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History of Fire Arms

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IrishNation1 View Drop Down
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  Quote IrishNation1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: History of Fire Arms
    Posted: 10-Nov-2006 at 18:08

Does anyone know at exactly what time the Fire Arms started being used in Armys? I know the first ones were slow and most  Soldiers preferred to use swords becasue ofthe length it took to reload Guns. But does anyone know at what time period Soldiers would have even started to Use some Guns in Battle?

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  Quote jacobtowne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Nov-2006 at 12:34
Following are some basic notes on the development of handguns.


The first hand cannons were used to a small extent in the Fourteenth Century. These were clumsy and were true cannons, in that they had no lockwork and required ignition by glowing embers.

"In 1364 the town of Perugia in Italy ordered 500 hand cannons, each to be no longer than the span of a person's hand." (Edward Ezell, Handguns of the World)

Most of these required a long pole, called a tiller or haft, to help aim and control it.

By the early Fifteenth Century, gunmakers had invented the matchlock, which greatly simplified ignition.

JT

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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jun-2012 at 20:11
The first cannon appeared shortly after gunpowder was rediscovered by 13th century alchemist Roger Bacon. It was reputedly invented by a German monk called Berthold Schwartz after he witnessed an explosion that launched the pestle out of his mortar
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jun-2012 at 20:26

Edward III used cannons against the Scots. This image of an English cannon that fired arrows comes from a manuscript by Walter de Milemete dated 1327
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Jun-2012 at 19:22

The first musket was a cannon small and light enough to be fired by one man. It was mounted on the end of a long pole or fitted with a hook so it could be rested against a wall
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