Big Guns

Ever since the first appearance of large-calibre guns in the Middle Ages, gunpowder artillery has had an enormous impact on military strategy and warfare. Cannons were initially developed to tackle fortifications, but then technology enabled the development of lighter, more manoeuvrable field artillery which could change the outcome of battles. By the 19th century most European armies had artillery, and Napoleon, originally an artillery officer, took the use of artillery to a new level, using his Grand Batteries to great effect. In the late 19th century German industrialist Krupp produced the first steel guns, paving the way for the devastatingly powerful heavy artillery of World War I, while the innovative French soixante-quinze was the forerunner of a new generation of field artillery. In WWI the use of artillery literally transformed the landscape, and shaped how armies fought, and by World War II the range of artillery had expanded to include self-propelled guns, and anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. This book covers the development and use of artillery over the centuries to its central role in modern warfare.