Thursday, August 27, 2009

Happy Birthday!!!!!

I am a day late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

to the CANNON!

Erm, maybe.

On August 26th, in 1346 AD at a location know as Crecy (Yes Russ, right up your alley this one is), the Genonese crossbowmen had the very distinct honor to be the first soldiers in history to be taken under cannon fire.

Maybe.

There are two other possible uses of cannon prior to this (one in approximately 1250 AD by Muslims against Mongols, and in 1339 by the French against Edward), but neither was well documented and cannot be verified. Edwards the IIIs army had records and even some pictoral records of the cannons.

So Happy Birthday to the CANNON my fellow Redlegs and other lesser creatures...

3 comments:

  1. Huzzah!

    Didn't the Chinese have an early version of the cannon, or am I thinking their rockets instead?

    ReplyDelete
  2. They had what were called "hand Cannons". One man tube things, more cannon than musket or rifle, but still not the big guns we think of as cannons. Yes they had rockets and fire lances and did use gunpowder as bombs for catapults, but this is the first verfied record of real cannons. Like I said, there are mentions of "cannons" in other areas prior, but they can't be verified.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Got it. And I see I have a history of Crecy on my militaria shelf, so I'm going to have to go re-read it for a better appreciation of what you describe above.

    ReplyDelete