Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics

Hall, Bert S.; Hall, Berts

ISBN 10: 0801869943 / ISBN 13: 9780801869945

Editore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002

Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Codice articolo G0801869943I3N00

Riassunto:

Winner of the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical Association

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe explores the history of gunpowder in Europe from the thirteenth century, when it was first imported from China, to the sixteenth century, as firearms became central to the conduct of war. Bridging the fields of military history and the history of technology—and challenging past assumptions about Europe's "gunpowder revolution"—Hall discovers a complex and fascinating story. Military inventors faced a host of challenges, he finds, from Europe's lack of naturally occurring saltpeter—one of gunpowder's major components—to the limitations of smooth-bore firearms. Manufacturing cheap, reliable gunpowder proved a difficult feat, as did making firearms that had reasonably predictable performance characteristics. Hall details the efforts of armorers across Europe as they experimented with a variety of gunpowder recipes and gunsmithing techniques, and he examines the integration of new weapons into the existing structure of European warfare.

Informazioni sull?autore:

Bert S. Hall is associate professor at the University of Toronto's Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology and co-editor of Health, Disease and Healing in Medieval Culture.

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: ...
Casa editrice: Johns Hopkins University Press
Data di pubblicazione: 2002
Legatura: Paperback
Condizione: Good
Condizione sovraccoperta: No Jacket