Why Were Castles Needed?

Gothic castles were built to include offensive and defensive fornication. These castles of the Middle Ages functioned as miniature towns with fortified walls and structures to protect their dwellers from potential attacks. Castles were composed of multiple walls reinforced by towers, which also served as refuges at various points of the circumference. Castles and keeps were built of stone and strategically placed near banks of rivers and close to valley landscaping.  This was a departure from their previous construction on weak or artificial mounds of earth, which provided inadequate support for changes in typical architectural design. Keeps and towers eventually transformed into cylindrical shapes and dominated future plans of keep and tower buildings, as they offered the best resistance to invaders. The convex surface of these circular shapes had equal strength at every point, providing optimal circumstances for base defense.