1.
Dazu Rock Carvings
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The Dazu Rock Carvings are a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings, dating back as far as the 7th century AD, depicting and influenced by Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs. Some are in rock-cut cave shrines, in the usual Chinese Buddhist style, listed as a World Heritage Site, the Dazu Rock Carvings are made up of 75 protected sites containing some 50,000 statues, with over 100,000 Chinese characters forming inscriptions and epigraphs. The sites are located in Chongqing Municipality within the steep hillsides throughout Dazu County, the highlights of the rock grotto are found on Mount Baoding and Mount Beishan. They provide outstanding evidence of the synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. In the 12th century, during the Song dynasty, a Buddhist monk named Zhao Zhifeng began work on the elaborate sculptures, off limits to visitors for many years, the carvings were opened to Chinese travellers in 1961 and foreign visitors in 1980. Until 1975, there was only a path between the town of Dazu and the main cluster of carvings. The isolation helped keep the art unharmed during the massive anti-religious vandalism of the Cultural Revolution
2.
Cannon
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A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile, which may or may not be explosive. The word cannon is derived from languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane. The Greeks invented the first type—a steam cannon—designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse, ctesibius built a steam cannon in Alexandria and in the fifteenth century Leonardo da Vinci designed another, the Architonnerre, based on Archimedes work. The earliest form of artillery was developed in Song China, over time replacing siege engines. In the Middle East, the first use of the cannon is argued to be during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluk Sultanate and Mongol Empire. The first cannon in Europe were in use in the Iberian Peninsula by the mid-13th century and it was during this period, the Middle Ages, that cannon became standardised, and more effective in both the anti-infantry and siege roles. After the Middle Ages most large cannon were abandoned in favour of greater numbers of lighter, Cannon also transformed naval warfare in the early modern period, as European navies took advantage of their firepower. In World War I, the majority of fatalities were caused by artillery. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, Cannon was widely known as the earliest form of a gun and artillery, before early firearms were invented. The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, both Cannons and Cannon are correct and in common usage, with one or the other having preference in different parts of the English-speaking world. Cannons is more common in North America and Australia, while cannon as plural is more common in the United Kingdom, Cannon in general have the form of a truncated cone with an internal cylindrical bore for holding an explosive charge and a projectile. The thickest, strongest, and closed part of the cone is located near the explosive charge, as any explosive charge will dissipate in all directions equally, the thickest portion of the cannon is useful for containing and directing this force. Field artillery cannon in Europe and the Americas were initially made most often of bronze, though later forms were constructed of cast iron and eventually steel. However, cast iron cannon have a tendency to burst without having any previous weakness or wear. The following terms refer to the components or aspects of a classical western cannon as illustrated here. In what follows, the words near, close, and behind will refer to those parts towards the thick, closed end of the piece, and far, front, in front of, and before to the thinner, open end. Bore, The hollow cylinder bored down the centre of the cannon, including the base of the bore or bottom of the bore, the diameter of the bore represents the cannons calibre. Chamber, The cylindrical, conical, or spherical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore into which the gunpowder is packed
3.
Field artillery in the American Civil War
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Field artillery in the American Civil War refers to the artillery weapons, equipment, and practices used by the Artillery branch to support the infantry and cavalry forces in the field. It does not include siege artillery, use of artillery in fixed fortifications, nor does it include smaller, specialized artillery classified as small arms. The principal guns widely used in the field are listed in the following table, there were two general types of artillery weapons used during the Civil War, smoothbores and rifles. Smoothbore artillery refers to weapons that are not rifled, at the time of the Civil War, metallurgy and other supporting technologies had just recently evolved to a point allowing the large scale production of rifled field artillery. As such, many weapons were still in use and production even at the end of the war. Smoothbore field artillery of the day fit into two role-based categories, guns and howitzers, further classifications of the weapons were made based on the type of metal used, typically bronze or iron, although some examples of steel were produced. Additionally, the artillery was often identified by the year of design in the Ordnance department references, the smoothbore artillery was also categorized by the bore dimensions, based on the rough weight of the solid shot projectile fired from the weapon. For instance a 12-pounder field gun fired a 12-pound solid shot projectile from its 4. 62-inch diameter bore and it was practice, dating back to the 18th century, to mix gun and howitzers into batteries. Pre-war allocations called for 6-pounder field guns matched with 12-pounder howitzers,9, smooth bore guns were designed to fire solid shot projectiles at high velocity, over low trajectories at targets in the open, although shell and canister were acceptable for use. The barrels of the guns were longer than corresponding howitzers, Field guns were produced in 6-pounder, 9-pounder, and 12-pounder versions. Although some older iron weapons were pressed into service, and the Confederacy produced some new iron field guns, the 6-pounder field gun was well represented by bronze Models of 1835,1838,1839, and 1841 early in the war. Even a few older iron Model of 1819 weapons were pressed into service, several hundred were used by the armies of both sides in 1861. But in practice the limited payload of the projectile was seen as a shortcoming of this weapon, from mid-war on, few 6-pounders saw action in the main field armies. The larger 9- and 12-pounders were less well represented, while the 9-pounder was still listed on Ordnance and Artillery manuals in 1861, very few were ever produced after the War of 1812. 9-pounders were universally gone well before the Mexican war, and only scant references exist to any Civil War use of the weapons, the 12-pounder field gun appeared in a series of models mirroring the 6-pounder, but in far less numbers. At least one Federal battery, the 13th Indiana, took the 12-pounder field gun into service early in the war, the major shortcoming of these heavy field guns was mobility, as they required eight-horse teams as opposed to the six-horse teams of the lighter guns. A small quantity of 12-pounder field guns were rifled early in the war, but these were more experimental weapons, by far the most popular of the smoothbore cannon was the 12-pounder Model of 1857, Light, commonly called Napoleon. The Model 1857 was of lighter weight than the previous 12-pounder guns and it is sometimes called, confusingly, a gun-howitzer and is discussed in more detail separately below
4.
Cannon operation
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Cannon operation required specialised crew and gunners, who were first enlisted by the Spanish in the 14th century. The nature of cannon operation often depended on the size of the cannon, English cannon of the late 14th century became mobile, while the largest cannon required huge crews to transport and operate them. Cannon operation is described by the 1771 Encyclopædia Britannica, each cannon would be manned by two gunners, six soldiers, and four officers of the artillery. The right gunner was to prime the piece and load it with powder, while the gunner would fetch the powder from the magazine. Three soldiers stood on each side of the cannon, to ram and sponge the cannon, the second soldier on the left was charged with providing 50 rounds. Prior to loading, the cannon would be cleaned with a sponge to remove all sparks, filth. The powder was added, followed by a wad of paper or hay, after ramming, the cannon would be aimed with the elevation set using a quadrant and a plummet. At 45 degrees the ball had the utmost range – about ten times the level range. Any angle above the line was called random-shot. The officer of artillery had to ensure the cannon was diligently served, water was available to dip the sponges in and cool the pieces every ten or twelve rounds. In the late 1770s it was said that a 24-pounder could fire 90 to 100 shots a day in Summer, however, French artillery officers managed to have a cannon fire 150 shots daily during siege. A16 or 12 pounder would fire a more, because they were more easily served. The Encyclopædia Britannica mentions some occasions where 200 shots have been fired from these pieces in the space of nine hours, several instruments are used to service a medieval style cannon, as noted in the 1771 Encyclopædia Britannica. The sponge is a staff or rammer with a piece of fleece sheep or lambskin wound about its end, to serve for scouring the cannon when discharged. This cleaning prevents any spark or fire from remaining in the piece, sponges were the most commonly used cannon cleaning instruments. A wad-screw is two points of iron in the shape of a corkscrew, to extract the wad out of the piece, used when the cannon has to be unloaded or dirt must be removed. The lantern or ladle serves to carry the powder into the piece and this lantern must have three calibers and a half in length, and two calibers in breadth, being rounded on the end to load the ordinary pieces. The primer must contain a pound of powder at least, and is used to prime the pieces, a rammer is a round piece of wood, commonly called a box, which serves to drive home the powder and ball to the breech
5.
Rifled breech loader
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The spin imparted by the guns rifling gives projectiles directional stability and increased range. Loading from the rear of the gun leaves the crew exposed to enemy fire, allows smaller gun emplacements or turrets. This was both a safety issue and one of gun performance - all the propellant gas was needed to accelerate the projectile along the barrel. The second problem was speed of operation - how to close the breech before firing, two solutions were developed more or less in parallel, the screw breech block and sliding wedge or sliding block. Hence, unlike with a rifle cartridge, the breech mechanism itself somehow needed to provide obturation. Hence if the block circumference was divided into two sets of threads and gaps, the only needed to be rotated ¼ turn to lock it instead of several turns. The tradeoff was that only ½ the blocks circumference was threaded, until the 19th century, only muzzle-loaders were used. In 1837 Martin von Wahrendorff patented a design for a breech-loader with a cylindrical breech plug secured by a horizontal wedge, independently, Giovanni Cavalli first proposed a breech-loader gun in 1832 to the Sardinian Army, and first tested such a gun in 1845. Advances in metallurgy in the industrial era allowed for the construction of rifled breech-loading guns that could fire at a greater muzzle velocity. Production started in 1855 at the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, a degree of obturation was achieved via a cup on the face of the block being forced into a recessed ring on the chamber face. Whatever obturation that was achieved relied on manual labour rather than the power of the guns firing, however, the British Army and Navy preferred to revert to muzzle-loaders until larger high-powered breech-loaders with secure obturation systems that were relatively simple to operate were developed. In the meantime the French persevered with trying to develop breechloaders which combined faster loading than muzzle-loaders, high power, safety, the Lahitolle 95 mm cannon of 1875 with an interrupted screw breech met the first three requirements to a great extent and partially solved the obturation problem. Finally the de Bange system introduced in 1877 solved the problem with an asbestos pad impregnated with grease which expanded and sealed the breech on firing. The de Bange system formed the system for all subsequent screw breeches to the present day. Britain adopted the de Bange breech when it returned to breechloaders in the early 1880s after some experiments with the inferior Armstrong cup obturation system. Loading required the 3 operations in reverse and this was hence termed a three motion block and was slow to operate. While working as a designer for Thorsten Nordenfelt in London. This allowed the block to be unscrewed and swung out in two motions - the two motion interrupted screw breech, bofors continued to use this in medium artillery into the 20th century
6.
Muzzleloader
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A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun. This is distinct from the popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms. The term muzzleloader applies to both rifled and smoothbore type muzzleloaders, and may refer to the marksman who specializes in the shooting of such firearms. The firing methods, paraphernalia and mechanism further divide both categories as do caliber, modern mortars use a shell with the propelling charge and primer attached at the base. Both the modern mortar and the mortar were used for high angle fire. However, the fact that the mortar is not loaded in separate steps may make its definition as a muzzleloader a matter of opinion, muzzleloading can apply to anything from cannons to pistols but in modern parlance the term most commonly applies to black powder small arms. It usually, but not always, involves the use of a propellant and projectile. The gunpowder used is typically black powder or black powder substitutes like Pyrodex, typically two types of gunpowder were needed, as the priming powder for the pan was finer than the coarse powder used for the main charge behind the ball. Wadding, is made from felt, paper, cloth or card and has different uses. In smooth bore muskets and most rifles used prior to cartridges being introduced in the late nineteenth century. On most naval cannons, one piece of wadding was used to hold the powder in place, another was used to act as a plug to stop the shot rolling out because of the swaying of the ship. The measuring stage for the charge of gunpowder could be avoided by carrying a number of pre-measured charges in small containers of wood, metal or cloth. These were known by names, including chargers or apostles as 12 were often carried. For most of the time muzzleloaders were in use, a round ball, the shooter would bite off the end of the paper cartridge with his teeth and pour the powder into the barrel followed by the ball encased in the paper wrapping. The projectiles and wads were then pushed down into the breech with a ramrod until they were seated on the propellant charge. Priming powder was carried in a separate priming flask and poured into the priming pan. After the gunpowder and projectile or shot charge were placed in the barrel a ramrod was used to pack everything down at the base of the barrel. Muzzleloading firearms generally use round balls, cylindrical conical projectiles, in some types of rifles firing round ball, a lubricated patch of fabric is wrapped around a ball which is slightly smaller than the barrel diameter
7.
English cannon
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The first usage of cannon in Great Britain was possibly in 1327, when they were used in battle by the English against the Scots. Under the Tudors, the first forts featuring cannon batteries were built, cannon were later used during the English Civil War for both siegework and extensively on the battlefield. Cannon were first used abroad by the English during the Hundred Years War, from the 18th century to the present day, the Royal Regiment of Artillery has formed the artillery of the British Army. The Royal Navy developed the carronade in the 18th century, although they disappeared from use in the 1850s, as with other western cannon of the period, cannon used by the British Army and the Royal Navy became longer ranged and more destructive in the 19th and 20th centuries. English cannon saw its first use during the Hundred Years War, ribaldis were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the Battle of Crécy between 1345 and 1346. These are believed to have shot large arrows and simplistic grapeshot, similar cannon appeared at the Siege of Calais later the same year and by the 1380s, the ribaudekin had become mounted on wheels. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the development of cannon made revolutionary changes to siege warfare throughout Europe, deal Castle remains one of the most impressive such Device Forts, and was perfectly symmetrical, with a low, circular keep at its centre. Over 200 cannon and gun ports were set within the walls, in addition, its low curved bastions were designed to deflect cannonballs. Cannon were now a part of English warfare. Cannon also saw use in the Tudor navy, the French culverin was adapted for naval use by the English in the late 16th century, and had a significant advantage over the ballista that had previously been used in naval warfare. This cannon was of long barrel and light construction. One of the first ships to be able to fire a full broadside was the English carrack the Mary Rose, built in Portsmouth from 1510–1512. It was one of the earliest purpose-built warships to serve in the English Navy, and her crew consisted of 200 sailors,185 soldiers, with the Age of Discovery, rivalry developed between European colonies and the importance of cannon in naval warfare increased. A fleet review on Elizabeth Is accession in 1559 showed the navy to consist of 39 ships and in 1588, in a running battle lasting over a week, the Armada was scattered and defeated by the English navy. Wilson and sold by George Hurlock, the lower tier of English ships of the line at this time were usually equipped with demi-cannon — a naval gun which fired a 32-pound solid shot. A full cannon fired a 42-pound shot, but these were discontinued by the 18th century as they were seen as too unwieldy. With the establishment of the Thirteen Colonies, cannon saw use in English armies in the North American mainland, however, although the French were outnumbered, their fortifications and artillery were superior to English cannon. The English brass field guns landed on the shore were entirely ineffective against the militiamen in the woods, French victory showed that to take Quebec, the cannon of Old England would have to be brought in
8.
Lantaka
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Lantaka were a type of bronze swivel gun mounted on merchant vessels travelling the waterways of Malay Archipelago. Its use was greatest in precolonial South East Asia especially in Malaysia, the Philippines, the guns were used to defend against pirates demanding tribute for the local chief, or potentate. Although most lantaka weighed under two hundred pounds, and many only a few pounds, the largest ones exceeded a thousand pounds with some weighing over a ton, many of these guns were mounted on swivels and were known as swivel guns. The smaller ones could be mounted almost anywhere including in the rigging, medium-sized cannon were frequently used in reinforced sockets on the vessels rails and were sometimes referred to as rail guns. The heaviest swivel guns were mounted on modified gun carriages to make them more portable, however, there were also double-barreled variants that were used extensively in the Philippines. In Malaysia, these variants are called Meriam Lela and appears to be longer than a typical Lantaka. The local population was unimpressed with the might and power of the heavily armed trading vessels from the VOC Dutch East India Company, de Barros mentions that with the fall of Malacca, Albuquerque captured 3,000 out of 8,000 artillery. Among those,2,000 were made from brass and the rest from iron, all the artillery is of such excellent workmanship that it could not be excelled, even in Portugal. - Commentarios do grande Afonso de Albuquerque, Lisbon 1576, the Dutch and Portuguese quickly learned that they could trade cannon not only for spices and porcelain, but also for safe passage through pirate-infested waters. Local foundries continued to produce guns, using local patterns and designs from other local brass, stylized crocodiles, dolphins, birds and dragons were common motifs. If a native vessel was unarmed, it was regarded by the local populace as improperly equipped. Whether farmers, fishermen or headhunters, the villagers who lived in the longhouses along Borneos rivers lived in fear of being taken by pirates who used both vessel-mounted and hand-held cannons. Villages and tribesmen that were armed with mounted or handheld cannon had an advantage over those who could only rely on bows and arrows, spears, blowguns. Land transportation in 17th and 18th century Java and Borneo was extremely difficult, such events ranged from yellow fever and cholera epidemics to the start or finish of religious holidays such as Ramadan. Distinguished visitors were ushered into longhouses with great ceremony, accompanied by the firing of the longhouses cannon and these cannon were a display of the status and wealth of the extended family that controlled the longhouse. All worked copper, brass and bronze had value and were used as items in early Borneo. Cannon were frequently part of the price demanded by the family of an exceptionally desirable bride or the dowry paid to the groom. Large cannon had the value of being used in both celebratory times and in warfare
9.
Autocannon
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An autocannon or automatic cannon is a large, fully automatic, rapid-fire projectile weapon that fires armour-piercing or explosive shells, as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger calibre than a gun, but are usually smaller than a field gun or other artillery. When used on its own, the word autocannon indicates a single-barrel weapon, when multiple rotating barrels are involved, the word rotary is added, and such a weapon is referred to as a rotary autocannon. As such, ammunition is fed from a belt to reduce reloading or for a faster rate of fire. They can use a variety of ammunition, common shells include high-explosive dual-purpose types, any variety of armour-piercing types, both the US25 mm Bushmaster and the British 30 mm Rarden have relatively slow rates of fire so as not to use ammunition too quickly. The rate of fire of a modern autocannon ranges from 90 rounds per minute, systems with multiple barrels can have rates of fire of over 10,000 rounds per minute. The first modern autocannon was the British QF1 pounder, also known as the pom-pom, during the First World War, autocannons were mostly used in the trenches as an anti-aircraft gun. Attempts to use them in aircraft failed as the severely limited both speed and altitude, thus making successful interception impossible. The more effective QF2 pounder naval gun would be developed during the war to serve as an anti-aircraft, autocannons would serve in a much greater capacity during the Second World War. During the inter-war years, aircraft underwent an evolution and the monoplane, pioneered as far back as the end of 1915, almost replaced wood. The subsequent increase in speed and durability greatly reduced the window of opportunity for defence and this was only reversed with the introduction of computer-controlled systems. The German Panzer II light tank, which was one of the most numerous in German service during the invasion of Poland and the campaign in France, used a 20 mm autocannon as its main armament. Although ineffective against tank armour even during the years of the war. Larger examples, such as the 40 mm Vickers S, were mounted in ground attack aircraft to serve as an anti-tank weapon, Polish 20 mm 38 Fk auto cannon was expensive to produce, but an exception. Unlike the Oerlikon, it was effective against all the tanks fielded in 1939, largely because it was built as an upgrade to the Oerlikon, Hispano—Suiza and it, with great difficulty, proved capable of knocking out even early Panzer IIIs and IVs. Only 55 were produced by the time of the Polish Defensive War, in aircraft, several factors brought about the replacement of rifle-calibre machine guns by autocannons. Early autocannons were heavy and had a rate of fire. Along with the speed, the size of aircraft grew substantially, particularly in the 1930s, so that the weight was less of an issue while the rate of fire, and reliability were greatly improved
10.
Culverin
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The culverin was used to bombard targets from a distance. The weapon had a long barrel and a light construction. The culverin fired solid shot projectiles with a high muzzle velocity, producing a relatively long range. Round shot refers to the solid spherical cannonball. The term culverin is derived from the Latin, colubrinus, or of the nature of a snake and it was originally the name of a medieval ancestor of the musket, used in the 15th and 16th centuries. The hand culverin consisted in a smoothbore tube, closed at one end except for a small hole designed to allow ignition of the gunpowder. The tube was held in place by a piece which could be held under the arm. The tube was loaded with gunpowder and lead bullets, the culverin was fired by inserting a burning slow match into the hole. These hand culverins soon evolved into heavier portable culverins, around 40 kg in weight, such culverins were further equipped with back-loading sabots to facilitate reloading, and were often used on ships. Many were immobile due to the heavy weight, there were three types of culverin in use, distinguished by their size, the culverin extraordinary, the ordinary, and the least-sized. There were also smaller versions, including the culverin, 7-pound shot. Overall, the culverin was a significant advance, since it fired a ball of iron and relied on gunpowder for propulsion, the heavy ball meant a relatively stable flight and the gunpowder propulsion meant a fast and long-range. A replica culverin extraordinary has achieved a velocity of 408 m/s. This velocity and mass imply that the cannonball had an energy of roughly 600 kilojoules when leaving the muzzle. The culverin was later replaced by the gun once technology had advanced to the point where cannonballs had become explosive
11.
Carronade
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A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy and first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s and its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range, anti-ship and anti-crew weapon. The carronade was designed as a naval weapon with a low muzzle velocity for merchant ships. It was produced by the Carron ironworks and was at first sold as a system with the gun, mounting, the standard package of shot per gun was 25 roundshot,15 barshot,15 double-headed shot,10 single grapeshot, and 10 single canister shot. Single meant that the shot weighed the same as the roundshot, while some other canister and grapeshot were also included which weighed one and a half times the roundshot. Its invention is variously ascribed to Lieutenant General Robert Melville in 1759, or to Charles Gascoigne, in its early years, the weapon was sometimes called a mellvinade or a gasconade. The carronade can be seen as the culmination of a development of naval guns reducing the barrel length, the advantages for merchant ships are described in an advertising pamphlet of 1779. Production of both shot and gun by the firm immediately allowed a reduction in the windage, the gap between the bore of the gun and the diameter of the ball. The mounting, attached to the side of the ship on a pivot, the reduced recoil did not alter the alignment of the gun. The smaller gunpowder charge reduced the heating in action. The pamphlet advocated the use of cartridges, which eliminated the need for wadding and worming. Simplifying gunnery for comparatively untrained merchant seamen in both aiming and reloading was part of the rationale for the gun, the replacement of trunnions by a bolt underneath, to connect the gun to the mounting, reduced the width of the carriage enhancing the wide angle of fire. A merchant ship would almost always be running away from its enemy, a carronade weighed a quarter as much and used a quarter to a third of the gunpowder charge as a long gun firing the same cannonball. The reduced charge allowed carronades to have a length and much lighter weight than long guns. Increasing the size of the bore and ball reduces the length of barrel. Long guns were also heavy in comparison to carronades because they were over-specified, being capable of being double-shotted. Carronades also required a smaller gun crew, which was important for merchant ships. Carronades initially became popular on British merchant ships during the American Revolutionary War, a lightweight gun that needed only a small gun crew and was devastating at short range was a weapon well suited to defending merchant ships against French and American privateers
12.
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
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