199-465: A shell , in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive , incendiary , or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell , contrasting with solid shells used for early rifled artillery, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell can hold a tracer . All explosive- and incendiary-filled projectiles, particularly for mortars , were originally called grenades , derived from
398-696: A Byzantine duchy dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna . With the fall of the Exarchate and the weakening of Byzantine power, the Duchy of Venice arose, led by a doge and established on the island of Rialto ; it prospered from maritime trade with the Byzantine Empire and other eastern states. To safeguard the trade routes, between the 9th and 11th centuries the Duchy waged several wars, which ensured its complete dominion over
597-548: A Tribune to govern the local administration, perpetuating the Roman custom started in the last years of the Western Roman Empire . Between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new political reform affected Venetia : like the other Byzantine provinces of Italy it was transformed into a duchy , at the head of which was the doge . Following the brief regime of the magistri militum , in 742 ducal electivity
796-506: A conspiracy for a rebellion against Venice was dismantled in Candia. The conspiracy was led by Sifis Vlastos as an opposition to the religious reforms for the unification of Churches agreed at the Council of Florence . In 1481, Venice retook nearby Rovigo , which it had held previously from 1395 to 1438. The Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven-year war with
995-473: A "shell" as opposed to "shot". By the time of the Second World War, AP shells with a bursting charge were sometimes distinguished by appending the suffix "HE". At the beginning of the war, APHE was common in anti-tank shells of 75 mm caliber and larger due to the similarity with the much larger naval armour piercing shells already in common use. As the war progressed, ordnance design evolved so that
1194-535: A 1543 English mortar shell was filled with "wildfire." By the 18th century, it was known that if loaded toward the muzzle instead, the fuse could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel. At about this time, shells began to be employed for horizontal fire from howitzers with a small propelling charge and, in 1779, experiments demonstrated that they could be used from guns with heavier charges. The use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in
1393-459: A bastion of the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt , Germany . Many of the grenades contained their original black-powder loads and igniters. Most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped in the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. An early problem was that there was no means of precisely measuring the time to detonation – reliable fuses did not yet exist, and the burning time of
1592-526: A better effect. This guideline was achieved by the 1960s with the 155 mm L15 shell, developed as part of the German-British FH-70 program. The key requirement for increasing the HE content without increasing shell weight was to reduce the thickness of shell walls, which required improvements in high tensile steel. The most common shell type is high explosive , commonly referred to simply as HE. They have
1791-401: A cartridge case and it achieves obturation through a screw breech instead of a sliding block. Sometimes when reading about artillery the term separate loading ammunition will be used without clarification of whether a cartridge case is used or not, in which case it refers to the type of breech used. Heavy artillery pieces and naval artillery tend to use bagged charges and projectiles because
1990-490: A challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism contacted the target. Therefore, ball shells needed a time fuse that was ignited before or during firing and burned until the shell reached its target. Cast iron shells packed with gunpowder have been used in warfare since at least early 13th century China. Hollow, gunpowder-packed shells made of cast iron used during the Song dynasty (960-1279) are described in
2189-552: A childhood background of relative socio-economic deprivation . For example, after the US suspended conscription in 1973, "the military disproportionately attracted African American men, men from lower-status socioeconomic backgrounds, men who had been in nonacademic high school programs, and men whose high school grades tended to be low". However, a study released in 2020 on the socio-economic backgrounds of U.S. Armed Forces personnel suggests that they are at parity or slightly higher than
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#17328595277092388-583: A civilian job while training under military discipline at weekends; he or she may be called out to deploy on operations to supplement the full-time personnel complement. After leaving the armed forces, recruits may remain liable for compulsory return to full-time military employment in order to train or deploy on operations . Military law introduces offences not recognized by civilian courts, such as absence without leave (AWOL) , desertion, political acts, malingering , behaving disrespectfully, and disobedience (see, for example, offences against military law in
2587-459: A concrete demolition 203 mm (8 in) shell 146 kg (322 lbs), a 280 mm (11 in) battleship shell about 300 kg (661 lbs), and a 460 mm (18 in) battleship shell over 1,500 kg (3,307 lbs). The Schwerer Gustav large-calibre gun fired shells that weighed between 4,800 kg (10,582 lbs) and 7,100 kg (15,653 lbs). During the 19th century, the British adopted
2786-679: A few judges, in 1130 it was decided to place the Consilium Sapientium , which would later become the Great Council of Venice , alongside his power. In the same period, in addition to the expulsion of the clergy from public life, new assemblies such as the Council of Forty and the Minor Council were established and in his inauguration speech the Doge was forced to declare loyalty to the Republic with
2985-411: A fixed round becomes too long or too heavy to load by a gun crew. Another issue is the inability to vary propellant charges to achieve different velocities and ranges. Lastly, there is the issue of resource usage since a fixed round uses a case, which can be an issue in a prolonged war if there are metal shortages. Separate loading cased charge ammunition has three main components: the fuzed projectile,
3184-411: A half-inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading. Despite the use of exploding shells, the use of smoothbore cannons firing spherical projectiles of shot remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. The mid–19th century saw a revolution in artillery, with the introduction of the first practical rifled breech loading weapons. The new methods resulted in the reshaping of
3383-694: A huge cloud of smoke and concealed shooters were given away by a cloud of smoke over the firing position. Guncotton , a nitrocellulose-based material, was discovered by Swiss chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1846. He promoted its use as a blasting explosive and sold manufacturing rights to the Austrian Empire . Guncotton was more powerful than gunpowder, but at the same time was somewhat more unstable. John Taylor obtained an English patent for guncotton; and John Hall & Sons began manufacture in Faversham . British interest waned after an explosion destroyed
3582-515: A huge influence on Asian military doctrine, and from the late 19th century, on European and United States military planning . It has even been used to formulate business tactics, and can even be applied in social and political areas. The Classical Greeks and the Romans wrote prolifically on military campaigning . Among the best-known Roman works are Julius Caesar 's commentaries on the Gallic Wars , and
3781-458: A large fleet to support his offensive by sea. Antonio Grimani , more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea battle of Zonchio in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto, Durazzo , Modon , and Coron . Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by
3980-516: A minimum period of service of several years; between two and six years is typical of armed forces in Australia, the UK and the US, for example, depending on role, branch, and rank. Some armed forces allow a short discharge window, normally during training, when recruits may leave the armed force as of right. Alternatively, part-time military employment, known as reserve service , allows a recruit to maintain
4179-758: A name that continued to be used until the 18th century. Starting from the 15th century, the documents written in Latin were joined by those in the Venetian language , and in parallel with the events in Italy, the Duchy of Venice also changed its name, becoming the Lordship of Venice, which as written in the peace treaty of 1453 with Sultan Mehmed II was fully named the Illustrissima et Excellentissima deta Signoria de Venexia ('The Most Illustrious and Excellent Signoria of Venice'). During
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#17328595277094378-711: A navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and had taken over most of what is now the Veneto, including the cities of Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua. Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. The Venetian slave trade was divided in to the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade . Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves, imported from Caffa (via
4577-409: A particular form of designating artillery. Field guns were designated by nominal standard projectile weight, while howitzers were designated by barrel caliber. British guns and their ammunition were designated in pounds , e.g., as "two-pounder" shortened to "2-pr" or "2-pdr". Usually, this referred to the actual weight of the standard projectile (shot, shrapnel, or high explosive), but, confusingly, this
4776-521: A political vision close to that of the Holy Roman Empire and consequently attempted to establish feudalism in Venice as well, causing a revolt in 976 which led to the burning of the capital and the killing of the doge. These events led the Venetian patriciate to gain a growing influence on the doge's policies and the conflicts that arose following the doge's assassination were resolved only in 991 with
4975-516: A rival city of Venice in the salt trade, decided to abdicate in favor of his brother, at the time patriarch of Grado, who refused. Since there was no heir in 887 the people gathered in the Concio and elected Pietro I Candiano by acclamation. The Concio managed to elect six doges up to Pietro III Candiano who in 958 assigned the position of co-dux to his son Pietro who became doge the following year. Due to his land holdings, Pietro IV Candiano had
5174-464: A sense of military tradition , which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still, another is to learn to prevent wars more effectively. Human knowledge about the military is largely based on both recorded and oral history of military conflicts (war), their participating armies and navies and, more recently, air forces . Despite the growing importance of military technology , military activity depends above all on people. For example, in 2000
5373-606: A significant impact at the strategic level. This concept was pioneered by the German army prior to and during the Second World War . At this level, planning and duration of activities takes from one week to a month, and are executed by Field Armies and Army Corps and their naval and air equivalents. Military tactics concerns itself with the methods for engaging and defeating the enemy in direct combat. Military tactics are usually used by units over hours or days, and are focused on
5572-419: A small rocket motor built into its base to provide additional thrust. The second has a pyrotechnic device in its base that bleeds gas to fill the partial vacuum created behind the shell and hence reduce base-drag. These shell designs usually have reduced high-explosive filling to remain within the permitted mass for the projectile, and hence less lethality. The caliber of a shell is its diameter . Depending on
5771-464: A smaller powder charge. The gun was also a breech-loader. Although attempts at breech-loading mechanisms had been made since medieval times, the essential engineering problem was that the mechanism could not withstand the explosive charge. It was only with the advances in metallurgy and precision engineering capabilities during the Industrial Revolution that Armstrong was able to construct
5970-482: A strong steel case, a bursting charge, and a fuse . The fuse detonates the bursting charge which shatters the case and scatters hot, sharp case pieces ( fragments , splinters ) at high velocity. Most of the damage to soft targets, such as unprotected personnel, is caused by shell pieces rather than by the blast. The term "shrapnel" is sometimes used to describe the shell pieces, but shrapnel shells functioned very differently and are long obsolete. The speed of fragments
6169-468: A thickness about 1/15th of the total diameter and filled with powder, saltpeter, pitch, coal and tallow. They were used to 'suffocate or expel the enemy in casemates, mines or between decks; for concealing operations; and as signals. During the First World War , shrapnel shells and explosive shells inflicted terrible casualties on infantry, accounting for nearly 70% of all war casualties and leading to
Shell (projectile) - Misplaced Pages Continue
6368-623: A viable solution. Another innovative feature was what Armstrong called its "grip", which was essentially a squeeze bore ; the 6 inches of the bore at the muzzle end was of slightly smaller diameter, which centered the shell before it left the barrel and at the same time slightly swaged down its lead coating, reducing its diameter and slightly improving its ballistic qualities. Rifled guns were also developed elsewhere – by Major Giovanni Cavalli and Baron Martin von Wahrendorff in Sweden, Krupp in Germany and
6567-571: A victory more often than that achieved by the Romans in praying to the gods before the battle. Later this became known as military science , and later still, would adopt the scientific method approach to the conduct of military operations under the influence of the Industrial Revolution thinking. In his seminal book On War , the Prussian Major-General and leading expert on modern military strategy , Carl von Clausewitz defined military strategy as 'the employment of battles to gain
6766-455: Is semi-fixed ammunition. With semi-fixed ammunition the round comes as a complete package but the projectile and its case can be separated. The case holds a set number of bagged charges and the gun crew can add or subtract propellant to change range and velocity. The round is then reassembled, loaded, and fired. Advantages include easier handling for larger caliber rounds, while range and velocity can easily be varied by increasing or decreasing
6965-496: Is a heavily armed , highly organized force primarily intended for warfare . Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state , with their members identifiable by a distinct military uniform . They may consist of one or more military branches such as an army , navy , air force , space force , marines , or coast guard . The main task of a military is usually defined as defence of their state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage,
7164-431: Is also an area in which much effort is invested – it includes everything from global communication networks and aircraft carriers to paint and food. Possessing military capability is not sufficient if this capability cannot be deployed for, and employed in combat operations. To achieve this, military logistics are used for the logistics management and logistics planning of the forces military supply chain management ,
7363-407: Is arguably one of the most complex activities known to humanity; because it requires determining: strategic, operational, and tactical capability requirements to counter the identified threats; strategic, operational , and tactical doctrines by which the acquired capabilities will be used; identifying concepts, methods, and systems involved in executing the doctrines; creating design specifications for
7562-405: Is conducted by determining a military budget , which is administered by a military finance organization within the military. Military procurement is then authorized to purchase or contract provision of goods and services to the military, whether in peacetime at a permanent base, or in a combat zone from local population. Capability development, which is often referred to as the military 'strength',
7761-403: Is generally most suitable but cupronickel or gilding metal were also used. Although an early percussion fuze appeared in 1650 that used a flint to create sparks to ignite the powder, the shell had to fall in a particular way for this to work and this did not work with spherical projectiles. An additional problem was finding a suitably stable "percussion powder". Progress was not possible until
7960-571: Is in the nature of the secrecy of the information they seek, and the clandestine nature that intelligence operatives work in obtaining what may be plans for a conflict escalation , initiation of combat , or an invasion . An important part of the military intelligence role is the military analysis performed to assess military capability of potential future aggressors, and provide combat modelling that helps to understand factors on which comparison of forces can be made. This helps to quantify and qualify such statements as: " China and India maintain
8159-554: Is limited by Gurney equations . Depending on the type of fuse used the HE shell can be set to burst on the ground (percussion), in the air above the ground, which is called air burst (time or proximity ), or after penetrating a short distance into the ground (percussion with delay, either to transmit more ground shock to covered positions, or to reduce the spread of fragments). Projectiles with enhanced fragmentation are called high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG). Military A military , also known collectively as armed forces ,
Shell (projectile) - Misplaced Pages Continue
8358-443: Is obsolete. Typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter, and they were about two-thirds the weight of solid shot of the same caliber. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses toward the muzzle, they were attached to wooden bottoms called sabots . In 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognized that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardized sabot thickness as
8557-555: Is usually a cylinder topped by an ogive -tipped nose cone for good aerodynamic performance , and possibly with a tapered boat tail ; but some specialized types differ widely. Gunpowder is a low explosive , meaning it will not create a concussive, brisant explosion unless it is contained, as in a modern-day pipe bomb or pressure cooker bomb . Early grenades were hollow cast-iron balls filled with gunpowder, and "shells" were similar devices designed to be shot from artillery in place of solid cannonballs ("shot"). Metonymically ,
8756-676: The promissione ducale ; thus the Commune of Venice , the set of all the assemblies aimed at regulating the power of the doge, began to take shape. In the 12th century, Venice decided not to participate in the Crusades due to its commercial interests in the East and instead concentrated on maintaining its possessions in Dalmatia which were repeatedly besieged by the Hungarians . The situation changed in 1202 when
8955-643: The Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed the Peloponnese , Crete and Cyprus , most of the Greek islands , as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean . The islands of the Venetian Lagoon in the 7th century, after having experienced a period of substantial increase in population, were organized into Maritime Venice ,
9154-716: The Apulian ports; the king of France: Cremona; the king of Hungary : Dalmatia, and each one some of another's part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello , in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded to come to terms with Spain, and Julius II soon recognized
9353-613: The Battle of Agnadello . While maintaining most of its mainland possessions, Venice was defeated and the attempt to expand the eastern dominions caused a long series of wars against the Ottoman Empire , which ended only in the 18th century with the Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 and which caused the loss of all possessions in the Aegean . Although still a thriving cultural centre, the Republic of Venice
9552-453: The Black Sea slave trade ), were sold in Venice. In the early 15th century, the republic began to expand onto the Terraferma . Thus, Vicenza , Belluno , and Feltre were acquired in 1404, and Padua , Verona , and Este in 1405. The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King Sigismund of Hungary , but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the republic
9751-680: The Byzantine-Norman wars . The following year, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos granted Venice the chrysobol , a commercial privilege that allowed Venetian merchants substantial tax exemptions in numerous Byzantine ports and the establishment of a Venetian neighbourhood in Durrës and Constantinople . The war ended in 1085 when, following the death of the leader Robert Guiscard , the Norman army abandoned its positions to return to Puglia. Having taken office in 1118, Emperor John II Komnenos decided not to renew
9950-530: The Carolingian Empire , de facto ratified the independence of Venice from the Byzantine Empire. In the following century, references to Venice as a Byzantine dominion disappeared, and in a document from 976 there is a mention of the most glorious Domino Venetiarum ('Lord of Venice'), where the 'most glorious' appellative had already been used for the first time in the Pactum Lotharii and where
10149-566: The Cretan War (1645–1669) , after a heroic siege that lasted 21 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession – the island of Crete (although it kept the control of the bases of Spinalonga and Suda) – while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War , the republic initiated
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#173285952770910348-515: The French word for pomegranate , so called because of the similarity of shape and that the multi-seeded fruit resembles the powder-filled, fragmentizing bomb. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages. Shells are usually large-caliber projectiles fired by artillery, armoured fighting vehicles (e.g. tanks , assault guns , and mortar carriers ), warships , and autocannons . The shape
10547-602: The Morean War , which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War , when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". The Turks took
10746-593: The Peace of Cremona . In 1281 Venice defeated the Republic of Ancona in battle and in 1293 a new war between Genoa, the Byzantine Empire and Venice broke out, won by the Genoese following the Battle of Curzola and ending in 1299. During the war, various administrative reforms were implemented in Venice, new assemblies were established to replace popular ones such as the Senate and in the Great Council power began to concentrate in
10945-576: The Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376. Shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica . These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop. At least since the 16th century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe. A hoard of several hundred ceramic grenades dated to the 17th century was discovered during building works in front of
11144-576: The Roman Civil war – written about 50 BC. Two major works on tactics come from the late Roman period: Taktike Theoria by Aelianus Tacticus , and De Re Militari ('On military matters') by Vegetius . Taktike Theoria examined Greek military tactics, and was most influential in the Byzantine world and during the Golden Age of Islam . De Re Militari formed the basis of European military tactics until
11343-478: The Royal Arsenal at Woolwich . The piece was rifled , which allowed for a much more accurate and powerful action. Although rifling had been tried on small arms since the 15th century, the necessary machinery to accurately rifle artillery only became available in the mid-19th century. Martin von Wahrendorff and Joseph Whitworth independently produced rifled cannons in the 1840s, but it was Armstrong's gun that
11542-665: The Smyrniote crusades , but its participation was suspended due to the siege of Zadar by the Hungarians. The Genoese expansion to the east, which caused the Black Death , brought the rivalry between the two republics to resurface and in 1350 they faced each other in the War of the Straits . Following the defeat in the Battle of Sapienza , Doge Marino Faliero attempted to establish a city lordship, but
11741-569: The Stato da Màr . The skirmishes between the Venetians and the Genoese resumed and in 1378 the two republics faced each other in the War of Chioggia . Initially the Genoese managed to conquer Chioggia and vast areas of the Venetian Lagoon, but in the end it was the Venetians who prevailed; the war ended definitively on 8 August 1381 with the Treaty of Turin which sanctioned the exit of the Genoese from
11940-589: The Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law , and demanded that they be repealed. When this
12139-448: The Tiepolo conspiracy . Once the coup d'état failed and the establishment of a lordship was averted, Doge Pietro Gradenigo established the Council of Ten , which was assigned the task of repressing any threat to the security of the state. In the Venetian hinterland, the war waged by Mastino II della Scala caused serious economic losses to Venetian trade, so in 1336 Venice gave birth to
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#173285952770912338-406: The Treaty of Campo Formio , agreeing to share all the territory of the republic, with a new border just west of the Adige. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo , viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province ( Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German). Though
12537-424: The Uskok War in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio , Spanish governor of Milan, around Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of Romano di Lombardia in 1618. During the same period, the Spanish governor of Naples, Don Pedro Téllez-Girón , clashed against Venice for commercial disputes at
12736-407: The War of Chioggia (with the Genoese army and fleet in the lagoon for a long period), Venice quickly managed to recover from the territorial losses suffered with the Treaty of Turin of 1381 and begin expansion on the mainland . Venetian expansion, however, led to the coalition of the Habsburg monarchy , Spain and France in the League of Cambrai , which in 1509 defeated the Republic of Venice in
12935-408: The War of Saint Sabas ; on 24 June 1258 the two republics faced each other in the Battle of Acre which ended with an overwhelming Venetian victory. In 1261 the Empire of Nicaea with the help of the Republic of Genoa managed to dissolve the Eastern Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire. The war between Genoa and Venice resumed and after a long series of battles the war ended in 1270 with
13134-414: The Wiard gun in the United States. However, rifled barrels required some means of engaging the shell with the rifling. Lead coated shells were used with the Armstrong gun , but were not satisfactory so studded projectiles were adopted. However, these did not seal the gap between shell and barrel. Wads at the shell base were also tried without success. In 1878, the British adopted a copper " gas-check " at
13333-408: The battle of Ragusa , having previously indirectly supported Ferdinand during the Uskok War. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the War of the Mantuan Succession . During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at
13532-402: The battle of Villabuona , and Venice's closest ally Mantua was sacked. Reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman Empire and Spain ensured the republic suffered no territorial loss, and the duchy of Mantua was restored to Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers , who was the candidate backed by Venice and France. The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in
13731-424: The co-dux , with the throne. The system brought Agnello's two sons, Giustiniano and Giovanni , to the ducal position, who was deposed in 836 due to his inadequacy to counter the Narentine pirates in Dalmatia . Following the deposition of Giovanni Partecipazio, Pietro Tradonico was elected who, with the promulgation of the Pactum Lotharii , a commercial treaty between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, began
13930-399: The coup d'état was foiled by the Council of Ten which on 17 April 1355 condemned the Doge to death. The ensuing political instability convinced Louis I of Hungary to attack Dalmatia which was conquered in 1358 with the signing of the Treaty of Zadar . The weakness of the Republic pushed Crete and Trieste to revolt, but the rebellions were quelled, thus reaffirming Venetian dominion over
14129-604: The fuzed projectile, the casing to hold the propellants and primer , and the single propellant charge. Everything is included in a ready-to-use package and in British ordnance terms is called fixed quick firing . Often guns which use fixed ammunition use sliding-block or sliding-wedge breeches and the case provides obturation which seals the breech of the gun and prevents propellant gasses from escaping. Sliding block breeches can be horizontal or vertical. Advantages of fixed ammunition are simplicity, safety, moisture resistance and speed of loading. Disadvantages are eventually
14328-407: The history of war , with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making, while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography. Military history has a number of facets. One main facet is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes, so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create
14527-465: The 17th century, monarchical absolutism asserted itself in many countries of continental Europe, radically changing the European political landscape. This change made it possible to more markedly determine the differences between monarchies and republics: while the former had economies governed by strict laws and dominated by agriculture, the latter lived off of commercial affairs and free markets. Moreover,
14726-489: The 17th century onwards. The British adopted parachute lightballs in 1866 for 10-, 8- and 5 1 ⁄ 2 -inch calibers. The 10-inch was not officially declared obsolete until 1920. Smoke balls also date back to the 17th century, British ones contained a mix of saltpetre, coal, pitch, tar, resin, sawdust, crude antimony and sulphur. They produced a "noisome smoke in abundance that is impossible to bear". In 19th-century British service, they were made of concentric paper with
14925-435: The 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder, set off by a slow burning fuse. They were usually made of cast iron , but bronze , lead , brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner ("the bombs bursting in air"), although today that sense of bomb
15124-404: The 9th century. In addition to the doge, the administration of the Republic was directed by various assemblies: the Great Council , with legislative functions, which was supported by the Minor Council , the Council of Forty and the Council of Ten , responsible for judicial matters, and the Senate . During its long history, the Republic of Venice took on various names, all closely linked to
15323-532: The Adriatic. Owing to participation in the Crusades , penetration into eastern markets became increasingly stronger and, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice managed to extend its power into numerous eastern emporiums and commercial ports. The supremacy over the Mediterranean Sea led the Republic to the clash with Genoa , which lasted until the 14th century, when, after having risked complete collapse during
15522-538: The Austrian factories blew up in 1862, Thomas Prentice & Company began manufacturing guncotton in Stowmarket in 1863; and British War Office chemist Sir Frederick Abel began thorough research at Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills leading to a manufacturing process that eliminated the impurities in nitrocellulose making it safer to produce and a stable product safer to handle. Abel patented this process in 1865, when
15721-614: The British Army declared: "Man is still the first weapon of war." The military organization is characterized by a command hierarchy divided by military rank , with ranks normally grouped (in descending order of authority) as officers (e.g. colonel ), non-commissioned officers (e.g. sergeant ), and personnel at the lowest rank (e.g. private ). While senior officers make strategic decisions, subordinated military personnel ( soldiers , sailors , marines , or airmen ) fulfil them. Although rank titles vary by military branch and country,
15920-516: The Dalmatian cities for the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had
16119-638: The Doge Enrico Dandolo decided to exploit the expedition of the Fourth Crusade to conclude the Zara War and the following year, after twenty years of conflict, Venice conquered the city and won the war, regaining control of Dalmatia. The Venetian crusader fleet, however, did not stop in Dalmatia, but continued towards Constantinople to besiege it in 1204 , thus putting an end to the Byzantine Empire and formally making Venice an independent state, severing
16318-419: The Faversham factory in 1847. Austrian Baron Wilhelm Lenk von Wolfsberg built two guncotton plants producing artillery propellant, but it was dangerous under field conditions, and guns that could fire thousands of rounds using gunpowder would reach their service life after only a few hundred shots with the more powerful guncotton. Small arms could not withstand the pressures generated by guncotton. After one of
16517-564: The First World War (such as the BL 60-pounder gun , RML 2.5 inch Mountain Gun , 4 inch gun, 4.5 inch howitzer) through to the end of World War II (5.5 inch medium gun, 25-pounder gun-howitzer , 17-pounder tank gun), but the majority of naval guns were by caliber. After the end of World War II, field guns were designated by caliber. There are many different types of shells. The principal ones include: With
16716-750: The German super- railway guns , Gustav and Dora , which were 800 mm (31.5 in) in caliber. Very large shells have been replaced by rockets , missiles , and bombs . Today the largest shells in common use are 155 mm (6.1 in). Gun calibers have standardized around a few common sizes, especially in the larger range, mainly due to the uniformity required for efficient military logistics. Shells of 105 and 155 mm for artillery with 105 and 120 mm for tank guns are common in NATO allied countries. Shells of 122, 130, and 152 mm for artillery with 100, 115, and 125 mm for tank guns, remain in common usage among
16915-475: The MI their true capabilities, and to impress potential ideological recruits. Having military intelligence representatives participate in the execution of the national defence policy is important, because it becomes the first respondent and commentator on the policy expected strategic goal , compared to the realities of identified threats . When the intelligence reporting is compared to the policy, it becomes possible for
17114-525: The Most Serene Republic of Venice ( Italian : Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia ; Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblega de Venexia ), a name by which it is best known today. Similarly, the doge was also given the nickname of serenissimo or more simply that of His Serenity . From the 17th century the Republic of Venice took on other more or less official names such as the Venetian State or
17313-543: The Royal Artillery was adopted by the army. It was a wooden fuze about 6 inches long and used shear wire to hold blocks between the fuze magazine and a burning match. The match was ignited by propellant flash and the shear wire broke on impact. A British naval percussion fuze made of metal did not appear until 1861. Gunpowder was used as the only form of explosive up until the end of the 19th century. Guns using black powder ammunition would have their view obscured by
17512-620: The Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River . Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula , pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol . Fearing
17711-968: The United Kingdom ). Penalties range from a summary reprimand to imprisonment for several years following a court martial . Certain rights are also restricted or suspended, including the freedom of association (e.g. union organizing) and freedom of speech (speaking to the media). Military personnel in some countries have a right of conscientious objection if they believe an order is immoral or unlawful, or cannot in good conscience carry it out. Personnel may be posted to bases in their home country or overseas, according to operational need, and may be deployed from those bases on exercises or operations . During peacetime, when military personnel are generally stationed in garrisons or other permanent military facilities, they conduct administrative tasks, training and education activities, technology maintenance , and recruitment . Initial training conditions recruits for
17910-740: The Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after the Ottomans captured the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome siege of Shkodra . In 1480, no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet, the Ottomans besieged Rhodes and briefly captured Otranto . In February 1489,
18109-416: The Venetian Republic. The republic is often referred to as La Serenissima , in reference to its title as one of the " Most Serene Republics ". The Duchy of Venice was born in the 9th century from the Byzantine territories of Maritime Venice . According to tradition, the first doge was elected in 697, but this figure is of dubious historicity and comparable to that of the exarch Paul , who, similarly to
18308-662: The Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the Lombard part of the state. After Napoleon's ultimatum, Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May and abdicated , while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed
18507-454: The adoption of steel combat helmets on both sides. Frequent problems with shells led to many military disasters with dud shells, most notably during the 1916 Battle of the Somme . Shells filled with poison gas were used from 1917 onwards. Artillery shells are differentiated by how the shell is loaded and propelled, and the type of breech mechanism. Fixed ammunition has three main components:
18706-708: The anti-Scaliger league and the Scaliger War . The following year the coalition expanded further and Padua returned to the dominion of the Carraresi . In 1338, Venice conquered Treviso , the first nucleus of the Domini di Terraferma , and in 1339 it signed a peace treaty in which the Scaligeri promised not to interfere in Venetian trade and to recognize the sovereignty of Venice over the Trevisan March. In 1343 Venice took part in
18905-538: The appellative "lord" refers to the fact that the doge was still considered like a king, even if elected by the popular assembly. Gaining independence, Venice also began to expand on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea , and so starting from 1109, following the conquest of Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, the doge formally received the title of Venetiae Dalmatiae atque Chroatiae Dux ('Doge of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia'),
19104-497: The armed forces, and at all levels of the military hierarchy of command. Although concerned with research into military psychology , particularly combat stress and how it affects troop morale , often the bulk of military science activities is directed at military intelligence technology, military communications , and improving military capability through research. The design, development, and prototyping of weapons , military support equipment, and military technology in general,
19303-506: The arrival of the Byzantine fleet and the retreat of the Franks. Following the failed Frankish conquest, Doge Obelerio was replaced by the pro-Byzantine nobleman Agnello Participazio who definitively moved the capital to Rivoalto in 812, thus decreeing the birth of the city of Venice . With his election, Agnello Partecipazio attempted to make the ducal office hereditary by associating an heir,
19502-494: The base of their studded projectiles and in 1879 tried a rotating gas check to replace the studs, leading to the 1881 automatic gas-check. This was soon followed by the Vavaseur copper driving band as part of the projectile. The driving band rotated the projectile, centered it in the bore and prevented gas escaping forwards. A driving band has to be soft but tough enough to prevent stripping by rotational and engraving stresses. Copper
19701-538: The bursting charges in APHE became ever smaller to non-existent, especially in smaller caliber shells, e.g. Panzergranate 39 with only 0.2% HE filling. Although smokeless powders were used as a propellant, they could not be used as the substance for the explosive warhead, because shock sensitivity sometimes caused detonation in the artillery barrel at the time of firing. Picric acid was the first high-explosive nitrated organic compound widely considered suitable to withstand
19900-509: The capital. Having taken control of the situation, the doge placed Venezia under Frankish protection, but a Byzantine naval blockade convinced him to renew his loyalty to the Eastern Emperor. With the intention of conquering Venezia in 810, the Frankish army commanded by Pepin invaded the lagoon, forcing the local population to retreat to Rivoalto , thus starting a siege which ended with
20099-559: The casing to hold the propellants and primer, and the bagged propellant charges. The components are usually separated into two or more parts. In British ordnance terms, this type of ammunition is called separate quick firing . Often guns which use separate loading cased charge ammunition use sliding-block or sliding-wedge breeches and during World War I and World War II Germany predominantly used fixed or separate loading cased charges and sliding block breeches even for their largest guns. A variant of separate loading cased charge ammunition
20298-419: The chrysobol of 1082, arousing the reaction of Venice which declared war on the Byzantine Empire in 1122. The war ended in 1126 with the victory of Venice which forced the emperor to stipulate a new agreement characterized by even better conditions than the previous ones, thus making the Byzantine Empire totally dependent on Venetian trade and protection. With the intention of weakening the growing Venetian power,
20497-622: The civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum and established himself as sultan . The conflict escalated until Pietro Loredan won a crushing victory against the Turks off Gallipoli in 1416 . Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania , which was acquired from King Ladislaus of Naples during the civil war in Hungary . Ladislaus was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on
20696-513: The civilian population with respect to socio-economic indicators such as parental income, parental wealth and cognitive abilities. The study found that technological, tactical, operational and doctrinal changes have led to a change in the demand for personnel. Furthermore, the study suggests that the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups are less likely to meet the requirements of the modern U.S. military. The obligations of military employment are many. Full-time military employment normally requires
20895-531: The combustion temperature and hence erosion and barrel wear. Cordite could be made to burn more slowly which reduced maximum pressure in the chamber (hence lighter breeches, etc.), but longer high pressure – significant improvements over gunpowder. Cordite could be made in any desired shape or size. The creation of cordite led to a lengthy court battle between Nobel, Maxim, and another inventor over alleged British patent infringement. A variety of fillings have been used in shells throughout history. An incendiary shell
21094-587: The commanding forces and other military, as well as often civilian personnel participate in identification of these threats. This is at once an organization, a system and a process collectively called military intelligence (MI). Areas of study in Military intelligence may include the operational environment, hostile, friendly and neutral forces, the civilian population in an area of combat operations, and other broader areas of interest. The difficulty in using military intelligence concepts and military intelligence methods
21293-456: The competition for dominion over the Mediterranean. In 1403, the last major battle between the Genoese (now under French rule) and Venice was fought at Modon , and the final victory resulted in maritime hegemony and dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would soon be contested, however, by the inexorable rise of the Ottoman Empire . Hostilities began after Prince Mehmed I ended
21492-454: The concepts and methods used by the command to employ appropriately military skilled, armed and equipped personnel in achievement of the tangible goals and objectives of the war , campaign , battle , engagement, and action. The line between strategy and tactics is not easily blurred, although deciding which is being discussed had sometimes been a matter of personal judgement by some commentators, and military historians. The use of forces at
21691-410: The concerns of military command. Military strategy is more concerned with the supply of war and planning, than management of field forces and combat between them. The scope of strategic military planning can span weeks, but is more often months or even years. Operational mobility is, within warfare and military doctrine , the level of command which coordinates the minute details of tactics with
21890-624: The consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. The situation culminated in the Battle of Motta in late August 1412, when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats, led by Pippo Spano and Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at Motta and suffered a heavy defeat. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia and subjected Traù , Spalato , Durazzo , and other Dalmatian cities. In Lombardy , Venice acquired Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1428, and Cremona in 1499. In 1454,
22089-512: The consumables, and capital equipment of the troops. Although mostly concerned with the military transport , as a means of delivery using different modes of transport; from military trucks , to container ships operating from permanent military base , it also involves creating field supply dumps at the rear of the combat zone, and even forward supply points in a specific unit's tactical area of responsibility . These supply points are also used to provide military engineering services, such as
22288-514: The course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area (a territory currently comparable to the Metropolitan City of Venice ), during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy , Istria , Dalmatia , the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in
22487-434: The curve was a segment of a circle having a radius of twice the shell caliber. After that war, ogive shapes became more complex and elongated. From the 1960s, higher quality steels were introduced by some countries for their HE shells, this enabled thinner shell walls with less weight of metal and hence a greater weight of explosive. Ogives were further elongated to improve their ballistic performance. Advances in metallurgy in
22686-579: The danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war,
22885-491: The day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later,
23084-609: The delicate situation in Romagna , then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the Papal States , but effectively divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II . The pope wanted Romagna ; Emperor Maximilian I : Friuli and Veneto ; Spain:
23283-429: The demands of military life, including preparedness to injure and kill other people, and to face mortal danger without fleeing. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process which resocializes recruits for the unique nature of military demands. For example: The next requirement comes as a fairly basic need for the military to identify possible threats it may be called upon to face. For this purpose, some of
23482-477: The discovery of mercury fulminate in 1800, leading to priming mixtures for small arms patented by the Rev Alexander Forsyth , and the copper percussion cap in 1818. The percussion fuze was adopted by Britain in 1842. Many designs were jointly examined by the army and navy, but were unsatisfactory, probably because of the safety and arming features. However, in 1846 the design by Quartermaster Freeburn of
23681-455: The doge, was assassinated in 727 following a revolt. Father Pietro Antonio of Venetia, in his history of the lagoon city published in 1688, writes: "The precise time in which that family arrived in the Adria is not found, but rather, what already an inhabitant of the islands, by the princes, who welcomed citizens, and supported with the advantage of significant riches, in the year 697 she contributed to
23880-523: The early Ming Dynasty Chinese military manual Huolongjing , written in the mid 14th century. The History of Jin 《金史》 (compiled by 1345) states that in 1232, as the Mongol general Subutai (1176–1248) descended on the Jin stronghold of Kaifeng , the defenders had a " thunder crash bomb " which "consisted of gunpowder put into an iron container ... then when the fuse was lit (and the projectile shot off) there
24079-558: The economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century with the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the Enlightenment . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as secretary by Comte de Montaigu, who had been named ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened
24278-548: The election of Pietro II Orseolo . Pietro II Orseolo gave a notable boost to Venetian commercial expansion by stipulating new commercial privileges with the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. In addition to diplomacy, the doge resumed the war against the Narentan pirates that began in the 9th century and in the year 1000 he managed to subjugate the coastal cities of Istria and Dalmatia. The Great Schism of 1054 and
24477-409: The emperor provided substantial commercial support to the maritime republics of Ancona , Genoa and Pisa , making coexistence with Venice, which was now hegemonic on the Adriatic Sea , increasingly difficult, so much so that it was renamed the "Gulf of Venice". In 1171, following the emperor's decision to expel the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, a new war broke out which was resolved with
24676-460: The end of war'. According to Clausewitz: strategy forms the plan of the War, and to this end it links together the series of acts which are to lead to the final decision, that is to say, it makes the plans for the separate campaigns and regulates the combats to be fought in each. Hence, Clausewitz placed political aims above military goals , ensuring civilian control of the military . Military strategy
24875-511: The ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta , Nicosia , and Kyrenia , but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570 and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on
25074-401: The existence of the military is to engage in combat , should it be required to do so by the national defence policy, and to win. This represents an organisational goal of any military, and the primary focus for military thought through military history . How victory is achieved, and what shape it assumes, is studied by most, if not all, military groups on three levels. Military strategy is
25273-650: The faculty of appointing the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople and the possibility of sending a Venetian representative to the government of the Eastern Latin Empire . With the end of the Fourth Crusade, Venice concentrated its efforts on the conquest of Crete, which intensely involved the Venetian army until 1237. Venice's control over the eastern trade routes became pressing and this caused an increase in conflicts with Genoa which in 1255 exploded into
25472-537: The first being Germany and Austria which introduced new weapons in 1888. Subsequently, Poudre B was modified several times with various compounds being added and removed. Krupp began adding diphenylamine as a stabilizer in 1888. Britain conducted trials on all the various types of propellant brought to their attention, but were dissatisfied with them all and sought something superior to all existing types. In 1889, Sir Frederick Abel , James Dewar and W. Kellner patented (No. 5614 and No. 11,664 in
25671-776: The form of military camouflage or misdirection using decoys , is used to confuse the enemy as a tactic. A major development in infantry tactics came with the increased use of trench warfare in the 19th and 20th centuries. This was mainly employed in World War I in the Gallipoli campaign , and the Western Front . Trench warfare often turned to a stalemate, only broken by a large loss of life, because, in order to attack an enemy entrenchment, soldiers had to run through an exposed ' no man's land ' under heavy fire from their opposing entrenched enemy. As with any occupation, since ancient times,
25870-573: The frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige River. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps . In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben , the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take
26069-544: The hands of about ten families. To avoid the birth of a lordship, the Doge decided to increase the number of members of the Maggior Consiglio while leaving the number of families unchanged and so the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio was implemented in 1297. Following the provision, the power of some of the old houses decreased and in 1310, under the pretext of defeat in the War of Ferrara , these families organized themselves in
26268-436: The historical period and national preferences, this may be specified in millimeters , centimeters , or inches . The length of gun barrels for large cartridges and shells (naval) is frequently quoted in terms of the ratio of the barrel length to the bore size, also called caliber . For example, the 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun is 50 calibers long, that is, 16"×50=800"=66.7 feet long. Some guns, mainly British, were specified by
26467-604: The industrial era allowed for the construction of rifled breech-loading guns that could fire at a much greater muzzle velocity . After the British artillery was shown up in the Crimean War as having barely changed since the Napoleonic Wars , the industrialist William Armstrong was awarded a contract by the government to design a new piece of artillery. Production started in 1855 at the Elswick Ordnance Company and
26666-557: The interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published The Social Contract (1762). Following the Lombard occupation and the progressive migration of the Roman populations, new coastal settlements were born in which the local assemblies, the comitia , elected
26865-410: The introduction of the first ironclads in the 1850s and 1860s, it became clear that shells had to be designed to effectively pierce the ship armour. A series of British tests in 1863 demonstrated that the way forward lay with high-velocity lighter shells. The first pointed armour-piercing shell was introduced by Major Palliser in 1863. Approved in 1867, Palliser shot and shell was an improvement over
27064-455: The island of Cyprus , previously a crusader state (the Kingdom of Cyprus ), was added to Venice's holdings. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people. War with the Ottomans resumed from 1499 to 1503. In 1499, Venice allied itself with Louis XII of France against Milan, gaining Cremona . In the same year, the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto by land and sent
27263-555: The islands of Tinos and Aegina , crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth . Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands , and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu , but its defenders managed to throw them back. In
27462-469: The lagoon for a decade. Following his death, the Byzantines entrusted the government of the province to the regime of the magistri militum , which lasted until 742 when the emperor granted the people the appointment of a dux . The Venetians elected by acclamation Theodato , son of Orso, who decided to move the capital of the duchy from Heraclia to Metamauco . The Lombard conquest of Ravenna in 751 and
27661-513: The largest armed forces in the World" or that "the U.S. Military is considered to be the world's strongest". Although some groups engaged in combat, such as militants or resistance movements , refer to themselves using military terminology, notably 'Army' or 'Front', none have had the structure of a national military to justify the reference, and usually have had to rely on support of outside national militaries. They also use these terms to conceal from
27860-642: The last ties with the former Byzantine ruler. The empire was dismembered in the Crusader states and from the division Venice obtained numerous ports in the Morea and several islands in the Aegean Sea including Crete and Euboea , thus giving life to the Stato da Màr . In addition to the territorial conquests, the doge was awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire, thus obtaining
28059-525: The late 17th century. Perhaps its most enduring maxim is Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (let he who desires peace prepare for war). Due to the changing nature of combat with the introduction of artillery in the European Middle Ages , and infantry firearms in the Renaissance , attempts were made to define and identify those strategies, grand tactics , and tactics that would produce
28258-482: The level of organization between strategic and tactical is called operational mobility . Because most of the concepts and methods used by the military, and many of its systems are not found in commercial branches, much of the material is researched, designed, developed, and offered for inclusion in arsenals by military science organizations within the overall structure of the military. Therefore, military scientists can be found interacting with all Arms and Services of
28457-471: The long process of detachment of the province from the Byzantine Empire. After Tradonico was killed following a conspiracy in 864, Orso I Participazio was elected and resumed the fight against piracy, managing to protect the Dogado from attacks by the Saracens and the Patriarchate of Aquileia . Orso managed to assign the dukedom to his eldest son Giovanni II Participazio who, after conquering Comacchio ,
28656-426: The management of forces in wars and military campaigns by a commander-in-chief , employing large military forces, either national and allied as a whole, or the component elements of armies , navies and air forces ; such as army groups , naval fleets , and large numbers of aircraft . Military strategy is a long-term projection of belligerents' policy, with a broad view of outcome implications, including outside
28855-630: The manufacturers who would produce these in adequate quantity and quality for their use in combat; purchase the concepts, methods, and systems; create a forces structure that would use the concepts, methods, and systems most effectively and efficiently; integrate these concepts, methods, and systems into the force structure by providing military education , training , and practice that preferably resembles combat environment of intended use; create military logistics systems to allow continued and uninterrupted performance of military organizations under combat conditions, including provision of health services to
29054-587: The meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This
29253-497: The military has been distinguished from other members of the society by their tools: the weapons and military equipment used in combat. When Stone Age humans first took flint to tip the spear , it was the first example of applying technology to improve the weapon. Since then, the advances made by human societies, and that of weapons, has been closely linked. Stone weapons gave way to Bronze Age and Iron Age weapons such as swords and shields . With each technological change
29452-436: The military may be employed in additional sanctioned and non-sanctioned functions within the state, including internal security threats, crowd control , promotion of political agendas , emergency services and reconstruction, protecting corporate economic interests, social ceremonies, and national honour guards . The profession of soldiering is older than recorded history . Some images of classical antiquity portray
29651-425: The monarchies, in addition to being led by a single ruling family, were more prone to war and religious uniformity. This increasingly noticeable difference between monarchy and republic began to be specified also in official documents, and it was hence that names such as the Republic of Genoa or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces were born. The Lordship of Venice also adapted to this new terminology, becoming
29850-421: The name Lyddite . Japan followed with an "improved" formula known as shimose powder . In 1889, a similar material, a mixture of ammonium cresylate with trinitrocresol, or an ammonium salt of trinitrocresol, started to be manufactured under the name ecrasite in Austria-Hungary . By 1894, Russia was manufacturing artillery shells filled with picric acid. Ammonium picrate (known as Dunnite or explosive D )
30049-410: The names of Abel and Dewar) a new formulation that was manufactured at the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey. It entered British service in 1891 as Cordite Mark 1. Its main composition was 58% nitro-glycerine, 37% guncotton and 3% mineral jelly. A modified version, Cordite MD, entered service in 1901, this increased guncotton to 65% and reduced nitro-glycerine to 30%, this change reduced
30248-404: The nascent mercantile aristocracy gathered in the Great Council , the largest assembly of the Veneciarum municipality . In the 13th century the popular assembly of the concio was progressively stripped of all its powers and, similarly to the Italian city lordships , in Venice too power began to concentrate in the hands of a small number of families. To avoid the birth of a lordship and dilute
30447-425: The national leadership to consider allocating resources over and above the officers and their subordinates military pay, and the expense of maintaining military facilities and military support services for them. Source: SIPRI Defense economics is the financial and monetary efforts made to resource and sustain militaries, and to finance military operations , including war. The process of allocating resources
30646-406: The naval forces of the Holy League , composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish , and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria , defeated the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto . Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76
30845-421: The need for a pressure-holding casing, so the casing of later shells only needs to contain the munition, and, if desired, to produce shrapnel. The term "shell," however, was sufficiently established that it remained as the term for such munitions. Hollow shells filled with gunpowder needed a fuse that was either impact triggered ( percussion ) or time delayed. Percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented
31044-438: The nomination of the first Prince Marco Contarini, one of the 22 Tribunes of the Islands, who made the election". In 726, Emperor Leo III attempted to extend iconoclasm to the Exarchate of Ravenna, causing numerous revolts throughout the territory. In reaction to the reform, the local populations appointed several duces to replace the Byzantine governors and in particular Venetia appointed Orso as its doge, who governed
31243-469: The number of propellant charges. Disadvantages include more complexity, slower loading, less safety, less moisture resistance, and the metal cases can still be a material resource issue. In separate loading bagged charge ammunition there are three main components: the fuzed projectile, the bagged charges and the primer. Like separate loading cased charge ammunition, the number of propellant charges can be varied. However, this style of ammunition does not use
31442-459: The ordinary elongated shot of the time. Palliser shot was made of cast iron , the head being chilled in casting to harden it, using composite molds with a metal, water cooled portion for the head. Britain also deployed Palliser shells in the 1870s–1880s. In the shell, the cavity was slightly larger than in the shot and was filled with 1.5% gunpowder instead of being empty, to provide a small explosive effect after penetrating armour plating. The shell
31641-431: The outbreak of the investiture struggle in 1073 marginally involved Venetian politics which instead focused its attention on the arrival of the Normans in southern Italy. The Norman occupation of Durrës and Corfu in 1081 pushed the Byzantine Empire to request the aid of the Venetian fleet which, with the promise of obtaining extensive commercial privileges and reimbursement of military expenses, decided to take part in
31840-421: The overarching goals of strategy . A common synonym is operational art. The operational level is at a scale bigger than one where line of sight and the time of day are important, and smaller than the strategic level, where production and politics are considerations. Formations are of the operational level if they are able to conduct operations on their own, and are of sufficient size to be directly handled or have
32039-417: The personnel, and maintenance for the equipment; the services to assist recovery of wounded personnel, and repair of damaged equipment; and finally, post-conflict demobilization , and disposal of war stocks surplus to peacetime requirements. Development of military doctrine is perhaps the most important of all capability development activities, because it determines how military forces are used in conflicts,
32238-412: The physicality of armed forces, their personnel , equipment , and the physical area which they occupy. As an adjective, military originally referred only to soldiers and soldiering, but it broadened to apply to land forces in general, and anything to do with their profession. The names of both the Royal Military Academy (1741) and United States Military Academy (1802) reflect this. However, at about
32437-404: The population dropped to 124,000 people by 1581. According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade , a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing from a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of
32636-401: The powder fuse was subject to considerable trial and error. Early powder-burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire or slow match put down the barrel to light the fuse. Other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into regular use in the 16th century, for example,
32835-429: The power and feats of military leaders . The Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC from the reign of Ramses II , features in bas-relief monuments. The first Emperor of a unified China , Qin Shi Huang , created the Terracotta Army to represent his military might. The Ancient Romans wrote many treatises and writings on warfare, as well as many decorated triumphal arches and victory columns . The first recorded use of
33034-445: The rank hierarchy is common to all state armed forces worldwide. In addition to their rank, personnel occupy one of many trade roles, which are often grouped according to the nature of the role's military tasks on combat operations: combat roles (e.g. infantry ), combat support roles (e.g. combat engineers ), and combat service support roles (e.g. logistical support ). Personnel may be recruited or conscripted , depending on
33233-415: The recovery of defective and derelict vehicles and weapons, maintenance of weapons in the field, the repair and field modification of weapons and equipment; and in peacetime, the life-extension programmes undertaken to allow continued use of equipment. One of the most important role of logistics is the supply of munitions as a primary type of consumable, their storage, and disposal . The primary reason for
33432-432: The regions of Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Eastern Asia. Most common calibers have been in use for many decades, since it is logistically complex to change the caliber of all guns and ammunition stores. The weight of shells increases by and large with caliber. A typical 155 mm (6.1 in) shell weighs about 50 kg (110 lbs), a common 203 mm (8 in) shell about 100 kg (220 lbs),
33631-421: The restoration of the status quo . At the end of the 12th century, the commercial traffic of Venetian merchants extended throughout the East and they could count on immense and solid capital. As in the rest of Italy, starting from the 12th century, Venice also underwent the transformations that led to the age of the municipalities . In that century, the doge's power began to decline: initially supported only by
33830-446: The second Austrian guncotton factory exploded. After the Stowmarket factory exploded in 1871, Waltham Abbey began production of guncotton for torpedo and mine warheads. In 1884, Paul Vieille invented a smokeless powder called Poudre B (short for poudre blanche —white powder, as distinguished from black powder ) made from 68.2% insoluble nitrocellulose , 29.8% soluble nitrocellusose gelatinized with ether and 2% paraffin. This
34029-412: The shock of firing in conventional artillery . In 1885, based on research of Hermann Sprengel, French chemist Eugène Turpin patented the use of pressed and cast picric acid in blasting charges and artillery shells . In 1887, the French government adopted a mixture of picric acid and guncotton under the name Melinite . In 1888, Britain started manufacturing a very similar mixture in Lydd , Kent, under
34228-399: The specific tasks and objectives of squadrons , companies , battalions , regiments , brigades , and divisions , and their naval and air force equivalents. One of the oldest military publications is The Art of War , by the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu . Written in the 6th century BCE, the 13-chapter book is intended as military instruction, and not as military theory , but has had
34427-476: The spherical shell into its modern recognizable cylindro-conoidal form. This shape greatly improved the in-flight stability of the projectile and meant that the primitive time fuzes could be replaced with the percussion fuze situated in the nose of the shell. The new shape also meant that further, armour-piercing designs could be used. During the 20th century, shells became increasingly streamlined. In World War I, ogives were typically two circular radius head (crh) –
34626-500: The subsequent conquest of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne 's Franks in 774, with the creation of the Carolingian Empire in 800, considerably changed the geopolitical context of the lagoon, leading the Venetians to divide into two factions : a pro-Frankish party led by the city of Equilium and a pro-Byzantine party with a stronghold in Heraclia . After a long series of skirmishes in 805, Doge Obelerio decided to attack both cities simultaneously, deporting their population to
34825-532: The system chosen by the state. Most military personnel are males; the minority proportion of female personnel varies internationally (approximately 3% in India, 10% in the UK, 13% in Sweden, 16% in the US, and 27% in South Africa ). While two-thirds of states now recruit or conscript only adults, as of 2017 50 states still relied partly on children under the age of 18 (usually aged 16 or 17) to staff their armed forces. Whereas recruits who join as officers tend to be upwardly-mobile , most enlisted personnel have
35024-418: The term "shell", from the casing, came to mean the entire munition . In a gunpowder-based shell, the casing was intrinsic to generating the explosion, and thus had to be strong and thick. Its fragments could do considerable damage, but each shell broke into only a few large pieces. Further developments led to shells which would fragment into smaller pieces. The advent of high explosives such as TNT removed
35223-471: The terms "armed forces" and "military" are often synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include other paramilitary forces such as armed police. A nation's military may function as a discrete social subculture , with dedicated infrastructure such as military housing, schools , utilities, logistics , hospitals , legal services, food production, finance, and banking services. Beyond warfare,
35422-407: The time of the Napoleonic Wars , military began to be used in reference to armed forces as a whole, such as " military service ", " military intelligence ", and " military history ". As such, it now connotes any activity performed by armed force personnel. Military history is often considered to be the history of all conflicts, not just the history of the state militaries. It differs somewhat from
35621-435: The titles attributed to the doge . During the 8th century, when Venice still depended on the Byzantine Empire , the doge was called in Latin Dux Venetiarum Provinciae ('Doge of the Province of Venice'), and then, starting from 840, Dux Veneticorum ('Doge of the Venetians'), following the signing of the Pactum Lotharii . This commercial agreement, stipulated between the Duchy of Venice ( Ducatum Venetiae ) and
35820-527: The weight and size of the projectiles and propelling charges can be more than a gun crew can manage. Advantages include easier handling for large rounds, decreased metal usage, while range and velocity can be varied by using more or fewer propellant charges. Disadvantages include more complexity, slower loading, less safety and less moisture resistance. Extended-range shells are sometimes used. These special shell designs may be rocket-assisted projectiles (RAP) or base bleed (BB) to increase range. The first has
36019-462: The weight of their shells (see below). Explosive rounds as small as 12.7 x 82 mm and 13 x 64 mm have been used on aircraft and armoured vehicles, but their small explosive yields have led some nations to limit their explosive rounds to 20mm (.78 in) or larger. International Law precludes the use of explosive ammunition for use against individual persons, but not against vehicles and aircraft. The largest shells ever fired during war were those from
36218-459: The word "military" in English, spelled militarie , was in 1582. It comes from the Latin militaris (from Latin miles ' soldier ' ) through French, but is of uncertain etymology, one suggestion being derived from *mil-it- – going in a body or mass. As a noun phrase, "the military" usually refers generally to a country's armed forces, or sometimes, more specifically, to the senior officers who command them. In general, it refers to
36417-405: Was a great explosion the noise whereof was like thunder, audible for more than thirty miles, and the vegetation was scorched and blasted by the heat over an area of more than half a mou . When hit, even iron armour was quite pierced through." Archeological examples of these shells from the 13th century Mongol invasions of Japan have been recovered from a shipwreck. Shells were used in combat by
36616-411: Was adopted for the Lebel rifle. Vieille's powder revolutionized the effectiveness of small guns, because it gave off almost no smoke and was three times more powerful than black powder. Higher muzzle velocity meant a flatter trajectory and less wind drift and bullet drop, making 1000 meter shots practicable. Other European countries swiftly followed and started using their own versions of Poudre B,
36815-538: Was correspondingly slightly longer than the shot to compensate for the lighter cavity. The powder filling was ignited by the shock of impact and hence did not require a fuze. However, ship armour rapidly improved during the 1880s and 1890s, and it was realised that explosive shells with steel had advantages including better fragmentation and resistance to the stresses of firing. These were cast and forged steel. AP shells containing an explosive filling were initially distinguished from their non-HE counterparts by being called
37014-505: Was filled with molten iron and was intended to break up on impact with an enemy ship, splashing molten iron on the target. It was used by the Royal Navy between 1860 and 1869, replacing heated shot as an anti-ship, incendiary projectile. Two patterns of incendiary shell were used by the British in World War I, one designed for use against Zeppelins. Similar to incendiary shells were star shells, designed for illumination rather than arson. Sometimes called lightballs they were in use from
37213-483: Was first to see widespread use during the Crimean War. The cast iron shell of the Armstrong gun was similar in shape to a Minié ball and had a thin lead coating which made it fractionally larger than the gun's bore and which engaged with the gun's rifling grooves to impart spin to the shell. This spin, together with the elimination of windage as a result of the tight fit, enabled the gun to achieve greater range and accuracy than existing smooth-bore muzzle-loaders with
37412-429: Was invented by Valturio in 1460. The carcass shell was first used by the French under Louis XIV in 1672. Initially in the shape of an oblong in an iron frame (with poor ballistic properties) it evolved into a spherical shell. Their use continued well into the 19th century. A modern version of the incendiary shell was developed in 1857 by the British and was known as Martin's shell after its inventor. The shell
37611-404: Was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law. Rivalry with Habsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in
37810-406: Was named the last Captain General of the Sea ( Capitano Generale da Mar ) of the Republic in 1784. By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galiots . In spring 1796, Piedmont (the Duchy of Savoy ) fell to the invading French, and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi . The army under Napoleon crossed
38009-459: Was not always the case. Some were named after the weights of obsolete projectile types of the same caliber, or even obsolete types that were considered to have been functionally equivalent. Also, projectiles fired from the same gun, but of non-standard weight, took their name from the gun. Thus, conversion from "pounds" to an actual barrel diameter requires consulting a historical reference. A mixture of designations were in use for land artillery from
38208-399: Was occupied by Napoleon 's French troops and its territories were divided with the Habsburg monarchy following the ratification of the Treaty of Campo Formio . Throughout its history, the Republic of Venice was characterized by its political order. Inherited from the previous Byzantine administrative structures, its head of state was the doge, a position which became elective from the end of
38407-718: Was one of a triumvirate of ' arts ' or 'sciences' that governed the conduct of warfare, the others being: military tactics , the execution of plans and manoeuvring of forces in battle , and maintenance of an army. The meaning of military tactics has changed over time; from the deployment and manoeuvring of entire land armies on the fields of ancient battles, and galley fleets; to modern use of small unit ambushes , encirclements , bombardment attacks, frontal assaults , air assaults , hit-and-run tactics used mainly by guerrilla forces, and, in some cases, suicide attacks on land and at sea. Evolution of aerial warfare introduced its own air combat tactics . Often, military deception , in
38606-513: Was realized some tangible increase in military capability, such as through greater effectiveness of a sharper edge in defeating armour , or improved density of materials used in manufacture of weapons. Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice , officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenìssima , is a country, sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice . Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto , over
38805-444: Was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict which forbade clergymen from exercising almost all priestly duties. The republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite friar Paolo Sarpi , a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict
39004-446: Was still in wide use in World War II . The percentage of shell weight taken up by its explosive fill increased steadily throughout the 20th Century. Less than 10% was usual in the first few decades; by World War II , leading designs were around 15%. However, British researchers in that war identified 25% as being the optimal design for anti-personnel purposes, based on the recognition that far smaller fragments than hitherto would give
39203-419: Was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen . Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley , extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century. Angelo Emo
39402-450: Was transferred from the Empire to local assemblies, thus sanctioning the beginning of the ducal monarchy which lasted, with ups and downs, until the 11th century. If the first stable form of involvement of the patriciate in the management of power occurred with the institution of the curia ducis , starting from 1141 with the beginning of the municipal age , an unstoppable process of limitation and removal of ducal power from part of
39601-588: Was used by the United States beginning in 1906. Germany began filling artillery shells with TNT in 1902. Toluene was less readily available than phenol, and TNT is less powerful than picric acid, but the improved safety of munitions manufacturing and storage caused the replacement of picric acid by TNT for most military purposes between the World Wars. However, pure TNT was expensive to produce and most nations made some use of mixtures using cruder TNT and ammonium nitrate, some with other compounds included. These fills included Ammonal, Schneiderite and Amatol . The latter
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