Napoleonic Artillery

 
From the publishers
This is an illustrated book including 84 scale drawings, 23 figures and over 260 photographs of ordnance. It is an introduction to the subject for the collector, military historian; model maker, re-enactor, and wargamer. The book is a result of over a decade of research. It traces the development of the ordnance, its carriages and associated vehicles of Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Prussia, Russia, Spain and the lesser German states. The French Revolutionary (1792-1802) and Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) were defined by the battle-winning use of artillery systems developed during the eighteenth century European arms race. Important figures such as Valliere, Lichtenstein, Gribeauval, Manson, Desaguliers, Congreve, Rumford, Blomefield, Napoleon, Arakcheev and Scharnhorst are related in this book. The great development of artillery in this period was driven by the experience of the Seven Years War (1756-1763) and American Revolution (1775-1783) by these men.
The turn of the nineteenth century was a time of improvement in artillery, but it was still a relatively primitive technology, and gun crews were often faced by near impossible conditions. Visibility limited the effectiveness of artillery, causing them to open fire at ranges shorter than often quoted theoretical minimum, and though the first salvo from a battery could be accurately aimed, subsequent salvos would become more and more difficult to direct as the target became obscured by gunpowder smoke. Designers and senior military figures sought to improve artillery and its use in these conditions, and the period saw innovative doctrinal changes that accompanied the technical improvements of the artillery equipment through the last decades of the eighteenth century.

About the authors:
Anthony Dawson is a graduate from the University of Bradford. He is considered a leading expert on British ordnance.
Paul L. Dawson is a graduate from the same university. He is a specialist in artillery and is a researcher on the Napoleonic period.
Dr Stephen Summerfield is a writer and an illustrator.