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Older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. There are reports of some sort of incendiary chemical weapon , the Greek fire , used by the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) from the 7th through the 14th centuries, which may have been delivered through grenades and ...
The word cannon is derived from the Old Italian word cannone, meaning "large tube", which came from the Latin canna, in turn originating from the Greek κάννα (kanna), "reed", [16] and then generalised to mean any hollow tube-like object. [17] [18] [19] The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy and 1418 in England.
A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force. [1] [2] The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). Solid projectiles may be free-flying (as with bullets and artillery shells) or tethered (as with Tasers, spearguns and ...
[1] Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages primarily consisted of the introduction of the cannon, large tubular firearms designed to fire a heavy projectile over a long distance. Guns, bombs, rockets and cannons were first invented in China during the Han and Song dynasties and then later spread to Europe and the Middle East during the period.
Bronze cannon with inscription dated the 3rd year of the Zhiyuan era (1332) of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368); discovered in Beijing in 1935. The earliest artistic depiction of what might be a hand cannon—a rock sculpture found among the Dazu Rock Carvings—is dated to 1128, much earlier than any recorded or precisely dated archaeological samples, so it is possible that the concept of a ...
One example is the American 3 in (76 mm) wrought-iron, muzzle-loading howitzer, used during the American Civil War, which had an effective range of over 1.1 mi (1.8 km). Another is the smoothbore 12 pounder Napoleon , which was renowned for its sturdiness, reliability, firepower, flexibility, relatively light weight, and range of 1,700 m (5,600 ...
It originally referred to "a hand-gun with a hook-like projection or lug on its under surface, useful for steadying it against battlements or other objects when firing". [1] The first certain attestation of the term arquebus dates back to 1364, when the lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti recruited 70 archibuxoli , although in this case it almost ...
Though in English the term man-at-arms is a fairly straightforward rendering of the French homme d'armes, [b] in the Middle Ages, there were numerous terms for this type of soldier, referring to the type of arms he would be expected to provide: In France, he might be known as a lance or glaive, while in Germany, Spieß, Helm or Gleve, and in various places, a bascinet. [2]