The 5 Greatest Artillery Pieces
in History
“Ultima ratio
regum”—"the last argument of kings,"—was the inscription
that Louis XIV engraved on his cannon. And throughout history, it is the mouths
of the big guns that have settled many a dispute between states.
Which cannons are
best? The short answer is that the best cannon is the one that isn't pointed at
you. But here are five that have had more profound influence than others:
The Great
Turkish Bombard
It was primitive
and looked like a giant chess rook. Yet the Great Turkish
Bombard changed history.
Proud
Constantinople's walls had kept invaders at bay for centuries. For attackers
armed with swords and arrows, storming the Byzantine capital's high, thin walls
was nearly impossible. Though the Byzantine Empire was only a shadow of its
former glory, there was no reason to expect defeat when the Ottoman Turks
surrounded the city for yet another siege in 1453.
But this time, the
Ottomans had a secret weapon: a newfangled cannon brought to them by a
Hungarian Christian named Orman. Orman had first offered his cannon to the
Byzantines, who refused to meet his price. How penny-wise and pound-foolish
that decision was became evident when Orman's cannon started knocking down
Constantinople's walls.
The fall of
Constantinople led to the rise of the Ottomans, which changed the history of
the Mediterranean, Europe and the world.
Swedish Leather
Cannon
A cannon made out
of leather? It sounds like “the last argument of clowns.” But Sweden's
seventeenth-century king Gustavus Adolphus—back in the days when Sweden was
better known for its armies than its bikini team—changed warfare with them.
His leather cannon
consisted of a copper tube clad in leather. This made it light enough to be
hauled by two men at a time when cannons were so heavy that they were
practically immobile on the battlefield. Though the leather cannon ultimately
fizzled, it pioneered the concept of artillery mobile enough to be deployed
tactically.
The French 75
Cross a field
artillery piece with a machine gun, and that is the how the legendary French
75-millimeter cannon must have appeared to its enemies. Developed in
1897, the French 75 was unprecedented: a light artillery piece that could pump
out fifteen rounds a minute.
It wasn't just
rate of fire that distinguished the French 75. Until that time, the recoil of
firing knocked the cannon out of position, forcing the gunners to manhandle the
piece back into position, and rendering accurate direct fire impossible. But
the French 75 had a revolutionary hydro-pneumatic mechanism that absorbed
recoil and allowed the gun to remain in position.
Unfortunately, the
French 75 had a glaring weakness that quickly became apparent in the opening
days of World War I. It was a direct-fire weapon, which meant its shells
couldn't be lobbed into trenches like a howitzer's.
German 88
If ever there was
an artillery piece that dominated the battlefield, it was the German 88.
Originally designed as an anti-aircraft gun, until German soldiers—whose early
anti-tank guns were ineffective against Allied heavy tanks—discovered that the
88 was a superb tank-killer.
The 88 established
a fearsome reputation in North Africa, Russia and Western Europe. It instilled
fear in the hearts of Allied tank crews, who desperately tried to protect their
vehicles with sandbags and other impromptu armor.
Though the 88
became a byword for the prowess of German weapons, there was nothing magical
about it. Because it was an anti-aircraft gun intended to shoot at fast,
high-flying objects, it was built to have a high muzzle velocity, a stable
firing platform, and superb German optics. The British had the 3.7-inch
anti-aircraft gun, which could have been pressed into service as an effective
anti-tank weapon—except that gentlemen don't use anti-aircraft guns to shoot at
tanks.
South African
G-5
One expects to see
the most impressive military technology come from the United States, Russia or
Western Europe. But South Africa—or at least the South Africa of apartheid
days—developed some impressive weapons. Perhaps the most impressive was the G-5 towed howitzer and its
self-propelled sister, the G-6.
The G-5 can shoot extended-range projectiles almost thirty miles. The G-6
is mounted on a wheeled, rather than a tracked chassis. Besides South Africa,
the G-5 was also used by Saddam Hussein's army against Iran.
Michael Peck is a
contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War is Boring.
Correction: The original version of this article stated that
"the G-5 was also used by Saddam Hussein's army against Iraq." It was
in fact used by Saddam's army against Iran.
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