pass, as the location that provided the advantage.
Engineer: Sir we can build massive catapults and siege weapons taller than the sun! What do you request?
General: *L A D D E R
engineer: Years of academy training wasted
Engineer: sir are you sure? We can make a trebuchet, or maybe use some of them new cannons! Maybe tunnel under them collapsing the wall and if not then we can go through the tunnel and....
General: rope ladder, with little hooks at the end, and two guys holding it down.
General: I'm the leader I'll decide.
I mean, if you had more men than time, seems like the ladders would be much quicker.
@@Harabeck more men equals more people to push siege to equipment, breaching a wall with only a few ladders and a few thousand men is going to be a bad idea, so I think ladders are more useful for skirmishers trying to annoy archers and kill the first wave of defense so the initial attack can face less resistance, or better yet for lightly armored infantry troops to lead a counter-attack and flank those men fighting your main breaching squad.
@@generalgrievous2055 Well, the point is, if, for example, you push a massive siege tower (assuming there are no moats and stuff like that and the terrain allows for it) you don't want for the defenders to wait for you in front of it, spear and bow in hand. So you need a few guys to strike in more position.
And the last thing you want on ladders is lightly armored guys. You want the heavies on them because they can resist being pelted by arrows and other missile.
A point on beehives, if you drop it early enough as they start to place ladders, it could be a rather disturbing experience to have an angry swarm around you.
"A point about siege ladders" One singular 52 minute lasting point. Carry on Mr. Beige, wouldn't want it any other way.
will there be a "part two" ?
I played the video at 2x the speed
@Katarina Bleu ???
I honestly watch these for 50% educational value, and the other 50% just because I absolutely love Lloyd’s personality
“You might get a splinter...”, brilliant health and safety assessment during an attack.
Yes!
People died from that back in the day you know. Although, granted, despite potential nonnewtonian physics, a ten meter fall was probably more unhealthy even back then
Just discovered this channel, and as a person with ADD I just watched this whole video with hyper focus. Wow, an hour on ladders, and it was the most interesting hour talk about ladders ever. I hit the bell button, nobody has the privilege of sending me notifications, but now you do ❤️
You NEED to watch his video on tennis!! Absolutly fascinating, Beige is also quite an actor.
he is entertaining for sure
Same here. Although long time fan by now!
As someone with ADD, I find ADD to do the opposite of what people think. When it’s something I am interested in, I can pay attention for literally more than 10+ hours straight. It’s just boring stuff that I find myself unable to force myself to keep paying attention to.
"but the medieval world was far before Newton, so maybe physics did not work that way"
The physics from @lindybeige doesn't seem to be the same as newtons physics. You can't make a falling ladder swing back to the wall by pulling it toward you, neither by pushing it away from you. The center of mass will stay the same and you cant give the entire system an impulse while you are part of the system, thus it will continue falling. The only way could be to change the center of mass towards the wall. This could be by switching sides on the ladder, quickly. Or to give it a thrust momentum by propelling yourself away from the ladder and sacrifice your life for the ladder. Or to use a grappling hook.
for anyone who is looking for this moment - 34:50
@@accidos Wouldn't switching sides be similar to pulling the escaladder towards you? Just typing aloud.
@@Isometrix116 Still not possible. If you push yourself forward, you'll pull the ladder back at the same time because of the conservation of angular momentum.
One possibility would be to climb further up the ladder while it was still further forward than at a 90 degree angle with the ground. You are effectively transferring the force through the ladder into the ground (out of the system), so you could change the angular momentum of the system that way. That is, if there is any more ladder to go up on (this doesn't work if you're the guy at the very top of course).
@@accidos No wonder they aren't the same physics....if you use feet your result will differ from all standard physics ;)
Can we appreciate how his style of videos hasn't changed in the slightest? I swear every time I re watch a video if it wasn't for the image quality changing and the date I wouldn't know when the video was uploaded.
And the number of pictures in the background!
Soldiers dying in troves with no attempt to protect themselves in battle scenes was what got me interested in ancient, medieval, and modern tactics.
I think it was the cavalry charge in Return of the King that made me start researching why anyone would ever agree to fight in the front line where it looks like you have a 100% chance to die.
My totally-unvalidated pet theory is that this is one reason why pretty much all cultures had religions which promised an afterlife: soldiers who don't fear death fight harder and defeat their less-zealous neighbours.
@@polendri4812 in addition to the amount of power you get from being the religious figurehead (the goodly choose one)
but you realize, even with 6000 horsemen, you would not charge a mass of infantry that large right? You'll lose most of your cavalry. And when it comes to fighting a war, 6000 cavalrymen are worth a whole lot more than even 20,000 infantry. In terms of both training, and resources. Plus as the commanding officer, your master would probably behead you for taking such a risk. So if LotR ever followed any reality when it comes to battles, its really the Rohirrim who are outmatched. Not the armies of orc infantry.
@@polendri4812 death>constant marching
@@LumenP1023 not if your line immediately breaks upon contact, then its pretty much a mop up job. Better example of an absurd cavalry charge is at The Two Towers where the rohirrim charged pikes head on.
When I was in training as a rookie firefighter decades ago, we used a “pole ladder“. An extension ladder with two poles, one on each side attached high up on the ladder, which could be pivoted outward and forward to support the ladder . While heavy, this ladder could be set up by four men, two at the base and one on each pole. This in effect made a freestanding ladder that could be adjusted for placement as necessary. Perhaps technology carried on from ancient and medieval times?
That would actually not be a bad design for a siege ladder. you can approch the wall with the ladder flat and don´t have to flip it over to lean it against the wall, which I imagine is almost impossible to handle depending on the length of ladder, but simply could push up the top along the wall while others push the bottom closer at the same time.
I also wonder about how heavy those would be. a few years ago I had a roofer take a look with a ladder leaning against the gutter. The problem was that with the gutter being about 8 meters up, the ladder remaines far from straigth with anyone standing on it. actually the upper third turned almost vertical. This one was made of aluminium, but I doubt wood wouldn´t do the same.
I was also a firefighter. In my country we call this an extension ladder. It can be carried and deployed by two men. After standing it up on the "poles" you pull ropes to extend three separate parts of the ladder up, then you tilt it to the wall. It can reach 14 meters high and does not go flat.
"If you want to, go ahead and be my guest. But I'm just warning you, it does makes you sound a little bit French" - Is the most British thing ever said by anyone, ever.
With “I bet they attacked at tea-time on a weekend, the CADS!” being a close second
3rd, 'Napoleon was a right git.'
I imagine the "to me, to you"-reference wouldn't have meant a lot to most non-Brits. *chuckles quietly*
From what I've heard in history-of-language circles, Medieval Latin was moving toward pronouncing the letter "c" in the soft manner rather than the hard "c" of classical Latin. That may have affected the pronunciation of "ch."
@@grizzlygrizzle assuming that is correct, does that mean cavae canem was pronounced savae sanem?
"Caesar defeated the Britons because he attacked at teatime on the weekend. " Is that an Asterix reference?
By Jove.
Quite!
Well we all know those Romans were crazy...
Shocking. They're not gentlemen.
Technically it was the hot water time. Asterix introduced tea.
Lyod: "[Escalade] is a completely unnecessary word"
Cadillac Escalade: "Am i a joke to you?"
that proves his point
Try getting that thing across a wall! ☺
It's actually just the french word for "climbing", but dont tell Loyd he will be mad
Lloyd takes two "L", as you can see by the badge behind him.
The Escalade is a truly awful car and a joke to anyone bar a few tacky rappers.
One thing we learned working on Fighting In Built Up Areas is that you always want the ladder's top to press against the wall just below the level of where you are climbing to. It makes it a lot easier to get off the other end, but also makes it a lot harder for defenders to do anything directly to the ladder. Ladders are also normally held at the bottom.
In the fire service we routinely use ladders, for rescue we place them just below the window sill so that no one can accidentally push one away, we also keep a firefighter under the ladder holding it the same way. It’s called footing a ladder. We also use the ladder with legs on them.
and the fastest guide to being sure your ladder is at the prescribed angle is to stand with your toes against the feet of the ladder and your arms straight out from the shoulder - if you can grip the rungs, you're good.
The comment I was going to make, thanks
If you have legs on the ladder they can go where they are needed. 😀
The beehive defense sounds like a tactic from Home Alone.
A beseiged force would sometimes collect together wasps nests and drop them on the brave fools on ladders. Medieval cluster munitions, each containing 5,000 independent homing warheads. Not many people would carry on climbing a ladder while being furiously stung.
On occassion besiegers would use artillery to throw wasp/bees nests at the defenders to try and clear the ramparts. Presumably at points the attackers weren’t intending to assault themselves.
Look up the battle of the bees.
You're welcome
"You Gauls give up, or are you thirsty for more?"
I don't see an army carrying a beehive into battle, either as defender or attacker, in a way where they don't get stung more than the people they use it on. But maybe there's some ancient bee-pacifying techniques that I am unaware of.
@@itchykami Smoke puts them to sleep. When I was a kid I lived near a bee farm and that is what they did to get at their honey.
WELCOME MOON AND STAR
"The ancient world was a long time before newton, maybe physics worked differently back then"
Yeh why not
The "supports" on the ladder at 47:12 can also be used to very quickly raise the ladder. Used to call them "Pompier ladders" in the fire service. One person "foots" the ladder to keep the base from sliding, and several on each of the poles can heave it up into position in one movement rather than slowly walking it up.
'Pompier' is the French word for fireman, so I guess the name is pretty straightforward
Only Lindybeige can get 52 minutes out of siege ladders. I love this man.
There was never a moment in my life where I thought I would watch a 52 minute video on siege ladders. And yet here I am.
I'm self-isolating at university at the moment, everyone in my flat is miserable but I'm having a jolly old time watching a video about SIEGE LADDERS
You say that as if siege warfare *isn't* interesting as fawk....
Gonna take 50 weeks and spend it all in isolation. Until they end this virus with a United nations. Well I called my Congressman, and he said, QUOTE: We tried to save y'all, but you're all gonna croak. Sometimes I wonder, "What am I gonna do?" 'Cause there ain't no cure for the Trump End Times Flu.
Escalade . . . from the French for "Over the Top" Cadillac's Flagship SUV
You've come to a channel where the presenter always appears to have slept rough before letting the camera rolls.
nice Transilvanian Hunger pofile picture
@@joeyuzwa891 COLD
SO COLD
52 mins of Lindybeigeness. Beautiful.
Of course Julius Caesar attacked at tea-time and weekends, it says so in "Asterix in Britain"
How barbaric! Not fair play at all, i say!
@@MrBigCookieCrumble Maybe my garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum
It's always Nice to know that he's got his Classicists straight!
Not 'tea-time'. Cæsar attacked during a 'cup of hot water-time'
Also, seeing 200% AngloSaxon Lloyd referencing to French popculture... Tsk, tsk.
This video is spectacular and sums up this channel so well. Many channels choose to take a broad topic and cover it in scant detail. Lindy takes a topic that many might not even consider feasible and manages to talk about it in fascinating detail for nearly an hour. I didn't even know I was so interested in the logistics of ladders in sieges until watching this. Now I want to know more! And not only that, but it's all done in one take! ONE TAKE!
Machicolations: *get mentioned*
Shadiversity: *happy noises*
MAACHICOLATIONS !!1
For two minutes before he realizes he's getting called just a little bit French, which as we all know is the height of insult.
Someone needs to send this to Shad
Currently at 14:30 and immedeatly...
- thought of machicolations
- went looking for this comment
@@whysrumgone well, from my part, being a bit french is waaaay better than being even slightly british , so yeah, call me french all ya want
*laughs in metre*
Man I'd really like to see someone handle a 35 foot ladder with arrows, rocks and boiling water raining down around you. I work construction and handle longish ladders all the time, and it's hard enough to set up the taller ones without fear for your life added in
Yeah, I think he way underestimates how hard it is to climb a ladder with projectiles coming at you let lone in armor and unwieldy weapons.
You know it's gonna be good when the title is just "ladders" and it's 52 minutes long
Only 52 minutes??? He's slacking off a bit in his old age...
Long ladder 😆
I tried reading Thucydides, as Lindy suggested but couldn't understand a thing. It was all Greek to me...
What's that line from the book Five Children and It? "Well it's greek to everyone" 😂
Take your upvote and get out!
Even in English it's confusing.
A is allied with B and defend from attack by C. D decides to attack C's ally E. B changes their mind and allies with C. Then C and D ally with A and attack F, who was pissed off with G. So B pays H ...
Confused yet?
@@AndrewBlucher Idete paylikois umin grammaso egpaza tay emay keiri... (sorry, can't get the Greek alphabet working so I spelled it phonetically). KILLER B
🤣🤣🤣
>"a point about siege ladders"
>52 minutes
I'd be terrified to see the length of a "a few thoughts on siege latters"
A 30ft wall would be quite effective to combat 30ft ladders considering a ladder loses length depending on the angle. A 30ft ladder would be perfect for a 30ft wall if you wanted to climb it while it was straight up and down.
Lindybeige is the master of the single take. Absolutely brilliant, and quite awesome to keep focus and be so entertaining and informative for so long.
_"A point about siege ladders"_ - *Another in the increasingly misleading titles of Lindybeige productions*
He does that, doesn't he?
Yeah was about to comment something along the lines of “more like a lecture on siege ladders”, it’s getting out of hand how these titles are compared to actual video runtime.
A 5 minute guide to warships.
Is this a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy?
Hehe... Lindy got you with his clickbait titles. 😂
BROKE: Build a wall around the city you're besieging.
WOKE: Build another wall around yourselves AND the city you're besieging, so other enemies have to besiege YOU.
BESPOKE: Plaster all your walls so they look nice because war is no excuse for sloppiness.
The true love that radiates from this guy towards what he's talking about. Like I've been watching him for like 4 hours now, I started with only a 3 minutes long video. I have to call my boss that I can't go to work until I watch all of the videos from Lindybeige. Amazing.
"I bet Julius Caesar when he invaded Britain attacked at tea time and the weekend." There is an album of Asterix titled Asterix in Britain (Astérix chez les Bretons) where Caesar does exactly that. 😂
Came here to comment on that. First straling jokes from the french and then going back to making fun of them.
As Lindy says: Romans! *shakes fist angrily*
Damn it, you beat me to it!
That's what he is referring to obviously.
@@alexanderhoffmann1735 Funny thing is escalade and ambuscade are also French words, I suspect Lindy knows it but refrained from saying it.
"ladders"
20 min later: "Beehives!"
Video: ladders
Lindy: defenders yeet stuff at attacker
it strikes me that boiling wax would be kinda worse then bees.
@@thalivenom4972 it wouldnt. Wax has pretty little heat capacity and would cool off fairly quickly. The attacker with a shield climbing the ladder now is an attacker with a wax covered shield. Well done. Bees on the other hand are really nasty when you can get them to attack the people you want to be miserable.
1:26 - Even as a metricly inclined Norwegian I have to admire they way he 'phlegms up' the word 'metre'.
Perversely I find such loathing impressive.
I could never sustain it myself.
Well, there is the swedes, I guess ...
well the Swedes makes it so easy to loath them...
Why do Norwegians and Swedes dislike each other? They must be very similar people.
@@JohnyG29 History is your answer ;) The Danes "dislikes" the Swedes too but mostly in a lighthearted and for old times sake kind of way. I assume it's the same in Norway.
@@JohnyG29 For the obvious reason, that Denmark has fought Sweden over Norway for about 500 years... they hold the world record in official wars between two countries. The last time they fought, Denmark lost and Norway became a Swedish province for about 70 years. The Norwegians didnt like that very much...
Anders Hoegild I heard Egil Skallagrimsson didn’t much care for even when the Norwegian kings tried to rule the Norwegians, let alone Sweden. Hence Iceland.
I have my own "point about ladders". At 1:05 Loyd mentions that: "Ladders do have a limitation...in the ancient world anyway" (1:05). I had a ladder slide away beneath me, and I fell 3 meters. Result: Open fracture of my leg. Saw my own bone! I'm alright now. It took two operations, and a year and a half to heal. In the "Modern World". In the Ancient World I had probably been dead as a door nail - from infections. So, I ASSURE you that modern ladders still have their limitations. Always make sure that ladder stands firm and take care when you "escalade" everyone!
The hypotenuse of a triangle the 30 feet high with enough angle to be stable would need to be at least 40 feet, and if a ladder longer than 30 feet was hard to build, a 30 foot wall would be a good height.
Well, the whole thing is based on the assumption that a ladder can only be 30 feet long, a claim with no evidence or argument backing it.
My experience as a woodworker tells me that a 10 meter ladder may be the limit for what you could improvise, but I imagine a siege engineer would have no challenge in constructing something exeeding that length.
The maximum length of a ladder would instead be limited by the materials avaliable, wich varies from place to place.
Likewise, the heigth of the wall is limited by avaliable materials, ground conditions, engineering skills and the cost of labour.
There is a lot more challenges involved in constructing a wall than it is in constructing a ladder. The wall becomes exponentially more costly the higher it gets, and 30-40 feet may very well be the point when cost and effort just becomes ridiculous. ( this limit would be greatly altered by the invention of reinforced concrete and steel beam construction, but that is a long time in the future)
Of course, you’d want to build your wall taller than the surrounding trees, or it’s just an open invitation to aspiring escalators.
Oh ye it's big brain time
@@JH-lo9ut the 30ft ladder is based of a hight to thickness ratio
Also I'm subbing to both of you for being smart and stuff
Probably a daft idea but if they can only build a 30 ft ladder then you could only have the same to build the wall same would apply to scaffold i would imagine anyway great vid who else would get people having to comment about ladders 🤔
"the crow"
Looks like a Trebuchet meant for people.
I used to think Trebuchet was some kind of fancy buffet.
Who else is imagining the Battle of Helm's Deep during this lecture?
I envy this guy so much for his passion, he just lights up my screen, totally absorbs me for fifty or so minutes (but who's counting) and leaves me gobsmacked, blinking and almost breathless. Thank you Mr Beige. It's a year later, you've given me a lot of brain fodder during this time of plague, I really am grateful for the opportunity to find you.
he's like the medieval history version of technology connections lol. Both channels are brilliant.
you could throw jelly and sponge cake over the battlements - into the attacker's ears ... if you wanted to make them a trifle deaf.
Only one man can give them the raspberry though: Lone Starr!
Everyone, under those conditions could find themselves in quite a sticky situation
"How tall should we build our walls sir?"
""Well, ladders can only be 35 ft. long."
"So let's build our walls 30 ft. high."
"Can't have a battle if the enemy can't get in."
"Brilliant idea sir."
maybe the walls were effectively taller than 30ft when you consider a moat or other down-hill slope directly outside of the wall
Otherwise climbing the walls would be super difficult. Very much an inconvenience.
@Richard Vaughn yep a 35ft ladder will only climb a 30ft wall at the angle specified
Cant just break the game like that cmon now
@@cauchyschwarz3295 oops!
I'm french and i find your comedic cracks at my country highly enjoyable
As an American I find something wholesome about English/French rivalry.
@@TheMillerMilitia Louisiana Purchase.
Dou jou alsou 'ave an OUTRAGEOUS accent? Monsieur @Pierre Vivier ?
@@MrBigCookieCrumble ahahhahah 'now go away or I shall taunt you again'
I never knew I’d be interested in “the level of bee-hivery” used to defend castles, but Lloyd could talk to us about pretty much anything for an hour and it would be entertaining after he’s done some research about a subject.
I was shocked when “bee-hivery” wasn’t in one of the top comments.
Nobody:
Lindybeige notifications:
LADDERS!
'Two knights, one ladder' Unfortunately, I think I might have seen that one.
Still not as bad as two nerds one machicholation
This is the quality content I've been missing in my life.
Lindybeige would definitely be on my list of Military advisors/Siege engineers for when I become an apocalypse warlord.
The danger of overexposure while trying to shoot a bow downwards is probably the reason why crossbows were quite popular in sieges.
That and I think they would use the non-fighters to cock the strings so there is a conveyor belt of loaded crossbows coming up. (And crossbows are very good at penetration in short distances)
I've seen pictures of devices mounted on the walls, that could be used to span a crossbow quicker and easier than with handheld devices, so it would make sense to have some designated guys to take and load them in order to avoid too much chaos on the narrow wall. If they have lighter crossbows they can load them themselves quite quickly, but you would still need guys running around and supplying bolts.
@@ephremcortvrint2376 You do not "cock" crossbows, you span them.
Crossbows also dont require much training and strength.
I could train an archer in 2 minutes to deal with this issue without using a crossbow.
FRIENDS: Bro, let's do something!
GF: Babe, come over!
FAMILY: Hey, come join us!
ME: Ah yes, ladders.
Lol in quarantine?
@@Catastropheshe don't need quarantine to enjoy ladders
@@TheLoxxxton lol no, but I meant the first part sounds sketchy
Yesss
The importance of morale: a wise leader never says, "Get your siege ladders, we're doing an escalade." That sounds far too dangerous. A wise leader says, "We're going to need to take steps to get into the castle."
*groan*
"Capturing a castle in 20 easy steps."
Thank you for the highly detailed bit about ladders. I used to think they were suicidal (in the movies). Now I see they were quite practical. Good show.
Me: Nobody can perform an hour of lecture about ladders.
Lindy: Hold my tea and crumpets, with Great Courses Plus, I can.
“I know we failed 25 times but the 26th time we’ll get them!”
Luigi Cadorna at the 12th Battle of the Isonzo: *sweats nervously*
General Melchett: they'll never expect us to try the same thing the 27th time!
It did bring WWI to mind.
I think it was also a reference to Blackadder
God dont mention that fool, in Italy only Diaz existed we have a black-out from what happened before Diaz.
@@lostalone9320 Nah dont push that on Italy (the Nation wich was very young to that time) the fault was all cadorna's. There where multiple protests from the Gouverment, the King, his Officers and the army itself. After the 10th Battle mutinys became less of a rarety. Dont forgeth that the average Italian Soldier was just a farmer with basically no education, most of them couldnt even read. The defeat of Caporetto was what saved Italy from a total grind down like the French experienced at the western front. Without the germans kicking our asses and bringing out a reform, we would be Battling at the Isonzo till today. Has nothing to do with Bad position if you think about it, the mountains on wich they defeated the Austro-Hungarians later under Diaz was way worse in that aspect. But good knowledge about Italian-Austrian history Respect.
1:25 _That's a ten French _*_metre_*_ if you're into that sort of thing._
*_*grimaces with frog-disgust*_* (" -益-)
Yeah yeah thats the biggest barrier to adoption... invented by the french
@@enjibkk6850 Repeat after me: ma she coo lee
“Woah, that was a long tangent wasn’t it?” Can’t believe Lloyd only said that once during a 50 minute video on ladders.