Editing Battering ram (section)

==Notable sieges==
Battering rams had an important effect on the evolution of defensive walls, which were constructed ever more ingeniously in a bid to nullify the effects of siege engines. Historical instances of the usage of battering rams in [[siege]]s of major cities include:
 
*The [[destruction of Jerusalem]] by the Romans
*The [[Crusades]]
*The [[Sack of Rome (410)]]
*The various [[sieges of Constantinople]]

There is a popular myth in [[Gloucester]], England that the well known children's rhyme, [[Humpty Dumpty]], is about a battering ram used in the siege of Gloucester in 1643, during the [[English Civil War|Civil War]]. However, the story is almost certainly untrue; during the siege, which lasted only one month, no battering rams were used, although many cannons were. The idea seems to have originated in a spoof history essay by Professor David Daube written for ''[[The Oxford Magazine]]'' in 1956, which was widely believed despite obvious improbabilities (e.g., planning to cross the [[River Severn]] by running the ram down a hill at speed, although the river is about 30 m (100 feet) wide at this point).