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Gunpowder (Transforming Power of Technology)

by Richard Worth

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Blake said: " 1-4-12: Before even the invention of gunpowder, there where many ways that were fought with old style weapons, spears, swords, and bows and arrows. Gunpowder was invented in the fourteenth century, this made a really drastic change in how wars where 1-4-12: Before even the invention of gunpowder, there where many ways that were fought with old style weapons, spears, swords, and bows and arrows. Gunpowder was invented in the fourteenth century, this made a really drastic change in how wars where fought. The British and the rebels began fighting with gunpowder and this mad it every dangerous and more faster to kill or wound people.

1-11-12: When gunpowder arrived in Europe it was admittedly used on the battlefield. In 1346 the cannon was invented but they were still unperfected and they had hardly no impact on the outcome of the battle field. Over the next few centuries gunpowder changed the course of military history. Many of they army's began to start building every large cannons to batter down castle walls. The french used their cannons to win the Hundred Years war by 1453. In that same year the Ottoman brought there cannons to the walls of Constantinople and captured it. With gunpowder invented many new innovators began to think of new ways they could use gunpowder. Many of them thought of something that could be carried easily on a horse and also light weight. They we are thinking of new designs of how to discharge the weapon and fire it safely with out injuring the operator.

1-18-12: As the years passed, gunpowder was coming more available to people. A lot of people where messing around with it and trying to come up with ways they could make it more efishent in rifles and cannons. The Musket was the prime weapon in that age of war. But there was people that where trying to make it a better weapon than it was before. During a blockade of Boston there where some troops that began to arriving from Virginia and Maryland to form the new Continental Army. Some of the soldiers brought there own weapon know as a rifle. A rifle was a very nice piece. Rifling was what was the grooves inside the barrel of the gun. It makes it so that the bullet from the rifle can rotate when it is fired. This greatly increased the accuracy on the rifle, and made it more reasonable to shoot. There was a man named Samuel Colt. He studied existing guns and was trying to develop one that would shoot more than one shot at a time with out reloading. Eventually Colt came up with a working revolver in 1835. It had several chambers and was loaded with a rammer a miniature ramrod through the muzzle. The ammo that it used were cartridges that where made up of linen or paper that would contain the gunpowder and a bullet. They where fired by using a percussion cap. In 1853 the new minie rifles were being carried by French and British soldiers during the Crimean War. The minie rifle could pick of many other soldiers from a long range away. The minie rifle was muzzleloaders. The Prussian army began to adopt a new kind of way it load weapons, from the breechloading. This ment that the rifles could be loaded from the rear of the firearm not from the muzzle end of the firearm. When they changed it to the breechloading system the soldiers could greatly increase there reloading time and also could be laying down and reload the weapon without standing up using a ramrod. ...more "

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(page 16 of 76)
— Jan 04, 2012 06:28AM

Jan 18, 2012 06:55AM · see review