Artillery Through the Ages: A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in AmericaA 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. |
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An impressive overview of centuries of scientific and social evolutionary paths of artillery of the major military powers; despite it's small size (less than one-hundred pages!) it contains a wealth of knowledge and dozens of beautifully detailed illustrations.
Make use of the expansive glossary; the text assumes the reader has a base knowledge of artillery terms and concepts.
Author is a well known and prolifically published scholar in the field, based at the 17th century Spanish forts in St. Augustine Florida; understandably the examples in this text focus primarily on Spanish weaponry.
The listing of NPS pieces is brilliant and the only compilation of it's kind I've ever come across.
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This is an amazing book. I just wrote a term paper on Artillery for my history class. This book explained to me how artillery weapons work and about their origins. best weapons book i've ever read. i would highly recommend it.
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Artillery Through the Ages: A Short Illustrated History of Cannon ... Albert Manucy Limited preview - 1985 |
Common terms and phrases
4-pounder armament artillery ball base batteries bombs bore breech British bronze caliber called cannon carriage cartridge cast cast-iron Castillo de San chamber changes charge cheeks Civil culverin diameter early effective eighteenth century elevation embrasure enemy English explosive feet field Figure fired force fortification founded French fuze garrison grape gunner heavy hole howitzers ignite important improved inches included increased instance invented iron ladle larger late later length less light loading marked means metal mortar mounted move muzzle ordnance piece pounds powder powder charge primer projectile range reinforce rifles ring round San Marcos screw seacoast served shell ship short shot side siege sight smoothbore Spanish sponge standard stone thick took trail train tube turned United usually vent walls weapon weight wheels wooden yards
Popular passages
Page 6 - Ammunition — mainly cast-iron round shot, the bomb (an iron shell filled with gunpowder), canister (a can filled with small projectiles), and grape shot (a cluster of iron balls) — was carried the primitive way, in wheelbarrows and carts or on a man's back. The gunner's pace was the measure of field artillery's speed: the gunner walked beside his gun! Furthermore, some of these experts were getting along in years. During Elizabeth's reign several of the gunners at the Tower of London were over...
Page 6 - Spanish Square of heavily armed pikemen and musketeers began to dominate the battlefield. In the face of musketry, field artillery declined. Although artillery had achieved some mobility, carriages were still cumbrous. To move a heavy English cannon, even over good ground, it took 23 horses; a culverin needed nine beasts. Ammunition — mainly cast-iron round shot, the bomb (an iron shell filled with gunpowder), canister (a can filled with small projectiles), and grape shot (a cluster of iron balls)—...
Page 65 - ... the early days it was commonly pronounced "bum." The modern equivalent of the "bum" is an HE shell. The first recorded use of explosive shells was by the Venetians in 1376. Their bombs were hemispheres of stone or bronze, joined together with hoops and exploded by means of a primitive powder fuze. Shells filled with explosive or incendiary mixtures were standard for mortars, after 1550, but they did not come into general use for flat-trajectory weapons until early in the nineteenth century, whereafter...
Page 1 - In the middle of the ropes 2 rises a wooden arm like a chariot pole . . . to the top of the arm hangs a sling . . . when battle is commenced a round stone is set in the sling . . . four soldiers on each side of the engine wind the arm down till it is almost level with the ground . . . when the arm is' set free it springs up and hurls forth from its sling the stone, which is certain to crush whatever it strikes. This engine was formerly called the
Page 80 - ... soldiers, gun drills took on a more military aspect, as these seventeenth century commands show: 1. Put back your piece. 2. Order your piece to load. 3. Search your piece. 4. Sponge your piece. 5. Fill your ladle. 6. Put in your powder. 7. Empty your ladle. 8. Put up your powder. 9. Thrust home your wad. 10. Regard your shot. 11. Put home your shot gently. 12. Thrust home your wad with three strokes. 13. Gauge your piece. Gunners had no trouble finding work, as is singularly illustrated by the...
Page 8 - Revolution there was a dispute about whether a general officer whose service had been in the Royal Artillery was entitled to command troops of all arms.
Page 2 - ... the Romans appeared before Syracuse its citizens were filled with terror, for they imagined they could not possibly defend themselves against so numerous and fierce an enemy. But, Plutarch tells us, ' Archimedes soon began to play his engines upon the Romans and their ships, and shot against them stones of such an enormous size and with so incredible a noise and velocity that nothing could stand before them. The stones overturned and crushed whatever came in their way and spread terrible disorder...
Page 19 - It was in siege operations that the rifles forced a new era. As the smoke cleared after the historic bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861, military men were already speculating on the possibilities of the newfangled weapon.
Page 14 - Probably, rifling evolved from the early observation of the feathers on an arrow— and from the practical results of cutting channels in a musket, originally to reduce fouling, then because it was found to improve accuracy of the shot.
Page 80 - I mentioned on p. 53. 1 . Put back your Peece 2. Order your Peece to load 3. Search your Peece 4. Sponge your Peece 5. Fill your ladle 6. Put in your Powder 7. Empty your ladle 8. Put up your Powder 9.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Artillery Through the Ages: A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in America |
| Author | Albert C. Manucy |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | DIANE Publishing, 1994 |
| ISBN | 0788107453, 9780788107450 |
| Length | 92 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |