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Shells were used in combat by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376. Shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop. [4] At least since the 16th century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe.
Two-headed bullets (angels) were similar but made of two halves of a ball rather than two balls. [1] Canister shot An anti-personnel projectile which included many small iron round shot or lead musket balls in a metal can, which broke up when fired, scattering the shot throughout the enemy personnel, like a large shotgun. Shrapnel or spherical ...
The use of ammonium nitrate in explosives is patented in Sweden. [13] 1875 Gelignite, the first plastic explosive, is invented by Alfred Nobel. [14] [13] 1884: Paul Marie Eugène Vieille creates Poudre B, the first practical smokeless powder. [6] 1891 The explosive properties of TNT are discovered by Carl Häussermann. [9] 1894
By the 16th century, cannons were made in a great variety of lengths and bore diameters, but the general rule was that the longer the barrel, the longer the range. Some cannons made during this time had barrels exceeding 10 ft (3.0 m) in length, and could weigh up to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg).
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70, by David Roberts (1850), shows the city burning. Early thermal weapons, which used heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories, were employed in warfare during the classical and medieval periods (approximately the 8th century BC until the mid-16th century AD).
The shells which produced those very extensive ravages upon the Pacificator hulk in the experiments made at Brest, in 1821 and 1824, upon the evidences of which the French naval shell system was founded, were loaded shells, having fuzes attached, which, ignited by the explosion of the discharge in the gun, continued to burn for a time somewhat ...
Carcasses were used for the first time by the French and Münsterite troops under Louis XIV and Bernard von Galen in 1672. [3] They were also fired from bomb vessels.. The carcass shell as used by the Royal Navy in the 18th and early 19th century, most famously in the attack on Fort McHenry, was a hollow cast iron sphere weighing 190 pounds (86 kg).
Although gunpowder was known in Europe during the High Middle Ages due to the usage of guns and explosives by the Mongols and the Chinese firearms experts employed by them as mercenaries during the Mongol conquests of Europe, it was not until the Late Middle Ages that European versions of cannons were widely developed. Their use was also first ...