During the quarter century between the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 and the taking of Tyre in 1124, the Franks launched more than twenty sieges against Muslim cities, conquering thirteen of them (including almost all of the coastal cities), while they continued to perfect their siege techniques. Many fortified sites were captured after heavy bombardment and after the construction of huge wooden siege engines and towers. The Franks exploited the relatively lengthy intervals between sieges for preparations and to amass provisions and equipment in their own strongholds.

In these same years the Muslims engaged in nineteen sieges, but most of them were directed against fortifications held by Muslim troops when Muslim forces were both the besiegers and the defenders. In the majority of the attacks on the Frankish castles the Muslim armies refrained from erecting siege engines and made little use of heavy artillery to breach the walls and most of them did not end in victory. From descriptions of the sieges it is clear that Frankish military superiority did not result from the employment of types of artillery unknown to the Muslims, for the latter used similar weapons when defending themselves. The Franks held the advantage in two primary spheres: logistics and manpower, and land battles.

FRANKISH SUPERIORITY IN LOGISTICS AND PROFESSIONAL MANPOWER

It was the Franks' superior logistic capabilities which enabled them to erect complex wooden structures even while mounting a siege against cities distant from the seashore.