The Abus gun ( meaning ''howitzer'') is an early form of artillery created by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. They were small, but often too heavy to carry, and many were equipped with a type of tripod. They fired projectiles weighing between 3 and 9 caps (in modern measures, between ). Abus guns, despite being a form of

howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...

, were primarily used as an anti-infantry

weapon A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

Development

Its origins are not known. Early artillery such as this gun opened the way for the developments in artillery made across the ages, and spawned more recent and familiar types of artillery. By the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

Each regiment of foot artillery was made up of 10
cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
s; four of the older, heavy and Sahi cannons, two of the older, lighter Abus guns and four of the new French-designed field guns... each of which came in a bewildering range of sizes. The ''Balyemez'' were massive, long-range guns...''Şahi'' was the Ottoman word for "field," and therefore Şahi artillery meant simply field artillery... The Abus guns were a form of howitzer and came in 10- and 7-centimeter diameter bores. The French-design guns were known as Sürat Topçusu (''speed artillery'') because of their greater mobility."

Mechanics

Abus guns were a short-barreled artillery machine that fired shots about the size of a human fist. They also had many varieties of artillery, from large siege bombard to the mobile Abus guns in question. Though light enough to carry, they needed to be equipped with a tripod of sorts. This movability was opposed to locating them in a guarded artillery emplacement, where versatility of the weapon would have been considerably restricted. The design remained unchanged until 1830 when the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n military advisers appointed by the

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

made a few minor improvements, standardising the weapons in order to improve efficiency.

In popular culture

Abus guns are used by the Ottomans in '' Age of Empires III'', serving as a form of light artillery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abus Gun Cannon Medieval artillery Artillery of the Ottoman Empire

Development

Mechanics

In popular culture

See also

References