82-592: [REDACTED] Look up gunnery in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Gunnery may refer to: The use of guns or the study of how to apply the techniques and procedures of operating them The operation of artillery The operation of naval artillery The Gunnery , a coeducational prep school in Connecticut, United States See also [ edit ] Gunner (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
164-486: A polybolos . Reconstruction and trials of such a weapon carried out in a BBC documentary, What the Romans Did For Us , showed that they "were able to shoot eleven bolts a minute, which is almost four times the rate at which an ordinary ballista can be operated". However, no example of such a weapon has been found by archaeologists. The cheiroballistra and the manuballista are held by many archaeologists to be
246-399: A bullet that fits the barrel as opposed to one which does not, such as the shrapnel shooting fire lance . As such, the fire lance, which appeared between the 10th and 12th centuries AD, as well as other early metal barrel gunpowder weapons have been described as "proto-guns" Joseph Needham defined a type of firearm known as the "eruptor," which he described as a cross between a fire lance and
328-460: A copper base that incorporated a primer pellet. While rifled guns did exist prior to the 19th century in the form of grooves cut into the interior of a barrel, these were considered specialist weapons and limited in number. The rate of fire of handheld guns began to increase drastically. In 1836, Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse invented the Dreyse needle gun , a breech-loading rifle which increased
410-440: A gun, as a "proto-gun" for the same reason. He defined a fully developed firearm, a "true gun," as possessing three basic features: a metal barrel, gunpowder with high nitrate content, and a projectile that occluded the barrel. The "true gun" appears to have emerged in late 1200s China, around 300 years after the appearance of the fire lance. Although the term "gun" postdates the invention of firearms, historians have applied it to
492-610: A mechanical bolt throwing weapon of enormous size, mounted at Windsor Castle during the 14th century. This name in turn may have derived from the Old Norse woman's proper name Gunnhildr which combines two Norse words referring to battle. "Gunnildr", which means "War-sword", was often shortened to "Gunna". The earliest recorded use of the term "gonne" was in a Latin document c. 1339 . Other names for guns during this era were "schioppi" (Italian translation-"thunderers"), and "donrebusse" (Dutch translation-"thunder gun") which
574-439: A pellet wad that filled the barrel was recorded to have been used as a fire lance projectile, making it the first recorded bullet in history. With this, the three basic features of a gun were put in place: a barrel made of metal, high- nitrate gunpowder, and a projectile which totally occludes the muzzle so that the powder charge exerts its full potential in propellant effect. The metal barrel fire lances began to be used without
656-415: A power that allowed it to be successfully used against armored troops. The oxybeles were a bigger and heavier construction employing a winch and were mounted on a tripod. It had a lower rate of fire and was used as a siege engine. With the invention of the torsion spring bundle, the first ballistae could now be built. The advantage of this new technology was the fast relaxation time of this system. Thus it
738-414: A projectile." Gunpowder and firearm historian Kenneth Chase defines "firearms" and "guns" in his Firearms: A Global History to 1700 as "gunpowder weapons that use the explosive force of the gunpowder to propel a projectile from a tube: cannons, muskets, and pistols are typical examples." According to Tonio Andrade , a historian of gunpowder technology, a "true gun" is defined as a firearm which shoots
820-458: A result armor declined, which also made the heavy musket obsolete. Although there is relatively little to no difference in design between arquebus and musket except in size and strength, it was the term musket which remained in use up into the 1800s. It may not be completely inaccurate to suggest that the musket was in its fabrication simply a larger arquebus. At least on one occasion the musket and arquebus have been used interchangeably to refer to
902-470: A siege engine and field artillery. Historical accounts, for instance, cited that Philip II employed a group of engineers within his army to design and build catapults for his military campaigns. There is even a claim that it was Philip II with his team of engineers who invented the ballista after improving Dionysius's device, which was merely an oversized slingshot. It was further perfected by Alexander, whose own team of engineers introduced innovations such as
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#1732780805369984-582: A single soldier is the MP 18.1 , invented by Theodor Bergmann . It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the Stosstruppen (assault groups specialized in trench combat). In civilian use, the captive bolt pistol is used in agriculture to humanely stun farm animals for slaughter. The first assault rifle was introduced during World War II by
1066-523: A tension prod (the bow part of a modern crossbow ). The springs consisted of several loops of twisted skeins . Early versions projected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare . It developed into a smaller precision weapon, the scorpio , and possibly the polybolos . The early ballistae in Ancient Greece were developed from two weapons called oxybeles and gastraphetes . The gastraphetes ('belly-bow')
1148-402: Is also called a cannon . The means of projectile propulsion vary according to designs, but are traditionally effected pneumatically by a high gas pressure contained within a barrel tube ( gun barrel ), produced either through the rapid exothermic combustion of propellants (as with firearms ), or by mechanical compression (as with air guns ). The high-pressure gas is introduced behind
1230-513: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Gun A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns / cannons ), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun ). Solid projectiles may be free-flying (as with bullets and artillery shells ) or tethered (as with Tasers , spearguns and harpoon guns ). A large- caliber gun
1312-402: Is much faster than that of any bullet, and would leave the gun as sound either through the barrel or the bullet itself rather than contributing to the bullet's velocity. Barrel types include rifled —a series of spiraled grooves or angles within the barrel—when the projectile requires an induced spin to stabilize it, and smoothbore when the projectile is stabilized by other means or rifling
1394-421: Is undesired or unnecessary. Typically, interior barrel diameter and the associated projectile size is a means to identify gun variations. Bore diameter is reported in several ways. The more conventional measure is reporting the interior diameter (bore) of the barrel in decimal fractions of the inch or in millimetres. Some guns—such as shotguns —report the weapon's gauge (which is the number of shot pellets having
1476-581: The Gyrojet and certain other types combine the projectile and propellant into a single item. Anti-drone rifle Ballista The ballista ( Latin , from Greek βαλλίστρα ballistra and that from βάλλω ballō , "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas , sometimes called bolt thrower , was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target. Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of
1558-581: The Henry rifle , the first reliable repeating rifle . An improved version of the Henry rifle was developed by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1873, known as the Model 1873 Winchester rifle . Smokeless powder was invented in 1880 and began replacing gunpowder , which came to be known as black powder. By the start of the 20th century, smokeless powder was adopted throughout the world and black powder, what
1640-464: The Mongol prince Nayan . The History of Yuan records that the cannons of Li Ting's soldiers "caused great damage" and created "such confusion that the enemy soldiers attacked and killed each other." The hand cannons were used again in the beginning of 1288. Li Ting's "gun-soldiers" or chongzu ( 銃卒 ) carried the hand cannons "on their backs". The passage on the 1288 battle is also the first to use
1722-1034: The Portuguese introduced matchlocks which were known as tanegashima to the Japanese. Gunpowder technology entered Java in the Mongol invasion of Java (1293 A.D.). Majapahit under Mahapatih (prime minister) Gajah Mada utilized gunpowder technology obtained from the Yuan dynasty for use in the naval fleet. During the following years, the Majapahit army have begun producing cannons known as cetbang . Early cetbang (also called Eastern-style cetbang) resembled Chinese cannons and hand cannons. Eastern-style cetbangs were mostly made of bronze and were front-loaded cannons. It fires arrow-like projectiles, but round bullets and co-viative projectiles can also be used. These arrows can be solid-tipped without explosives, or with explosives and incendiary materials placed behind
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#17327808053691804-579: The Silk Road through the Middle East. Hasan al-Rammah had already written about fire lances in the 13th century, so proto-guns were known in the Middle East at that point. Another theory is that it was brought to Europe during the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century. The earliest depiction of a cannon in Europe dates to 1326 and evidence of firearm production can be found in
1886-473: The 1480s show little difference and surprising similarity with cannons later in the 1750s. This 300-year period during which the classic gun dominated gives it its moniker. The "classic gun" has also been described as the "modern ordnance synthesis." Gunpowder was invented in China during the 9th century. The first firearm was the fire lance , which was invented in China between the 10–12th centuries. It
1968-418: The 19th century led to the development of modern guns. In 1815, Joshua Shaw invented percussion caps , which replaced the flintlock trigger system. The new percussion caps allowed guns to shoot reliably in any weather condition. In 1835, Casimir Lefaucheux invented the first practical breech loading firearm with a cartridge . The new cartridge contained a conical bullet, a cardboard powder tube, and
2050-687: The Ballista still retained some use in Medieval Siege Warfare, especially by city and castle garrisons, until it became finally extinguished by the more convenient medieval canons, already omnipresent in all major European Catholic cities by the first half of the 14th century. The Littere Wallie records the existence of 4 "balistas ad turrimi" at "Duluithelan" [Dolwyddelan] Castle in 1280, one "balistam de tur" at "Rothelano"[Rhuddlan] castle and one "magnam ballistam" at "Bere Blada" Castle [Castell y Bere?] in 1286. These all being held under
2132-454: The Battle of Tsushima in 1274 and the second coastal assault led by Holdon in 1281. The Hachiman Gudoukun of 1360 mentions iron pao "which caused a flash of light and a loud noise when fired." The Taiheki of 1370 mentions "iron pao shaped like a bell." The exact nature of the spread of firearms and its route is uncertain. One theory is that gunpowder and cannons arrived in Europe via
2214-506: The Germans, known as the StG44 . It was the first firearm to bridge the gap between long range rifles, machine guns, and short range submachine guns. Since the mid-20th century, guns that fire beams of energy rather than solid projectiles have been developed, and also guns that can be fired by means other than the use of gunpowder. Most guns use compressed gas confined by the barrel to propel
2296-528: The Ottoman Empire in the early 15th century. Its name is derived from the German word Hackenbüchse . It originally described a hand cannon with a lug or hook on the underside for stabilizing the weapon, usually on defensive fortifications. In the early 1500s, heavier variants known as " muskets " that were fired from resting Y-shaped supports appeared. The musket was able to penetrate heavy armor, and as
2378-524: The Salarian Gate a Goth of goodly stature and a capable warrior, wearing a corselet and having a helmet on his head, a man who was of no mean station in the Gothic nation, refused to remain in the ranks with his comrades, but stood by a tree and kept shooting many missiles at the parapet. But this man by some chance was hit by a missile from an engine which was on a tower at his left. And passing through
2460-527: The Spanish and Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses as well in 1476. Later, a larger arquebus known as a musket was used for breaching heavy armor, but this declined along with heavy armor. Matchlock firearms continued to be called musket. They were used throughout Asia by the mid-1500s. Guns reached their "classic" form in the 1480s. The "classic gun" is so called because of
2542-514: The army of the Roman Empire . It was used, just before the start of the Empire, by Julius Caesar during his conquest of Gaul and on both of his campaigns in subduing Britain. The first of Caesar's invasions of Britain took place in 55 BC, after a rapid and successful initial conquest of Gaul, in part as an expedition, and more practical to try to put an end to the reinforcements sent by
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2624-410: The bow arms, which in turn, were attached to the bowstring. Drawing the bowstring back with the winches twisted the already taut springs, storing the energy to fire the projectiles. The bronze or iron caps, which secured the torsion bundles were adjustable by means of pins and peripheral holes, which allowed the weapon to be tuned for symmetrical power and for changing weather conditions. The ballista
2706-411: The bullet up to high speed, though devices operating in other ways are sometimes called guns. In firearms the high-pressure gas is generated by combustion, usually of gunpowder . This principle is similar to that of internal combustion engines , except that the bullet leaves the barrel, while the piston transfers its motion to other parts and returns down the cylinder. As in an internal combustion engine,
2788-468: The chest, tucked under one arm, while the other arm maneuvered a hot pricker to the touch hole to ignite the gunpowder. The Ottomans may have used arquebuses as early as the first half of the 15th century during the Ottoman–Hungarian wars of 1443–1444. The arquebus was used in substantial numbers during the reign of king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (r. 1458–1490). Arquebuses were used by 1472 by
2870-454: The combustion propagates by deflagration rather than by detonation , and the optimal gunpowder , like the optimal motor fuel, is resistant to detonation. This is because much of the energy generated in detonation is in the form of a shock wave , which can propagate from the gas to the solid structure and heat or damage the structure, rather than staying as heat to propel the piston or bullet. The shock wave at such high temperature and pressure
2952-423: The corselet and the body of the man, the missile sank more than half its length into the tree, and pinning him to the spot where it entered the tree, it suspended him there a corpse. The carroballista was a cart-mounted version of the weapon. There were probably different models of ballista under the cheiroballistra class, at least two different two-wheeled models and one model with four wheels. Their probable size
3034-479: The designs over many years of work. With the decline of the Roman Empire , resources to build and maintain these complex machines became very scarce, so the ballista was likely supplanted initially by the simpler and cheaper onager and the more efficient springald . However, while it remained less and less popular as more efficient siege engines such as the trebuchet and the mangonel became widespread,
3116-531: The earliest firearms such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon of 1288 or the vase shaped European cannon of 1326. Historians consider firearms to have reached the form of a "classic gun" in the 1480s, which persisted until the mid-18th century. This "classic" form displayed longer, lighter, more efficient, and more accurate design compared to its predecessors only 30 years prior. However this "classic" design changed very little for almost 300 years and cannons of
3198-464: The end of the 13th century, they had become "true guns", metal barrel firearms that fired single projectiles which occluded the barrel. Gunpowder and gun technology spread throughout Eurasia during the 14th century. The origin of the English word gun is considered to derive from the name given to a particular historical weapon. Domina Gunilda was the name given to a remarkably large ballista ,
3280-471: The finders, including technical manuals and journals, are used today by archaeologists to reconstruct these weapons. After Julius Caesar, the ballista was a permanent fixture in the Roman army and, over time, modifications and improvements were made by successive engineers. This included replacing the remaining wooden parts of the machine with metal, creating a much smaller, lighter and more powerful machine than
3362-510: The following year. The first recorded use of gunpowder weapons in Europe was in 1331 when two mounted German knights attacked Cividale del Friuli with gunpowder weapons of some sort. By 1338 hand cannons were in widespread use in France. English Privy Wardrobe accounts list "ribaldis", a type of cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346. Early guns and
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3444-416: The form of a bow, but on the under side of them a grooved wooden shaft projects; this shaft is so fitted to the bow that it is free to move, and rests upon a straight iron bed. So when men wish to shoot at the enemy with this, they make the parts of the bow which form the ends bend toward one another by means of a short rope fastened to them, and they place in the grooved shaft the arrow, which is about one half
3526-595: The highly advanced Greek technology began to spread across many areas of Roman influence. This included the great military machine advances the Greeks had made (most notably by Dionysus of Syracuse), as well as all the scientific, mathematical, political and artistic developments. The Romans adopted the torsion-powered ballista, which had by now spread to several cities around the Mediterranean, all of which became Roman spoils of war, including one from Pergamon , which
3608-510: The idea of using springs made from tightly strung coils of rope instead of a bow to achieve more energy and power when throwing projectiles. Polybius reported about the usage of smaller, more portable ballistae, called scorpions , during the Second Punic War . Ballistae could be easily modified to shoot both spherical and shaft projectiles, allowing their crews to adapt quickly to prevailing battlefield situations in real time. As
3690-443: The information necessary to reconstruct the weapons, all their measurements were in their native language and therefore highly difficult to translate. Attempts to reconstruct these ancient weapons began at the end of the 19th century, based on rough translations of ancient authors. It was only during the 20th century, however, that many of the reconstructions began to make any sense as a weapon. By bringing in modern engineers, progress
3772-521: The lance and became guns by the late 13th century. Guns such as the hand cannon were being used in the Yuan dynasty by the 1280s. Surviving cannons such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon and the Xanadu Gun have been found dating to the late 13th century and possibly earlier in the early 13th century. In 1287, the Yuan dynasty deployed Jurchen troops with hand cannons to put down a rebellion by
3854-643: The late 15th century the Ottoman empire used firearms as part of its regular infantry. In the Middle East, the Arabs seem to have used the hand cannon to some degree during the 14th century. Cannons are attested in India starting from 1366. The Joseon kingdom in Korea learned how to produce gunpowder from China by 1372 and started producing cannons by 1377. In Southeast Asia , Đại Việt soldiers used hand cannons at
3936-445: The length of the ordinary missiles which they shoot from bows, but about four times as wide...but the missile is discharged from the shaft, and with such force that it attains the distance of not less than two bow-shots, and that, when it hits a tree or a rock, it pierces it easily. Such is the engine which bears this name, being so called because it shoots with very great force... The missiles were able to penetrate body-armour: And at
4018-558: The long duration of its design, which was longer, lighter, more efficient, and more accurate compared to its predecessors 30 years prior. The design persisted for nearly 300 years and cannons of the 1480s show little variation from as well as surprising similarity with cannons three centuries later in the 1750s. This 300-year period during which the classic gun dominated gives it its moniker. The classic gun differed from older generations of firearms through an assortment of improvements. Their longer length-to-bore ratio imparted more energy into
4100-421: The men who used them were often associated with the devil and the gunner's craft was considered a black art , a point reinforced by the smell of sulfur on battlefields created from the firing of guns along with the muzzle blast and accompanying flash . Around the late 14th century in Europe, smaller and portable hand-held cannons were developed, creating in effect the first smooth-bore personal firearm. In
4182-544: The name chong ( 銃 ) with the metal radical jin ( 金 ) for metal-barrel firearms. Chong was used instead of the earlier and more ambiguous term huo tong (fire tube; 火筒 ), which may refer to the tubes of fire lances , proto-cannons, or signal flares. Hand cannons may have been used in the Mongol invasions of Japan . Japanese descriptions of the invasions mention iron and bamboo pao causing "light and fire" and emitting 2–3,000 iron bullets. The Nihon Kokujokushi , written around 1300, mentions huo tong (fire tubes) at
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#17327808053694264-607: The native Britons to fight the Romans in Gaul. A total of eighty means of transport, carrying two legions, attempted to land on the British shore, only to be driven back by the many British warriors assembled along the shoreline. The ships had to unload their troops on the beach, as it was the only one suitable for many miles, yet the massed ranks of British charioteers and javeliners were making it difficult. Seeing this, Caesar ordered
4346-630: The projectile, pushing and accelerating it down the length of the tube, imparting sufficient launch velocity to sustain its further travel towards the target once the propelling gas ceases acting upon it after it exits the muzzle . Alternatively, new-concept linear motor weapons may employ an electromagnetic field to achieve acceleration, in which case the barrel may be substituted by guide rails (as in railguns ) or wrapped with magnetic coils (as in coilguns ). The first devices identified as guns or proto-guns appeared in China from around AD 1000. By
4428-452: The proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to maximise its explosive power. To better withstand that explosive power, the paper and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels were originally made came to be replaced by metal. And to take full advantage of that power, the shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size and shape filled the barrel more closely. Fire lance barrels made of metal appeared by 1276. Earlier in 1259
4510-694: The rate of fire to six times that of muzzle loading weapons. In 1854, Volcanic Repeating Arms produced a rifle with a self-contained cartridge . In 1849, Claude-Étienne Minié invented the Minié ball , the first projectile that could easily slide down a rifled barrel, which made rifles a viable military firearm, ending the smoothbore musket era. Rifles were deployed during the Crimean War with resounding success and proved vastly superior to smoothbore muskets. In 1860, Benjamin Tyler Henry created
4592-527: The role of battlefield artillery became more sophisticated, a universal joint (which was invented just for this function) was integrated into the ballista's stand, allowing the operators to alter the trajectory and firing direction of the ballista as required without a lengthy disassembly of the machine. After the absorption of the Ancient Greek city-states into the Roman Republic in 146 BC,
4674-446: The same diameter as the bore produced from one English pound (454g) of lead) or—as in some British ordnance—the weight of the weapon's usual projectile. A gun projectile may be a simple, single-piece item like a bullet, a casing containing a payload like a shotshell or explosive shell, or complex projectile like a sub-caliber projectile and sabot. The propellant may be air, an explosive solid, or an explosive liquid. Some variations like
4756-411: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Gunnery . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gunnery&oldid=1073238853 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
4838-446: The same weapon, and even referred to as an "arquebus musket." A Habsburg commander in the mid-1560s once referred to muskets as "double arquebuses." A shoulder stock was added to the arquebus around 1470 and the matchlock mechanism sometime before 1475. The matchlock arquebus was the first firearm equipped with a trigger mechanism and the first portable shoulder-arms firearm. Before the matchlock, handheld firearms were fired from
4920-543: The same weapon. The difference in name may be attributable to the different languages spoken in the Empire. Latin remained the official language in the Western Empire , but the Eastern Empire predominantly used Greek, which added an extra 'r' to the word ballista. The manuballista was a handheld version of the traditional ballista. This new version was made entirely of iron, which conferred greater power to
5002-421: The shot, enabling the projectile to shoot further. They were also lighter since the barrel walls were thinner, allowing faster dissipation of heat. They no longer needed the help of a wooden plug to load since they offered a tighter fit between projectile and barrel, further increasing the accuracy of firearms – and were deadlier due to developments such as gunpowder corning and iron shot. Several developments in
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#17327808053695084-403: The stand. The main stand had a slider on the top, into which were loaded the bolts or stone shot . Attached to this, at the back, was a pair of ' winches ' and a 'claw', used to ratchet the bowstring back to the armed firing position. The slider passed through the field frames of the weapon, in which were located the torsion springs (rope made of animal sinew ), which were twisted around
5166-408: The strange shape of the warships, the motion of the oars, and the unfamiliar machines, the natives halted and retreated. (Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul , p.99) In Gaul, the stronghold of Alesia was under a Roman siege in 52 BC, and was completely surrounded by a Roman fortification including a wooden palisade and towers. As was standard siege technique at the time, small ballistae were placed in
5248-435: The tip. Near the rear, there is a combustion chamber or room, which refers to the bulging part near the rear of the gun, where the gunpowder is placed. The cetbang is mounted on a fixed mount, or as a hand cannon mounted on the end of a pole. There is a tube-like section on the back of the cannon. In the hand cannon-type cetbang, this tube is used as a socket for a pole. The arquebus was a firearm that appeared in Europe and
5330-460: The towers with other troops armed with bows or slings . The use of the ballista in the Roman siege strategy was also demonstrated in the case of the Siege of Masada . During the conquest of the Empire, the ballista proved its worth many times in sieges and battles, both at sea and on land. It is from the time of the Roman Empire that many of the archaeological finds of ballistae date. Accounts by
5412-595: The very latest by 1390 when they employed them in killing Champa king Che Bong Nga. Chinese observer recorded the Javanese use of hand cannon for marriage ceremony in 1413 during Zheng He 's voyage. Hand guns were utilized effectively during the Hussite Wars . Japan knew of gunpowder due to the Mongol invasions during the 13th century, but did not acquire a cannon until a monk took one back to Japan from China in 1510, and guns were not produced until 1543, when
5494-404: The warships – which were swifter and easier to handle than the transports, and likely to impress the natives more by their unfamiliar appearance – to be removed a short distance from the others, and then be rowed hard and run ashore on the enemy’s right flank, from which position men on deck could use the slings, bows, and artillery to drive them back. This maneuver was highly successful. Scared by
5576-473: The weapon, since it was smaller, and less iron (an expensive material before the 19th century), was used in its production. It was not the ancient gastraphetes , but the Roman weapon. However, the same physical limitations applied as with the gastraphetes. Archaeology, and in particular experimental archaeology has been influential on this subject. Although several ancient authors (such as Vegetius ) wrote very detailed technical treatises, providing us with all
5658-464: The weapons had decorative metal plates to shield the operators), to Iraq (the Hatra Machine) and even Scotland (Burnswark siege tactics training camp), and many other sites between. The most influential archaeologists in this area have been Peter Connolly and Eric Marsden, who have not only written extensively on the subject but have also made many reconstructions themselves and have refined
5740-492: The width of the Danube River." Ballistae were not only used in laying siege: after AD 350, at least 22 semi-circular towers were erected around the walls of Londinium ( London ) to provide platforms for permanently mounted defensive devices. During the 6th century, Procopius described the effects of this weapon: But Belisarius placed upon the towers engines which they call "ballistae". Now these engines have
5822-470: The wooden version, which required less maintenance (though the vital torsion springs were still vulnerable to the strain). The largest ballistae of the 4th century could throw a dart further than 1200 yards (1,100 m). The weapon was named ballista fulminalis in De rebus bellicis : "From this ballista, darts were projected not only in great number but also at a large size over a considerable distance, such as across
5904-453: Was a siege weapon . All components that were not made of wood were transported in the baggage train. It would be assembled with local wood, if necessary. Some were positioned inside large, armored, mobile siege towers or even on the edge of a battlefield. For all of the tactical advantages offered, it was only under Philip II of Macedon , and even more so under his son Alexander , that the ballista began to develop and gain recognition as both
5986-410: Was a handheld crossbow. It had a composite prod and was spanned by bracing the front end of the weapon against the ground while placing the end of a slider mechanism against the stomach. The operator would then walk forward to arm the weapon while a ratchet prevented it from shooting during loading. This produced a weapon that, it was claimed, could be operated by a person of average strength but which had
6068-407: Was a highly accurate weapon (there are many accounts of single soldiers being picked off by ballistarii ), but some design aspects meant it could compromise its accuracy for range. The maximum range was over 500 yards (460 m), but the effective combat range for many targets was far shorter. The Romans continued the development of the ballista , and it became a highly prized and valued weapon in
6150-404: Was depicted among a pile of trophy weapons in relief on a balustrade. The torsion ballista, developed by Alexander, was a far more complicated weapon than its predecessor and the Romans developed it even further, especially into much smaller versions, that could be easily carried. The early Roman ballistae were made of wood, and held together with iron plates around the frames and iron nails in
6232-414: Was depicted in a silk painting dated to the mid-10th century, but textual evidence of its use does not appear until 1132, describing the siege of De'an . It consisted of a bamboo tube of gunpowder tied to a spear or other polearm. By the late 1100s, ingredients such as pieces of shrapnel like porcelain shards or small iron pellets were added to the tube so that they would be blown out with the gunpowder. It
6314-467: Was incorporated into the English language as "blunderbuss". Artillerymen were often referred to as "gonners" and "artillers" "Hand gun" was first used in 1373 in reference to the handle of guns. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a gun could mean "a piece of ordnance usually with high muzzle velocity and comparatively flat trajectory," " a portable firearm," or "a device that throws
6396-643: Was made with the ancient systems of measurement. By redesigning the reconstructions using the new information, archaeologists in that specialty were able to recognise certain finds from Roman military sites, and identify them as ballistae. The information gained from the excavations was fed into the next generation of reconstructions and so on. Sites across the empire have yielded information on ballistae, from Spain (the Ampurias Catapult), to Italy (the Cremona Battleshield, which proved that
6478-459: Was possible to shoot lighter projectiles with higher velocities over a longer distance. By contrast, the comparatively slow relaxation time of the bow or prod of a conventional crossbow such as the oxybeles meant that much less energy could be transferred to light projectiles, limiting the effective range of the weapon. The earliest form of the ballista is thought to have been developed for Dionysius of Syracuse , c. 400 BC. The Greek ballista
6560-738: Was previously known as gunpowder, was relegated to hobbyist usage. In 1861, Richard Jordan Gatling invented the Gatling gun , the first successful machine gun, capable of firing 200 gunpowder cartridges in a minute. It was fielded by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s. In 1884, Hiram Maxim invented the Maxim gun , the first single-barreled machine gun. The world's first submachine gun (a fully automatic firearm which fires pistol cartridges) able to be maneuvered by
6642-405: Was relatively short ranged and had a range of roughly 3 meters by the early 13th century. This fire lance is considered by some historians to be a "proto-gun" because its projectiles did not occlude the barrel. There was also another "proto-gun" called the eruptor, according to Joseph Needham, which did not have a lance but still did not shoot projectiles which occluded the barrel. In due course,
6724-433: Was roughly 1.47 m (4 ft 10 in) width, i.e., 5 Roman feet. The cart system and structure gave it a great deal of flexibility and capability as a battlefield weapon, since the increased maneuverability allowed it to be moved with the flow of the battle. This weapon features several times on Trajan's Column . It has been speculated that the Roman military may have also fielded a 'repeating' ballista, also known as
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