The Development of The Cannon and Gun Powder
The developments of gunpowder and the cannon were the most important advances during the Middle Ages. If it weren't for these inventions, who knows how we would be fighting today, possibly still the wars of Ancient Rome. The development of gunpowder meant that soon the use of knights would be useless because of the projectile that could easily knock a knight off his horse, rendering him helpless. The gunpowder enabled this projectile. The development of the cannon goes hand-in-hand with the gunpowder. This invention enabled things to be projected by the use of gunpowder. This invention also stopped sieges, which ended the need of city-walls. The crude versions of these weapons were used during the Hundred Years War, between England and France. Eventually these inventions paved the way for the modern gun and other inventions like bombs. These developments were truly the most important things that came out of the Middle Ages.
Gunpowder and the invention of the cannon meant the end of primeval warfare. These inventions marked the end of the use of knights and the siege. Once the cannon was invented in the early fourteenth century, by the German monk Berthold Schwarz , knights and city walls didn't stand a chance. If the enemy went into a siege, all the general had to do was bring in their cannons, and blast a hole in the wall allowing his men to get through. Then the victory went to the best trained army. The primative version, was rather large and heavy, but the tube projected rocks and other objects which could easily render a knight, or a city wall helpless, and at the mercy of the army. These developments truly marked the end of the primative warfare.
Even though cannons and gunpowder came into the Hundred Years War, it was not that helpful during the war, but it did improve greatly. During the war, cannons were developed and used, but they were very hard to use due to their size and weight. These crude cannons could only launch rocks, and semi-round objects. Eventually, this lead to the "hand-held cannon," which was much smaller, and easily used. Also, these were not too helpful during the war because they were extremely unreliable, and inaccurate. The aim on the larger cannons was much better, but they were risky because after a shot was fired the cannon was "pushed" backward by the force of the blow, which could easily crush a man.
... deadlier more accurate weapons. Another technology was the telegraph which drastically increased communication leading to eventually leading to phones.
In the early 1600s in England, King James ruled over the country. King James was named the successor to Queen Elizabeth I, whose reign covered the years from 1558-1603. During Elizabeth's rule over England, she enacted laws that were very harsh to those practicing Catholicism. Many had hoped that the anti-Catholic laws would change or even be overturned under King James I, whose wife was Catholic, but that didn't prove to be true. Not only did he "keep the old religious laws restricting Catholic worship, he even put new ones in place" (Barrow). Since the Catholic laws became more strict, people like Guy Fawkes decided to rebel and put a plan into action which would later be known as the Gunpowder Plot.
Moreover, he concurs with Roberts principles that attain to a replacement of weapons, army sizes, tactics and the implication of warfare on society. However in Parker’s book, The Military Revolution he contributes three revised principles towards Roberts conclusion. First, Parker argues that the innovations of gunpowder weapons forced European states to innovate their fortifications, thereby changing warfare from being fought on land to sieges and being fought for decisive purposes. Second, he asserts that warfare in the early modern period prompted European states to monopolize on the supply effort to recruit soldiers and feed their new armies. Parker’s third principle indicated that naval power; size of fleets, design of ship's, gun weapons and tactics played a pivotal role in the military revolution that allowed Europeans to conquer “35” percent of the world during the early modern
Before beginning about the history of ball bearing or bullet ball guns, which are referred to as BB guns in short, let’s take a quick peep at some of the most interesting facts about air guns:
hundred pounds each of four cannons - a British and American cannon from the battle of
The Gun Powder Revolution was a major movement in war, new technology was being discovered, making critical impacts on battles and wars. The Gun Powder Revolution was an entire new output for these wars. The new technology created a violent path of destruction in these new profound wars. A major advancement in technology at this time was the discovery of gunpowder.The discovery of gunpowder was almost immediately brought to warfare. Gunpowder represented the large impact of chemical energy by human societies (chemical energy is still being used to today such as nukes). The discovery of gunpowder lead to the expansion of several weapons as well as the creation of numerous weapons.Due to gunpowder, the introduction of firearms were on the way.
As a result of these two conditions, many more casualties were sustained. Add to that the lack of medical knowledge of disease and infection and the numbers truly began to grow. This paper provides an overview of the types of weaponry that was used during this time. Artillery generally falls into three basic categories: guns, howitzers and mortars. The main difference between them is the trajectory of the round fire.
The Field Guns, which were lightweight and easier to move, and the Siege Guns, which were much heavier and less mobile. The cannons utilize three different types of rounds. The rounds were solid shot, grapeshot, and canister. Solid shot rounds were used for structures, buildings, and ships. The grapeshot, which was a canvas bag of lead or iron balls, was ideal for long range personnel.
Long distance weapons were essential to European combat. The main long distance weapons used by Europeans during that time were the longbow and the crossbow. Each form of weaponry had its unique advantages and their pejorative. The long bow (shown in figure 1) was the original form of distance weapons. The term ‘bow’ means to be made from wood, iron or steel. The Welsh, who inhabited England, were the first people to use longbows. Longbows were 6-7 feet long and had a range of 250 yards, and still had the ability to pierce a knight’s armor (Byam 12). A well trained archer could shot 10- 12 arrows in a single minute. Despite these pro’s the longbow had a lot of disadvantages as well. One draw back was only skilled archers, who were costly to train, could use a longbow. Another disadvantage was it didn’t have a ready loaded arrow (Edge 34). The crossbow (shown in figure 2) on the other had been emphatically different. The crossbow had a span of 2-3 feet and could kill a knight on horseback with one shot, because of good aim (Byam 30). Crossbows had ready loaded projectiles, while the longbow didn’t and the crossbow could be used by anyone since it didn’t require any skill. The crossbow did have a down side though, it had slow reloaded because of a crank and it was expensive. Crossbows were also used for other thi...
Gunpowder’s effect on the world can be exemplified through the grand changes in weapons. This can be shown through the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by the English navy. In this sea battle, the Spanish Armada outnumbered the English navy immensely turning the odds against the English. However, the Spanish Armada still used old boarding tactics while the English used advanced weaponry. In the end, “the English used their superior firepower to whittle away the Spanish forces” (Schlager). The English navy's victory over the Spanish Armada illustrates the effects of the invention of gunpowder. With the successful usage of advanced gunpowder based weapons, the English navy crushed the opposition even when the Spanish Armada clearly had the upper hand. The defeat of the Spanish Armada shows that weapons based on gunpowder allowed countries with smaller armies to have a higher chance in winning their fights. The gunpowder weapons proved to be a tactical advant...
“Volley Guns” (Chivers, 2010, p.26) or also known as “Organ Guns” (Ellis, 1975, p.10) were first attempts at increasing firepower by adding several barrels at the firing itself, rather than simply attempting to increase the rate of fire. “Gunsmiths had long ago learned to place barrels side by side on frames to create firearms capable of discharging projectiles in rapid succession. These unwieldy devices, or volley guns, were capable in theory of blasting a hole in a line of advancing soldiers” (Chivers, 2010, p.26). An example of such weapons can be seen on July 28, 1835 when Giuseppe Fieshi unleashed terror on King Louis-Phillipe in Paris, France. He fired his 25 barrel “volley gun”, killing 18 of the king's entourage and grazing the King's skull. The weapon was ineffective however. Four of the barrels failed and another four ruptured. Two other barrels had exploded inside, grievously wounding Giuseppe. (Chivers, 2010, p. 27)
Explosives were a key part of the Industrial Revolution, Dynamite being one of the most effective explosives. Without explosives we could not have mined the fossil fuels that powered almost everything in the period of time that revolutionised the world. ("Not Yet Published",
“The trebuchet reached the Mediterranean by the sixth century C.E. It displaced other forms of artillery and held its own until well after the coming of gunpowder. The trebuchet was instrumental in the rapid expansion of both the Islamic and the Mongol empires. It also played a part in the transmission of the Black Death, the epidemic of plague that swept Eurasia and the North Africa during the 14th century. Along the way it seems to have influenced both the development of clockwork and the theoretical analyzes of motion”2.
The products of the Industrial Revolution made World War I a war like no other. The Industrial Age brought with it the development of the railroad, a huge factor in the area of transportation of soldiers and supplies. The Revolution also brought changes in warfare at sea. Instead of ships made of wood, iron and steel were the new materials of choice. The products of the Industrial Revolution that had the most impact on the war were by far the weapons created by the new machines and materials of the revolution. The book, Warfare in the Twentieth Century, states that "industrialization dramatically increased the destructive capacity of armies by providing them with weapons of enhanced range, accuracy, and fire..." (3). The weapons of World War I are a perfect example of how reason and progress are not always without consequence; they can sometimes bring about horrible suffering and pain.
Medieval Technology and Social Change Oxford University Press first published Medieval Technology and Social Change in 1962. It discusses the technological advances during the medieval times and how these changes affected society. The book's author, Lynn White, Jr., was born in San Francisco in 1907. Educated at Stanford, Union Theological, and Princeton, White taught at Princeton and the University of California at Los Angeles. He was also president of Mills College in Oakland from the 1940s to the 1960s. His other works include Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Essays, published in 1978 and Life & Work in Medieval Europe, the Evolution of Medieval Economy from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Century, published in 1982. White's work has been influential both in medieval history and the history of science. In Medieval Technology and Social Change, White examines the role of technological innovation during the rise of social groups in the Middle Ages. White begins with the invention of the stirrup. He shows how this innovation, in turn, introduced heavy, long-range cavalry to the medieval battlefield. The development thus escalated small-scale conflict to "shock combat." Cannons and flame-throwers followed, as did more peaceful inventions, such as watermills and reapers. White also reviews the development of the manorial system with the introduction of new kinds of plows and new methods of crop rotation. He reviews the evolution of the scratch plow into the heavy plow and explains the use of each type in different areas of Europe. White next discusses the social effects of feudalism and how it spread from the Franks to Spain and later to England. He shows that military service became a matter of class, with lands and titles being exchanged for the commitment to serve as mounted warriors. The concept of the knight's duty to his lord translated into chivalry and noble obligation. White then ventures into the slow collapse of feudalism, coming about with the development of machines and tools. This caused the introduction of factories, which took the place of cottage industries. Although White's work falls short in a few areas, it is valuable for the attention that it pays to aspects of medieval history that too often go ignored White's work is important because he advocates the importance of science and technology to medieval history. Before White, few scholars thought that any significant science or engineering was done in Europe during the Middle.