Artillery Through the Ages

This illustrated history follows artillery from ancient war engines to the rifled cannon that transformed modern warfare. Catapults, ballistas, and trebuchets laid the groundwork long before gunpowder, and the arrival of cannon in Europe turned that older logic of siege power into a new military force. Early bombards such as Mons Meg and Dulle Griete could shatter castle walls, yet their immense weight exposed the central problem of artillery design: how to balance destructive power with mobility, safety, and control. From the first primitive guns to Gustavus Adolphus's light artillery, the book traces the rise of more mobile, disciplined batteries and the secretive gunners who served them. It then follows the professionalization of artillery in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the science of ballistics, and the spread of standardized calibers, carriages, and reinforced barrels. The story continues into the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the age of Armstrong and Krupp, showing how artillery became a decisive, ever more precise instrument of land and naval war. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.