The history of firearms. We often think that the development of any phenomenon occurs sequentially. And the same was the case with the history of firearms. That first there was a bow, then it was replaced by a crossbow, then a firearm came to replace it. However, in this particular case it was not at all the case.
Both the crossbow and spark ignited firearms reached their ideal almost simultaneously. Another thing is that the development of the crossbow has slowed down for a number of reasons, but firearms have changed incrementally.
Nevertheless, in 1550, both crossbows and rider's wheel pistols were approximately equal in their perfection, complexity and combat characteristics. And in the future, crossbows continued to be used for hunting for a long time. And today we will tell you about how this happened, as well as about the latest and most advanced crossbows that existed in parallel with the match and wheel systems of small arms.
Crossbow history
Let's start with hoary antiquity.
In 500 BC. NS. Chinese Sun Tzu in his work "Art of War" mentions powerful crossbows, which are easel bows.
From 400 BC NS. Greeks use a crossbow - gastraphet.
In the period from 206 BC. NS. to 220 A. D. NS. The crossbow becomes a common weapon of the Han Dynasty warriors and hunters.
Around A. D. 100 NS. in China, multiple-shot crossbows are already in use. The Romans (in the era of the empire), and then the Byzantines, knew the crossbow under the name Solenarion, but it was not widely used by them. Even the Picts knew and applied it.
And in 1100 he was already widely known in Europe. In 1139, Pope Innocent II forbids the use of a crossbow against Christians.
In 1199, Richard the Lionheart, an ardent champion of crossbows, was mortally wounded from a crossbow during the siege of the castle of Shalyu in Aquitaine.
At the end of the 13th century, the longbow supplants the crossbow in England, but in continental Europe the crossbow is still popular.
At the beginning of the XIV century, crossbows with bows of steel appeared.
In the XIV-XV centuries. The crossbow becomes the standard weapon of choice for French and Flemish citizens defending their cities. In 1521-1524. crossbowmen actively participate in the campaigns of the conquistadors Cortes and Pizarro in the New World.
Traditionally, the bow of the crossbow was made of wood. But bows from the horns of a mountain ram are known. And already in the 16th century, crossbows with bows made of steel appeared, with increased power.
In the 16th century, firearms began to gradually displace crossbows from military arsenals in Europe, where they are used mainly for hunting (mainly for birds) and for target shooting.
At the same time, even hybrid types of weapons appeared, that is, a crossbow combined with a match or wheel musket. It is clear that such weapons were ordered by the masters solely for the amusement of the nobility. And such systems did not have much significance. But they developed the craftsmanship of their manufacturers.
1894-1895 The Chinese use multiple-shot crossbows in the war with Japan.
1914-1918 Homemade crossbow grenade launchers are used in the trenches of the First World War.
Principle
Interestingly, the very principle of imposing the bow on the stock all this time remained practically unchanged, but the mechanism of the bowstring tension was subjected to changes, which was clearly associated with an increase in the power of the bow.
So, the same gastraphet of the ancient Greeks was cocked due to the fact that the shooter rested it on something hard and leaned against its support with his stomach (hence, by the way, its name).
The Romans also knew the crossbow, they called it the Solenarion. However, the bowstring was pulled in it by hand. Therefore, its power was low. And because it was used mainly for hunting. By the way, in Ferdowsi's poem "Shah-name", the crossbow is mentioned as a weapon specifically for hunting.
At first, the crossbows were pulled with belt hooks, a winch with a chain hoist system. And in the 15th century, the so-called "goat's leg" also appeared - a lever that was fixed on the stock of the crossbow and pulled the bowstring back. Crossbows of this system were faster than those that were pulled with a winch. But they were weaker.
In the 16th century, ballester crossbows spread, firing lead (as well as clay) ball bullets. A cup was attached to the bowstring for such a bullet, and instead of a nut, their trigger was equipped with a vertical descending rod that entered into a loop on the cup.
But around 1450, the so-called "Nuremberg gate", a kranekin or "spinner", appeared, representing a removable device for tensioning the bowstring of a bow of a crossbow of any strength. And this immediately pushed the creators of crossbows to develop not only large and powerful crossbows - powerful due to the size of the bow, but also small ones, but with a bow made of steel.
Very small crossbows appeared (they were called cranekin) especially for riders, which they could load without getting off the saddle. And immediately, detachments of mounted crossbowmen appeared on the battlefield, which had not been before, shooting at the enemy's horsemen and infantry from a distance. There was even a post of "great master of crossbowmen", the second most important in France after the great constable.
So in 1550, both the crossbow and the rider's wheel pistols, both in complexity and in their fighting qualities, were about the same level.
Firearms crossbows supplanted
And, nevertheless, the crossbows were supplanted by the firearms.
Charles IX, King of France 1560-1574 completely excluded the crossbow from military equipment, declaring that it, as a weapon, had become useless. And he invited all archers and crossbowmen to arm themselves with arquebus.
The bow survived in the English army until 1595. And it was also canceled.
Well, the reason, I think, is clear. Caring for a crossbow was more difficult than caring for a pistol or musket. And arrows took up more space in equipment than gunpowder and bullets. It was more difficult to activate it, for this anyway, physical strength was required. Whereas the arquebus was enough just to raise, aim and pull the trigger. In addition, the same "Nuremberg gate" was a rather heavy and metal-consuming product.
And again, it was the crossbow that prompted the gunsmiths the idea of a rifled weapon, because many crossbows even then fired arrows rotating in flight. And this rotation of them significantly increased the accuracy of hitting the target.
But hunting crossbows were produced and used for a very long time. And they became real works of art of arms.
And, of course, as noted above, arrows were required for crossbows. And they were much more difficult to manufacture than simple lead bullets.
In addition to shafts of the same thickness and weight, it was necessary to forge steel points, “squares”, as the arrows called them. Although the tips were very different in use, including in the shape of a reverse crescent. All this made the use of crossbows more expensive compared to firearms, without giving much benefit.
Both crossbows and muskets were fired in 1550 at about 1-2 rounds per minute.
