1.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
2.
Russian Civil War
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The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russias political future. In addition, rival militant socialists and nonideological Green armies fought against both the Bolsheviks and the Whites, eight foreign nations intervened against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces and the pro-German armies. The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia in Ukraine, the remains of the White forces commanded by Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in Crimea and evacuated in late 1920. Lesser battles of the war continued on the periphery for two years, and minor skirmishes with the remnants of the White forces in the Far East continued well into 1923. Armed national resistance in Central Asia was not completely crushed until 1934, there were an estimated 7,000, 000–12,000,000 casualties during the war, mostly civilians. The Russian Civil War has been described by some as the greatest national catastrophe that Europe had yet seen, many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Russian Empire and fought in the war. Several parts of the former Russian Empire—Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the rest of the former Russian Empire was consolidated into the Soviet Union shortly afterwards. After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the Russian Provisional Government was established during the February Revolution of 1917, Political commissars were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale and ensure loyalty. In June 1918, when it became apparent that an army composed solely of workers would be far too small. Former Tsarist officers were utilized as military specialists, sometimes their families were taken hostage in order to ensure their loyalty, at the start of the war three-quarters of the Red Army officer corps was composed of former Tsarist officers. By its end, 83% of all Red Army divisional and corps commanders were ex-Tsarist soldiers, a Ukrainian nationalist movement was active in Ukraine during the war. More significant was the emergence of an anarchist political and military movement known as the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine or the Anarchist Black Army led by Nestor Makhno, some of the military forces were set up on the basis of clandestine officers organizations in the cities. The Czechoslovak Legions had been part of the Russian army and numbered around 30,000 troops by October 1917 and they had an agreement with the new Bolshevik government to be evacuated from the Eastern Front via the port of Vladivostok to France. The transport from the Eastern Front to Vladivostok slowed down in the chaos, under pressure from the Central Powers, Trotsky ordered the disarming and arrest of the legionaries, which created tensions with the Bolsheviks. The Western Allies armed and supported opponents of the Bolsheviks, hence, many of these countries expressed their support for the Whites, including the provision of troops and supplies. Winston Churchill declared that Bolshevism must be strangled in its cradle, the British and French had supported Russia during World War I on a massive scale with war materials. After the treaty, it looked like much of material would fall into the hands of the Germans. Under this pretext began allied intervention in the Russian Civil War with the United Kingdom, there were violent clashes with troops loyal to the Bolsheviks
3.
Gun barrel
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A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
4.
Shell (projectile)
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A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used, originally, it was called a bombshell, but shell has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages, shells are usually large-calibre projectiles fired by artillery, combat vehicles, and warships. Shells usually have the shape of a cylinder topped by a nose for good aerodynamic performance, possibly with a tapering base. Solid cannonballs did not need a fuse, but hollow munitions filled with something such as gunpowder to fragment the ball, needed a fuse, percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented a challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism hit the target. Therefore, shells needed a fuse that was ignited before or during firing. The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376, shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop, as described in their book, these hollow, gunpowder-packed shells were made of cast iron. At least since the 16th Century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe, a hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt, Germany dated to the 17th Century. Lots of the grenades obtained their orignal blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. Early powder burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire put down the barrel to light the fuse, other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into use in the 16th Century. By the 18th Century, it was known that the fuse towards the muzzle could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel, the use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in the 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder and they were usually made of cast iron, but bronze, lead, brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter and they were about two thirds the weight of solid shot of the same calibre. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses towards the muzzle, in 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognised that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardised sabot thickness as a half inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading, despite the use of exploding shell, the use of smoothbore cannons, firing spherical projectiles of shot, remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. By the late 18th century, artillery could use canister shot to defend itself from infantry or cavalry attack and this involved loading a tin or canvas container filled with small iron or lead balls instead of the usual cannonball
5.
Caliber
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In guns, particularly firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires, in hundredths or sometimes thousandths of an inch. For example, a 45 caliber firearm has a diameter of.45 of an inch. Barrel diameters can also be expressed using metric dimensions, as in 9mm pistol, when the barrel diameter is given in inches, the abbreviation cal can be used. Good performance requires a bullet to closely match the diameter of a barrel to ensure a good seal. While modern cartridges and cartridge firearms are referred to by the cartridge name. Firearm calibers outside the range of 17 to 50 exist, but are rarely encountered. Larger calibers, such as.577.585.600.700, the.950 JDJ is the only known cartridge beyond 79 caliber used in a rifle. Referring to artillery, caliber is used to describe the length as multiples of the bore diameter. A 5-inch 50 calibre gun has a diameter of 5 in. The main guns of the USS Missouri are 1650 caliber, makers of early cartridge arms had to invent methods of naming the cartridges, since no established convention existed then. One of the early established cartridge arms was the Spencer repeating rifle, later various derivatives were created using the same basic cartridge, but with smaller-diameter bullets, these were named by the cartridge diameter at the base and mouth. The original No.56 became the. 56-56, and the smaller versions. 56-52. 56-50, the. 56-52, the most common of the new calibers, used a 50-cal bullet. Optionally, the weight in grains was designated, e. g. 45-70-405. Variations on these methods persist today, with new cartridges such as the.204 Ruger, metric diameters for small arms refer to cartridge dimensions and are expressed with an × between the bore diameter and the length of the cartridge case, for example,7. 62×51 NATO. This indicates that the diameter is 7. 62mm, loaded in a case 51mm long. Similarly, the 6. 5×55 Swedish cartridge has a diameter of 6.5 mm. An exception to rule is the proprietary cartridge used by U. S. maker Lazzeroni. The following table lists commonly used calibers where both metric and imperial are used as equivalents
6.
Breech-loading weapon
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A breech-loading gun is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel. Modern mass production firearms are breech-loading, early firearms, on the other hand, were almost entirely muzzle-loading. In field artillery, breech loading allows the crew to reload the gun without exposing themselves to fire or repositioning the piece. The main challenge for developers of breech-loading firearms was sealing the breech and this was eventually solved for smaller firearms by the development of the self-contained metallic cartridge. For firearms too large to use cartridges, the problem was solved by the development of the interrupted screw, breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century. The breech-loading swivel gun had a rate of fire, and was especially effective in anti-personnel roles. Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century, Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. More breech-loading firearms were made in the early 18th century, one such gun known to have belonged to Philip V of Spain, and was manufactured circa 1715, probably in Madrid. It came with a ready-to load reusable cartridge, patrick Ferguson, a British Army officer, developed in 1772 the Ferguson rifle, a breech-loading flintlock firearm. Later on into the century there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition, the cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly, Pauly made an improved version, which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812. In 1846 another Paris Frenchman, Benjamin Houllier, patented the first fully metallic cartridge containing powder in a metallic shell, Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. In English-speaking countries the Flobert cartridge corresponds to the.22 BB, the first centrefire cartridge was introduced in 1855 by Pottet, with both Berdan and Boxer priming. The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr or Dreyse needle gun, was a single-shot breech-loading rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech and it was so called because of its. 5-inch needle-like firing pin, which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under von Dreyse and eventually a version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies, specifically, however, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866
7.
Interrupted screw
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An interrupted screw or interrupted thread is a mechanical device typically used in the breech of artillery guns. It is believed to have invented in 1845. It is a screw that has a section of thread along its axis removed, the screw is mated with a partially threaded hole at the rear of the weapons chamber, where the screw has threads the hole has none, and vice versa. The screw can thus be smoothly inserted all the way into the gun, an earlier method was the use of a wedge to block the rear of the gun. Sealing was further improved with the de Bange obturator in 1872, the major weakness of the original designs was that only half of the circumference of the breechblock could be threaded, hence a fairly long breechblock was still required to achieve a secure lock. Axel Welin solved this problem with his stepped interrupted screw design and this design has threads of the block and breech cut in steps of successively larger radius. This is the design still in use with bagged charge artillery. Rifled breech loader Welin breech block Interrupted screw breech mechanisms Navweaps. com Interrupted threads used on naval guns
8.
Recoil
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Recoil is the backward movement of a gun when it is discharged. To apply this counter-recoiling force, modern mounted guns may employ recoil buffering comprising springs and hydraulic recoil mechanisms, early cannons used systems of ropes along with rolling or sliding friction to provide forces to slow the recoiling cannon to a stop. Recoil buffering allows the maximum counter-recoil force to be lowered so that strength limitations of the gun mount are not exceeded, however, the same pressures acting on the base of the projectile are acting on the rear face of the gun chamber, accelerating the gun rearward during firing. This results in the required counter-recoiling force being proportionally lower, modern cannons also employ muzzle brakes very effectively to redirect some of the propellant gasses rearward after projectile exit. This provides a force to the barrel, allowing the buffering system. The same physics affecting recoil in mounted guns and cannons applies to hand-held guns, hands, arms and shoulders have considerable strength and elasticity for this purpose, up to certain practical limits. For this reason, establishing recoil safety standards for small arms remains challenging, a change in momentum of a mass requires a force, according to Newtons first law, known as the law of inertia, inertia simply being another term for mass. That force, applied to a mass, creates an acceleration, according to Newtons second law, the law of momentum -- changing the velocity of the mass changes its momentum. It is important to understand at this point that velocity is not simply speed, velocity is the speed of a mass in a particular direction. In a very technical sense, speed is a scalar, a magnitude, in summation, the total momentum of the system equals zero, surprisingly just as it did before the trigger was pulled. There are two conservation laws at work when a gun is fired, conservation of momentum and conservation of energy, recoil is explained by the law of conservation of momentum, and so it is easier to discuss it separately from energy. The nature of the process is determined by the force of the expanding gases in the barrel upon the gun. It is also determined by the force applied to the gun. The recoil force only acts during the time that the ejecta are still in the barrel of the gun, except for the case of zero-recoil, the counter-recoil force is smaller than the recoil force but lasts for a longer time. Since the recoil force and the force are not matched. In the zero-recoil case, the two forces are matched and the gun will not move when fired. In most cases, a gun is very close to a free-recoil condition, an example of near zero-recoil would be a gun securely clamped to a massive or well-anchored table, or supported from behind by a massive wall. For example, placing the butt of a large caliber gun directly against a wall, the recoil of a firearm, whether large or small, is a result of the law of conservation of momentum
9.
Gun carriage
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A gun carriage is a frame and mount that supports the gun barrel of an artillery piece, allowing it to be manoeuvred and fired. The earliest guns were laid directly onto the ground, with earth being piled up under the end of the barrel to increase the elevation. As the size of guns increased, they began to be attached to wooden frames or beds that were held down by stakes. These began to be replaced by wheeled carriages in the early 16th century, from the 16th to the mid-19th century, the main form of artillery remained the smoothbore cannon. By this time, the trunnion had been developed, with the result that the barrel could be held in two recesses in the carriage and secured with an iron band. This simplified elevation, which was achieved by raising or lowering the breech of the gun by means of a wedge called a quoin or later by a steel screw. During this time, the design of gun carriages evolved only slowly, the trunnions of the gun barrel sat on the top of the cheeks, the rearward part of each cheek was stepped so that the breech could be lifted by iron levers called handspikes. Traversing the gun was achieved by levering the rear of the carriage sideways with handspikes and these were designed to allow guns to be deployed on the battlefield and were provided with a pair of large wheels similar to those used on carts or wagons. The cheeks of field carriages were much narrower than those on the naval carriage, when the gun needed to be moved any distance, the trail could be lifted onto a second separate axle called a limber, which could then be towed by a team of horses or oxen. Limbers had been invented in France in about 1550, in recent times, most heavy guns in military service, that were not themselves mounted into a vehicles, have been mounted either with a field carriage or a split trail carriage. The field carriage is simpler - having two legs extend backwards, joining at a tail, being a hardpoint to hook on to a prime mover or set of horses, the split trail carriage, however, is more complicated, but offers distinct advantages. It consists of two legs, able to be spread independently to the sides, or brought together to allow towing or movement, in both cases, the tail of the carriage often serves to balance the gun, and protect it from rolling to any large extent. The split trail, however, allows the gun not only to be fired near the horizontal, as the field carriage does and this is less important for heavier artillery, as the guns already involve a long time to prepare a firing position. While this still limits the ability to track, it allows the guns to fire in any direction with minimal preparation. Furthermore, it part of each of the benefits of the field carriage, being weight, space. The practice has its origins in war and appears in the century in the Queens regulations of the British Army. In the United Kingdom, the visual distinction usually referred to is that in a state funeral and this distinguishing feature is not invariable, however, as shown by the use of naval ratings rather than horses at the ceremonial funeral for Lord Mountbatten in 1979
10.
Gun laying
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Gun laying is the process of aiming an artillery piece, such as a gun, howitzer or mortar on land, or at sea, against surface or air targets. It may be laying for direct fire, where the gun is aimed similarly to a rifle, or indirect fire, the term includes automated aiming using, for example, radar-derived target data and computer-controlled guns. Gun laying means moving the axis of the bore of the barrel in two planes, horizontal and vertical. A gun is traversed – rotated in a horizontal plane – to align it with the target, Gun laying is a set of actions to align the axis of a gun barrel so that it points in the required direction. This alignment is in the horizontal and vertical planes, Gun laying may be for direct fire, where the layer sees the target, or indirect fire, where the target may not be visible from the gun. Gun laying has sometimes called training the gun. Laying in the vertical plane uses data derived from trials or empirical experience, for any given gun and projectile types, it reflects the distance to the target and the size of the propellant charge. It also incorporates any differences in height between gun and target, with indirect fire, it may allow for other variables as well. With indirect fire the horizontal angle is relative to something, typically the guns aiming point, depending on the gun mount, there is usually a choice of two trajectories. The dividing angle between the trajectories is about 45 degrees, it varies due to gun dependent factors. Below 45 degrees the trajectory is called low angle, above is high angle, the differences are that low angle fire has a shorter time of flight, a lower vertex and flatter angle of descent. All guns have carriages or mountings that support the barrel assembly, early guns could only be traversed by moving their entire carriage or mounting, and this lasted with heavy artillery into World War II. Mountings could be fitted into traversing turrets on ships, coast defences or tanks, from circa 1900 field artillery carriages provided traverse without moving the wheels and trail. The carriage, or mounting, also enabled the barrel to be set at the elevation angle. With some gun mounts it is possible to depress the gun, some guns require a near-horizontal elevation for loading. An essential capability for any elevation mechanism is to prevent the weight of the barrel forcing its heavier end downward and this is greatly helped by having trunnions at the centre of gravity, although a counterbalance mechanism can be used. It also means the elevation gear has to be enough to resist considerable downward pressure. However, mortars, where the forces were transferred directly into the ground
11.
Howitzer
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In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European armies in the 17th to 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the gun and the mortar. Howitzers, like other artillery equipment, are organized in groups called batteries. The English word howitzer comes from the Czech word houfnice, from houf, crowd, haufen, sometimes in the compound Gewalthaufen, also designated a pike square formation in German. This is particularly true in the forces of the United States. Because of this practice, the howitzer is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to attack targets using indirect fire. Thus, artillery pieces that bear resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras are now described as howitzers. Most other armies in the reserve the word howitzer for guns with barrel lengths 15 to 25 times their caliber. The British had a method of nomenclature. In the 18th century, they adopted projectile weight for guns replacing the old naming system of culverin, saker, mortars had been categorized by calibre in inches in the 17th century and this was inherited by howitzers. The modern howitzers were invented in Sweden towards the end of the 17th century, originally intended for use in siege warfare, they were particularly useful for delivering cast-iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In the middle of the 18th century, a number of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were enough to accompany armies in the field. Though usually fired at the high angles of fire used by contemporary siege howitzers. Rather, as the guns of the day were usually restricted to inert projectiles. Many, for the sake of simplicity and rapidity of fire, the Abus gun was an early form of howitzer in the Ottoman Empire. In 1758 the Russian Empire introduced a type of howitzer, with a conical chamber, called a licorne. The most famous of these gun-howitzers was the Napoleon 12-pounder, a weapon of French design that saw service in the American Civil War. The longest-serving artillery piece of the 19th century was the mountain howitzer, in 1859, the armies of Europe began to rearm field batteries with rifled field guns. These new field pieces used cylindrical projectiles that, while smaller in caliber than the spherical shells of smoothbore field howitzers, moreover, their greater range let them create many of the same effects that previously required the sharply curved trajectories of smoothbore field howitzers
12.
Schneider et Cie
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Schneider-Creusot, or Schneider et Cie, was a historic French iron and steel-mill which became a major arms manufacturer. After World War II, it evolved into Schneider Electric, in 1836 Adolphe Schneider and his brother Eugène Schneider bought iron-ore mines and forges around Le Creusot. They developed a business dealing in steel, railways, armaments, the Creusot steam hammer was built in 1877. Somua, a located near Paris, made machinery and vehicles
13.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
14.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
15.
Finnish Civil War
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The Finnish Civil War concerned leadership and control of Finland during the transition from a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire to an independent state. The conflict formed a part of the national, political, the war was fought between the Reds, led by the Social Democratic Party and the Whites, conducted by the non-socialist, conservative-led senate. The paramilitary Red Guards, composed of industrial and agrarian workers, controlled the cities, the paramilitary White Guards, composed of peasants and middle-class and upper-class factions, controlled rural central and northern Finland. Finnish society had experienced population growth, industrialization, pre-urbanization. World War I led to the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Reds carried out an unsuccessful general offensive in February 1918, supplied with weapons by Soviet Russia. A counteroffensive by the Whites began in March, reinforced by an Imperial German Army squad in April, both the Reds and Whites engaged in political terror. A high number of Red POWs died due to malnutrition and disease, altogether, around 39,000 people -36,000 Finns - perished in the conflict. In the aftermath, the Finns passed from Russian government to the German power sphere with a plan to establish German-led Finnish monarchy, the outline was aborted by the defeat of Germany in World War I. Finland emerged as an independent, democratic republic, the main factor behind the Finnish Civil War was World War I, the Russian Empire collapsed under the pressures of the war, leading to the February and October Revolutions in 1917. The breakdown caused a power vacuum and subsequent power struggle in Eastern Europe. The Grand Duchy of Finland, a part of the Russian Empire since 1809, geopolitically less important than the continental Moscow-Warsaw gateway, the northerly Finnish ground, isolated by the Baltic sea was a peaceful sidefront until early 1918. The war between the German Empire and Russia had indirect effects on the Finns, the German Empire saw Eastern Europe - primarily Russia - as a major source of vital products and raw materials, both during World War I and in the future. Between 30 and 40 million marks were spent on this endeavor, controlling the Finnish area would allow the Imperial German Army to penetrate Petrograd and the Kola Peninsula, an area rich in raw materials for the mining industry. Finland possessed large ore reserves and a well-developed forest industry, russias defeat in the Crimean War in the 1850s led to attempts to speed up the modernization of the country. This caused more than 50 years of economic, industrial, cultural and educational progress in the Grand Duchy of Finland, in 1899, the Russian Empire initiated a policy of integration through the Russification of Finland. In the power struggle, the most radical political group opposing Russia, the Activist movement, included terrorist factions from the working class and the Swedish-speaking intelligentsia. The major reasons for rising tensions among the Finns were the autocratic rule of the Russian Czar. The system originated in the Swedish Empire regime, preceding the Russian power, Finlands population grew rapidly in the 19th century, and a class of industrial and agrarian workers and property-less peasants emerged
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Winter War
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The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939–1940. It began with the Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, the League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the League on 14 December 1939. Finland refused and the USSR invaded the country, the Soviets possessed more than three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, had been crippled by Soviet leader Joseph Stalins Great Purge of 1937. With more than 30,000 of its officers executed or imprisoned, including most of those of the highest ranks, because of these factors, and high morale in the Finnish forces, Finland repelled Soviet attacks for several months, much longer than the Soviets expected. However, after reorganization and adoption of different tactics, the renewed Soviet offensive overcame Finnish defenses at the borders, hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded territory representing 11% of its area and 13% of its economy to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the international reputation suffered. While the Soviet Union did not conquer all Finland, Soviet gains exceeded their pre-war demands and they gained substantial territory along Lake Ladoga, providing a buffer for Leningrad, and territory in northern Finland. Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation, the end of the war cancelled the Franco-British plan to send troops to Finland through northern Scandinavia. One of the goals of the projected Franco-British operation had been to take control of northern Swedens iron ore. For this reason it was also a factor in the launching of Operation Weserübung, Nazi Germanys invasion of Denmark. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged Hitler to think that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful, until the beginning of the 19th century, Finland constituted the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden. In 1809, to protect their capital, Saint Petersburg. While abortive because of Russias internal strife, these attempts ruined Russias relations with the Finns, the new Bolshevik Russian government was weak, and with the threat of civil war looming Soviet Russia recognized the new Finnish government just three weeks after the declaration of independence. Sovereignty was fully achieved in May 1918 after a civil war. Finland joined the League of Nations in 1920, from which it sought security guarantees, nevertheless, the government of Sweden carefully avoided committing itself to Finnish foreign policy. Another Finnish military policy was the top secret military cooperation between Finland and Estonia, the 1920s and early 1930s were a politically unstable time in Finland
17.
Continuation War
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The Continuation War consisted of hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. The Continuation War began shortly after the end of the Winter War, in the Soviet Union, the war was considered part of the Great Patriotic War. Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its war efforts on the Eastern Front. Acts of war between the Soviet Union and Finland recommenced on 22 June 1941, the day Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union, open warfare began with a Soviet air offensive on 25 June. Subsequent Finnish operations undid its post-Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union on the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, on the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns halted their offensive 30 km from Leningrad, at the pre-World War II border between the Soviet Union and Finland. Finnish forces did not participate in the siege of Leningrad directly, in 1944, Soviet air forces conducted air raids on Helsinki and other major Finnish cities. A ceasefire ended hostilities on 5 September and was followed by the Moscow Armistice on 19 September, the 1947 Paris peace treaty concluded the war formally. Finland ceded Pechengsky District to the Soviets, leased Porkkala peninsula to them, shortly afterward, Germany invaded Poland and as a result the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on 17 September, next, Moscow demanded that the Baltic states allow the establishment of Soviet military bases and the stationing of troops on their soil. The Baltic governments accepted these ultimatums, signing corresponding agreements in September and October 1939, the Finnish government refused, and the Red Army attacked Finland on 30 November 1939. Condemnation of the Soviets by the League of Nations and by all over the world had no effect on Soviet policy. International help for Finland was planned, but very little actual help materialized, the Moscow Peace Treaty, which was signed on 12 March 1940, ended the Winter War. By the terms of the treaty, Finland lost one eleventh of its national territory, however, Finland had avoided having the Soviet Union annex the whole country. Finlands foreign policy had been based on multilateral guarantees for support from the League of Nations, Finnish public opinion favored the reconquest of Finnish Karelia. Finlands government declared the countrys defense to be its first priority, Finland purchased and received donations of war material during and immediately after the Winter War. On Finlands southern frontier the Soviet Union had acquired a base in Hanko near the capital Helsinki. Finland also had to resettle some 420,000 evacuees from the lost territories, to ensure the supply of food, it was necessary to clear new land for the evacuees to cultivate. This was facilitated by the Rapid Settlement Act, the Finnish leadership wanted to preserve the spirit of unanimity that was commonly felt throughout the country during the Winter War
18.
Gun shield
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A gun shield is a flat piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun or artillery piece, or, more rarely, to be used with an assault rifle. Some mounted machine guns and artillery pieces are equipped with armor plates to protect the gunners from sniper fire. Salvaged metal plates can sometimes service as improvised gun shields, in the Vietnam War crews of armored fighting vehicles, Gun shields fell out of widespread use after the Vietnam war, but they have seen a resurgence in popularity during the 1990s. Israeli military analysts began urging the use of gun shields, pointing to the risk to soldiers exposed to fire from automatic weapons. In particular, it was noted that many casualties were hit in areas not protected by body armor or a helmet, the U. S. began using gun shields during the 2000s-era wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ballistic shield Gun mantlet Hillbilly armor
19.
Krupp
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The Krupp family, a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their production of steel, artillery, ammunition, and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and it was important to weapons development and production in both world wars. One of the most powerful dynasties in European history, for 400 years Krupp flourished as the premier weapons manufacturer for Germany. From the Thirty Years War until the end of the Second World War, they produced everything from battleships, U-boats, tanks, howitzers, guns, utilities, the dynasty began in 1587 when a trader named Arndt Krupp moved to Essen and joined the merchants guild. He then began buying vacated real estate from families who fled the city due to the Black Death, over the next three centuries his descendants began producing small guns during the Thirty Years War and over time gradually acquired fulling mills, coal mines, and an iron forge. During the Napoleonic Wars, Friedrich Krupp founded the Gusstahlfabrik and began producing smelted steel in 1816, the foundations were laid for the steel Empire that would come to dominate the world for nearly a century under his son Alfred. Krupp became the manufacturer for the Kingdom of Prussia in 1859. Krupp was also a company that paved the way for workers rights. Widows and orphans were guaranteed pay if their husbands and/or fathers were killed, the company also produced the steel that built the railroads of America, capped the Chrysler Building in 1929, and was the first to travel to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. During the Third Reich, Krupp supported Adolf Hitler and the use of forced labour, after the war Krupp was rebuilt from scratch and again became one of the wealthiest companies in Europe. However a recession in 1967 caused the company severe profit loss, in 1999 the Krupp firm merged with Thyssen AG to form ThyssenKrupp AG, a large industrial conglomerate. Friedrich Krupp launched the familys metal-based activities, building a steel foundry in Essen in 1810. His son Alfred, known as the Cannon King or as Alfred the Great, invested heavily in new technology to become a significant manufacturer of steel rollers and he also invested in fluidized hotbed technologies and acquired many mines in Germany and France. Unusual for the era, he provided social services for his workers, including subsidized housing and health, the company began to make steel cannons in the 1840s—especially for the Russian, Turkish, and Prussian armies. When Alfred started with the firm, it had five employees, at his death twenty thousand people worked for Krupp—making it the worlds largest industrial company and the largest private company in the German empire. Krupps had a Great Krupp Building with an exhibition of guns at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, in the 20th century the company was headed by Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, who assumed the surname of Krupp when he married the Krupp heiress, Bertha Krupp. After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, the Krupp works became the center for German rearmament. In 1943, by an order from Hitler, the company reverted to a sole-proprietorship, with Gustav
20.
Kirov Plant
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The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant is a major Russian machine-building manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was established in 1789, then moved to its present site in 1801 as a foundry for cannonballs, the Kirov Plant is sometimes confused with another Leningrad heavy weapons manufactory, Factory No.185. In 1868 it was purchased by Nikolay Putilov and named the Putilov Company and it boomed during the industrialization of the 1890s, with the work force quadrupling in a decade, reaching 12,400 in 1900. The factory traditionally produced goods for the Russian government and railway products accounted for more than half of its total output, starting in 1900 it also produced artillery, eventually becoming a major supplier of it to the Imperial Russian Army alongside the state arsenals. By 1917 it grew into a giant enterprise that was by far the largest in the city of St. Petersburg, in February 1917 strikes at the factory contributed to setting in motion the chain of events which led to the February Revolution. After the October Revolution it was renamed Red Putilovite Plant, famous for its manufacture of the first Soviet tractors, Fordzon-Putilovets, the Putilov Plant was famous because of its revolutionary traditions. In the wake of Sergey Kirovs 1934 assassination, the plant was renamed Kirov Factory No.100, in World War II, the KV-1 tank was manufactured here. Starting around 2004 the Dartz T-98 Kombat luxury armored vehicle, somewhat reminiscent of the AM General Hummer, has constructed at the Kirov site
21.
Perm
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Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. According to the 2010 Census, Perms population is 991,162, as of the 2010 Census, the city was the thirteenth most populous in Russia. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov, the name Perm is of Finno-Ugric etymology, likely of Uralic origin. Komi is a member of the Permic group of Finno-Ugric languages, in Finnish and Vepsian perämaa means far-away land, similarly, in Hungarian perem means edge or verge. The geologic period of the Permian takes its name from the toponym, the city is located on the bank of the Kama River upon hilly terrain. The Kama is the tributary of the Volga River and one of the deepest and most picturesque rivers of Russia. This river is the waterway which grants the Ural Mountains access to the White Sea, Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea, the Kama divides the city into two parts, the central part and the right bank part. The city stretches for 70 kilometers along the Kama and 40 kilometers across it, the city street grid parallels the Kama River, traveling generally east-west, while other main streets run perpendicularly to those following the river. The grid pattern accommodates the hills of the city where it crosses them, another distinguishing feature of the citys relief is the large quantity of small rivers and brooks. The largest of them are the Mulyanka, the Yegoshikha, the Motovilikha, Perm has a continental climate with warm summers and long, cold winters. Perm is located in the old Perman area, which was inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples. Perm was first mentioned as the village of Yagoshikha in 1647, however, vasily Tatishchev, appointed by the Tsar as a chief manager of Ural factories, founded Perm together with another major center of the Ural region, Yekaterinburg. In 1870, a theater was opened in the city. In 1916, Perm State University—a major educational institution in modern Russia—was opened, after the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Perm became a prime target for both sides because of its military munitions factories. On December 25,1918, the Siberian White Army under Anatoly Pepelyayev, on July 1,1919, the city was retaken by the Red Army. In the 1930s, Perm grew as an industrial city with aviation, shipbuilding. During the Great Patriotic War, Perm was a center of artillery production in the Soviet Union. During the cold war, Perm became a closed city, the city is a major administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultural center
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Eastern Front (World War I)
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It stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, included most of Eastern Europe and stretched deep into Central Europe as well. The term contrasts with Western Front, which was being fought in Belgium, in the opening months of the war, the Imperial Russian Army attempted an invasion of eastern Prussia in the northwestern theater, only to be beaten back by the Germans after some initial success. At the same time, in the south, they successfully invaded Galicia, in Russian Poland, the Germans failed to take Warsaw. But by 1915, the German and Austro-Hungarian armies were on the advance, dealing the Russians heavy casualties in Galicia and in Poland, Grand Duke Nicholas was sacked from his position as the commander-in-chief and replaced by the Tsar himself. Several offensives against the Germans in 1916 failed, including Lake Naroch Offensive, however, General Aleksei Brusilov oversaw a highly successful operation against Austria-Hungary that became known as the Brusilov Offensive, which saw the Russian Army make large gains. The Kingdom of Romania entered the war in August 1916, the Entente promised the region of Transylvania in return for Romanian support. The Romanian Army invaded Transylvania and had successes, but was forced to stop and was pushed back by the Germans and Austro-Hungarians when Bulgaria attacked them in the south. Meanwhile, a revolution occurred in Russia in February 1917, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and a Russian Provisional Government was founded, with Georgy Lvov as its first leader, who was eventually replaced by Alexander Kerensky. The newly formed Russian Republic continued to fight the war alongside Romania, Kerensky oversaw the July Offensive, which was largely a failure and caused a collapse in the Russian Army. The new government established by the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, taking it out of the war and making large territorial concessions. Romania was also forced to surrender and signed a similar treaty, the front in the east was much longer than that in the west. This had an effect on the nature of the warfare. While World War I on the Western Front developed into trench warfare and this was because the greater length of the front ensured that the density of soldiers in the line was lower so the line was easier to break. Once broken, the communication networks made it difficult for the defender to rush reinforcements to the rupture in the line. Propaganda was a key component of the culture of World War I and it was most commonly deployed through the state-controlled media to glorify the homeland and demonize the enemy. Propaganda often took the form of images which portrayed stereotypes from folklore about the enemy or from glorified moments from the nations history, on the Eastern Front, propaganda took many forms such as opera, film, spy fiction, theater, spectacle, war novels and graphic art. Across the Eastern Front the amount of used in each country varied from state to state. Propaganda took many forms within each country and was distributed by different groups
23.
152 mm howitzer M1910/37
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152 mm howitzer M1910/37 was a limited production Soviet 152.4 mm howitzer, a modernization of the 152 mm howitzer M1910, initially designed by Schneider. The gun was employed by Red Army in World War II, the gun resulted from a modernization of the 152 mm howitzer M1910. The M1910 was initially designed by Schneider, putilov Plant and Perm Plant delivered 348 pieces in 1911-27. By 1936, the RKKA possessed 101 M1910s, including 5 practice pieces, work on modernizing the gun started in 1936. Because of small number of M1910s in service, extensive upgrade was not considered worthwhile, the gun was rechambered for larger cartridge, same as used by the 152 mm howitzer M1909/30, upgraded barrels received a mark lengthened chamber. Some pieces also had their wooden wheels replaced by ones with rubber tires. The modernized weapon was adopted as 152 mm howitzer model 1910/37. By 1941, all M1910 howitzers were upgraded, there was no production of new pieces. The design of M1910/37 was typical for World War I era howitzer, the gun had short barrel with eccentric interrupted screw breechblock, hydraulic recoil buffer and pneumatic recuperator were both mounted under the barrel. The carriage was of single type with limited traverse and, typically. The gun was typically towed by a team by means of a limber. For each gun three horse-drawn ammunition boxes were issued, each box held 22 projectiles and 24 propellant charges, under the organization of 1939, each rifle division had a howitzer regiment with a 152 mm howitzers battalion. In July 1941 these regiment were cancelled, same fate befell 152 mm howitzers battalions of motorized and armored divisions. By 1 June 1944, there were 192 such pieces in corps artillery, reserve of the Main Command included howitzer regiments and heavy howitzer brigades, sometimes organized into artillery divisions. By the outbreak of German-Soviet War older 152 mm howitzers were being replaced by the newer M-10, however the M-10 production rate was slow, so by June 1941 the M1910/37 was still in service and was employed by the RKKA in the German-Soviet War. However, no details of its service are available, low muzzle velocity and small traverse also made the gun helpless against enemy armor. On the other side, the M1910/37 was rugged, reliable, when set to fragmentation action, the OF-530 produced fragments which covered an area 70 m wide and 30 m deep. When set to HE action, the exploding shell produced a crater about 3.5 m in diameter, - The Weapons of the Red Army, Mn
24.
Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider
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The Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider was a French artillery piece used in World War I and World War II by many European countries. In the early 1900s, the French company Schneider began a collaboration with the Russian company Putilov, for this collaboration, it had developed a gun using the Russian 107 mm round, which was ordered by the Russian Army to be produced in Russia. Schneider then decided to modify the design for the French 105 mm round, initially, the French army was not interested in this weapon as they already had plenty of 75 mm field guns. After the end of World War I, France sold or gave many Schneider 105 mm guns to various countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland. In Italy, the 105 mm was re-designated the Cannone da 105/28, guns were also produced under license in Italy, starting from September 1914, by Ansaldo. Poland also used new model of Schneiders gun with a barrel and split trail. 29, which was in fact a different weapon, both were in service at the beginning of WW II in 1939. In 1939 Poland had 118 of wz.13 guns and 124 of wz.29 guns, the German conquests of Poland, Belgium, France, and Yugoslavia during World War II gave them large numbers of captured 105 mm Schneider guns. 854 L13 Ss were in service in France and a number were captured. Many of these were installed in the Atlantic Wall system of coastal defenses, finland was able to buy 12 of these guns from France during the Winter War, they also rebarreled six Russian 107mm Schnieders to 105mm. In addition, they were able to purchase 54 captured Polish Armata 105 mm wz.29 Schneider guns from Germany, because the gun was used by a large number of countries, it had a large number of official designations. 105 K/13 was the original French Gun,105 K/10 was the 107mm Russian Gun rebarrelled to 105mm, Artillery by Chris Chant, ISBN 1-84509-248-1, pages 31, 50-51. Cannone da 105/28 on Italian Army website Comando Supremo Flames of war List and pictures of World War I surviving 105 Mle 1913 Schneider guns
25.
BL 6-inch 30 cwt howitzer
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The Ordnance BL6 inch 30cwt howitzer was a British medium howitzer used in the Second Boer War and early in World War I. The qualifier 30cwt refers to the weight of the barrel and breech together which weighed 30 hundredweight,30 x 112 lb =3360 lb and it can be identified by the slightly flared shape of the muzzle and large recuperator springs below the barrel. Introduced 1896, based on an Indian Army design and its original shell was 122 pounds 9 ounces Lyddite explosive. In 1901 a lighter 100 lb shell was introduced which increased maximum range when firing from its wheeled travelling carriage to 7000 yards and these were then referred to as the heavy and light shell respectively. A100 lb shrapnel shell was also available and it was phased out and replaced by 6 inch 26 cwt howitzer from late 1915 onwards. Also, in 1915 it received barrel, breechlock, recoil system and this gun was designed as a siege howitzer firing a special 122 pounds 9 ounces howitzer shell. It was designed to be fired from a static siege platform, with wheels removed,12 Guns were employed in South Africa in the Second Boer War as part of the British siege train. No use was found for the platform which allowed elevation to 70°, This capability was designed for distinct siege operation. In this theatre the platform was an encumbrance, and it was discovered that it could be dispensed with, when World War I began approximately 80 guns were still available. They constituted the only true heavy artillery the British army possessed and it was adapted to use the standard 100 pounds gun shell, with a slight enlargement of the chamber to produce Mk I*, allowing slightly larger propellant charges. It served in all theatres, including the Western Front, until replaced by the modern 6 inch 26 cwt howitzer from late 1915. During the Greco-Turkish War, the Howitzer Regiment dispatched a 155 mm Howitzer Squadron from 1919 to early 1922, LONDON, PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTYS STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTINS LANE Dale Clarke, British Artillery 1914-1919, osprey Publishing, Oxford UK,2005 ISBN 1-84176-788-3 I. V. Hogg & L. F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918, new York, Barnes & Noble Books,2000. ISBN 0-7607-1994-2 Pg.61 Handbook for the 6-inch B. L. Hosted online by State Library of Victoria, Australia 6 inch B. L. howitzer, section gun drill -1912 Hosted online by State Library of Victoria, Australia BL6 inch 30 cwt Howitzer at Landships
26.
Rimailho Model 1904TR
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The 155 mm Rimailho Howitzer Model 1904TR was a medium howitzer used by France before and during World War I. The name Rimailho comes from the designer of the gun Captain Emile Rimailho a French artillery officer who was involved in the design. The gun was designed in 1904 and the TR in the name means Tir Rapide or Rapid Fire in English. Captain Rimailhos goal was to produce an artillery piece capable of a rate of fire equal to the modèle 1897. In service a well-trained gun crew could achieve a rate of 15 rounds per minute, however the 1904TR was mechanically complex, after each round is fired the guns breech is opened automatically. While the gun back into battery the breech is held open. The crew places a cartridge and shell onto the loading tray beneath the breach, the motion of the gun returning to battery slides the loading tray up into place and the firing lever is cocked. The firing lever is pulled and the cartridge and shell are rammed into the breech, the breech then closes and the gun fires. A firing demonstration was held at the French War College at Langres on September 4,1906 with the French Minister of War, the 1904TR tested against existing 155 mm and 270 mm artillery pieces and judged to be superior when firing against hardened concrete fortifications. In 1907 the 1904TR was put into production and eventually five artillery regiments were equipped with the 1904TR, each 1904TR battery consisted of two guns accompanied by three ammunition wagons for each gun. In August 1914, the French army had in service 104 pieces of 155 CTR, at the outbreak of war the 1904TR was one of the few large calibre modern artillery pieces available to the French Army. The French had neglected large calibre guns in favor of smaller and lighter artillery such as the Mle 1897, the Mle 1897 fit the French Armys doctrine of offence and manoeuver. This doctrine placed a great deal of emphasis on conducting battles in the open room for cavalry and infantry to manoeuver. When the Western Front stagnated and both sides became entrenched in 1915 the French Army was at a disadvantage due to their lack of range, large calibre artillery capable of high-angle fire. The 1904 TRs carriage was also dated at the time of its introduction being patterned on older siege howitzers. The 1904TR was supplemented from 1915-1918 by the Canon de 155 C modèle 1915 St. Chamond, due to their short range, most of the 155 CTR were used with powerful charges. This resulted in rapid wear of their barrels, none was in service at the end of the war. Only one surviving example is known of today at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces, new York, Barnes & Noble,2000 ISBN 0-7607-1994-2 Journal Of The United States Artillery, Volume 34,1910
27.
15 cm sFH 02
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The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 1902 was a German heavy field howitzer cannon introduced in 1903 and served in World War I. It was the first artillery piece to use a modern system in the German Army. Some 416 were in service at the beginning of the World War I, france had a Canon de 65 M with a recoil system, but used it only as a mountain howitzer. German Artillery of World War One, ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, Crowood Press,2001. Lovett Artillery Collection sFH02 on Landships, archived from the original on 22 February 2012. List and pictures of World War I surviving 15cm sFH02 howitzers
28.
6-inch howitzer M1908
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The 6 inch Howitzer, Model of 1908 was the standard American heavy howitzer before World War I. Forty-two of these weapons had been produced before 1917 and all were employed for training stateside in that war, for combat use in France the Canon de 155 C mle 1917 Schneider was purchased. All surviving weapons were retired during the 1920s and it is unusual among American-designed field artillery weapons in that it has the recoil cylinder situated above the barrel. The 4. 7-inch howitzer M1908/M1912 shared this feature, the 75 mm Gun M1917 also had this, but is based on the British Ordnance QF 18-pounder. Ammunition was either common steel shell with a fuze or shrapnel with a combination time/percussion fuze. Handbook of the 6-inch Howitzer Materiel, Model of 1908 and 1908MI, field Artillerymans Guide,3 inch Gun,4.7 and 6 inch Howitzer, Second Edition. Philadelphia, P. Blakistons Son & Co, williford, Glen M. American Breechloading Mobile Artillery, 1875-1953
29.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
30.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
31.
Rifle
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A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called lands, which contact with the projectile. When the projectile leaves the barrel, this spin lends gyroscopic stability to the projectile and prevents tumbling and this allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient bullets and thus improves range and accuracy. The word rifle originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a rifled gun, the word rifle is now used for any long hand-held aimed device activated by a trigger, such as Air rifles and the Personnel halting and stimulation response rifle. Rifles are used in warfare, hunting and shooting sports, formerly, rifles only fired a single projectile with each squeeze of the trigger. Modern rifles are capable of firing more than one round per trigger squeeze, some fire in an automatic mode. Thus, modern automatic rifles overlap to some extent in design, in fact, many light machine guns are adaptations of existing automatic rifle designs. A militarys light machine guns are chambered for the same caliber ammunition as its service rifles. Generally, the difference between a rifle and a machine gun comes down to weight, cooling system. Modern military rifles are fed by magazines, while machine guns are generally belt-fed, many machine guns allow the operator to quickly exchange barrels in order to prevent overheating, whereas rifles generally do not. Most machine guns fire from a bolt in order to reduce the danger of cook-off. Machine guns are often crewed by more than one soldier, the rifle is an individual weapon, the term rifle is sometimes used to describe larger crew-served rifled weapons firing explosive shells, for example, recoilless rifles. In many works of fiction a rifle refers to any weapon that has a stock and is shouldered before firing, the origins of rifling are difficult to trace, but some of the earliest practical experiments seem to have occurred in Europe during the 15th century. Archers had long realized that a twist added to the feathers of their arrows gave them greater accuracy. This might also have led to a increase in accuracy. Rifles were created as an improvement in the accuracy of smooth bore muskets, the black powder used in early muzzle-loading rifles quickly fouled the barrel, making loading slower and more difficult. Since musketeers could not afford to take the time to stop and clean their barrels in the middle of a battle, rifles were limited to use by sharpshooters, muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle
32.
Berdan rifle
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The Berdan rifle is a Russian rifle created by famous American firearms expert and inventor Hiram Berdan in 1868. Standard issue in the Russian army from 1870 to 1891, the Berdan was replaced by the Mosin–Nagant rifle, widely used in Russia as a hunting weapon, sporting variants, including shotguns, were produced until the mid-1930s. The Russian Berdan I and Berdan II rifles of.42 caliber are distinct from the Spanish Berdan 15mm conversion rifles adopted by Spain as the M1857/67 Berdan, two different versions of the later single-shot Berdan rifle were adopted as service weapons by Imperial Russia. The first version, manufactured by Colt in the USA, is known as the model of 1868 and it is a hammerless trapdoor breechblock design, and was manufactured in limited numbers as a full length infantry rifle. Colt also manufactured a few half-stock Berdan I cavalry carbine prototypes, Colt even produced a few target rifles based on the Berdan I. The model of 1870, or Berdan II, is a single-shot bolt-action with a distinctive short, the bolt handle serves as the only locking lug for the action, and when closed, points upwards at a 30-degree angle, rather than horizontally. The Berdan II was produced in four variants, a rifle, the lighter and slightly shorter dragoon rifle, a Cossack rifle with a button trigger and no trigger guard. Infantry and dragoon rifles were issued with quadrangular socket bayonets, initial production of the Berdan II was at Birmingham Small Arms in England. The rifles were manufactured in large numbers by Russian factories at Tula, Izhevsk. Estimated total production of all models is over 3 million, the rifle was known for its accuracy, simplicity and reliability. The 10. 7×58mmR cartridge used in the Berdan was also invented by Hiram Berdan and it was the subject of many patents in both the USA and United Kingdom. The bottleneck cartridge case used the Berdan primer, its first use in a small arms cartridge, cartridges were issued in blue paper packets of six rounds each. In addition to the cartridge for rifles, a special cartridge was manufactured for use in the cavalry carbine. It consisted of the cartridge case and bullet, but with a lighter powder charge of only 4.5 grams. At the time of its use, the 10. 75×58mmR cartridge was known for its power, no magazine-fed versions of the Berdan ever progressed beyond the prototype phase. Russian troops, however, did have various cartridge holders, such as the Krnka quick-loader, by the late 1880s Russia began the process of replacing the Berdan with a high velocity and magazine fed rifle, and this resulted in the adoption of the Mosin–Nagant. In 1892, a batch of 3,004 Berdan II rifles were converted to 7. 62×54mmR for Russian service by arms makers in Belgium and these rifles have new barrels and sights, and new bolts with a front locking lug and longer bolt handle. Had the conversion been deemed fit for service, an additional 40,000 were to be converted, however this did not go through
33.
Fedorov Avtomat
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The Fedorov Avtomat was an automatic rifle, designed by Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov in 1915 and produced in the Russian Empire and later in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. A total of 43,200 Fedorov rifles were manufactured between 1915 and 1924 in the city of Kovrov, the vast majority of them were made after 1920. The weapon saw combat in World War I, but was used more substantially in the Russian Civil War, the Fedorov Avtomat is a short-recoil operated, locked-breech weapon which fires from a closed bolt. The bolt locking is achieved by two dumbbell-shaped locking plates, mounted at either side of the breech, latching barrel and bolt together through lugs on the bolt and those plates are allowed to tilt slightly down after about 10 mm of free recoil, unlocking the bolt. A bolt hold-open device is fitted and the mechanism is of hammer type. Captain V. Fedorov began a prototype of a rifle in 1906. A model was submitted to the Rifle Commission of the Russian army in 1911, in 1913, Fedorov submitted a prototype automatic rifle with a stripper clip-fed fixed magazine, chambered for his own experimental rimless 6.5 mm cartridge, called the 6. 5mm Fedorov. This new rimless ammunition was more compact than the rimmed Russian 7. 62×54mmR, better suited for automatic weapons,6.5 mm Fedorov rifles were tested late in 1913 with favorable results. In the autumn of 1915, Fedorov was posted as an observer to France. Here he was impressed by the ubiquity of the French Chauchat and by the firepower it brought and his decision to adapt his semi-automatic rifle design for this purpose was one of wartime expediency. Fedorov set to the task upon his return to Russia in January 1916 and he retained the mechanism of his semi-automatic rifle, with the major addition of a selective fire switch. The fixed magazine was replaced by a detachable, curved 25-round box magazine, the change of ammunition involved only minimal changes to the rifle, including a chamber insert and a new range scale for the rear sights. The somewhat less powerful Japanese cartridge meant that the velocity was only about 654–660 m/s because of constrained barrel length. A US Army analysis from the early 1950s considered that the Fedorov Avtomat was unreasonably complex to manufacture, Russian tests indicated that the gun could fire about 300 rounds continuously before heat buildup rendered it inoperable. This was still an improvement compared to the Mosin–Nagant M1891 rifles, the main factor in the increased heat dissipation was the metal shroud over the barrel at the end of the forearm, which acted as a radiator. In terms of accuracy, Russian data indicates that when fired in short bursts the Fedorov Avtomat could reliably hit targets having a profile of 0. 6×0.5 m at a distance of 200 m. At 400 m the dispersion increased to 1. 1×0.9 m, consequently, burst fire was only considered effective up to about 500 m. Initially Fedorov wanted to call the class of weapons to which his new gun belonged ручное ружьё-пулемет and this designation appeared in a September 1916 article in the journal of the Artillery Commission
34.
M1867 Russian Krnka
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The M1867 Russian Krnka was a breech loading conversion of the muzzle-loading Model 1857 Six Line rifle musket designed by Czech arms maker, Sylvester Krnka. It was adopted by the Russian Empire in 1869, and was similar to the contemporary Snider-Enfield, conversions were carried out at the Tula armory. Two main versions were produced, infantry and cavalry rifles, shortly after its introduction to service, the M1867 was replaced by the Berdan rifle, though both weapons would serve simultaneously for a time. The rifles were issued to conscripts and police forces in the Central Asian territories, after being taken out of service, many were converted into cheap shotguns
35.
Winchester Model 1895
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This allowed the rifle to safely chamber military and hunting cartridges with spitzer bullets. The M1895 was also the last of the rifles to be designed by John Browning. By today’s standards however, the design is considered relatively weak, around serial number 5000, a new receiver profile was introduced which had fluted sides, as opposed to the original flat sided design. This new receiver reduced the weight of the rifle by a small amount, by serial number 6000, it is thought that the last of the flat sided M1895s left the factory. These early rifles are now exceedingly rare, rifles made for the Russian contract had a longer than standard barrel fitted with an extended forestock and bayonet lug. Initial delivery of the rifles was delayed because adaptation to Russian standards, particularly the charger guide, Winchester later sold these rejected rifles on the US commercial market. Russia issued many of their Winchester Model 1895 rifles to troops from Finland, at least 9,000 Model 1895 rifles are known to have been provided by the Soviet Union in 1936 to the Spanish Republicans for use in the Spanish Civil War. Other nations adopted the rifle in more limited numbers, the United States ordered 10,000 in caliber. 30/40 Krag for the Spanish–American War, but the war ended before they arrived at the front. These rifles were marked U. S. atop the receiver ring, many parts were marked K. S. M. by ordnance inspector Kelly S. Morse. One hundred of these rifles were issued to the 33rd Volunteer Infantry for field testing in the Philippine–American War, the report of testing completed on 25 December 1899 stated the Krag–Jørgensen was greatly superior for military service. The remaining 9,900 rifles were sold to M. Harley Company, some of these rifles found their way to Mexico, where they were favored by Pancho Villa’s troops during the Mexican Revolution. Theodore Roosevelt also personally purchased and equipped each of his officers in the Rough Riders with a M1895 Winchester in.30 Army during the same timeframe. Winchester strongly disputed the results of the contest, arguing that the competition had been rigged in Savages favor, as with previous Winchester rifles, a new serial number range was launched with the M1895, beginning with serial number 1. Including military contract rifles, a total of 425,881 rifles were produced, the standard barrel length varied from 24 to 28 inches, depending on chambering and configuration, and the Standard finish on all rifles was blue. Theodore Roosevelt took two M1895 rifles with him on his 1909 safari to East Africa, both in.405 Winchester. Additionally, Kermit Roosevelt accompanied his father on the trip and brought two more M1895 rifles, one was chambered in.405 Winchester, and the other in. 30-03 Springfield. While the serial number of Kermits. 30-03 has been lost, the Model 1895 in both its rifle and carbine configuration was popular with the Texas Rangers and Arizona Rangers in both the 30-40 Krag and 30-06 Springfield calibers. Also Kenneth DS Anderson used this gun in 0.405 Winchester to shoot most of the man eating Tigers and Panthers he hunted in South India in his life time, in 1985, the Browning Arms Company reintroduced the M1895 rifle in. 30-06 Springfield
36.
Winchester Model 1907
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The Winchester Model 1907 is a blowback-operated, semi-automatic rifle produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company beginning in 1906 with production ending in 1958. It fired a cartridge of intermediate power, cycled through an operating mechanism. It was fed from a 5,10, or 15 round detachable box magazine located immediately forward of the trigger guard, in size and handling, it is much like an M1 carbine, though the 1907 is heavier and fires a much harder hitting round. The only cartridge offered by Winchester as a chambering in the Model 1907 was the. 351SL centerfire. The energy of this cartridge at the muzzle approximates the original loading of the 30-30 or the modern 35 Remington at approximately 75-100 yards. In addition to the standard or plain finish model, a deluxe or fancy finish model was offered with pistol grip stock and checkering on the forearm, the plain finish rifles were offered in 1907 at a list price of $28. That equates to approximately $7302016 dollars, a barrel sleeve with Krag bayonet mount and front sight was also an option with the Police Rifle. The basic design for the Model 1907 is covered by U. S, patent 681,481 issued August 27,1901 and assigned to Winchester by Thomas Crossley Johnson, a key firearms designer for Winchester. Patent 681,481 Small cartridge, Winchester Model 1903 U. S, patent 720,698 Large cartridge, self-loading, box magazine, takedown rifle U. S. Patent 963,444 Buttstock bolt The government initially ordered 300 Model 1907 rifles in October 1915 from Winchester, ammunition orders for these rifles exceeded 1.5 million cartridges of. 351SL before 1917. Subsequent orders in 1917 and 1918 totaled 2,200 Model 1907 rifles, according to factory records, these rifles were modified for fully automatic fire and fitted with Lee-Navy rifle bayonets. These rifles were designated by the name of Winchester Model 1907/17, they used either a 15-round magazine or 20-round magazine and these rifles were specially modified for aerial use and intended to arm airplane rear seat observers. The Imperial Russian government is recorded by Winchester as purchasing 500 Model 1907 rifles and 1.5 million rounds of. 351SL ammunition through the J. P. Morgan Company in May 1916. According to factory records, the 1st Aero Squadron of the U. S. Army Signal Corps Air Service was shipped 19 Model 1907 rifles and 9000 cartridges of. 351SL ammunition. The 1st Aero Squadrons shipment was sent to Columbus, New Mexico and was used in arming their aircraft while in support of General Pershings Punitive Expedition. The Federal Bureau of Investigation acquired some Model 1907 rifles in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre, ribeyrolles 1918 automatic carbine The Vintage Semi-Automatic Sporting Rifles Forum - Winchester Model 1907
37.
Machine gun
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A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
38.
Chauchat
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The Chauchat, named after its main contributor Colonel Louis Chauchat, was the standard machine rifle or light machine gun of the French Army during World War I. Its official designation was Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG, beginning in June 1916, it was placed into regular service with French infantry, where the troops called it the FM Chauchat. The Chauchat machine rifle in 8mm Lebel was also used in 1917–18 by the American Expeditionary Forces. The armies of eight other nations – Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia and it set a precedent for several subsequent 20th-century firearm projects, being a portable, yet full-power automatic weapon built inexpensively and in very large numbers. The Chauchat combined a pistol grip, a stock, a detachable magazine. Furthermore, it could be fired from the hip and while walking. The muddy trenches of northern France exposed a number of weaknesses in the Chauchats design, Construction had been simplified to facilitate mass production, resulting in low quality of many metal parts. The magazines in particular were the cause of about 75% of the stoppages or cessations of fire, they were made of metal and open on one side, allowing for the entry of mud. The weapon also ceased to function when overheated, the barrel sleeve remaining in the position until the gun had cooled off. Shortly after World War I, the French army replaced the Chauchat with the new gas-operated Mle 1924 light machine gun and it was mass manufactured during World War I by two reconverted civilian plants, Gladiator and Sidarme. The Belgian military did not experience difficulties with their Chauchats in 7. 65mm Mauser, conversely, the Chauchat version in U. S. 30-06 made by Gladiator for the A. E. F. The Model 1918, proved to be defective and had to be withdrawn from service. The Chauchat machine rifle project was initiated between 1903 and 1910 in a French Army weapon research facility located near Paris, the Atelier de Construction de Puteaux. This development was aiming at creating a light, portable automatic weapon served by one man only. The project was led from the beginning by Colonel Louis Chauchat, not less than eight trial prototypes were tested at APX, between 1903 and 1909. As a result, a series of 8 mm Lebel CS machine rifles was ordered in 1912. Because they were light, they were used temporarily during the part of World War I to arm observation crews on French military aircraft. None of these CS machine rifles have survived, either in museums or in private collections
39.
Madsen machine gun
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It was the worlds first true light machine gun produced in quantity. Consequently, Madsen was able to sell it in 12 different calibres to over 34 different countries worldwide, the Madsen was produced by Compagnie Madsen A/S. The design dates to 1880s with the Danish Forsøgsrekylgevær, meaning trial recoil rifle, in 1883 Captain Vilhelm Herman Oluf Madsen, and Rustmester Rasmussen, began working on a recoil-operated self-loading rifle, Madsen developed the idea and Rasmussen fabricated the actual weapons. The rifle used a non-removable stripper clip that used gravity to feed rounds to the action, the rifle used the 8×58RD cartridge, first in black-powder and then in a much more powerful smokeless powder version. An improved design in 1896 gave the rifle an enclosed, but still gravity-fed and this version saw some 50–60 rifles being produced, but they were only issued to the Danish navy for use by coastal fortifications troops. Investors formed a company, in 1898 to commercialise the rifle, by this time Madsen had left the project to become Minister of Defence in Denmark. In 1899 Lieutenant Jens Schouboe became the manager for the DRS, consequently, the Madsen rifle is sometimes referred to as the Schouboe rifle. In 1901 he patented the design for the Madsen machine gun, the original Madsen machine guns used black-powder cartridges that quickly jammed the action. However, once the design was tried with 6. 5mm smokeless powder rounds it worked well, the Madsen has a rather sophisticated and unique operating cycle. The machine gun uses a mixed recoil-operated locking system with a bolt that is patterned after the lever-action Peabody Martini breechblock. The recoil operation is part short and part long recoil, after firing a round, the initial recoil impulse drives the barrel, barrel extension, and bolt to the rear. A pin on the side of the bolt moves backward in grooves in an operating cam plate mounted to the right side of the receiver. After 12.7 mm of travel, the bolt is cammed upward, the barrel and barrel extension continue to move rearward to a point slightly exceeding the combined overall length of the cartridge case and projectile. After the breech is exposed, an odd lever-type extractor/ejector, mounted under the barrel, pivots to the rear, extracts the empty case, and ejects it through the bottom of the receiver. The bolts operating cam then forces the bolt face to pivot downward, while the bolt and barrel are returning forward, a cartridge-rammer lever, mounted on the barrel extension, pivots forward, loading a fresh cartridge. The Madsen was considered expensive to produce, but was known for its reliability, thirty-four countries bought the gun, in a dozen different calibres, before and after World War I. The Imperial Russian Army bought 1,250 Madsens for the cavalry, the Imperial Russian Air Service used Madsens to equip their Morane-Saulnier G and Morane-Saulnier L monoplanes, mounting the gun to fire over the propeller. The German Army deployed the Madsen in 7.92 mm calibre in 1914, arming infantry companies, mountain troops and later storm troopers
