Cannon
Specifications
- Type
- Artillery
- Origin
- China / Europe
- Era
- 14th century onward
- Notable Users
- Ottoman Turks, European monarchs, Mughal emperors
- Epoch
- Middle Ages
History
The cannon transformed warfare more completely than any weapon since the spear. Ottoman bombards breached the walls of Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire and the medieval concept of the impregnable fortress. Cannons could reduce in days fortifications that had withstood years of siege. The development of mobile field artillery in the 16th century added devastating direct-fire capability to the battlefield. Napoleon, himself an artillery officer, declared that ‘God fights on the side with the best artillery.’ By the 19th century, artillery caused more battlefield casualties than all other weapons combined.
Significance
The cannon made stone castles obsolete overnight, ended feudalism by destroying the nobility's defensive advantage, and established firepower as the dominant factor in warfare. The fall of Constantinople to Ottoman cannon marks the end of the medieval world.
More from the Middle Ages
18 weapons
54 Weapons. Five Epochs. One Poster.
The Cannon is one of 19 weapons from the Middle Ages featured on the poster.
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