Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/822

 786 ARTILLERY cast-iron balls. The culverin, though of less calibre than the cannon, was a much larger eun, and differed entirely from the culverin of the preceding century. Artillery had hitherto been employed in attacking cities and castles alone, but the perfection to which it had been brought in France made it very formidable in the field also. The rapid conquest of Italy by Charles VIII., the successor of Louis XL, was entirely due to his improved artillery; the French guns, mounted on the new carriages, well horsed, and ready to go into battery at any moment, presenting a marked contrast to tlie cumbersome Italian bombards, firing stone balls, and dragged with great difficulty by bul- locks. During the Kith century brass guns and cast-iron projectiles were adopted throughout Europe, while Tartaglia in Italy made great im- provements in gunnery, and invented the gun- ner's quadrant. The carriages, however, had no limbers and were still heavy and awkward ; and as the principal dimensions only were fixed, j great differences existed even in those for guns of the same calibre. The cannon belonging to an army, together with the wagons loaded with implements and ammunition, were collected into an artillery train, to which certain officers and artillerists were attached. The latter were looked upon as mechanics, served a regular apprenticeship, and had a guild of their own ; they were divided into cannoneers, who served the guns, and artificers, who conducted ver- tical fire and made up warlike stores. When a war broke out, the different monarchs hired as many as they required or could get, their pay being four times that of a soldier. In battle, artillery tactics consisted in the sin- gle detail of putting the guns in position, gener- ally in front of the line, taking care to hide them as much as possible behind troops until they were to open fire. In case of disaster they nearly always fell into the enemy's hands, from its being so difficult to move them. The German, Spanish, and Italian cannon of that age were of sizes and calibres innumera- ble. Charles V. had more than 50 different kinds, from 124-pdrs. down, and found this such a disadvantage, particularly in the field, that he attempted, though ineffectually, to limit their number to eight, including mortars. About the year 1550 the French calibres, which had run all the way from 80-pdrs. down to 1-pdrs., were reduced to six, viz. : cannons, three sizes of culverins, falcons, and falconets ; there were no mortars. During the last half of the century case shot (Hagelkugel) was in- vented in Germany, but was not brought into general use ; about the same time shells were successfully fired from mortars in that country, the result being kept a profound secret. These projectiles, originally made by fastening toge- ther two hollow metal hemispheres, and known to the Chinese and Arabs, were first introduced into Europe by the Italians. In Holland, mor- tar shells and hand grenades were first rendered useful and effective during the early part of the 17th century, and Maurice and Henry Frede- rick of Nassau made many artillery improve- ments, doing away with the arbitrary distinc- tions between cannons and culverins, based upon their lengths, and restricting the calibres to 48, 24, 12, and 6-pdrs., called cannons, half cannons, quarter cannons, and falcons, the last two being proportionally longer and heavier to prevent damage to embrasures. The dimen- sions of these pieces were fixed, while handles and cascables, shaped for the attachment of ropes, facilitated mechanical manoeuvres. The gun carriages, which had limbers and ammu- nition chests, were similarly reduced to four, and their dimensions made so uniform that wheels and other parts were interchangeable. About the same time Gustavus Adolphus, per- ceiving the advantages that would result from guns capable of quick motion and rapid fire, introduced light pieces made of thin copper and wrapped about with rope and leather ; these, not proving durable, were replaced by iron 4-pdrs. weighing about 650 Ibs., and drawn by a single pair of horses. Rapidity of fire was attained by the use of cartridges, the slow process of inserting the powder by ladlefuls being thus gotten rid of. Two of these guns were attached to each regiment, and were at first intended to fire canister, before that time only used in siege operations and by ships of war ; but they soon came to fire solid shot, and did great execution at the battle of Leipsic in 1631. Gustavus did much also toward devel- oping the tactical powers of the arm by mass- ing the heavy guns in strong batteries on the wings and centre, and doing away with the old fashion of stringing them out in front of the line of battle. He had great confidence in his artillery, which was very strong in pro- portion to the other arms, there being 80 pieces in 1630 to 20,000 men, and 200 pieces before Frankfort to only 18,000. Malthus, a noble- man who had served in the Low Countries, in- troduced the mortar shell into France, where it was first used in 1634. Mortars of 10, 12, and 14-inch calibre were cast under his direc- tion, and about this time came into general use throughout Europe. The shell after being in- serted was kept in place by a tamping of earth, and its fuse was lighted by hand before the mortar was fired. The small mor- tar which still bears the name of its inventor Coe- horn, an officer in the service of the prince of Orange, was first used in 1674. The invention of howitzers was another signal service which the FIG. 4.-~Coehom Mortar. Dutch rendered to the art of war, the idea hav- ing first occurred to them that shells might be used in cannon by shortening the pieces so that the projectile could be inserted by hand.