A
cannon is any tubular piece of
artilleryArtillery is a military combat Arm that employs weapons capable of discharging large projectiles in combat. They are generally capable of adding considerable fire power to the military capability of an armed force...
that uses
gunpowderGunpowder, also called black powder, is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. It burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks. The term gunpowder also refers broadly to any...
or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in
caliberThe term caliber designates the inside diameter of a tube, the diameter of a solid wire or rod, or a measurement of the length of a gun relative to its diameter....
, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. The word
cannon is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as
tube,
cane, or
reed. In modern times,
cannon has fallen out of common usage, usually replaced by "guns" or "artillery", if not a more specific term, such as "mortar" or "howitzer".
First used in China, cannon were among the earliest forms of gunpowder artillery, and over time replaced
siege engineA siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some have been operated close to the fortifications, while others have been used to attack from a distance. From antiquity, siege engines were constructed largely of wood and...
s—among other forms of aging weaponry—on the battlefield. The first hand cannon appeared during the 1260
Battle of Ain JalutThe Battle of Ain Jalut took place on 3 September 1260 between the Egyptian Mamluks and the Mongols in Palestine, in the Jezreel Valley, not far from Ein Harod....
between the Mamluks and
MongolsThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. The first cannon in Europe were probably used in
IberiaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
, during the
ReconquistaThe Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims...
, in the 13th century, and
English cannonThe first recorded usage of cannon in Great Britain was in 1327, when they were used in battle by the English against the Scots. Under the Tudors, the first forts featuring cannon batteries were built, while cannon were first used by the Tudor navy...
were first deployed in the
Hundred Years' WarThe Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known...
, at the
Battle of CrécyThe Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...
, in 1346. It was during this period, the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, that cannon became standardized, and more effective in both the anti-infantry and siege roles. After the Middle Ages most large cannon were abandoned in favor of greater numbers of lighter, more maneuverable pieces. In addition, new technologies and tactics were developed, making most defenses obsolete; this led to the construction of
star fortA star fort or trace italienne is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of black powder, when cannons came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy...
s, specifically designed to withstand artillery bombardment and the associated siege tactics.
Cannon also transformed
naval warfareNaval warfare is combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water such as large lakes and wide rivers.-History:Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Land warfare would seem, initially, to be irrelevant and entirely removed from warfare on the open ocean,...
in the
early modern periodIn history, the early modern era of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Historians refer to the period beginning from approximately 1500 AD and lasting to around 1800 AD. The events include the first European colonies, the rise of strong centralized governments, and the beginnings of...
, as European navies took advantage of their firepower. As
riflingRifling is the helix-shaped pattern in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy....
became more commonplace, the accuracy of cannon was significantly improved, and they became deadlier than ever, especially to infantry. In
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, the majority of all deaths were caused by cannon; they were also used widely in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, except for heavy naval guns, which have been replaced by
missileA missile is a self-propelled projectile used as a weapon. Missiles are typically propelled by rockets or jet engines. Missiles generally have one or more explosive warheads, although other weapon types may also be used...
s. In particular,
autocannonAn autocannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannon often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannon are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a faster rate of fire...
have remained nearly identical to their World War II counterparts.
Etymology and terminology
Cannon is derived from the Old Italian word
cannone, meaning
large tube, which came from
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
canna, in turn originating from the
kannē—
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
for
cane, or
reed, and then generalized to mean any hollow tube-like object; ultimately deriving from the
AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
term
qanu, meaning
tube or
reed. The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, and 1418 in England.
Cannon serves both as the singular and plural of the noun, although the plural
cannons is also correct.
Any large,
smoothboreA smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...
, muzzle-loading
gunIn military parlance, a gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm...
—used before the advent of breech-loading, rifled guns—may be referred to as a cannon, though the term specifically refers to a gun designed to fire a shot, as opposed to a
demi-cannonThe demi-cannon was a medium sized cannon, similar to but slightly larger than a culverin and smaller than a regular 42lb cannon developed in the early 17th century. A full cannon fired a 42-pound shot but these were discontinued in the 18th century as they were seen as too unwieldy . The lower...
,
culverinA culverin was a relatively simple ancestor of the musket, and later a medieval cannon, adapted for use by the French in the 15th century, and later adapted for naval use by the English in the late 16th century. The culverin was used to bombard targets from a distance. The weapon had a...
. or
demi-culverinThe demi-culverin was a medium cannon similar to but slightly larger than a saker and smaller than a regular culverin developed in the early 17th century. Barrels of demi-culverins were typically about long, had a calibre of and could weigh up to . It required of black powder to fire an round...
.
GunIn military parlance, a gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm...
specifically refers to a type of cannon that fires projectiles at high speeds, and usually at relatively low angles; they have been used in warships extensively, and as
field artilleryField artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
, as well. The term
cannon also applies to the
autocannonAn autocannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannon often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannon are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a faster rate of fire...
, a modern gun with a high rate of fire. Autocannon have been used extensively in fighter aircraft since
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and are sometimes used on land vehicles.
History
Early history
The earliest known cannon, though not driven by gunpowder, was invented by
Ctesibius of AlexandriaCtesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps...
, in the 3rd century BC. Little is known about this primitive invention—as most of Ctesibius' works were lost—but it was noted by
Philo of ByzantiumPhilo of Byzantium , also known as Philo Mechanicus, a Greek writer on mechanics, flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century B.C...
that it operated using compressed air. Like firearms, cannon are a descendant of the
fire lanceThe fire lance or fire spear is one of the first gunpowder weapons in the world.- Description :The earliest fire lances were spear-like weapons combining a tube containing gunpowder and projectiles tied to a Chinese spear. Upon firing, the charge ejected a small projectile or poison dart along...
, a gunpowder-filled tube attached to the end of a spear and used as a
flamethrowerA flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
ShrapnelFragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
was sometimes placed in the barrel, so that it would fly out along with the flames. Eventually, the paper and bamboo of which fire lance barrels were originally constructed came to be replaced by metal. It has been disputed at which point flame-projecting cannon were abandoned in favor of missile-projecting ones, as words meaning either
incendiary or
explosive are commonly translated as
gunpowder. The earliest known depiction of a gun is a sculpture from a cave in
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
, dating to the 12th century, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped
bombardA bombard is a large-caliber, front-loading medieval cannon or mortar, used chiefly in sieges for throwing heavy stone balls. The name bombarde was first noted and sketched in a French historical text around 1380. The modern term bombardment derives from this.Bombards were usually used during...
, firing flames and a ball. The oldest surviving gun, dated to 1288, has a muzzle bore diameter of ; the second oldest, dated to 1332, has a muzzle bore diameter of .
The first documented battlefield use of gunpowder artillery took place on January 28, 1132, when
SongThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
General
Han ShizhongHan Shizhong was a Chinese general of the late Northern Song Dynasty and the early Southern Song Dynasty. He dedicated his whole life to serving the Song Dynasty, and performed many legendary deeds. It is said that he had scars all over his body and, by the time he retired, there were only four...
used
huochongHuochong is a tube-like, projection firearm. It first appeared in the Song Dynasty and was constructed of bamboo. Also, some discovering of the dai viet of use of it. The bamboo body was replaced with bronze sometime in the late 13th or early 14th century...
to capture a city in
Fujian' is a province on the southeast coast of China. Fujian borders Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
. The world's earliest known cannon, dated 1282, was found in Mongol-held
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
. The first known illustration of a cannon is dated to 1326. In his 1341 poem,
The Iron Cannon Affair, one of the first accounts of the use of gunpowder artillery in China, Xian Zhang wrote that a cannonball fired from an eruptor could "pierce the heart or belly when it strikes a man or horse, and can even transfix several persons at once."
Joseph NeedhamNoel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British academic and sinologist known for his research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941; and he was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1971...
suggests that the proto-
shellsA shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage includes large solid projectiles previously termed shot...
described in the
HuolongjingThe Huolongjing is a 14th century military treatise that was compiled and edited by Jiao Yu and Liu Ji of the early Ming Dynasty in China...
may be among the first of their kind. The Chinese also mounted over 3,000 cast bronze and iron cannon on the
Great Wall of ChinaThe Great Wall of China or is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Xiongnu attacks during various successive dynasties. Since the...
, to defend themselves from the
MongolsThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
. The weapon was later taken up by both the Mongol conquerors and the
KoreansCannon in Korea were first developed by Choe Mu-seon, for exclusive use by the Goryo Army. Several types were made and saw successful action during the Mongol invasions of Japan...
. Chinese soldiers fighting under the Mongols appear to have used hand cannon in
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
n battles during 1288, a date deduced from archaeological findings at battle sites.
In the 1593 Siege of Pyongyang, 40,000
MingThe Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
troops deployed a variety of cannon to bombard an equally large
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese army. Despite both forces having similar numbers, the Japanese were defeated in one day, due to the Ming advantage in firepower. Throughout the Seven Year War in Korea, the Chinese-Korean coalition used artillery widely, in both land and naval battles.
Islamic world
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan claims that the
Battle of Ain JalutThe Battle of Ain Jalut took place on 3 September 1260 between the Egyptian Mamluks and the Mongols in Palestine, in the Jezreel Valley, not far from Ein Harod....
in 1260 saw the
MamlukA mamluk was a soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim Arab caliphs from the 9th to the 16th centuries. They were of mixed ancestry but mainly Kipchak Turks...
s use against the
MongolsThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
in "the first cannon in history" gunpowder formulae which were almost identical with the ideal composition for explosive gunpowder, which he claims were not known in China or Europe until much later. However, Iqtidar Alam Khan states that it was invading
MongolsThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
who introduced gunpowder to the Islamic world and cites
MamlukA mamluk was a soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim Arab caliphs from the 9th to the 16th centuries. They were of mixed ancestry but mainly Kipchak Turks...
antagonism toward early riflemen in their infantry as an example of how gunpowder weapons were not always met with open acceptance in the Middle East.
The earliest surviving documentary evidence for the use of the hand cannon, considered the oldest type of
portable firearmSmall arms is a term of art used by armed forces to denote infantry weapons an individual soldier may carry. The description is usually limited to revolvers, pistols, submachine guns, carbines, assault rifles, rifles, sniper rifles, squad automatic weapons, light machine guns, and sometimes hand...
and a forerunner of the
handgunA handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand, with the other hand optionally supporting the shooting hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from their larger counterparts: long guns such as rifles and shotguns , mounted weapons such...
, are from several Arabic manuscripts dated to the 14th century. Al-Hassan argues that these are based on earlier originals and that they report hand-held cannons being used by the Mamluks at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.
Al-Hassan interprets
Ibn KhaldunIbn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun (full name, , , (May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) was a North African polymath — an astronomer, economist, historian, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, hafiz, jurist, lawyer,...
as reporting the use of cannon as siege machines by the
MarinidThe Anglicised name used for this article derives from the Arabic Banu Marin or the Berber Ayt Mrin, which is the source of the Spanish name....
sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf at the siege of
SijilmasaSijilmasa was a mediaeval trade entrepôt at the Western edge of the Maghreb in what is now Morocco. The ruins of the city lie along the river Ziz in the Tafilalt oasis near the town of Rissani. The city's colorful history was marked by several successive invasions by Amazigh dynasties during the...
in 1274. Sixty-eight super-sized
bombardBombard may refer to:*The act of carrying out a bombardment*Bombard , a type of late medieval siege weapon.*Bombard , a contemporary double reed instrument used to play traditional Breton music....
s, often referred to as Great Turkish Bombards, were used by the troops of
Mehmed IIMehmet II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446,...
to
captureThe Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire which occurred after a siege laid by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Sultan Mehmed II. The siege lasted from Thursday, 5 April, 1453 until Tuesday, 29 May, 1453 , when the city fell to the Ottomans...
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire...
, in 1453.
OrbanOrban, also known as Urban, was a Hungarian gunfounder who cast superguns for the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453.Originally he offered his services to the Byzantine defenders, but emperor Constantine XI could not afford his salary nor possessed the materials necessary for constructing such...
, a
HungarianHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
cannon engineer, is credited with the introduction of this cannon from
Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
to the Ottoman realm. These cannon could fire heavy stone balls a mile, and the sound of their blast could reportedly be heard from a distance of . Great Bombards, also called Dardanelles Guns because of their use in the
Dardanelles OperationThe Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose British demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....
in the
Anglo-Turkish War (1807-1809)The Anglo-Turkish War of 1807–1809 took place as a part of Napoleonic Wars.In the summer of 1806, during the war with the Third Coalition , Napoleon's ambassador General Count Sebastiani managed to convince the Porte to cancel all special privileges granted to Russia in 1805 and to open the Turkish...
, were cast in bronze and made in two parts: the chase and the
breechA breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the bullet or shell is inserted or loaded at the rear of the barrel, or breech; the opposite of muzzle-loading....
, which, together, weighed 18.4
tonneA tonne or metric ton , also referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to , or approximately the mass of one cubic metre of water. It is not an SI unit but is accepted for use with the SI...
s. The two parts were screwed together using levers to facilitate the work. The Dardanelles Guns were created by Munir Ali in 1464.
Another weapon invented in the
Islamic worldThe term Muslim world has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Muslims, adherents of Islam. This community numbers about 1.3-1.5 billion people, roughly one-fifth of the world population. This community is spread across many different nations and ethnic...
, fashioned for killing infantry, was the first known
autocannonAn autocannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannon often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannon are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a faster rate of fire...
. It was invented in the 16th century, by Fathullah Shirazi, a
PersianThe Persian people are the majority ethnic group in Iran. However, there are sub-groups who speak the Persian language as their mother tongue throughout the Iranian plateau. The term Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of Iranian peoples...
-
IndianThe known history of India - the name in this context includes the areas now known as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE. Its Mature Harappan period...
polymathA polymath is a person whose expertise fills a significant number of subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable...
and mechanical engineer, who worked for
Akbar the GreatJalaluddin Muhammad Akbar , also known as Akbar the Great was the third Mughal Emperor of India. He was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun whom he succeeded as ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1605, and the grandson of Babur who founded the dynasty...
in the
Mughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire was an Islamic and Persianate imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, invaded and ruled most of Hindustan by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century...
. As opposed to the
polybolosPolybolos was a repeating ballista reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria and used in antiquity. Philo of Byzantium encountered and described the polybolos, a catapult that like a modern machine gun could fire again and again without a need to reload...
and
repeating crossbowA repeating crossbow is a crossbow where the separate actions of stringing the bow, placing the bolt and shooting it can be accomplished with a simple one-handed movement, all the while keeping the crossbow stationary. This allows the bow to shoot at a faster rate compared to a normal crossbow....
s used earlier in
Ancient GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
and China, respectively, Shirazi's rapid-firing machine had multiple
gun barrelA gun barrel is the tube, usually metal, through which a controlled explosion or rapid expansion of gases are released in order to propel a projectile out of the end at a high velocity....
s that fired hand cannon.
Medieval Europe
In Europe, the first mention of gunpowder's composition in express terms appeared, in
Roger BaconRoger Bacon, O.F.M. , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on empiricism...
's "
De nullitate magiæ" at Oxford, published in 1216. Later, in 1248, his "
Opus Maior" describes a recipe for gunpowder and recognized its military use:
It is unknown whether this last phrase is a cipher or a clerical error, as the oldest known manuscript was published 300 years later.
The first confirmed use of gunpowder in Europe was the
MoorishThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
cannon, first used by the
AndalusiansAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Arab and North African Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
in the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
, at the siege of
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
in 1248, and the siege of
NieblaNiebla is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, Spain. According to the 2005 census, it has a population of 3,953 inhabitants. A 2-km town wall surrounds the perimeter of the town.-External links:...
in 1262. By this time, hand guns were probably in use, as
scopettieri—"gun bearers"—were mentioned in conjunction with
crossbowA crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a siege engine resembling a crossbow in mechanism and appearance.Crossbows historically played a...
men, in 1281. In Iberia, the "first artillery-masters on the Peninsula" were enlisted, at around the same time.
The first metal cannon was the
pot-de-ferThe pot-de-fer was a primitive cannon made of iron. It is known as the first metal cannon, and was used by the French in the Hundred Years' War. The name means "iron pot" in French...
. Loaded with an arrow-like
boltA quarrel or bolt is the term for the ammunition used in a crossbow. The name "quarrel" is derived from the French carré, "square", referring to the fact that they typically have square heads. They are typically shorter than traditional arrows and, though some may be longer, can be fired...
that was probably wrapped in leather to allow greater thrusting power, it was set off through a
touch holeA touch hole is a small hole, through which the propellant charge of a cannon or muzzleloading gun is ignited. In small arms, the flash from a charge of priming held in the flash pan is enough to ignite the charge within. In artillery, priming powder, a fuse, squib, or friction igniter is inserted...
with a heated wire. This weapon, and others similar, were used by both the
FrenchFrance in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Charlemagne in 814 to the middle of the 15th century...
and English during the
Hundred Years' WarThe Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known...
, when cannon saw their first real use on the European battlefield. While still a relatively rarely used weapon, cannon were employed in increasing numbers during the war. "Ribaldis", which shot large arrows and simplistic
grapeshotGrapeshot is a type of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. Instead of solid shot, a mass of loosely packed metal slugs is loaded into a canvas bag. Grapeshot can also be improvised from chainlinks, shards of glass, rocks, etc. When assembled, the balls resemble a cluster of grapes...
, were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the
Battle of CrécyThe Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...
, between 1345 and 1346. The Florentine
Giovanni VillaniGiovanni Villani was an Italian banker, official, diplomat, and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but later gained an unsavory reputation and served time in prison due to the bankruptcy of a trading and banking...
recounts their destructiveness, indicating that by the end of the battle, "the whole plain was covered by men struck down by arrows and cannon balls." Similar cannon were also used at the
Siege of CalaisThe Siege of Calais began in 1346, towards the beginning of what would later be called the Hundred Years' War. Edward III of England, who was at the time claiming kingship over France as well, defeated the French navy at Sluys in 1340, then went on to make raids throughout Normandy, culminating at...
, in the same year, although it was not until the 1380s that the "ribaudekin" clearly became mounted on wheels.
The first cannon appeared in
RussiaKievan Rus , usually written simply Kievan Rus and sometimes Kyivan Rus, was a medieval state which existed from approximately 880 to the middle of the 13th century...
around 1380, though they were used only in sieges, often by the defenders. Around the same period, the
Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
began to accumulate its own cannon to face the
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
threat, starting with medium-sized cannon long and of 10 in caliber. The first definite use of artillery in the region was against the Ottoman siege of
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire...
, in 1396, forcing the Ottomans to withdraw. They acquired their own cannon, and laid siege to the Byzantine capital again, in 1422, using "
falconsThe falconet or falcon was a light cannon developed in the late 15th century. During middle ages guns were decorated with engravings of reptiles, birds or beasts depending on their size: a snake for the culverin, as the handles on the early cannons were often decorated to resemble serpents...
", which were short but wide cannon. By 1453, the Ottomans used 68 Hungarian-made cannon for the 55-day bombardment of the
walls of ConstantinopleThe Walls of Constantinople are a series of stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great...
, "hurling the pieces everywhere and killing those who happened to be nearby." The largest of their cannon was the
Great Turkish BombardThe Dardanelles Gun or Great Turkish Bombard is a 15th century siege cannon, which saw action in the 1807 Dardanelles Operation.- History :...
, which required an operating crew of 200 men and 70 oxen, and 10,000 men to transport it. Gunpowder made the formerly devastating
Greek fireGreek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect as it could continue burning even on water. It provided a technological advantage, and was responsible for many key Byzantine military victories, most notably the...
obsolete, and with the final fall of Constantinople—which was protected by what were once the strongest walls in Europe—on May 29, 1453, "it was the
end of an eraThe Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th and 15th centuries . The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Early Modern era ....
in more ways than one."
Early modern period
By the 1500s, cannon were made in a great variety of lengths and bore diameters, but the general rule was that the longer the barrel, the longer the range. Some cannon made during this time had barrels exceeding in length, and could weigh up to . Consequently, large amounts of gunpowder were needed, to allow them to fire stone balls several hundred yards. By mid-century, European monarchs began to classify cannon to reduce the confusion.
Henry II of FranceHenry II of the House of Valois and son and successor of Francis I was King of France from 31 March 1547, until his death in 1559.-Early years:...
opted for six sizes of cannon, but others settled for more; the Spanish used twelve sizes, and the English sixteen. Better powder had been developed by this time as well. Instead of the finely ground powder used by the first bombards, powder was replaced by a "corned" variety of coarse grains. This coarse powder had pockets of air between grains, allowing fire to travel through and ignite the entire charge quickly and uniformly.
The end of the Middle Ages saw the construction of larger, more powerful cannon, as well their spread throughout the world. As they were not effective at breaching the newer fortifications resulting from the development of cannon,
siege engineA siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some have been operated close to the fortifications, while others have been used to attack from a distance. From antiquity, siege engines were constructed largely of wood and...
s—such as
siege towerA siege tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels and a height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on top...
s and
trebuchetA trebuchet or trebucket is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages either to smash masonry walls or to throw projectiles over them...
s—became less widely used. However, wooden "battery-towers" took on a similar role as siege towers in the
gunpowderGunpowder, also called black powder, is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. It burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks. The term gunpowder also refers broadly to any...
age—such as that used at
siege of KazanThe siege of Kazan in 1552 was the final battle of Russo-Kazan Wars. It led to the fall of Kazan Khanate, total destruction of the city and massacre of its population. The siege of Kazan in 1552 was the final battle of Russo-Kazan Wars. It led to the fall of Kazan Khanate, total destruction of the...
in 1552, which could hold ten large-caliber cannon, in addition to 50 lighter pieces. Another notable effect of cannon on warfare during this period was the change in conventional fortifications.
Niccolò MachiavelliNiccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, writer, and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and playwright, but, foremost, he was a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
wrote, "There is no wall, whatever its thickness that artillery will not destroy in only a few days." Although
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
s were not immediately made obsolete by cannon, their use and importance on the battlefield rapidly declined. Instead of majestic
towerTowers are tall structures that are almost always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure.- History :...
s and
merlonthumb|Ghibelline merlons in the Castle of St. Pierre, Italy.thumb|Guelph merlons in the Mackenzie castle, [[Genoa]].A merlon, in architecture, forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures....
s, the walls of new fortresses were thicker, angulated, and sloped, while towers became lower and stouter; increasing use was also made of earthen, brick, and stone
breastworksA breastwork is a fortification. The term is usually applied to temporary fortifications, often an earthwork thrown up to breast height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position...
and
redoubtA redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main line of defense and can be a permanent structure or a...
s. These new defenses became known as "
star fortA star fort or trace italienne is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of black powder, when cannons came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy...
s", after their characteristic shape. A few of these featured
cannon batteriesIn military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, such as the
TudorThe House of Tudor was a prominent European royal house that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch Henry Tudor, descended paternally from the rulers of the Welsh principality of Deheubarth, and maternally from a legitimised branch of the English royal...
s'
Device FortsThe Device Forts, also known as Henrician Castles or Henry VIII’s chain of coastal defences, are a series of artillery fortifications built in England by Henry VIII. After his divorce of Catherine of Aragon England was left politically isolated, and a treaty between France and Spain in 1538 aroused...
, in England. Star forts soon replaced castles in Europe, and, eventually, those in the Americas, as well.
By the end of the 15th century, several technological advancements were made, making cannon more mobile. Wheeled gun carriages and
trunnionA trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting and/or pivoting point.-In weapons:*In a cannon, the trunnions are the two projections on the side of the barrel which mount the barrel in the carriage...
s became common, and the invention of the limber further facilitated the transportation of artillery. As a result,
field artilleryField artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
became viable, and began to emerge, often used alongside the larger cannon intended for sieges. Better gunpowders, improved cast-iron projectiles, and the standardization of calibers meant that even relatively light cannon could be deadly. In
The Art of WarThe Art of War , is one of the lesser-read works of Florentine statesman and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.The format of 'The Art of War' was in socratic dialogue...
,
Niccolò MachiavelliNiccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, writer, and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and playwright, but, foremost, he was a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
observed that "It is true that the
arquebusThe arquebus is an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. The word was originally modelled on the German: Hackenbüche, this produced haquebute...
es and the small artillery do much more harm than the heavy artillery." This was the case at
FloddenThe Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field was fought in the county of Northumberland in northern England on 9 September 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey...
, in 1513: the English
field gunA field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances...
s outpaced the Scottish siege artillery, firing twice, or even thrice, as many rounds. Despite the increased maneuverability, however, cannon were still much slower than the rest of the army: a heavy
English cannonThe first recorded usage of cannon in Great Britain was in 1327, when they were used in battle by the English against the Scots. Under the Tudors, the first forts featuring cannon batteries were built, while cannon were first used by the Tudor navy...
required 23 horses to transport, while a
culverinA culverin was a relatively simple ancestor of the musket, and later a medieval cannon, adapted for use by the French in the 15th century, and later adapted for naval use by the English in the late 16th century. The culverin was used to bombard targets from a distance. The weapon had a...
, nine, yet, even with this many animals transporting them, they still moved at a walking pace. Due to their relatively slow speed, and lack of organization, discipline, and tactics, the combination of
pike and shotPike and shot is a historical method of infantry combat, and also refers to an era of European warfare generally considered to cover the period from the Italian Wars to the evolution of the bayonet in the late seventeenth century, in part developed in response to the Swedish Empire's use of a...
still dominated the battlefields of Europe.
Innovations continued, notably the German invention of the
mortarA mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.- Function :...
, a thick-walled, short-barreled gun that blasted shot upward at a steep angle. Mortars were useful for sieges, as they could fire over walls and other defenses. This cannon found more use with the Dutch, who learned to shoot bombs filled with powder from them. However, setting the bomb fuse in the mortar was a problem. "Single firing" was the first technique used to set the fuse, where the bomb was placed with the fuse down against the propelling charge. This practice often resulted in the fuse being blown into the bomb, causing it to blow up in front of the mortar. Because of this danger, "double firing" was developed, where the fuse was turned up and the gunner lighted the fuse and the
touch holeA touch hole is a small hole, through which the propellant charge of a cannon or muzzleloading gun is ignited. In small arms, the flash from a charge of priming held in the flash pan is enough to ignite the charge within. In artillery, priming powder, a fuse, squib, or friction igniter is inserted...
simultaneously. This, however, required much skill and timing, and was especially dangerous when the gun failed to fire, leaving a lighted bomb in the barrel. Not until 1650 was it accidentally discovered that double-lighting was a superfluous process: the heat of firing was enough to light the fuse.
Gustavus Adolphus of SwedenGustav II Adolf , widely known in English by the Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus and variously in historical writings sometimes as simply just Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolf the Great, , was founder of the Swedish...
emphasized the use of light cannon and mobility in his army, and created new formations and tactics that revolutionized artillery. He discontinued using all 12 pounder—or heavier—cannon as field artillery, preferring, instead, to use cannon that could be manned by only a few men. One gun, called the "leatheren", could be serviced by only two persons, but was abandoned, replaced by 4 pounder and 9 pounder
demi-culverinThe demi-culverin was a medium cannon similar to but slightly larger than a saker and smaller than a regular culverin developed in the early 17th century. Barrels of demi-culverins were typically about long, had a calibre of and could weigh up to . It required of black powder to fire an round...
s. These could be operated by three men, and pulled by only two horses. Also, Adolphus's army was the first to use a special cartridge that contained both powder and shot, which sped up loading, and therefore increased the rate of fire. Additionally, he pioneered the use of
canister shotCanister shot is a kind of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. It was similar to grapeshot in which the canister round's effect is similar to that of a giant shotgun shell...
against infantry, which was essentially a can, filled with musket balls. At the time, for each thousand infantrymen, there was one cannon on the battlefield; Gustavus Adolphus increased the number of cannon in his army so dramatically, that there were six cannon for each one thousand infantry. Each regiment was assigned two pieces, though he often decided to arrange his artillery into
batteriesIn military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, instead. These were to destroy the enemy's infantry, while his cavalry outflanked their heavy guns.
At the
Battle of BreitenfeldThe Battle of Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld , was fought at the crossroads villages of Breitenfeld , Podelwitz , and Seehausen , approximately five miles northwest of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17, 1631 September 7 September 17 The Battle of Breitenfeld or First...
, in 1631, Adolphus proved the effectiveness of the changes made to his army, in particular his artillery, by defeating Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. Although severely outnumbered, the Swedes were able to fire between three and five times as many volleys of artillery without losing ground, due to their infantry's
linearThe line formation is a standard tactical formation which has been used throughout history. This formation provided the best frontage for volley fire, while sacrificing maneuverability and defence against cavalry...
formations. Battered by cannon fire, and low on morale, Tilly's men broke rank, and fled.
Around this time also came the idea of aiming the cannon to hit a target. Gunners controlled the range of their cannon by measuring the angle of elevation, using a "gunner's
quadrantA quadrant is an instrument that is used to measure angles up to 90°. It was originally proposed by Ptolemy as a better kind of astrolabe. Several different variations of the instrument were later produced by medieval Muslim astronomers.-Types of quadrants:...
." Cannon did not have
sightsA sight is an optical device used to assist aim by guiding the eye and aligning it with a weapon or other item to be pointed. Various forms of sights exist, such as iron sights, laser sights, reflex sights, peep sights, and telescopic sights...
, therefore, even with measuring tools, aiming was still largely guesswork.
In the latter half of the 17th century, the French engineer
VaubanSébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them...
introduced a more systematic and scientific approach to attacking gunpowder fortresses, in a time when many field commanders "were notorious dunces in siegecraft." Careful
sappingMining, undermining, or sapping was a siege method used since antiquity against a walled city, fortress or castle.-Use in antiquity:The Greek historian Polybius, in his Histories, gives a graphic account of mining and counter mining at the Roman siege of Ambracia:According to Polybius, this was the...
forward, supported by enfilading ricochet fire, was a key feature of this system, and it even allowed Vauban to calculate the length of time a siege would take. He was also a prolific builder of star forts, and did much to popularize the idea of "depth defense" in the face of cannon. These principles were followed into the mid-19th century, when changes in armaments necessitated greater depth defense than Vauban had provided for. It was only in the years prior to
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
that new works began to break radically away from his designs.
18th and 19th centuries
The lower tier of 17th-century English
ships of the lineA ship-of-the-line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th century through the mid-19th century, to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
were usually equipped with demi-cannon,
gunIn military parlance, a gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm...
s that fired a solid shot, and could weigh up to . Demi-cannon were capable of firing these heavy metal balls with such force that they could penetrate more than a meter of solid oak, from a distance of , and could dismast even the largest ships at close range. Full cannon fired a shot, but were discontinued by the 18th century, as they were too unwieldy. By the end of the century, principles long adopted in Europe specified the characteristics of the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
's cannon, as well as the acceptable defects, and their severity. The
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
tested guns by measuring them, firing them two or three times—termed "proof by powder"—and using pressurized water to detect leaks.
The
carronadeThe carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...
was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1779; the lower muzzle velocity of the
round shotRound shot is an obsolete solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
when fired from this cannon was intended to create more wooden splinters when hitting the structure of an enemy vessel, as they were believed to be deadly. The carronade was much shorter, and weighed between a third to a quarter of the equivalent
long gunThe term long gun is used to describe classes of firearm and cannon with longer barrels than other classes. In small arms, a long gun is designed to be fired braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, while in artillery a long gun would be contrasted with a howitzer or carronade.-Small...
; for example, a 32 pounder carronade weighed less than a
tonThe term ton or tonne generally refers to a unit of mass. However, there exists more than one measure of mass that are named "ton", so one has to be specific when using the term. While they do vary considerably, a ton is generally one of the heaviest units of mass referred to in colloquial speech...
, compared with a 32 pounder long gun, which weighed over 3 tons. The guns were, therefore, easier to handle, and also required less than half as much gunpowder, allowing fewer men to crew them. Carronades were manufactured in the usual naval gun
caliberThe term caliber designates the inside diameter of a tube, the diameter of a solid wire or rod, or a measurement of the length of a gun relative to its diameter....
s, but were not counted in a
ship of the lineA ship-of-the-line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th century through the mid-19th century, to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
's rated number of guns. As a result, the classification of Royal Navy vessels in this period can be misleading, as they often carried more cannon than were listed.
In the 1810s and 1820s, greater emphasis was placed on the accuracy of long-range gunfire, and less on the weight of a broadside. The carronade, although initially very successful and widely adopted, disappeared from the Royal Navy in the 1850s, after the development of
steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, jacketed cannon, by William George Armstrong and
Joseph WhitworthSir Joseph Whitworth, Baronet was an English engineer and entrepreneur.-Early life:Whitworth was born in Stockport, the son of Charles Whitworth, a teacher and Congregational minister), and at a young age developed an interest in machinery...
. Nevertheless, carronades were used in the American Civil War.
Western cannon during the 19th century became larger, more destructive, more accurate, and could fire at longer range. One example is the American wrought-iron, muzzle-loading
howitzerA howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
, used during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, which had an effective range of over . Another is the
smoothboreA smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...
12 pounder NapoleonThe Canon obusier de 12 , also known as the "Canon de l’Empereur" was a type of canon-obusier developed by France in 1853...
, which was renowned for its sturdiness, reliability, firepower, flexibility, relatively light weight, and range of .
Cannon were crucial in Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power, and continued to play an important role in his army in later years. During the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, the unpopularity of the
DirectoryThe Executive Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
led to riots and rebellions. When over 25,000 of these royalists—led by General Danican—assaulted
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de BarrasPaul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras was a French politician of the French Revolution, and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795 - 1799.-Early life:...
was appointed to defend the capital; outnumbered five to one and disorganized, the Republicans were desperate. When Napoleon arrived, he reorganized the defenses, while realizing that without cannon, the city could not be held. He ordered
Joachim MuratJoachim-Napoléon Murat , 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, Marshal of France and Admiral of France, was King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte, through marriage to Napoleon's youngest sister, Caroline...
to bring the guns from the Sablons artillery park; the Major and his cavalry fought their way to the recently captured cannon, and brought them back to Napoleon. When Danican's poorly trained men attacked, on
13 Vendémiaire13 Vendémiaire is the name given to a battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris...
, 1795—October 5, 1795, in the
calendar used in FranceVendémiaire was the first month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the French word vendange .Vendémiaire was the first month of the autumn quarter . It started at the autumnal equinox which was between September 22 and September 24. It ended between October 21 and October 23...
, at the time—Napoleon ordered his cannon to fire
grapeshotGrapeshot is a type of anti-personnel ammunition used in cannons. Instead of solid shot, a mass of loosely packed metal slugs is loaded into a canvas bag. Grapeshot can also be improvised from chainlinks, shards of glass, rocks, etc. When assembled, the balls resemble a cluster of grapes...
into the mob, an act that became known as the "whiff of grapeshot." The slaughter effectively ended the threat to the new government, while, at the same time, made Bonaparte a famous—and popular—public figure. Among the first generals to recognize that artillery was not being used to its full potential, Napoleon often massed his cannon into batteries, and introduced several changes into the French artillery, improving it significantly, and making it among the finest in Europe. Such tactics were successfully used by the French, for example, at the
Battle of FriedlandThe Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon Bonaparte's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
, when sixty-six guns fired a total of 3,000 roundshot and 500 rounds of grapeshot, inflicting severe casualties to the Russian forces, whose losses numbered over 20,000 killed and wounded, in total. At the
Battle of WaterlooIn the Battle of Waterloo forces of the French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte and Michel Ney were defeated by those of the Seventh Coalition, including an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher...
—Napoleon's final battle—the French army had many more artillery pieces than either the
BritishThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
or
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
ns. As the battlefield was muddy,
recoilRecoil is the 'kick' given by a gun when it is fired. In technical terms, this kick is caused by the gun's backward momentum, which exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile...
caused cannon to bury themselves into the ground after firing, resulting in slow rates of fire, as more effort was required to move them back into an adequate firing position; also, roundshot did not
ricochetA ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearm's safety rule "Be sure of your target—and of what is beyond it."...
with as much force from the wet earth. Despite the drawbacks, sustained artillery fire proved deadly during the engagement, especially during the French cavalry attack. The British infantry, having formed
infantry squareAn infantry square is a combat formation an infantry unit formed in close order assumes when threatened with cavalry attack.-Very early history:...
s, took heavy losses from the French guns, while their own cannon fired at the
cuirassierCuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. They were the successors of the medieval armoured knights...
s and
lancerA lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as 700BC and subsequently by Greek, Macedonian, Persian, Gallic and Roman horsemen" The weapon was widely used in Asia and Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by...
s, when they fell back to regroup. Eventually, the French ceased their assault, after taking heavy losses from the British cannon and musket fire.
The practice of
riflingRifling is the helix-shaped pattern in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy....
—casting spiraling lines inside the cannon's barrel—was applied to artillery more frequently by 1855, as it gave cannon
gyroscopicA gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. A mechanical gyroscope is essentially a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...
stability, which improved their accuracy. One of the earliest rifled cannon was the breech-loading
Armstrong GunThe term Armstrong Gun was primarily used to describe the unique design of the rifled breech-loading field and heavy guns designed by Sir William Armstrong and manufactured in England from 1855 by the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich...
—also invented by William George Armstrong—which boasted significantly improved range, accuracy, and power than earlier weapons. The projectile fired from the Armstrong gun could reportedly pierce through a ship's side, and explode inside the enemy vessel, causing increased damage, and casualties. The British military adopted the Armstrong gun, and was impressed; the
Duke of CambridgeDuke of Cambridge is a title occasionally conferred upon junior members of the British royal family...
even declared that it "could do everything but speak." Despite being significantly more advanced than its predecessors, the Armstrong gun was rejected soon after its integration, in favor of the muzzle-loading pieces that had been in use before. While both types of gun were effective against wooden ships, neither had the capability to pierce the armor of
ironcladAn ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the later part of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire, was launched by the...
s; due to reports of slight problems with the breeches of the Armstrong gun, and their higher cost, the older muzzle-loaders were selected to remain in service, instead. Realizing that iron was more difficult to pierce with breech-loaded cannon, Armstrong designed rifled muzzle-loading guns, which proved successful;
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
reported: "even the fondest believers in the invulnerability of our present ironclads were obliged to confess that against such artillery, at such ranges, their plates and sides were almost as penetrable as wooden ships."
The superior cannon of the
Western worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
brought them tremendous advantages in warfare. For example, in the Opium War in China, during the 19th century, British battleships bombarded the coastal areas and fortifications from afar, safe from the reach of the Chinese cannon. Similarly, the shortest war in recorded history, the
Anglo-Zanzibar WarThe Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted approximately 38 minutes
and is the shortest war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on...
of 1896, was brought to a swift conclusion by shelling from British battleships. The cynical attitude toward recruited infantry in the face of ever more powerful field artillery is the source of the term
cannon fodderCannon fodder is an informal term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds in an effort to achieve a strategic goal...
, first used by
François-René de ChateaubriandFrançois-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician and diplomat. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.-Early life and exile:...
, in 1814; however, the concept of regarding soldiers as nothing more than "food for powder" was mentioned by
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
as early as 1598, in
Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
.
20th and 21st centuries
Cannon in the 20th and 21st centuries are usually divided into sub-categories, and given separate names. Some of the most widely used types of modern cannon are
howitzerA howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
s,
mortarA mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.- Function :...
s,
gunIn military parlance, a gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm...
s, and
autocannonAn autocannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannon often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannon are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a faster rate of fire...
, although a few
supergunA supergun is an extraordinarily large cannon with an extremely high muzzle velocity and large bore. They are used to bombard an enemy from extremely long range and destroy heavy fortifications.- Late Middle Ages :...
s—extremely large, custom-designed cannon—have also been constructed.
Nuclear artilleryNuclear artillery is a subset of limited-yield tactical nuclear weapons, in particular those weapons that are launched from the ground at battlefield targets...
were experimented with, but were abandoned as impractical. Modern artillery is used in a variety of roles, depending on its type. According to
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
, the general role of artillery is to provide fire support, which is defined as "the application of fire, coordinated with the maneuver of forces to destroy, neutralize, or suppress the enemy."
When referring to cannon, the term
gun is often used incorrectly. In military usage, a gun is a cannon with a high muzzle velocity and
comparatively flat trajectoryIndirect fire means aiming and firing a gun without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire...
, as opposed to other types of artillery, such as howitzers or mortars, which have lower muzzle velocities, and usually fire
indirectlyIndirect fire means aiming and firing a gun without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire...
.
Artillery
By the early 20th century, infantry weapons became more powerful and accurate, forcing most artillery away from the front lines. Despite the change to
indirect fireIndirect fire means aiming and firing a gun without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire...
, cannon still proved highly effective during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, causing over 75% of casualties. The onset of
trench warfareTrench warfare was a form of warfare in which both combatants occupied static fortified fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops were largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and were substantially sheltered from artillery. It has become a byword for stalemate in...
after the first few months of World War I greatly increased the demand for howitzers, as they fired at a steep angle, and were thus better suited than guns at hitting targets in trenches. Furthermore, their shells carried larger amounts of explosives than those of guns, and caused considerably less barrel wear. The German army took advantage of this, beginning the war with many more howitzers than the French. World War I also marked the use of the
Paris GunThe Paris Gun was a German artillery piece used to bombard Paris during World War I. This oversized railway gun was in service from March-August 1918. When it was first employed, Parisians believed they'd been bombed by a new type of high-altitude zeppelin, as neither the sound of an airplane nor...
, the longest-ranged gun ever fired. This caliber gun was used by the Germans to bombard Paris, and was capable of hitting targets more than away.
The
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
sparked new developments in cannon technology. Among them were
sabot roundsA sabot is a device used in a firearm or cannon to fire a projectile, such as a bullet, that is smaller than the bore diameter, or which must be held in a precise position...
, hollow-charge projectiles, and proximity fuses, all of which were marginally significant. The proximity fuse emerged on the battlefields of Europe in late December 1944. They became known as the American artillery's "Christmas present" for the German army, and were employed primarily in the
Battle of the BulgeThe Ardennes Offensive was a major German offensive , launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium , France and Luxembourg on the Western Front...
. Proximity fuses were effective against German personnel in the open, and hence were used to disperse their attacks. Also used to great effect in anti-aircraft projectiles, proximity fuses were used in both the
EuropeanThe European Theater of Operations , is the term used in the United States to refer to US operations north of Italy and the Mediterranean coast, in the European Theatre of World War II.-Definitions:...
and
PacificThe Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
Theaters of Operations, against
V-1 flying bombThe Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 , colloquially know in Britain as the 'Doodlebug', was an early cruise missile used during World War II. The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Between 13 June 1944 and 29 March 1945, it was fired at...
s and
kamikazeThe were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
planes, respectively. Anti-tank guns were also tremendously improved during the war: in 1939, the British used primarily
2 pounderThe Ordnance QF 2-pounder was a 40 mm British anti-tank and vehicle-mounted gun, employed in the Second World War. It was actively used in the Battle of France, and during the North Africa campaign...
and
6 pounderThe Ordnance QF 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6 pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, their primary anti-tank gun during the middle of World War II, as well as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles...
guns. By the end of the war,
17 poundersThe Ordnance QF 17 pounder was a 76.2 mm gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. It was the most effective Allied anti-tank gun of the war. Used with the APDS shot it was capable...
had proven much more effective against German tanks, and 32 pounders had entered development. Meanwhile, German tanks were continuously upgraded with better
main gunsA tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are large-caliber high-velocity guns, capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high explosive anti-tank rounds, and in some cases guided missiles.-Overview:...
, in addition to other improvements. For example, the
Panzer IIIPanzer III is the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve...
was originally designed with a 37 mm gun, but was
mass producedMass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
with a 50 mm cannon. To counter the threat of the Russian
T-34The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
s, another, more powerful 50 mm gun was introduced, only to give way to a larger 75 mm cannon. Despite the improved guns, production of the Panzer III was ended in 1943, as the tank still could not match the T-34, and was, furthermore, being replaced by the
Panzer IVThe Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
and Panther tanks. In 1944, the 8.8 cm KwK 43—and its multiple variations—entered service, used by the
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
, and was adapted to be both a tank's main gun, and the PaK 43 anti-tank gun. One of the most powerful guns to see service in World War II, it was capable of destroying any
AlliedThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
tank at very long ranges.
Despite being designed to fire at trajectories with a steep angle of descent, howitzers can be fired directly, as was done by the 11th Marine Regiment at the
Battle of Chosin ReservoirThe Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as the Chosin Reservoir Campaign or the Changjin Lake Campaign , was a decisive battle in the Korean War...
, during the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
. Two field batteries fired directly upon a
battalionA battalion is a military unit of around 1000-1500 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel...
of Chinese infantry; the Marines were forced to brace themselves against their howitzers, as they had no time to dig them in. The Chinese infantry took heavy casualties, and were forced to retreat.
The tendency to create larger caliber cannon during the World Wars has been reversed in more recent years. The
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
, for example, sought a lighter, more versatile howitzer, to replace their aging pieces. As it could be towed, the
M198The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed artillery piece. It can be dropped by parachute or transported by a CH-53E Super Stallion or CH-47 Chinook. The M198 is deployed in separate corps- and army-level field artillery units, as well as in artillery battalions of light and airborne divisions...
was selected to be the successor to the World War II-era cannon used at the time, and entered service in 1979. Still in use today, the M198 is, in turn, being slowly replaced by the
M777The M777 howitzer is a towed artillery piece developed by British Vickers group, and is produced by BAE Systems Land Systems in the US. It is in the process of replacing the M198 howitzer in the United States Marine Corps and United States Army...
Ultralightweight howitzer, which weighs nearly half as much, and can be transported by
helicopterA helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter achieves lift with the...
— as opposed to the M198, which requires a
C-5The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large, military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It was designed to provide strategic heavy airlift over intercontinental distances and to carry outsize and oversize cargo...
or
C-17The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. The C-17 was developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The aircraft carries on the name of two previous United States military cargo aircraft, the C-74 Globemaster and...
to airlift. Although land-based artillery such as the
M198The M198 howitzer is a medium-sized, towed artillery piece. It can be dropped by parachute or transported by a CH-53E Super Stallion or CH-47 Chinook. The M198 is deployed in separate corps- and army-level field artillery units, as well as in artillery battalions of light and airborne divisions...
are powerful, long-ranged, and accurate, naval guns have not been neglected, despite being much smaller than in the past, and, in some cases, having been replaced by
cruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many...
s. However, the 's planned armament includes the Advanced Gun System (AGS), a pair of 155 mm guns, which fire the Long Range Land-Attack Projectile. The warhead, which weighs , has a
circular error of probabilityIn the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's accuracy...
of , and will be mounted on a rocket, to increase the effective range to —a longer range than that of the Paris Gun. The AGS's barrels will be water cooled, and will be capable of firing 10 rounds per minute, per gun. The combined firepower from both turrets will give
Zumwalt-class destroyers the firepower equivalent to 18 conventional M-198 howitzers. The reason for the re-integration of cannon as a main armament in
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
ships is because satellite-guided munitions fired from a gun are far less expensive than a cruise missile, and are therefore a better alternative to many combat situations.
Autocannon
Autocannon have an automatic firing mode, similar to that of a
machine gunA machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rifle bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute...
. They have mechanisms to automatically load their ammunition, and therefore have a faster rate of fire than artillery, often approaching — and, in the case of
Gatling gunThe Gatling gun was one of the most well known rapid-fire weapons to be used in the 1860s by the Union forces of the American Civil War, following the 1851 invention of the mitrailleuse by the Belgian Army....
s, surpassing — that of a machine gun. While there is no minimum bore for autocannon, they are usually larger than machine guns, typically 20 mm or greater since World War II.
Most nations use these rapid-fire cannon on their light vehicles, replacing a more powerful, but heavier,
tank gunA tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are large-caliber high-velocity guns, capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high explosive anti-tank rounds, and in some cases guided missiles.-Overview:...
. A typical autocannon is the
25 mmThe 25 mm caliber/.98425 inch is one of the standard sizes of cannon and autocannon ammunition for NATO forces. The round itself has a length of approximately 223 mm .-Usage:...
"
BushmasterThe M242 Bushmaster is a 25 mm chain-fed autocannon. It is used extensively by the US Armed Forces, as well as by NATO's and some other nation's forces in ground vehicles and watercraft....
"
chain gunA chain gun is a type of machine gun or autocannon that uses an external source of power, rather than diverting energy from the cartridge, to cycle the weapon, and does so via a continuous loop of chain similar to that used on a motor or bicycle. "Chain gun" is a registered trademark of Alliant...
, mounted on the LAV-25 and
M2 BradleyThe M2 Bradley IFV and M3 Bradley CFV are American infantry fighting vehicles manufactured by BAE Systems Land and Armaments, formerly United Defense....
armored vehiclesAn infantry fighting vehicle is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide fire support for them.- Background :...
.
Autocannon are often found in aircraft, augmenting or replacing machine guns, while providing greater firepower. The first airborne cannon appeared in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but each airplane could carry only one or two, as large bore cannon and their ammunition are generally heavier than machine guns, the standard armament. They were variously mounted, often in the wings, but also high on the forward fuselage, where they would fire through the
propellerA propeller is a type of fan which transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and air or water is accelerated behind the blade...
, or even through the propeller hub. Due both to the low number of cannon per aircraft and the lower rate of fire of cannon, machine guns continued to be used widely early in the war, as there was a greater probability of hitting enemy aircraft. However, as large cannon were more effective against more heavily armored bomber aircraft, they were eventually integrated into newer fighters, which usually carried between two and four autocannon. The
Hispano-Suiza HS.404The Hispano-Suiza HS.404 was an autocannon widely used as both an aircraft and land weapon in the 20th century by British, American, French, the Swiss Army and numerous other military services. Firing a 20 mm diameter projectile, it delivered a useful load of explosive from a relatively light...
,
Oerlikon 20 mm cannonThe Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original designed by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...
,
MG FFThe MG FF was a drum-fed, 20 mm aircraft autocannon, developed in 1936 by Ikaria Werke Berlin of Germany. It was a derivative of the Swiss Oerlikon FF F cannon, itself a development of the German World War I Becker 20 mm cannon, and was designed to be used in fixed or flexible mountings, as...
, and their numerous variants became among the most widely used autocannon in the war. Nearly all modern
fighter aircraftA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs. Fighters are small, fast, and maneuverable...
are armed with an autocannon, and most are derived from their counterparts from the Second World War. The largest, heaviest, and most powerful airborne cannon used by the
military of the United StatesThe United States armed forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States.The history of the United States armed forces dates to 1775, even before the Declaration of Independence marked the establishment of the United States...
is the GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling-type rotary cannon; it is surpassed only by the specialized artillery pieces carried on the AC-130 gunship.
Cannon are in principle capable of a very high rate of fire, but the ammunition is heavy, limiting the amount that can be carried by vehicles or aircraft. For this reason, both the 25 mm Bushmaster and the 30 mm
RARDENThe L21A1 RARDEN is a British 30mm autocannon used as an armoured vehicle weapon. The name is a contraction of the Royal Armament, Research and Development Establishment and Enfield...
are deliberately designed with relatively slow rates of fire, so that they can operate for longer with a limited supply of ammunition. The typical rate of fire of modern autocannon ranges from 90 to 1,800 rounds per minute. Systems with multiple barrels — gatling guns — can have rates of fire of several thousand rounds per minute; the fastest of these is the
GSh-6-30KThe Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 is a Russian 30 mm cannon used by Soviet and later CIS military aircraft.The GSh-6-30, designed in the early 1970s and entering service in 1975, is a six-barreled Gatling gun similar in design to the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23. It was based on the naval AO-18 used in...
, which has a rate of fire of over 6,000 rounds per minute.
Operation
In the 1770s, cannon operation worked as follows: each cannon would be manned by two gunners, six soldiers, and four officers of artillery. The right gunner was to prime the piece and load it with powder, and the left gunner would fetch the powder from the magazine and be ready to fire the cannon at the officer's command. On each side of the cannon, three soldiers stood, to ram and sponge the cannon, and hold the ladle. The second soldier on the left tasked with providing 50 bullets.
Before loading, the cannon would be cleaned with a wet sponge to extinguish any smoldering material from the last shot. Fresh powder could be set off prematurely by lingering ignition sources. The powder was added, followed by
waddingWadding is a disc of material used in guns to seal gas behind a projectile or to separate powder from shot.Wadding can be crucial to a gun's efficiency, since any gas that leaks past a projectile as it is being fired is wasted. A harder or more carefully designed item which serves this purpose is...
of paper or hay, and the ball was placed in and rammed down. After ramming the cannon would be aimed with the elevation set using a quadrant and a plummet. At 45 degrees, the ball had the utmost range: about ten times the gun's level range. Any angle above a horizontal line was called random-shot. Wet sponges were used to cool the pieces every ten or twelve rounds.
During the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
, a British gun team consisted of five gunners to aim it, clean the bore with a damp sponge to quench any remaining embers before a fresh charge was introduced, and another to load the gun with a bag of powder and then the projectile. The fourth gunner pressed his thumb on the vent hole, to prevent a draught that might fan a flame. The charge loaded, the fourth would prick the bagged charge through the vent hole, and fill the vent with powder. On command, the fifth gunner would fire the piece with a slowmatch.
When a cannon had to be abandoned such as in a retreat or surrender, the touch hole of the cannon would be plugged flush with a iron spike, disabling the cannon (at least until metal boring tools could be used to remove the plug). This was called "spiking the cannon".
Deceptive use
Historically, logs or poles have sometimes been used to simulate cannon, in order to mislead the enemy as to the strength of an emplacement. The "
Quaker gun trickA Quaker Gun is a deception tactic that was commonly used in warfare during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although resembling an actual cannon, the Quaker Gun was but a wooden log, usually painted black, used to deceive an enemy. Misleading the enemy as to the strength of an emplacement was an...
" was used by Colonel
William WashingtonWilliam Washington , was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, who held a final rank of Brigadier General in the newly created United States after the war...
's
ContinentalsThe American Continental Army was an army formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen...
, during the
American Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
; in 1780, approximately 100 Loyalists surrendered to them, rather than face "bombardment." During the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, Quaker guns were also used by the
ConfederatesThe Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865. It was established in two phases with provisional and permanent organizations, which existed concurrently....
, to compensate for their shortage of artillery. The decoy cannon were painted black at the "muzzle", and positioned behind fortifications to delay
UnionThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
attacks on those positions. On occasion, real gun carriages were used to complete the deception.
Music
Cannon have sometimes been used in classical pieces with a military theme.
Giuseppe SartiGiuseppe Sarti , was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729. Some earlier sources say he was born on 28 December, but his baptism certificate proves the later date impossible...
is believed to be the first composer to orchestrate real cannon in a musical work. His
Te DeumThe Te Deum is an Early Christian hymn of praise. The title reflects the opening Latin words, "Tē Deum ", rendered literally as "You, God, "....
celebrates the Russian victory at
OchakovThe Second Siege of Ochakov was one of the major events of Russo-Turkish War .Russian forces led by Prince Grigori Potemkin and general Alexander Suvorov besieged the city, controlled by the Ottoman army under the command of Hasan Pasha, in 1788...
(1789) with the firing of a real cannon and the use of fireworks, to heighten the martial effect of the music.
One of the best known examples of such a piece is another Russian work,
Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
[The subject's names are also transliterated Piotr, Petr, or Peter; Ilitsch, Ilich, Il'ich or Illyich; and Tschaikowski, Tschaikowsky, Chajkovskij and Chaikovsky...]
's
1812 OvertureThe Year 1812, Festival overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture is a classical overture written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880. The piece was written to commemorate Russia's defense of Moscow against Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée at the...
. The overture is properly performed using an artillery section together with the orchestra, resulting in noise levels requiring musicians to wear
ear protectionAn earplug is a device that is meant to be inserted in the ear canal to protect the wearer's hearing from loud noises or the intrusion of water, foreign bodies, dust or excessive wind.-Protection from water:...
. The cannon fire simulates Russian artillery bombardments of the
Battle of BorodinoThe Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...
, a critical battle in Napoleon's invasion of Russia, whose defeat the piece celebrates. When the overture was first performed, the cannon were fired by an electric current triggered by the conductor. However, the overture was not recorded with real cannon fire until
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, and are both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music...
and conductor
Antal DorátiAntal Doráti KBE was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1947.-Biography:...
's 1958 recording of the
Minnesota OrchestraThe Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra in 1903 as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, which gave its first performance on November 5 of that year...
. Cannon fire is also frequently used annually in presentations of the
1812 on the American
Independence DayIn the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
, a tradition started by
Arthur FiedlerArthur Fiedler was the long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
of the Boston Pops in 1974.
The
hard rockHard rock or heavy rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music...
band
AC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock and are considered pioneers of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as "rock and roll".AC/DC underwent several line-up...
also used cannon in their song "
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"For Those About to Rock " is a song by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The song was released onto AC/DC's 8th studio album For Those About to Rock We Salute You in 1981. The cannons fired in the song are mixed with exploding fireworks. The video to this song was filmed live in Landover,...
." The
album of the same nameFor Those About to Rock is the eighth album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in 1981. The album was a follow-up to their highly successful album Back in Black. For Those About to Rock has sold over 4 million copies in the US. It was AC/DC's first and only No. 1 album in the USA until...
also featured a cannon on its cover; in live shows, replica Napoleonic cannon and
pyrotechnicsPyrotechnics is the science of materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound...
were used to perform the piece.
Restoration
Cannon recovered from the sea are often extensively damaged from exposure to salt water; because of this,
electrolytic reduction treatmentExtractive metallurgy is the practice of extracting metal from ore, purifying it, and recycling it.Most metals found in the Earth's crust exist as oxide and sulfide compounds. These mineral compounds must be reduced to liberate the desired metal...
is required to forestall the process of corrosion. The cannon is then washed in deionized water to remove the
electrolyteIn chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that behaves as an electrically conductive medium, usually when in a solution...
, and is treated in
tannic acidTannic acid, a specific commercial form of tannin, is a polyphenol. Its weak acidity is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, but in fact it contains a mixture of related...
, which prevents further
rustRust is a general term for a series of iron oxides, usually red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Several forms of rust are distinguishable visually and by spectroscopy, and form under different circumstances...
and gives the metal a bluish-black color. After this process, cannon on display may be protected from oxygen and moisture by a
waxWax refers to beeswax or another substance with similar properties. The traditional meaning, beeswax, refers to a substance secreted by bees and used by them in constructing their honeycombs...
sealant. A coat of
polyurethaneA polyurethane, IUPAC abbreviation PUR, but commonly abbreviated PU, is any polymer consisting of a chain of organic units joined by urethane links...
may also be painted over the wax sealant, to prevent the wax-coated cannon from attracting dust in outdoor displays.
External links