Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics - Couverture rigide

Hall, Bert S.

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0801855314 ISBN 13 : 9780801855313

Editeur : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Combining military history and the history of technology, the author of this work explores the history of gunpowder in Europe from the 13th to the 16th century. The "gunpowder revolution" is reassessed as an evolutionary process which transformed the European way of war and influenced statecraft.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe explores the history of gunpowder in Europe from the thirteenth century, when it was first imported from China, to the sixteenth century, as firearms became central to the conduct of war. Bridging the fields of military history and the history of technology—and challenging past assumptions about Europe's "gunpowder revolution"—Hall discovers a complex and fascinating story. Military inventors faced a host of challenges, he finds, from Europe's lack of naturally occurring saltpeter—one of gunpowder's major components—to the limitations of smooth-bore firearms. Manufacturing cheap, reliable gunpowder proved a difficult feat, as did making firearms that had reasonably predictable performance characteristics. Hall details the efforts of armorers across Europe as they experimented with a variety of gunpowder recipes and gunsmithing techniques, and he examines the integration of new weapons into the existing structure of European warfare.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Date d'édition: 1997
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0801855314
• ISBN 13: 9780801855313
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 296
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible