Download or read book Ancient cannon in Europe written by sir Henry Brackenbury and published by . This book was released on 1865 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Medieval Cannon 1326 1494 written by Jonathan Davies and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first illustration of a cannon in Europe can be dated quite precisely to 1326. This book explores the development of gunpowder, the earliest appearance of cast-bronze cannon in Western Europe, followed by the design and development of the wrought-iron cannon. The wrought-iron hoop-and-stave method of barrel construction was a system that came to dominate medieval artillery design both large and small until the end of the 15th century, and saw the cannon used not only as a prestige weapon, but start to be used as a practical and terrifying weapon on the medieval battlefield. In 1453, the Ottomans' conquest of Constantinople, with their extensive artillery, marked the triumph of medieval firepower. The book will focus on the technology and tactics of early European artillery on both sea and land, and assess its impact on medieval warfare.
Download or read book Artillery Through the Ages written by Albert C. Manucy and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1994-04 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A description of types of artillery used in warfare throughout history, including the ancient engines of war; gunpowder introduced to Europe; the bombards; 16th century cannon; the 17th century and Gustavus Adolphus; the 18th century; U.S. guns of the early 1800s; rifling; the Civil War; and the change to modern artillery. Also includes the characteristics of cannon; projectiles; tools; the practice of gunnery; glossary; and selected bibliography. Many of the types of cannon described in this book may be seen in areas of the National Park system; some parks with especially fine collections are listed. Illustrated with detailed drawings.
Download or read book Technology Violence and War written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-02-11 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the importance of technology in war, and to the study of warfare. Dr. Guilmartin’s former students explore how technology from the medieval to the modern era, and across several continents, was integral to warfare and to the outcomes of wars. Authors discuss the interactions between politics, grand strategy, war, technology, and the socio-cultural implementation of new technologies in different contexts. They explore how and why belligerents chose to employ new technologies, the intended and unintended consequences of doing so, the feedback loops driving these consequences, and how the warring powers came to grips with the new technologies they unleashed. This work is particularly useful for military historians, military professionals, and policymakers who study and face analogous situations. Contributors are Alan Beyerchen, Robert H. Clemm, Edward Coss, Sebastian Cox, Daniel P. M. Curzon, Sarah K. Douglas, Robert S. Ehlers, Jr., Andrew de la Garza, John F. Guilmartin, Jr., Matthew Hurley, Peter Mansoor, Edward B. McCaul, Jr., Michael Pavelec, William Roberts, Robyn Rodriguez, Clifford J. Rogers, William Waddell, and Corbin Williamson.
Download or read book On the Weapons Army Organisation and Political Maxims of the Ancient Hindus written by Gustav Salomon Oppert and published by . This book was released on 1880 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the weapons and war implements of the ancient Hindus -- On the authenticty of the Śukranīti -- On the use of gunpowder and firearms in general -- Inside the home of gunpowder and firearms -- On the Army organization and political organization of the ancient Hindus -- Appendix: Identification of the Manipura of the Mahabarata with Manipura or Manaluru or Madura in South India.
Download or read book The Rise of the Gun written by Kelly DeVries and published by Medieval Warfare Special. This book was released on 2019-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is perhaps the most significant technological change in the history of warfare. The Middle Ages would see a new type of weapon emerge - the gun. This special issue looks at the invention of firearms, beginning in China, its spread throughout Eurasia and its influence on battles, armies and fortifications. Featuring articles by Tonio Andrade, Ruth Brown, Kelly DeVries, Kay Smith and more. One key aspect of this book is to show how experimental the use of guns and gunpowder is. In medieval China, Europe and Asia, there is a lot of new things happening in how warfare is being conducted. For example, how are cannons being used on the battlefield, and when are they successful (or unsuccessful) in changing the outcomes of battles? How do fortifications change, and how much of that is because of the threat posed by artillery? I want to give a sense to the reader that this is really a dynamic period, with new technology leading us to different and unexpected places, much like the computer revolution we are now in is changing our own society in unforeseen ways.
Download or read book A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder written by James Riddick Partington and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly 600 years, from battles of the early 14th century to the dropping of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, firearms derived from gunpowder and other chemicals defined the frightful extent of war. In this classic work, first published in 1960, distinguished historian James Riddick Partington provides a worldwide survey of the evolution of incendiary devices, Greek fire, and gunpowder. 21 illustrations.
Download or read book Paths of Fire written by Andrew Nahum and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Type “Mikhail Kalashnikov” into Google and the biography of the inventor will come back to you almost at the speed of light. Squeeze the trigger of a Kalashnikov and a bullet is kicked up the barrel by an archaic chemical explosion that would have been quite familiar to Oliver Cromwell or General Custer. The gun—antique, yet contemporary—still dominates the world. Geopolitical events and even consumer culture have been molded by the often-unseen research that firearms evoked. The new science of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton owed much to the Renaissance study of ballistics. But research into making guns and aiming them also brought on the more recent invention of mass production and kickstarted the contemporary field of artificial intelligence. This book follows the history of the gun and its often-unsuspected wider linkages, looking from the first cannons to modern gunnery, and to the yet-to-be-realized electrical futures of rays and beams.
Download or read book The Gunpowder Age written by Tonio Andrade and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A first look at gunpowder's revolutionary impact on China's role in global history The Chinese invented gunpowder and began exploring its military uses as early as the 900s, four centuries before the technology passed to the West. But by the early 1800s, China had fallen so far behind the West in gunpowder warfare that it was easily defeated by Britain in the Opium War of 1839–42. What happened? In The Gunpowder Age, Tonio Andrade offers a compelling new answer, opening a fresh perspective on a key question of world history: why did the countries of western Europe surge to global importance starting in the 1500s while China slipped behind? Historians have long argued that gunpowder weapons helped Europeans establish global hegemony. Yet the inhabitants of what is today China not only invented guns and bombs but also, as Andrade shows, continued to innovate in gunpowder technology through the early 1700s—much longer than previously thought. Why, then, did China become so vulnerable? Andrade argues that one significant reason is that it was out of practice fighting wars, having enjoyed nearly a century of relative peace, since 1760. Indeed, he demonstrates that China—like Europe—was a powerful military innovator, particularly during times of great warfare, such as the violent century starting after the Opium War, when the Chinese once again quickly modernized their forces. Today, China is simply returning to its old position as one of the world's great military powers. By showing that China’s military dynamism was deeper, longer lasting, and more quickly recovered than previously understood, The Gunpowder Age challenges long-standing explanations of the so-called Great Divergence between the West and Asia.
Download or read book War in European History written by Michael Howard and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-26 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published over thirty years ago, War in European History is a brilliantly written survey of the changing ways that war has been waged in Europe, from the Norse invasions to the present day. Far more than a simple military history, the book serves as a succinct and enlightening overview of the development of European society as a whole over the last millennium. From the Norsemen and the world of the medieval knights, through to the industrialized mass warfare of the twentieth century, Michael Howard illuminates the way in which warfare has shaped the history of the Continent, its effect on social and political institutions, and the ways in which technological and social change have in turn shaped the way in which wars are fought. This new edition includes a fully updated further reading and a new final chapter bringing the story into the twenty-first century, including the invasion of Iraq and the so-called 'War against Terror'.
Download or read book Castles Battles Bombs written by Jurgen Brauer and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-11-15 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Castles, Battles, and Bombs reconsiders key episodes of military history from the point of view of economics—with dramatically insightful results. For example, when looked at as a question of sheer cost, the building of castles in the High Middle Ages seems almost inevitable: though stunningly expensive, a strong castle was far cheaper to maintain than a standing army. The authors also reexamine the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II and provide new insights into France’s decision to develop nuclear weapons. Drawing on these examples and more, Brauer and Van Tuyll suggest lessons for today’s military, from counterterrorist strategy and military manpower planning to the use of private military companies in Afghanistan and Iraq. "In bringing economics into assessments of military history, [the authors] also bring illumination. . . . [The authors] turn their interdisciplinary lens on the mercenary arrangements of Renaissance Italy; the wars of Marlborough, Frederick the Great, and Napoleon; Grant's campaigns in the Civil War; and the strategic bombings of World War II. The results are invariably stimulating."—Martin Walker, Wilson Quarterly "This study is serious, creative, important. As an economist I am happy to see economics so professionally applied to illuminate major decisions in the history of warfare."—Thomas C. Schelling, Winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics
Download or read book Gunpowder written by Charles River and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-05-07 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading "What gunpowder did for war, the printing press has done for the mind." - Wendell Phillips The crucial importance of education in China, a prized virtue instilled in the population among all classes by beloved teacher and philosopher Confucius in the 6th century BCE, generated an unprecedented and long-lived golden age of literature and art. It also gave rise to a cornucopia of transformative innovations and groundbreaking technology, particularly following the dawn of the Common Era. In addition to the wheelbarrow, the seismograph, the waterwheel, deep drilling, suspension bridges, and ship rudders, among countless other life-changing contraptions, the Chinese developed what were later dubbed the "Four Great Inventions of China." One of those was none other than gunpowder, which was developed no later than the 9th century and was being used for military purposes by the 11th century. Its use slowly spread through South Asia and the Middle East before making it to Europe in the late 13th century. For a time it was a mere curiosity, but its destructive power and military potential would be realized quickly. The first record of a cannon in Europe comes from a manuscript written in 1326, which has an illustration showing an armored man with what looks like a slow match lighting a vase-shaped object. This crude cannon was called a pot de fer in French and vasi in Italian. While medieval engineers developed new types of cannons and explosives capable of destroying walls and castles, others were making the first handguns possible. European sources first mentioned the widespread use of handgonnes, as they were often called, in the late 14th century, precisely the time when gunpowder became cheaper. These were short metal barrels stuck on the end of wooden hafts that could be tucked under the arm, the powder being lit through a touchhole with the free hand. While they were not terribly accurate and had a shorter range and slower rate of fire than longbows or crossbows, they had the advantage of being better able to punch through armor than longbows and crossbows, and they were simple to make and use. By the late 15th century, handgonners had become a major part of the leading armies, and weapons that relied on gunpowder would remain a staple of warfare throughout the 19th century, paying deadly homage to one of history's most important inventions. Gunpowder: The History and Legacy of the Explosive that Modernized Warfare examines the origins of the chemical explosive, and its long, winding history across the world. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about gunpowder like never before.
Download or read book Medieval Siege Weapons 1 written by David Nicolle and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2002-09-18 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Medieval era was a period of huge variety and invention in siege warfare. Before the use of cannon and other gun-powder artillery, siege engines relied on assorted sources of power, from torsion 'energy storage' systems to man-power, counter-balances and others. This book reveals how technological traditions from the Graeco-Roman world, Persia, India and above all China made a massive contribution to siege warfare techniques. It also covers developments in military engineering, such as mining, counter-mining, the breaking of walls, the use of noxious and chemical fumes and the use of fire-weapons.
Download or read book Firepower written by Paul Lockhart and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How military technology has transformed the world The history of warfare cannot be fully understood without considering the technology of killing. In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of the evolution of weaponry and how it transformed not only the conduct of warfare but also the very structure of power in the West, from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era. Across this period, improvements in firepower shaped the evolving art of war. For centuries, weaponry had remained simple enough that any state could equip a respectable army. That all changed around 1870, when the cost of investing in increasingly complicated technology soon meant that only a handful of great powers could afford to manufacture advanced weaponry, while other countries fell behind. Going beyond the battlefield, Firepower ultimately reveals how changes in weapons technology reshaped human history.
Download or read book Toward Combined Arms Warfare written by Jonathan Mallory House and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1985 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book European Warfare 1350 1750 written by Frank Tallett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-28 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period 1350–1750 saw major developments in European warfare, which not only had a huge impact on the way wars were fought, but also are critical to long-standing controversies about state development, the global ascendancy of the West, and the nature of 'military revolutions' past and present. However, the military history of this period is usually written from either medieval or early-modern, and either Western or Eastern European, perspectives. These chronological and geographical limits have produced substantial confusion about how the conduct of war changed. The essays in this book provide a comprehensive overview of land and sea warfare across Europe throughout this period of momentous political, religious, technological, intellectual and military change. Written by leading experts in their fields, they not only summarise existing scholarship, but also present new findings and new ideas, casting new light on the art of war, the rise of the state, and European expansion.
Download or read book Military antiquities written by Francis Grose and published by . This book was released on 1786 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
