The birthplace of small arms is, of course, the East. It is believed that gunpowder was invented in China, probably in the 15th century. BC, that is, approximately 3.5 thousand years ago. According to some researchers, the birthplace of gunpowder is India. One way or another, the troops of Alexander the Great, who easily passed through the whole of Asia, during the siege of Indian fortresses encountered “thunder and lightning” thrown from the walls by the enemy. Even the most persistent warriors could not overcome the unexpected resistance. True, such “thunder and lightning” should not be considered small arms: rather, these are the powder ancestors of modern grenades and shells.

The first examples of firearms also appeared in the East. In 690, during the siege of Mecca, the Arabs used one of the oldest types of small arms - modfu. This semblance of a hand mortar consisted of a short forged barrel mounted on a shaft. The modfa had to be fired from a support. A few centuries later, firearms also appeared among Europeans in the form of the so-called petrinal - an exact copy of the Arab modf. Obviously, the crusades, which rolled in waves from Europe to Palestine from 1096 to 1271, greatly contributed to the exchange of military experience and weapons with the East. And already in 1259, the Spanish city of Marbella defended itself from the Arabs with the help of firearms. At the Battle of the Heresy in 1346, field artillery was used for the first time in the history of European warfare. True, the fact that the British had only three cannons did little to contribute to the victory - with their roar they frightened the horses under the French knights more. But a start had been made.

In 1372, the first semblance of a modern gun appeared in Germany - a matchlock arquebus. The matchlock was a primitive lever that, after pressing the trigger, lowered the smoldering wick onto the ignition shelf. An ignition charge was located on it, which served to ignite the main powder charge.

In France, such a weapon was called a culverina; the Slavs had another term - a arquebus. In 1381, citizens of Augsburg sent a detachment of 30 people armed with arquebuses to defend the city from the troops of the German nobility. This is tiny in number

Strength played a significant role in the battle, in which the inhabitants of Augsburg won. TO Eastern Slavs firearms came through Lithuania. It is known that one of the most prominent figures of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke Gedemin, was killed in 1328 by a “fiery arrow,” that is, a bullet. Another Grand Duke, Vytautas, used handguns and cannons in the Battle of the Vorskla River against Tamerlane's Mongol troops in 1399. Shots were also heard in 1410 over the fields of Grunwald during one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages, in which the united Slavic army and the Teutonic Order came together. In the 1470s. arquebuses received a curved crossbow stock, which made handling the weapon more convenient and had a positive effect on shooting accuracy. Around the same time, the wheel lock was invented - more reliable and safer than the wick lock. When the trigger was pressed, a jagged wheel spun, against which a stone (usually sulfur pyrite) rubbed, thereby striking sparks that ignited the gunpowder on the seed shelf. Leonardo da Vinci should probably be considered the inventor of such a mechanism: his wheel lock is depicted in a manuscript dated around 1500.

After the advent of the wheel mechanism, the culverin was rapidly replaced by the lighter and more convenient musket. He became the distant ancestor of the modern rifle.

A century later, in 1610, a flintlock appeared. It is simpler and more reliable than the wheel mechanism: before the shot, the trigger, in which a piece of flint was fixed, was pulled back and locked. After pressing the trigger, the trigger was released from the stopper and hit the arm, striking sparks. This one is simple and efficient technology and began to be used in the manufacture of European weapons, finally replacing matchlocks and wheel locks.

The flintlock has been the mainstay of firearms for nearly 250 years. It was replaced by a cap lock, whose appearance would not have been possible without the invention of impact compounds - chemical solids that instantly exploded upon impact. The first of these compounds, mercury fulminate, was invented in 1774 by Dr. Boyen, chief physician to the French king.

In 1807, the Scottish priest John Forsythe patented a weapon based on the following action: before each shot, a soldier placed a ball with a percussion compound, called a capsule, on a special shelf. After pressing the trigger, the cocked hammer hit the primer, resulting in a shot.

The percussion gun, or, as it came to be called, the needle gun, was much faster-firing than the flintlock gun: when loading, the step of pouring a portion of ignition powder behind the seed shelf was eliminated. Just half a century after John Forsaith's patent, the armies of the world's leading countries were rearming with needle guns. However, the primer was not at the heart of firearm design for long.

The next stage in the improvement of rifles was the invention of magazines, which became possible only after the advent of a unitary cartridge in a metal sleeve. Magazine rifles were equipped with a new device - a manual bolt, which once and for all replaced all types of locks. When the bolt moved backwards and rotated around its axis, it disengaged from the breech of the barrel, and at the same time the sleeve was removed. When the shutter returned to its previous position reverse movement(forward with rotation), the next cartridge was removed from the magazine and fed into the chamber. The shotgun or rifle was ready for the next shot. If in the era of locks of all types, to load a gun it was necessary to clean the bore with a ramrod, pour gunpowder into the barrel, sequentially tamp the wad and bullet, and then pour gunpowder behind the seed shelf and cock the hammer, now the rifle was loaded with one turn of the manual bolt, which takes the next one out of the magazine cartridge. When the cartridges ran out, it was necessary to insert a new magazine for 10 or even 20 rounds. In general, the rate of fire of the infantry has increased significantly. It was with such weapons that the armies of leading countries entered the First World War.

Two world wars became a turning point in the history of all mankind and military affairs in particular. If before the First World War the armies of the world had fairly reliable magazine-loading rifles, and automatic weapons were represented in single copies, then at the end of the Second World War, machine guns, automatic and self-loading rifles, and submachine guns were produced in millions of batches. Precisely the Second World War determined current state arms market: most classes of modern weapons either originated during that period, or were recognized and received maximum distribution.

A soldier of any modern army has a whole arsenal of means of destroying the enemy. These range from compact pistols that can be carried in a holster under your arm, on a belt, on your hip or ankle, to fast-firing submachine guns that are suitable for single-handedly fighting off an enemy squad.

A modern pistol is an individual small weapon, almost always semi-automatic (self-loading), magazine-fed. Reloading and preparation for the next shot (extracting the spent cartridge case and feeding a new magazine into the chamber) are carried out by automatic mechanisms, which most often use recoil energy. When shooting, the owner of the pistol can only press the trigger consistently.

A similar mechanism is used by another class of small arms - revolvers. However, they do not have automation at all: the cartridge enters the chamber due to the rotation of a mechanical part - the drum when cocking the hammer. A revolver reloads much slower than a pistol. The drum capacity is usually less capacity pistol magazine. In addition, the drum protrudes beyond the dimensions of the weapon, so it is not so easy to handle. Officers, sergeants and some categories of privates (snipers, machine gunners, transport drivers, etc.) of infantry units of all armies of the world are armed with pistols. At the same time, only a rare military man can find a revolver - it is considered a civilian and police weapon.

Like pistols, submachine guns are being supplied to soldiers of special and auxiliary units: crew members of combat vehicles, crews of group weapons (machine guns, mortars, etc.), signalmen, sappers, radar station operators, etc. In addition, they are standard weapons of law enforcement and counter-terrorism forces in most countries of the world. A submachine gun is an individual, fully automatic weapon that fires a pistol cartridge. Due to the relatively low-power cartridges, it usually has quite simple automation that uses recoil energy. This, in turn, determined the simplicity of the device, as well as the small size and weight of the weapon. The comparative low power of the cartridges does not allow the submachine gun to become a full-fledged army weapon.

Machine guns and assault rifles are the most common type of individual weapons among infantry personnel in all armies of the world. Many of modern machine guns and rifles were either developed in the 1950-1970s, or are updated modifications of models of those years. Most modern machine guns and rifles use small-caliber (5.56 mm or 5.45 mm) cartridges. Shots are fired in either single or fully automatic firing mode, ammunition is supplied from magazines.

A modern sniper rifle is a repeating weapon, most often with a manual bolt. Its ancestor was the repeating rifles of the First and Second World Wars. However, there are also semi-automatic models created on the basis of machine guns and assault rifles. The main thing in a sniper rifle is accuracy, which is ensured by a well-thought-out design, the use of modern technologies in production, the presence of advanced optics and the use of special high-precision ammunition.

The infantry also has group weapons in its arsenal; to use them, you need a crew consisting of at least two people. We are talking about machine guns - the basis of infantry firepower. The first machine guns were rare, and only a few were used in armies. Now each infantry squad (8-12 people) of the armies of leading countries is armed with at least one light (light) machine gun. For each platoon (16-24 people), in addition to two light machine guns, there is also one heavy (easel) machine gun.

Most modern light machine guns are based on assault rifles or machine guns and use the same ammunition. This makes it easier, on the one hand, to train machine gunners to use and care for weapons, and on the other, to provide ammunition. The cartridges are fed from a high-capacity box magazine or from a metal strip. However, magazines for standard rifles and machine guns are also suitable for light machine guns. A light machine gun can be operated by one soldier, but a second person is often added to the crew, carrying additional ammunition.

Unlike a light machine gun, a heavy machine gun has exclusively belt ammunition. For shooting, 7.62 mm caliber cartridges are used, which are more powerful than those of rifles and light machine guns. Such a machine gun can be fired either from a bipod or from a specially designed machine. The calculation includes two to four people. The design of the machine ensures high stability of the weapon during shooting, and also allows you to quickly transfer shooting from one target to another. These machine guns are often used as auxiliary weapons in armored vehicles ranging from infantry fighting vehicles to tanks.

There are truly terrifying examples among small arms. This heavy machine guns and rifles capable of hitting light vehicles and even shooting down helicopters. Indeed, such types of weapons arose during the First World War precisely as means of destroying tanks and aircraft. However, planes began to rise higher and higher, and tanks began to acquire ever thicker armor, so large-caliber rifles and machine guns found other uses.

Modern heavy machine guns are very effective group infantry support weapons. The increased caliber allows you to effectively hit not only enemy personnel hidden behind the walls of city blocks, but even light armored vehicles. The same trump card - an increased caliber - is used by a modern large-caliber rifle. Equipped with the most powerful and accurate optics in history, it allows you to hit individual targets at ranges inaccessible to snipers with conventional caliber rifles.

The group support weapon class includes many types of small arms. The purpose of this book is not to examine them in detail, so we will limit ourselves to a simple listing: automatic mounted grenade launchers (AGS), hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers (RPGs), anti-tank missile systems (ATGMs) and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).

Without a doubt, such a wide variety of types of firearms modern world due to significantly changed production technologies. The first samples of small arms were hollowed out of wood and fastened with iron hoops. Naturally, the survivability is so simple remedy weapons were only a few shots. Then the guns began to be cast from bronze and cast iron - materials that were very primitive by modern standards and did not provide sufficient strength. To prevent the barrel from cracking during the first shots, it had to be made very thick-walled. This, in turn, excluded the creation of light hand weapons.

The situation improved when harder and lighter iron was used to smelt and forge firearms. Weapons production technologies made it possible by the era of the Napoleonic wars to provide 100,000-strong armies with fairly compact, light, reliable and durable weapons.

The next step in the development of weapons production technologies was the use of steel. The prototype of modern stainless steel, Damascus or damask steel, was used more than 3 thousand years ago. In the 9th century. BC e. in India, an ancient monument was forged from a whole piece of iron - the Qutub column, more than 7 m high. The chemical analysis carried out later by Europeans amazed everyone: it was stainless steel, based on several layers of different compositions. Indian and Persian damask steel in the Middle Ages was the best material for the production of trunks. European steelmakers were able to rediscover the secret of its production only in the 19th century: the smelting of barrel iron with sufficient viscosity and strength at a comparative cheapness began. Stainless steel, with a composition more or less equivalent to that of today, was produced just before the First World War.

Modern metallurgy supplies gunsmiths with steel-based alloys with unsurpassed properties. They can withstand temperature changes of hundreds of degrees, providing the strength only slightly inferior to that of diamond, yet the lightness of aluminum. In addition, 20th century products are widely used in the design of modern weapons. - composite materials created on the basis of plastics with the addition various materials such as aluminum, rubber, etc. A typical example of composite materials is bulletproof Kevlar, used, for example, in the construction of stocks for sniper rifles. Weapons made from modern materials By modern technologies, can be used in any climate with maximum intensity and exceptional efficiency.

Armament of the Russian army in the 16th century. significantly improved and in many respects superior to the weapons of other modern armies. The melee and defensive weapons of the cavalry have improved and become more uniform. Firearms - hand and cannon - became widespread. Not only the infantry, but partly also the cavalry, were armed with “rushnitsy” or “self-propelled guns”, that is, guns with a wick fuse. This was facilitated by the development of the mining industry and crafts.

Moscow played the main role in the production of weapons and military equipment - it became “in the full sense of the word, the arsenal of Russia.” Since 1547, the Armory Chamber has been known, where they not only stored, but also manufactured bladed weapons and firearms, saddles, banners and armor.

Originating back in the 15th century. The cannon yard turned into a large foundry, where copper and iron guns of various types and purposes and iron cannonballs for them were produced. Cannons and cannonballs were also made in other cities, for example in Vladimir, Veliky Novgorod, Pskov.

Together with the establishment of the Armor and Cannon orders in the 70s of the 16th century. Moscow became the organizing center of arms production throughout the country.

In many cities, new professions of gunsmiths arose, who specialized in the manufacture of new, more advanced types of weapons and armor. Next to the archers and gardeners, saber makers, armor makers, chain mail makers, greensmiths, cannon and home-made craftsmen now worked, and among the latter were specialists in the manufacture of gun barrels, locks and stocks. The division of labor and equipping weapons production with new tools and tools contributed to improving the quality of weapons. Thus, blacksmiths used forges with bellows, iron anvils with a “horn” for bending iron in the manufacture of round-shaped objects, foundry workers used large stone smelting furnaces with holes for drafting and grooves for feeding molten metal into casting molds.

Weapons of Western and Eastern origin were also used. In Russia, as in other countries, they sought to attract highly qualified craftsmen from other countries to produce new types of weapons. Thus, already under Vasily 3, cannon foundries from Germany, Italy and Scotland worked in Moscow.

Melee weapons and armor

Desyatny - lists of nobles and their servants, compiled at periodic reviews, give a clear idea of ​​the armament of the Russian cavalry of the 16th century. The old armor known in previous times was preserved here, but a lot of new things also appeared.

Saadak - a bow with an archer and a quiver of arrows - remained the generally accepted weapon of the cavalry; describing the battles of that time, chroniclers often use the expression: “and the arrows flew, like rain.” The flight range of the arrow served as a measure of the distance between opponents - “like three archery shootouts.” The arrow flight range served as a measure of the distance between opponents - “like three archery shootouts.” . Opponents hit each other with clouds of arrows in field battles, during the assault and defense of fortresses. The power of this weapon is evident from the fact that a successfully fired arrow could pierce right through the body of a fighter, on the spot

kill his horse. It was increased by the use of a diamond-shaped iron sting, double-barbed and double-horned arrows - the spikes made it difficult to pull the arrow out of the body, the horns widened the wound. The rate of fire was ensured by the convenient location of the quiver with arrows under right hand, and the bow in the archer on the left side of the rider. Horse gear - bridles, saddles, reins - was also adapted for archery.

Melee weapons in the 16th century. became a saber - both Russian and foreign evidence speak of its complete dominance and widespread distribution. Thus, all, without exception, 288 children of boyars and nobles, 100 people of Ryashans, including “noviki” who had just enlisted in the service, all the armed servants accompanying them on the campaign served “with a saber”, only a few servants were armed spears. Drawings from the Nikon Chronicle also depict horsemen always with sabers.

Russian damask sabers with a slightly curved blade were similar to Turkish ones. Despite the well-known differences in design - some had crosses with blades, others with balls, some had an extension of the lower part of the blade, while others did not - in general the sabers were of the same type.

Therefore, the conclusion is that the Russian cavalry of the 16th century. was “not a motley motley crowd, but an army armed at the request of the government more or less uniformly” must be considered fair.

In the 16th century continued to use spears with a long shaft and an iron tip, throwing spears - sulitsa, slingshots with ax-like blades, iron flails in the form of weights with spikes attached by chain links to the handle, long oblong daggers in sheaths. Strengthening the protective armor of warriors brought to life a counter-weapon - a hammer - or klevets in the form of an iron or copper hammer with a handle up to 60 cm: a blow with a sharp butt pierced the shell or any other type of armor. Shestoperas on an iron handle up to 60 cm long represented a “commander’s staff” that was carried in front of the governors on a campaign.

The bladed weapons of the infantry were the reed and the saber, which also replaced the sword in the infantry. Berdysh was a type of ax with a crescent-shaped blade, which was attached by means of a butt to a long, man-sized shaft or warrior. Such a device turned the reed into a cutting and piercing weapon. An iron spear was attached to the lower end of the shaft to stick the reed into the ground when firing from a gun, for which it served as a cushion. Berdysh is a domestic invention; it was made only in Russia.

A characteristic feature of the development of armor in the 16th century. There was an almost complete disappearance of shields and the widespread use of damask armor. The horsemen's heads were protected by "shchelomy" or Russian "shishaki" with characteristic smooth contours and a high top or "shishom". “Iron hats” were in great use, and “paper hats” - quilted on hemp or cotton wool with metal gaskets inside - were much less common. The helmets had “naushas” and “aventails” - chain mail nets that covered the fighter’s forehead, cheeks and back of the head. Among the military headgear there were also eastern ones.

With the improvement of the technology of making ringed armor, they became stronger and lighter in comparison with those used by the Russians in previous centuries. Warriors wore iron chain mail made of rounded rings, baydans and half-bailans made of larger and flat rings without collars with slits on the chest over their heads. The armor was made from smaller and thinner “flat” rings; therefore, they were twice as light as chain mail. From the middle of the 16th century. mixed ring-plate armor appeared - yushmans, bekhterets - iron plates woven into rings on the chest and back. At the same time, mirrors were mentioned for the first time - they were lamellar-ringed and lamellar. Iron knee pads and bracers or elbow pads were also used for protection.

According to written sources, the most common type of armor was a shell, over which a “velvet drag” was sometimes worn; mirrors, chain mail and yushmans were less common. The combat protective armor of the children of boyars and military servants was most often thick or thin tegils. Tegilyai thick - a quilted caftan with a high collar and elbow-length sleeves, sometimes made of “colored velvet” with a fur trim, sometimes made of canvas with metal linings. Tegilai provided fairly reliable protection - consisting of leather and strong canvas, with cotton stuffed inside, they were sewn so tightly that it was hardly possible to shoot through them.

But not all horsemen had protective armor; many fought simply “on horseback in a saadak and with a saber.”

Firearms. Artillery

The enormous role of firearms of the Russian army of the 16th century. has not yet been fully revealed. Along with the improvement of foundry technology, the number of guns increased significantly, and talented Russian craftsmen appeared who now produced guns of various types and purposes. If in the 15th century artillery mainly defended the walls of fortresses, but now it acted during the siege of fortresses and in field battles.

Russian chroniclers call the artillery of Grand Duke Vasily III, with the help of which he captured Smolensk, “the great outfit.” A participant in the Smolensk battle of 1514, a mercenary who served in the Lithuanian army, reports that Vasily III “had up to two thousand arquebuses, large and small, in front of the fortress, which no one had ever heard of.”

When assessing the strength of Russian artillery in the 16th century, it should be borne in mind that it was replenished with captured guns.

At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. The technology for making tools and iron cores improved dramatically. “Successes in foundry lead to the disappearance of seams. They learned to cast guns in a solid mold. At the same time, they began to make barrels with bells,” and all these innovations, far from being generally accepted in Western European countries, “with amazing speed” penetrated Russia. An important technical innovation was the use of calibration and measuring compasses - “circling” - when casting guns and cannonballs; they were first mentioned in a document of 1555, but were probably used earlier. With the help of circles, the diameters of the barrels and cores intended for a particular type of gun were checked so that the gap between the core and the barrel bore ensured the loading speed and the proper force of the shot. For the same purpose, canvas, cardboard and linen were used to wrap the cores, and the finished cores were placed in special “boxes” - the first type of charging boxes.

An outstanding achievement of Russian cannon masters of the 16th century. was the production of heavy weapons weighing several thousand kilograms. Such “great cannons” fired at the walls of Kazan in 1552 with cannonballs with a diameter “a man’s knee and a man’s waist.” The smallest of them had trunks one and a half fathoms long.

These were “battering” cannons,” each of them was given a special name. One of these “great cannons” was the “Tsar Cannon,” made by A. Chokhov in 1586: its weight was 40 tons, the bore diameter was 89 cm. its trunk depicts Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich sitting on a horse, on right side inscription: “By order... of the Tsar and Grand Duke... Fyodor Ivanovich, autocrat of all Great Russia...”, on the left - “this cannon was merged in the most important and reigning city of Moscow in the summer of 7094...... Made a cannon cannon Literary Andrei Chokhov."

The “Great Guns” operated not only near Kazan, but also during the capture of Polotsk, surprising with their size experienced enemy officers and artillerymen who were knowledgeable about the state of artillery in other countries.

Russian fortress artillery struck the enemy not only with its numbers and firepower, but also with its range. Quite widely used in the 16th century. "rapid-firing guns"

Handguns

Zatina squeaks served as the prototype of guns with a wick fuse, which were not accidentally called at first “ruchniki” or “rushnitsy”, that is, squeaks adapted for hand-held shooting, and later “self-propelled guns”, which already had locking devices. Since the barrels of the original “rushnitsa” were forged, their manufacture was accessible to any sufficiently experienced blacksmith. This explains the widespread use of hand-held arquebuses in the 16th century. As is known, all archers and most of the foot city Cossacks were armed with hand-held arquebuses. Thus, hand-held firearms became an indispensable part of the Russian infantry of the 16th century.

But it also penetrated the cavalry on a fairly wide scale. Claims that the Russian cavalry of the 16th century. allegedly had “exclusively cold steel”, that “all advances in the personal armament of soldiers, especially the introduction of firearms, passed her by”, that she began to use such weapons only “from the beginning of the 17th century”, do not correspond to reality.

The first samples of guns were an iron barrel with a wooden stock and a wide butt; sometimes the muzzle of the gun had a bell. One of the most ancient “rushnitsa” had a copper barrel with a seed hole in the upper part of the treasury in the form of a shell, which was closed with an oval hinged lid. It also had a “hook”, and on the breech there was a coupling, with the help of which the barrel was mounted on the shaft.

Shotguns with a primer on the top of the barrel were then replaced by hand-held pike guns, in which a hole for igniting gunpowder was made on the side of the barrel, and a shelf for seeding gunpowder was welded under it, which was much more convenient and safer for the shooter. The gunpowder was ignited first with a red-hot iron rod, and then with a wick soaked in saltpeter and slowly smoldering. They then began to hide the smoldering wick from the enemy and from dampness in special “wick tubes” made of tin or iron. Gunpowder for charging and priming - in bone or wooden "powder boxes".

An improved type of gun, or “musket,” was the hand-held arquebus, a self-propelled gun, with a matchlock and a “jagra” trigger. The round forged barrel of this gun was attached to the fore-end of the stock with a tail screw and pins, and a shelf with a cover for seeding powder was welded on the breech on the right. A simple lock was installed on the stock, the trigger of which with a smoldering wick was lowered when the long L-shaped bracket, the “zhagra,” located under the butt, was pressed. This gun had a wooden ramrod inserted into a slot in the fore-end.

Finally, in the 16th century. In Russia, guns (muskets, carbines) with a so-called wheel lock appeared, the predecessors of guns with a flint lock. Russian craftsmen, using the experience of their eastern and western colleagues, did not blindly copy samples, but introduced important innovations into the design of matchlocks. If in the guns of European countries the trigger with the wick moved from the muzzle to the treasury when firing a shot, then in Russian it was the other way around - from the treasury to the muzzle, which was of great convenience for the shooter. Information about production in Russia XVI V. there are no pistols, perhaps they were all “German”.

Historians agree that the first weapons using powder gases to eject a projectile/bullet appeared in Europe no later than the 14th century, when the development of technology made it possible to use the energy of gunpowder. When and where gunpowder itself appeared - in India, China or Arabia - still remains unknown. Many sources claim that gunpowder was invented independently in India and China around the same time. Arms manufacturer V. Griner, in his book “The Gun,” quotes an Indian law dating back 1,500 years: “A commander should not use poisoned arrows, fire weapons large or small, or any fire-fighting devices in war.” The author assumed that by “fire weapons” the Indians meant firearms, but it cannot be said with certainty that at that time in India they knew the secret of gunpowder. “Fire-piercing weapons” in Ancient India could mean anything, for example, ballista-type throwing weapons in the form of jugs and pots with an incendiary mixture. In order to understand when was the first one invented firearms, let’s take a little excursion into distant history.

"Greek fire" - a prototype of napalm

Interesting evidence about the use of the so-called “ Greek fire"appeared in Byzantium. The predecessor of such fire is the Median water fire, which was mentioned in the 3rd century. mentioned by Julius Africanus. “Greek fire” appeared around the 7th century thanks to a certain Callinicus from the Syrian city of Heliopolis. Kallinikos knew the secret of three different fires, two of which have survived to this day. In fact, “Greek fire” was called different mixtures and compositions, and in which case it was an incendiary mixture and in which it was an explosive mixture is extremely difficult to determine. At the end of the 15th century, when Europeans had long had gunpowder, the exact recipes for various “fires” were lost.
As already mentioned, “Greek fire” appeared and was actively used in Byzantium. There are two known methods of throwing “Greek fire”: with the help of catapults, the enemy was thrown with clay vessels filled with a flammable mixture and having a pilot hole with a wick. The second method of throwing was carried out using special pipes, which were often installed on ships. The ancient Russians suffered greatly from such a “fire” in 941, when the fleet of Prince Igor approached the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. The Russian chronicle says: “the water began to burn around the Russian ships, and many Russian boats with Greek people were burned and sunk...”.
The Arabs, without thinking twice, borrowed the secret of gunpowder from the Chinese - this is confirmed by the fact that the Arabs called saltpeter “Chinese salt” or “Chinese snow.” Arabic manuscripts describe a recipe for making gunpowder: “mix 60 parts of saltpeter and 20 parts of sulfur and coal,” which corresponds in composition to real black gunpowder. Already in 690, during the siege of Mecca, the Arabs actively used various incendiary and explosive shells, calling them “moonlight”, “ Sun rays"or "iron thunder". “Iron thunder” usually consisted of clay pots filled with gunpowder, or arrows and darts with a similar charge. The horsemen used long spears, which, instead of a metal tip, had a container with “Greek fire”.
In the XI - XII centuries. The technical miracles of the Saracen fire rockets made an indelible impression on the crusaders. The unfamiliar smell that appeared when gunpowder burned led the superstitious knights to think about its mystical origin. By official version, exactly during crusades Europeans learned the secret of gunpowder and firearms.

Development of mechanisms: from wick to impact-silicon

In Europe, the birth of gunpowder-fuse weapons marked a new era in military affairs - artillery appeared, including hand-held artillery. The first samples were short iron and bronze pipes, sealed at one end and attached to stocks - roughly processed wooden blocks. Such weapons were loaded in the most primitive way - a charge of gunpowder was poured into the channel “by eye”, after which a lead or iron bullet was inserted. The shooter rested the “fire tube” against his shoulder or held it under his armpit and fired from it at the moment when the smoldering fuse approached a special hole in the wall of the barrel.
By the beginning of the 15th century, handguns had noticeably improved - the barrels became longer and the butts curved. The filling holes were now located not on the aiming line, but on the side, and sighting devices appeared on the barrel itself. Seed shelves were also installed near the seed holes - in Western Europe such a weapon was called culverins. Such a weapon was not perfect even for those times, since the process of charging the device took several minutes, and the smoldering fuse distracted the shooter from aiming.
Despite the low efficiency of culverins, their design remained virtually unchanged over the next two hundred years. True, at the end of the 15th century, the wick began to be attached to the end of the lever so that when one end of this lever was pressed, the other (with the wick) touched the seed and ignited it. Such a “double-sided” lever began to be called a serpentine, and sometimes it was used to designate all weapons. In Europe, the popular name for such a unit was the word arquebus, in Rus' - arquebus.
Appearance spark locks in the first half of the 16th century marked a new stage in the development of firearms. The general development of technology in Europe contributed to the widespread use of spark locks; the Nuremberg wheel lock was considered the most popular. To activate the lock mechanism, it was necessary to press the trigger, after which a special wheel began to rotate, the notched edge of which was touched by a trigger with a clamped pyrite. Before pressing the trigger, this trigger was pressed by a spring against the lid of the shelf, which moved away as the wheel began to rotate, allowing the pyrite to come into contact with the wheel. As a result of this interaction, sparks were generated that ignited the seed. After introducing gunpowder and a bullet into the barrel, it was necessary to wind the wheel spring with a key, move the trigger away from the shelf, sprinkle the primer on it and close the shelf with a lid. Next, the trigger was brought to the lid, producing the long-awaited shot.
Compared to the first wick samples, weapons with a wheel mechanism had a number of advantages. It was more convenient to use, and the wheel locks provided greater reliability and the ability to shoot in any weather. The main disadvantage of such weapons was considered to be the high cost of wheel locks, which explains why only elite units of the army were armed with them.
also in early XVI century, Europeans invented another mechanism - the spark percussion flintlock, in which sparks were struck from a piece of flint attached to a trigger hitting a steel plate. The impact flintlock was much simpler than the wheel lock to manufacture and use, and its design allowed shooters to save time between shots by up to 1 minute.

20th century in the history of the development of firearms

Designers of modern weapons are constantly working to make them easier to handle and manufacture, so decorations that burden these tasks have disappeared from firearms. In the old days, each type of weapon was made individually, which did not interfere with all kinds of decoration even for military rifles and pistols. When firearms began to be mass produced in the mid-19th century, any aesthetic refinements of military weapons were eliminated, but the tradition of fine carving, engraving and inlay craftsmen continued on hunting rifles.
The best edged weapons were created in the East, and firearms - in the West, and this is due to many reasons: mentality, history, standard of living, country resources and the possibility of technical progress. Interestingly, individual stages in the history of firearms are difficult to explain logically. Many models were invented prematurely, and those that were created on their basis have sunk into oblivion. Among such inventions is a gun that appeared in the era of muskets, which was loaded from the treasury and was called amusette (toy). This gun was intended for artillery and fired at a distance of 2 miles. Oddly enough, for its time it turned out to be too “effective and functional”, and happily disappeared, being revived only in the 19th century. Another example of a paradox in the history of firearms is the situation with rifled barrels, which were invented 300 years earlier than the “correct” primers and “correct” bullets that made it possible to design a rifle.
As for military operations, here the requirements for improving weapons were much stricter and more persistent than in peacetime. Thus, some weapons did not live up to expectations at the front and therefore lasted only a few years.
Often, firearms symbolized an entire era, as in the example of the American Colt, which became an integral part of the times about which Westerns were made. In the same way, many have a Maxim machine gun Russian citizens associated with the invincible Red Army soldiers. This “worship” of weapons can also be explained from a psychological point of view: holding, say, a rifle or carbine in their hands, most people feel more confident, stronger and more protected in this world.

To protect themselves from wild animals and hostile people, they began to use various objects: driftwood and sticks, sharp stones, etc. It was from those distant times that the history of weapons began. With the development of civilization, new types of it appeared, and each historical era corresponds to more advanced ones than at the previous stage. In a word, weapons, like everything else on our planet, have followed their own special evolutionary path throughout the history of existence - from the simplest to nuclear warheads.

Types of weapons

There are various classifications that divide weapons into different types. According to one of them, it can be cold and gunshot. The former, in turn, also comes in several types: chopping, piercing, percussion, etc. It is powered by the muscular strength of a person, but firearms operate by the energy of a gunpowder charge. Consequently, it was invented precisely when people learned to make gunpowder from saltpeter, sulfur and coal. And the Chinese were the first to distinguish themselves in this (back in the 9th century AD). The history of weapons does not have exact data on the date of creation of this explosive mixture, but the year is known when the “recipe” for gunpowder was first described in a manuscript - 1042. From China, this information leaked to the Middle East, and from there to Europe.

Firearms also have their own varieties. It comes in small arms, artillery and grenade launcher types.

According to another classification, both cold and firearms are melee weapons. In addition to them, there are weapons related to means of mass destruction: nuclear, atomic, bacterial, chemical, etc.

Primitive weapons

We can judge what the means of protection were at the dawn of human civilization from the finds that archaeologists managed to obtain in their habitats. All these finds can be seen in various historical and local history museums.

The most ancient types of primitive weapons were stone or bone arrowheads and spears, which were found on the territory of modern Germany. These exhibits are about three hundred thousand years old. The figure is, of course, impressive. For what purposes they were used, for hunting wild animals or for war with other tribes, we can only guess. Although rock paintings to some extent help us restore reality. But about the periods when writing was invented by humanity, literature, historiography, and painting began to develop, we have enough information about new achievements of people, including weapons. From this time on, we can trace the complete path of transformation of these defensive means. The history of weapons includes several eras, and the initial one is primitive.

At first, the main types of weapons were spears, bows and arrows, knives, axes, first bone and stone, and later metal (bronze, copper and iron).

Medieval weapons

After people learned to process metals, they invented swords and pikes, as well as arrows with sharp metal tips. For protection, shields and armor (helmets, chain mail, etc.) were invented. By the way, even in ancient times, gunsmiths began to make rams and catapults from wood and metal for the siege of fortresses. With each new round in the development of mankind, weapons also improved. It became stronger, sharper, etc.

The medieval history of the creation of weapons is of particular interest, since it was during this period that firearms were invented, which completely changed the approach to combat. The first representatives of this species were arquebuses and arquebuses, then muskets appeared. Later, gunsmiths decided to increase the size of the latter, and then the first ones appeared on the military field. Further, the history of firearms begins to record more and more new discoveries in this area: guns, pistols, etc.

New time

During this period, edged weapons gradually began to be replaced by firearms, which were constantly modified. Its speed, destructive power and range of projectiles increased. With the advent of weapons, I could not keep up with inventions in this area. During the First World War, tanks began to appear in the theater of operations, and airplanes began to appear in the sky. In the middle of the 20th century, the year the USSR was involved in World War II, a new generation was created - the Kalashnikov assault rifle, as well as different kinds grenade launchers and types of rocket artillery, for example the Soviet Katyusha, underwater military equipment.

Weapons of mass destruction

None of the above types of weapons can be compared with this one in terms of their danger. This, as already mentioned, includes chemical, biological or bacteriological, atomic and nuclear. The last two are the most dangerous. For the first time, humanity experienced nuclear force in August and November 1945, during the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US Air Force. History, or rather, his combat use, originates precisely from this black date. Thank God that humanity never had to experience such a shock again.

Fantasy authors often bypass the possibilities of smoke powder, preferring the good old sword and magic. And this is strange, because primitive firearms are not only a natural, but also a necessary element of the medieval setting. It was no coincidence that warriors with “fiery shooting” appeared in knightly armies. The spread of heavy armor naturally led to an increase in interest in weapons capable of piercing them.

Ancient "lights"

Sulfur. A common component of spells and a component of gunpowder

The secret of gunpowder (if, of course, we can talk about a secret here) lies in the special properties of saltpeter. Namely, the ability of this substance to release oxygen when heated. If saltpeter is mixed with any fuel and set on fire, a “chain reaction” will begin. The oxygen released by saltpeter will increase the intensity of combustion, and the hotter the flame flares up, the more oxygen will be released.

People learned to use saltpeter to increase the effectiveness of incendiary mixtures back in the 1st millennium BC. It was just not easy to find her. In countries with hot and very humid climates, white, snow-like crystals could sometimes be found on the site of old fire pits. But in Europe, saltpeter was found only in stinking sewer tunnels or in bat-inhabited caves.

Before gunpowder was used for explosions and throwing cannonballs and bullets, saltpeter-based compounds had long been used to make incendiary shells and flamethrowers. For example, the legendary “Greek fire” was a mixture of saltpeter with oil, sulfur and rosin. Sulfur, which ignites at low temperatures, was added to facilitate ignition of the composition. Rosin was required to thicken the “cocktail” so that the charge would not flow out of the flamethrower pipe.

The “Greek fire” really could not be extinguished. After all, saltpeter dissolved in boiling oil continued to release oxygen and support combustion even under water.

In order for gunpowder to become an explosive, saltpeter must make up 60% of its mass. In the “Greek fire” there was half as much. But even this amount was enough to make the oil combustion process unusually violent.

The Byzantines were not the inventors of “Greek fire”, but borrowed it from the Arabs back in the 7th century. The saltpeter and oil necessary for its production were also purchased in Asia. If we take into account that the Arabs themselves called saltpeter “Chinese salt” and rockets “Chinese arrows”, it will not be difficult to guess where this technology came from.

Spreading gunpowder

It is very difficult to indicate the place and time of the first use of saltpeter for incendiary compositions, fireworks and rockets. But the credit for inventing cannons definitely belongs to the Chinese. The ability of gunpowder to throw projectiles from metal barrels is reported in Chinese chronicles of the 7th century. The discovery of a method for “growing” saltpeter in special pits or shafts made of earth and manure dates back to the 7th century. This technology made it possible to regularly use flamethrowers and rockets, and later firearms.

The barrel of the Dardanelles cannon - from a similar gun the Turks shot down the walls of Constantinople

At the beginning of the 13th century, after the capture of Constantinople, the recipe for “Greek fire” fell into the hands of the crusaders. The first descriptions of “real” exploding gunpowder by European scientists date back to the middle of the 13th century. The use of gunpowder for throwing stones became known to the Arabs no later than the 11th century.

In the “classic” version, black gunpowder included 60% saltpeter and 20% each of sulfur and charcoal. Charcoal could successfully be replaced with ground brown coal (brown powder), cotton wool or dried sawdust (white gunpowder). There was even “blue” gunpowder, in which coal was replaced with cornflower flowers.

Sulfur was also not always present in gunpowder. For cannons, the charge in which was ignited not by sparks, but by a torch or a hot rod, gunpowder could be made consisting only of saltpeter and brown coal. When firing from guns, sulfur could not be mixed into the gunpowder, but poured directly onto the shelf.

Inventor of gunpowder

Invented? Well, step aside, don't stand there like a donkey

In 1320, the German monk Berthold Schwarz finally “invented” gunpowder. It is now impossible to determine how many people in different countries They invented gunpowder before Schwartz, but we can say with confidence that after him no one succeeded!

Berthold Schwartz (whose name, by the way, was Berthold Niger) of course, did not invent anything. The “classic” composition of gunpowder became known to Europeans even before its birth. But in his treatise “On the Benefits of Gunpowder” he gave clear practical recommendations on the manufacture and use of gunpowder and cannons. It was thanks to his work that during the second half of the 14th century the art of fire shooting began to rapidly spread in Europe.

The first gunpowder factory was built in 1340 in Strasbourg. Soon after this, the production of saltpeter and gunpowder began in Russia. The exact date of this event is not known, but already in 1400 Moscow burned for the first time as a result of an explosion in a gunpowder workshop.

Fire tubes

First depiction of a European cannon, 1326

The simplest hand-held firearm - the hand grip - appeared in China already in the middle of the 12th century. The most ancient samopals of the Spanish Moors date back to the same period. And from the beginning of the 14th century, “fire-fighting pipes” began to be fired in Europe. Hand cranks appear in the chronicles under many names. The Chinese called such a weapon pao, the Moors called it modfa or carabine (hence “carbine”), and the Europeans called it hand bombard, handcanona, sclopetta, petrinal or culverina.

The handle weighed from 4 to 6 kilograms and was a blank of soft iron, copper or bronze drilled from the inside. The barrel length ranged from 25 to 40 centimeters, the caliber could be 30 millimeters or more. The projectile was usually a round lead bullet. In Europe, however, until the beginning of the 15th century, lead was rare, and self-propelled guns were often loaded with small stones.

Swedish hand cannon from the 14th century

As a rule, the petrinal was mounted on a shaft, the end of which was clamped under the armpit or inserted into the current of the cuirass. Less commonly, the butt could cover the shooter's shoulder from above. Such tricks had to be resorted to because it was impossible to rest the butt of the handbrake on the shoulder: after all, the shooter could support the weapon with only one hand, and with the other he brought the fire to the fuse. The charge was ignited with a “scorching candle” - a wooden stick soaked in saltpeter. The stick was pressed against the ignition hole and turned, rolling in the fingers. Sparks and pieces of smoldering wood fell inside the barrel and sooner or later ignited the gunpowder.

Dutch hand culverins from the 15th century

The extremely low accuracy of the weapon allowed effective shooting only from a point-blank range. And the shot itself occurred with a long and unpredictable delay. Only the destructive power of this weapon aroused respect. Although a bullet made of stone or soft lead at that time was still inferior to a crossbow bolt in penetrating power, a 30-mm ball fired at point-blank range left such a hole that it was worth looking at.

It was a hole, but it was still necessary to get in. And the depressingly low accuracy of the petrinal did not allow one to expect that the shot would have any consequences other than fire and noise. It may seem strange, but it was enough! Hand bombards were valued precisely for the roar, flash and cloud of sulfur-smelling smoke that accompanied the shot. Loading them with a bullet was not always considered advisable. The Petrinali-sklopetta was not even equipped with a butt and was intended exclusively for blank shooting.

15th century French marksman

The knight's horse was not afraid of fire. But if, instead of honestly stabbing him with pikes, he was blinded by a flash, deafened by a roar, and even insulted by the stench of burning sulfur, he still lost his courage and threw off the rider. Against horses not accustomed to shots and explosions, this method worked flawlessly.

But the knights were not able to introduce their horses to gunpowder right away. In the 14th century, “smoke powder” was an expensive and rare commodity in Europe. And most importantly, at first he aroused fear not only among the horses, but also among the riders. The smell of “hellish brimstone” made superstitious people tremble. However, people in Europe quickly got used to the smell. But the loudness of the shot was listed among the advantages of firearms until the 17th century.

Arquebus

At the beginning of the 15th century, self-propelled guns were still too primitive to seriously compete with bows and crossbows. But fire tubes quickly improved. Already in the 30s of the 15th century, the pilot hole was moved to the side, and a shelf for seed powder began to be welded next to it. This gunpowder, upon contact with fire, flared up instantly, and after just a split second, the hot gases ignited the charge in the barrel. The gun began to fire quickly and reliably, and most importantly, it became possible to mechanize the process of lowering the wick. In the second half of the 15th century, fire tubes acquired a lock and butt borrowed from the crossbow.

Japanese flint arquebus, 16th century

At the same time, metalworking technologies were also improved. The trunks were now made only from the purest and softest iron. This made it possible to minimize the likelihood of explosion when fired. On the other hand, the development of deep drilling techniques made it possible to make gun barrels lighter and longer.

This is how the arquebus appeared - a weapon with a caliber of 13–18 millimeters, weighing 3–4 kilograms and a barrel length of 50–70 centimeters. An ordinary 16-mm arquebus ejected a 20-gram bullet with an initial speed of about 300 meters per second. Such bullets could no longer rip people’s heads off, but from 30 meters they would make holes in steel armor.

Firing accuracy increased, but was still insufficient. An arquebusier could hit a person only from 20–25 meters, and at 120 meters, shooting even at such a target as a pikeman battle turned into a waste of ammunition. However, light guns retained approximately the same characteristics until the mid-19th century - only the lock changed. And in our time, shooting a bullet from a smoothbore rifle is effective no further than 50 meters.

Even modern shotgun bullets are designed not for accuracy, but for impact force.

Arquebusier, 1585

Loading an arquebus was a rather complicated procedure. To begin with, the shooter disconnected the smoldering wick and put it in a metal case attached to his belt or hat with slits for air access. Then he uncorked one of the several wooden or tin cartridges he had - “loaders”, or “gazyrs” - and poured a pre-measured amount of gunpowder from it into the barrel. Then he nailed the gunpowder to the treasury with a ramrod and stuffed a felt wad into the barrel to prevent gunpowder from spilling out. Then - a bullet and another wad, this time to hold the bullet. Finally, from the horn or from another charge, the shooter poured some gunpowder onto the shelf, slammed the lid of the shelf and reattached the wick to the trigger lips. It took an experienced warrior about 2 minutes to do everything.

In the second half of the 15th century, arquebusiers took a strong place in European armies and began to quickly push out competitors - archers and crossbowmen. But how could this happen? After all, the combat qualities of the guns still left much to be desired. Competitions between arquebusiers and crossbowmen led to a stunning result - formally, the guns turned out to be worse in all respects! The penetrating power of the bolt and the bullet was approximately equal, but the crossbowman shot 4–8 times more often and at the same time did not miss a tall target even from 150 meters!

Geneva arquebusiers, reconstruction

The problem with the crossbow was that its advantages were of little practical value. Bolts and arrows flew like a fly in the eye during competitions when the target was motionless and the distance to it was known in advance. In a real situation, the arquebusier, who did not have to take into account the wind, the movement of the target and the distance to it, had the best chance of hitting. In addition, bullets did not have the habit of getting stuck in shields and sliding off armor; they could not be dodged. The rate of fire was not of great practical importance: both the arquebusier and the crossbowman only had time to fire once at the attacking cavalry.

The spread of arquebuses was restrained only by their high cost at that time. Even in 1537, Hetman Tarnovsky complained that “there are few arquebuses in the Polish army, only vile hand cranks.” The Cossacks used bows and self-propelled guns until the mid-17th century.

Pearl gunpowder

The gazyrs, worn on the chests of Caucasian warriors, gradually became an element of the national costume.

In the Middle Ages, gunpowder was prepared in the form of powder, or “pulp.” When loading the weapon, the “pulp” stuck to the inner surface of the barrel and had to be nailed to the fuse with a ramrod for a long time. In the 15th century, to speed up the loading of cannons, lumps or small “pancakes” began to be sculpted from powder pulp. And at the beginning of the 16th century, “pearl” gunpowder, consisting of small hard grains, was invented.

The grains no longer stuck to the walls, but rolled down to the breech of the barrel under their own weight. In addition, graining made it possible to increase the power of gunpowder almost twice, and the duration of gunpowder storage by 20 times. Gunpowder in the form of pulp easily absorbed atmospheric moisture and deteriorated irreversibly within 3 years.

However, due to the high cost of “pearl” gunpowder, the pulp often continued to be used for loading guns until the mid-17th century. The Cossacks used homemade gunpowder in the 18th century.

Musket

Contrary to popular belief, knights did not consider firearms “non-knightly” at all.

It is a fairly common misconception that the advent of firearms marked the end of the romantic “age of chivalry.” In fact, arming 5–10% of soldiers with arquebuses did not lead to a noticeable change in the tactics of European armies. At the beginning of the 16th century, bows, crossbows, darts and slings were still widely used. Heavy knightly armor continued to be improved, and the main means of counteracting cavalry remained the pike. The Middle Ages continued as if nothing had happened.

The romantic era of the Middle Ages ended only in 1525, when at the Battle of Pavia the Spaniards first used matchlock guns of a new type - muskets.

Battle of Pavia: museum panorama

How was a musket different from an arquebus? Size! Weighing 7–9 kilograms, the musket had a caliber of 22–23 millimeters and a barrel about one and a half meters long. Only in Spain - the most technically developed country in Europe at that time - could a durable and relatively light barrel of such length and caliber be made.

Naturally, such a bulky and massive gun could only be fired from a support, and two people had to operate it. But a bullet weighing 50–60 grams flew out of the musket at a speed of over 500 meters per second. She not only killed the armored horse, but also stopped it. The musket hit with such force that the shooter had to wear a cuirass or a leather pad on his shoulder to prevent the recoil from splitting his collarbone.

Musket: Assassin of the Middle Ages. 16th century

The long barrel provided the musket with relatively good accuracy for a smooth gun. The musketeer hit a person not from 20–25, but from 30–35 meters. But of much greater importance was the increase in the effective salvo firing range to 200–240 meters. At this entire distance, the bullets retained the ability to hit knightly horses and pierce the iron armor of pikemen.

The musket combined the capabilities of the arquebus and pike, and became the first weapon in history that gave the shooter the opportunity to repel the onslaught of cavalry in open terrain. Musketeers did not have to run away from cavalry during a battle, therefore, unlike arquebusiers, they made extensive use of armor.

Due to the large weight of their weapons, musketeers, like crossbowmen, preferred to travel on horseback.

Throughout the 16th century, there remained few musketeers in European armies. Musketeer companies (detachments of 100–200 people) were considered the elite of the infantry and were formed from nobles. This was partly due to the high cost of weapons (as a rule, a musketeer’s equipment also included a riding horse). But even more important were the high requirements for durability. When the cavalry rushed to attack, the musketeers had to repel it or die.

Pishchal

Sagittarius

In terms of its purpose, the Russian archery arquebus corresponded to the Spanish musket. But the technical backwardness of Rus' that emerged in the 15th century could not but affect the combat properties of guns. Even pure - “white” - iron for making barrels at the beginning of the 16th century still had to be imported “from the Germans”!

As a result, with the same weight as the musket, the arquebus was much shorter and had 2–3 times less power. Which, however, had no practical significance, given that eastern horses were much smaller than European ones. The accuracy of the weapon was also satisfactory: from 50 meters the archer did not miss a two-meter high fence.

In addition to streltsy arquebuses, light “mounted” guns (having a strap for carrying behind the back) were also produced in Muscovy, which were used by mounted (“stirrup”) archers and Cossacks. In terms of their characteristics, “curtain arquebuses” corresponded to European arquebuses.

Pistol

Smoldering wicks, of course, caused a lot of inconvenience for the shooters. However, the simplicity and reliability of the matchlock forced the infantry to put up with its shortcomings until the end of the 17th century. Another thing is the cavalry. The rider needed a weapon that was comfortable, always ready to fire and suitable for holding with one hand.

Wheel lock in Da Vinci's drawings

The first attempts to create a castle in which fire would be produced using iron flint and “flint” (that is, a piece of sulfur pyrite or pyrite) were made back in the 15th century. Since the second half of the 15th century, “grating locks” have been known, which were ordinary household flints installed above a shelf. With one hand the shooter aimed the weapon, and with the other he struck the flint with a file. Due to the obvious impracticality, grater locks did not become widespread.

The wheel castle, which appeared at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, became much more popular in Europe, the diagram of which was preserved in the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. The ribbed flint was given the shape of a gear. The spring of the mechanism was cocked with the key supplied to the lock. When the trigger was pressed, the wheel began to rotate, striking sparks from the flint.

German wheel pistol, 16th century

The wheel lock was very reminiscent of a watch and was not inferior to a watch in complexity. The capricious mechanism was very sensitive to clogging with gunpowder fumes and flint fragments. After 20-30 shots it stopped firing. The shooter could not disassemble it and clean it on his own.

Since the advantages of the wheel lock were of the greatest value to the cavalry, the weapon equipped with it was made convenient for the rider - one-handed. Starting from the 30s of the 16th century in Europe, knightly spears were replaced by shortened wheeled arquebuses without a butt. Since the production of such weapons began in the Italian city of Pistol, one-handed arquebuses began to be called pistols. However, by the end of the century, pistols were also produced at the Moscow Armory.

European military pistols of the 16th and 17th centuries were very bulky designs. The barrel had a caliber of 14–16 millimeters and a length of at least 30 centimeters. The total length of the pistol exceeded half a meter, and the weight could reach 2 kilograms. However, the pistols struck very inaccurately and weakly. The range of an aimed shot did not exceed several meters, and even bullets fired at point-blank range bounced off cuirasses and helmets.

In the 16th century, pistols were often combined with bladed weapons, such as a club head (“apple”) or even an ax blade.

In addition to their large dimensions, pistols of the early period were characterized by rich decoration and intricate design. Pistols of the 16th and early 17th centuries were often made with multiple barrels. Including one with a rotating block of 3-4 barrels, like a revolver! All this was very interesting, very progressive... And in practice, of course, it did not work.

The wheel lock itself cost so much money that decorating the pistol with gold and pearls no longer significantly affected its price. In the 16th century, wheeled weapons were affordable only by very rich people and had more prestige than combat value.

Asian pistols were distinguished by their special grace and were highly valued in Europe

* * *

The appearance of firearms was a turning point in the history of military art. For the first time, a person began to use not muscular strength, but the energy of burning gunpowder to inflict damage on an enemy. And this energy, by the standards of the Middle Ages, was stunning. Noisy and clumsy firecrackers, now unable to cause anything but laughter, several centuries ago inspired people with great respect.

Beginning in the 16th century, the development of firearms began to determine the tactics of sea and land battles. The balance between close and ranged combat began to shift in favor of the latter. The importance of protective equipment began to decline, and the role of field fortifications began to increase. These trends continue to this day. Weapons that use chemical energy to eject a projectile continue to improve. Apparently, it will maintain its position for a very long time.