By Brendan
Krak de Chevaliers had two walls, an inner wall and an outer wall. The outer wall had machollisis at intervals on it where the defenders could drop rocks on the attackers. It was also thickened at the bottom so sappers couldn't blow through the wall.
The inner wall was sloped at an 80 degree angle and was 80 feet high. The towers on the inner wall fit into the wall in a complex curving fold so there were no footholds for the enemy.
Another defense of the castle was a moat in between the first and second wall. Also there was a cliff on three sides of the castle.
The gatehouse of the castle has steep dogleg turns in it so that it was hard for the enemy to get in. There was also an aqueduct that brought water to caverns under the castle in time of siege.
Krak de Chevaliers had many battles. On one occasion the general Saladin took one look at Krak de Chevaliers and turned his army around.
Near the end of the Crusades another battle took place where the knights in Krak de Chevaliers were badly outnumbered and so far no reinforcements were coming. Soon a letter came to them from the people who where supposed to reinforce them. It told them to surrender because there was no way of getting help for them. The Knights surrendered and when they left, they found out the letter was a forgery. The only way Krak could be defeated was by trickery.
I made the castle out of plywood, and stuck it together with glue. The base was made of cardboard boxes with newspaper stuffed under it.
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