Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Cannons and Artillery

Starting point is 00:00:00 Over the last several centuries, one of the weapons that has defined warfare has been artillery. It was used in the conquest of Constantinople by ships on the high seas, reached its peak during the First World War, and is still in use today. What has allowed this weapon to remain in use for so long is technological advancements, which have made artillery more accurate, powerful, and deadly. Learn more about cannons and artillery and how they evolved and shaped warfare over the centuries on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Did you ever hear about the selfie that solved a murder

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Starting point is 00:01:15 In a previous episode, I discussed the history of gunpowder. Gunpowder was one of the four great inventions of ancient China. But the remarkable thing is that gunpowder existed for centuries before the development of firearms or artillery. We have evidence of gunpowder existing in the second century, but it wasn't until the 13th century that evidence of the first cannons appeared. It was the discovery that a confined charge of gunpowder could throw a projectile further and harder than a siege engine, such as a trebuche that marked the real beginning of artillery. These early Chinese cannons were more akin to firearms and served as just a precursor of what the cannon was to later become. In the same century that the first proto-canons appeared in

Starting point is 00:02:04 China, the secret of gunpowder escaped China, most likely by Muslim. traders and the Mongols, and once it left China, it spread quickly. The first cannons began to appear in Europe in the early 14th century, less than 100 years after they first appeared in China. These early weapons faced several challenges, how to contain the explosive force without the barrel bursting, how to load projectiles efficiently, and how to aim with any degree of accuracy. Initially, they were more psychological weapons and practical military tools. These early pieces, often called bombards, were massive, unwieldy devices that required teams of specialists to operate. The famous Mons Meg Cannon built around 1449 for King

Starting point is 00:02:52 James II of Scotland weighed over six tons and could fire stone balls weighing 330 pounds. But it required hours to load, aim, and fire just a single time. The critical early advancement was learning to cast cannons from bronze and later iron. Casting melts iron and pours it into a mold to solidifying shape, while forging, heats iron short of melting, and shapes it by hammering or pressing to create its structure. This casting technique, perfected in the 15th century, enabled the creation of much stronger and more reliable barrels that could withstand greater internal pressures. The stronger barrels meant artillery crews could use larger powder charges, dramatically increasing range and impact.

Starting point is 00:03:37 During this period, artillery began to reshape military architecture. Traditional high stone walls, which had dominated medieval fortifications for centuries, became vulnerable to sustain cannon bombardment. The siege of Constantinople in 1453 demonstrated this dramatically when Ottoman canons, including the massive basilica cannon, breached walls that had stood for over a thousand years. The basilica was an immense brawn bombard built by the Hungarian, engineer or ban for Mehmet II in 1453. The cannon was cast in Eternay Turkey and hauled by teams of oxens and hundreds of laborers

Starting point is 00:04:17 to the siege lines outside of Constantinople, where it fired huge carved stone balls at short range to batter the massive Theodosian walls. Its sheer size demanded heavy wooden beds, custom earthworks, and cooling between shots, so the rate of fire was only a few rounds per day. The cannon needed constant repair and specialist crews to handle the charges and all the projectiles. Despite the fact that it wasn't actually very practical, it became legendary for being the weapon to breach the walls that hadn't been breached in a thousand years. And it should also be noted that at the time, the projectiles were mostly stone instead of iron cannonballs, simply because they were easier to manufacture. The 16th century marked a crucial transition from crude experimentation to the development of artillery science.

Starting point is 00:05:11 Military engineers such as Niccolo Tartaglia began applying mathematical principles to ballistics, studying projectile trajectories, and developing the first scientific approaches to gunnery. This period saw the emergence of standardized calibers and the beginning of interchangeable ammunition. One of the most significant innovations was the development of wheeled, carriages that made cannons truly mobile. Earlier cannons had been essentially siege weapons, moved with enormous difficulty, and used primarily against static targets. Mobile artillery could accompany armies in the field, providing direct fire support and

Starting point is 00:05:48 tactical flexibility that was previously impossible. Cannons were also built with trunions, which are simply pegs protruding off either side of the cannon so that the barrel could pivot on the carriage. Technical challenges of creating reliable ignition systems also drove innovation during this era. Early cannons employed simple matchlock mechanisms, where a slow-burning match was manually applied to a touch hole filled with fine priming powder. This system was unreliable in wet weather and was dangerous for gun crews. The development of more sophisticated firing mechanisms, including early flintlock systems,

Starting point is 00:06:25 adapted from small arms, improved both reliability and safety. Naval artillery matured during this same era. Ships mounted broadside batteries of iron guns on wooden carriages, and naval architects redesigned hulls to support heavy ordinance on multiple decks. Cast iron gun production in places like England's wheeled region made naval gunnery cheaper and more plentiful. Sea fights shifted from exclusively boarding actions to ranged gunnery duels, and coastal fortresses evolved into low earthen bastions that could survive cannon fire. One thing that most people don't realize about cannon battles at sea is that they were notoriously inaccurate.

Starting point is 00:07:06 While cannons could and did sometimes sink ships, more often than not, they simply disabled a ship by striking the mast. The reason ships had so many cannons was due to their limited accuracy. The 17th century witnessed a transformation of artillery from specialized craft to a professional military service. This change reflected both technical advances. and new tactical thinking about how cannons should be integrated into military operations. The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus revolutionized field artillery by developing lightweight cannons that could keep pace with infantry and cavalry. His leather gun cannons, which were nothing about copper tubes bound with leather and rope to

Starting point is 00:07:48 reduce weight, represented early experiments in making artillery truly mobile. The leather gun wasn't successful, but they demonstrated the growing recognition, that artillery needed to be flexible rather than just powerful. More successful were the French innovations under Louis XIV and his artillery commander, Jean-Baptiste de Grisbeauval. The Griebuval system introduced in the 1760s standardized French artillery around a few specific calibers, created interchangeable parts, and developed systematic training programs for artillery officers.

Starting point is 00:08:24 This standardization enabled the manufacture of ammunition, spare parts, and replacement equipment in advance, allowing further distribution where needed and dramatically improving logistical efficiency. Technical improvements during this period were substantial. Cannons became more precisely manufactured with improved boring techniques that created smoother and more consistent barrel interiors. This improved accuracy and allowed for tighter fitting projectiles that captured more of the explosive force. The development of more effective gumpowder compositions with better ratios of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur also increased the power available from each charge. Napoleon Bonaparte's famous declaration that God fights on the side

Starting point is 00:09:08 with the best artillery reflected the profound impact of cannons on warfare by the early 19th century. Napoleon himself was trained as an artillery officer and understood better than most commanders how to concentrate firepower for maximum tactical effect. The technical advantage. The technical advantage Advances of this period focused on improving the rate of fire, accuracy, and battlefield mobility. French artillery could now fire approximately two rounds per minute, which was a significant improvement over earlier systems. The development of explosive shells represented another major advancement. While solid shot remained the primary anti-personnel and anti-fortification ammunition,

Starting point is 00:09:48 hollow projectiles filled with gumpowder and equipped with timed fuses could explode above or among enemy formations. These shells were particularly effective against cavalry and infantry that were out in the open, which extended artillery's lethal range beyond direct impact. By the 19th century, though advances had been made in the use of artillery and the manufacture of cannons, the basic design hadn't really changed for centuries. Almost all cannons were smoothboard and muzzle loaded. And this all changed with the Industrial Revolution.

Starting point is 00:10:23 The introduction of rifling, that being spiral grooves cut into the cannon's bore, dramatically improved accuracy by spinning projectiles in flight. Rifled cannons could hit targets at ranges where smooth bore artillery could barely be aimed effectively. However, rifling also required more precise manufacturing and created new challenges in loading since projectiles had to engage with the rifling grooves. So equally revolutionary was the development of breach loading mechanisms that allowed cannons to be loaded from the rear rather than the front of the muzzle. This change might seem simple, but it required solving complex engineering problems related to creating gas-tight seals that could withstand explosive pressures while still opening and closing reliably.

Starting point is 00:11:13 Breach loading dramatically increased the rate of fire and allowed gun crews to work in more protected positions. The other major advancement was the replacement of bronze and iron with steel. Steel cannons could withstand much higher pressures, allowing for more powerful charges and longer ranges. Steel was also more precisely manufactured than earlier materials, allowing for tighter tolerances and improved performance. The Krupp steel cannons developed in Germany became legendary for their range and accuracy. These technical advances were demonstrated devastatingly. during the American Civil War, where rifled artillery could engage targets at ranges

Starting point is 00:11:54 exceeding two miles. The war showed both the potential and the destructive consequences of industrialized artillery production, as both sides manufactured cannons and ammunition on a previously unimaginable scale. In the 1880s, another major change in artillery technology was the development of smokeless powder, based on nitrocellulose compounds rather than the traditional salt, peter mixture, which increased the energy available from propellant charges by approximately threefold. This meant that artillery could now achieve much higher velocities and longer ranges without increasing

Starting point is 00:12:31 the size of the powder charges. Smokeless powder also eliminated the massive clouds of white smoke that had previously revealed artillery positions immediately after firing. This smokeless characteristic dramatically improved artillery survivability since gun crews were no longer automatically exposed to counter battery fire after every shot. The First World War represented the culmination of artillery as an industrial weapon system. The war began with artillery tactics and technology that were little changed from the 19th century. But by 1918 and the end of the war, artillery had evolved into a sophisticated, scientifically managed killing system.

Starting point is 00:13:13 The technical advances during this period focused on solving the problems of trench warfare. Traditional direct fire artillery where gunners could see their targets became impossible in the face of machine guns and entrenched positions. Artillery had to learn to fire indirectly, using mathematical calculations and forward observers to engage targets that were miles of way and couldn't even be seen. Estimates vary, but historians generally put the total artillery expenditure of the First World War at one billion rounds. To provide a sense of scale of the use of artillery, the number of shells fired during the war exceeded the cumulative artillery expenditure of all prior wars in human history by at least an order of magnitude and probably more. World War II marked a decline in the importance of artillery. Armies weren't static like they were in the First World War. They were highly mobile,

Starting point is 00:14:12 which made it difficult for artillery to target them, as well as for artillery guns to be moved and deployed. Radar technology, originally developed for air defense, found artillery applications in counter-battery work and target acquisition. Radar could detect incoming shells and calculate back to determine the firing position of the enemy artillery, enabling a rapid and accurate counter-battery fire. After the war, the development of atomic weapons created an entirely new category of artillery applications. The American M-65 Atomic Annie Cannon, tested in 1953, could fire nuclear shells with yields equivalent to thousands of tons of conventional explosives, although, of course, they were never used in combat. Precision-guided munitions have transformed artillery effectiveness.

Starting point is 00:15:02 GPS-guided shells can now strike targets within meters of their intended impact points, even at maximum range. Some believe that we've now reached the end of the line for artillery. Precision-guided munitions are accurate, but they are incredibly expensive. A single shell can cost between $15,000 to $68,000, which is less on the cost of a lethal drone, which can easily take out a mobile artillery platform. Whatever the future holds, I'm sure there'll be some place for cannons and artillery. But if the trends continue, they might be less important in future wars than they have been since the development of cannons over 600 years ago. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel.

Starting point is 00:15:52 The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast. And links to those are available in this. the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Cannons and Artillery

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