Link to all 3 pictures. shorturl.at/xN468
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on April 15th, 1452 right outside of Anchiano Italy on a small farm. Da Vinci soon moved to his father’s estate nearby Vinci where he quickly grew up and had great influences around him such as Andrea Del Verroccio and Ludovico il Moro causing him to relate to the arts and creativity that was brought with the early Renaissance. Leonardo soon proved to have a one of a kind mind as he was influenced greatly from the arts, culture, creativity, and history of other societies and proved this by dabbling in almost everything ranging from astrology, mathematics, painting, engineering, and much more causing him to change society and impact history in the future . Most importantly, Leonardo strived to be an inventor of the arts and ideas of the world. This combined with his intrigue of engineering and money caused him to start sketching out ideas that were never thought of before that could help in real life such as war, transportation, architecture, and much more. These new inventions and ways of thinking devastated the old views that once stood before and with this, Leonardo sparked all of Europe by pushing the boundaries of what was possible. Many of Leonardo’s inventions started coming together when da Vinci was asked by the “fearsome and bloodthirsty patron Cesare Borgia where he employed Leonardo as his military architect and engineer for a couple of years in the early 1500’s”. Although Leonardo was a man of creativity and had many inventions that were geared more towards their use in the battlefield and for war, he detested harming people and animals in general. One of his quotes “As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other”. Yet even with his negative views on war and conflict, Leonardo chose to work for Cesare Borgia due to his needs for money, work, and desire to create. Through his time of working as the engineer and military architect, he thought of detailed and groundbreaking machinery that would soon change the world forever; these included the machine gun, crossbow, cannons and catapults, tanks, drawbridges, diving equipment, and much more.
The first picture represents the catapult which was a simple and ingenious invention where a pawl and ratchet system tightens the ropes and then pulls the string when let go causing the massive arm to spin which would propel whatever was put in the catapult; this usually contained a lead ball. This weapon was able to be transported on wheels and was used against any castle or fort with the option to also exchange lead cannonballs for diseased corpses or things on fire.This redesign of an old invention had extreme importance to the early societies in the late 1400’s as this was one of the first inventions to enter the battlefield and be tested in war. This invention changed the tactics of war and the capacity for damage and ways of killing, ultimately changing the severity of war on a grand scale.
The second picture, which depicts a fortified tank able to be driven by multiple cranks with the option to shoot cannons out of all sides, was another ingenious invention that Leonardo created for the battlefield. Leonardo stated “I can make armored cars, safe and unassailable, which will enter the closed ranks of the enemy with their artillery, and no company of soldiers is so great that it will not break through them. And behind these our infantry will be able to follow quite unharmed and without any opposition”. This invention was the first of its time as no other design like this would be seen again until World War One. The closest thing comparable to Leonardo’s invention were men on top of elephants which may have caused Leonardo to be inspired and create the tank as he did not want to hurt more lives than necessary such as animals. Although this is disputed, it has been stated that da Vinci intentionally created flaws in the tank designs and in the sketches due to his morals and views on war. In the drawing, there are two main shafts going to the wheels causing the tank to spin the wrong direction or not letting the wheels move due to the crankshafts pushing against one another. This invention revolutionized the early modern societies as this proceeded to change the tactics of war and how attacks and defenses were structured and what was able to be achieved in war. This invention has also inspired thousands of others throughout history as many concepts of “the tank” have been based off of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches, drawings, and concept.
The giant crossbow in the third picture, much like the catapult, was a literal “killer” invention created by Leonardo in 1486 and drawn in the Codex Atlanticus. This very large crossbow does not look that big in pictures as many seem to mistake it for a smaller crossbow you may hold with your hands and rest on the shoulder yet this one was 23 meters long (25 yards or the length of an average swimming pool) supported by 6 wheels and consisted of 39 individual parts. This crossbow was mostly used as a slingshot that was loaded with various items to shoot at infantry or buildings yet sadly this crossbow was never built and stayed just as a drawing in Leonardo’s notebooks. This was significant to the time as this broadened the horizons on what could be made and challenged the inventions that man could create for war and life. With Leonardo’s mind and creativity, this inspired people to be more intrigued on what could be created and used during war and defense.
These inventions devastated the war zone for anyone to fight against and changed the ways of war tactics. Regardless of whether the inventions worked or not, Leonardo was the first to think of, sketch, and create some of these inventions that would change history forever. As da Vinci created many war related innovations he also was fascinated by other topics that didn’t apply to the war zone such as creating inventions for flight and exoskeleton robots that people could wear. His inventions such as the parachute, helicopter, flying machine (plane), and the robotic knight all have challenged the boundaries of what we are able to do in our society and continue to have an impact on what we are creating in the current era.
Works Cited All That's Interesting. “6 Of Leonardo Da Vinci's Inventions That Changed History Forever.” All That's Interesting, All That's Interesting, 14 Aug. 2018, allthatsinteresting.com/leonardo-da-vinci-inventions. Campbell, Shawn. “Leonardo Da Vinci's Life.” Da Vinci's Giant Crossbow, http://www.davincilife.com/crossbow.html. Finnan, Vincent. “Da Vinci Weapons of War.” Leonardo Da Vinci Weapons of War, Italian Renaissance Art.com, http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Da-Vinci-weapons.html. “Leonardo Da Vinci Biography.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Aug. 2019, http://www.biography.com/artist/leonardo-da-vinci. “Leonardo Da Vinci’s War Machines and Inventions for War.” Leonardo Da Vinci's Inventions, http://www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/war-machines/. Levrier-Jones, George. “The 9 Greatest Inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci - History Is Now Magazine, Podcasts, Blog and Books: Modern International and American History.” History Is Now Magazine, Podcasts, Blog and Books | Modern International and American History, History Is Now Magazine, Podcasts, Blog and Books | Modern International and American History, 17 Mar. 2019, http://www.historyisnowmagazine.com/blog/2019/3/10/the-9-greatest-inventions-of-leonardo-da-vinci#.Xpyqv8hKiUk=. “The Tank.” The Tank - Leonardo Da Vinci's Inventions, http://www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/war-machines/leonardo-da-vincis-tank/.
