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War Tactics - Artillery

By the beginning of 30 Years' War artillerists were considered irregular soldiers. They were closer to artisans and made up a separate guild. Each of them had a cannon, horses, apprentices and helpers at his own disposal. Their salary was 4 times higher than that of usual soldiers. During the XVII century the artillery turned into regular army. Cannonry calibers were given standards, allowing easier ammunition supplying and easier command over the army in battles. Cannons with the caliber of less than 3 pounds disappeared. This time was also highlighted by two important inventions: about 1650 horizontal hoisting screw was invented, making the aiming easier, and in 1697 the tubes filled with fuse gunpowder were introduced, allowing greater rate of fire, while earlier, gunpowder was poured directly into the fuse. Artillery park grew bigger. While in Greifengagen battle Gustav Adolph (1590 - 1632, from 1611 to 1632 - the King of Sweden) had only 80 cannons per 20 000 people, in the battle near Frankfurt an der Oder he already possessed 200 cannons per 18 000 soldiers. And under Malplaquet (the battle for Spanish Heritage, took place September 11, 1709) each side had 300 cannons. French were the first to make artillerists the regular soldiers. In 1671 they formed an artillery regiment, in 1690 artillery school was set up. French had been artillery leaders for a long time. About 1700 howitzers were introduced by the Dutch. One of the major howitzer's advantages over cannon is lighter weight. It has shorter barrel and fires shots at a big angle. Howitzer possesses shorter shooting range compared to cannon, but its bomb is substantially heavier. Owing to lofted trajectory howitzers can shoot at covered-by-shelter or locality-curves-hidden troops. The ratio of artillery and soldiers varied. The biggest was 7 cannons per 1 000 people. Usually it was normal to have 3 guns per 1000 soldiers. The effective fire range of the cannons did not exceed 1 400 - 1 500 yards. Normally the cannonball battles took place at the distance of 600 - 1 100 yards. A battalion 700 yards far received about 50 % of shells, and at the distance of 1100 yards - about 25 %. At close distances (300 steps) cannons shot canister. The locality of guns placement was of great essence.