Abus Gun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Abus gun is an early form of Howitzer created by the Ottoman empire. They were large and heavy, and many were equipped with a type of tripod. Abus guns, despite being a form of howitzer, were primarily used as an anti-infantry weapon.[1].
It also features as a weapon in the strategy game Age of Empires III, [2], as do other of other real-life weapons. The real-life information is correlated with the game-play in the independently published history guide.[3]
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[edit] Military History
[edit] Background
The Ottomans were the first European power to employ artillery in their armies. They continued to develop it; by the Napoleonic era,
Each regiment of foot artillery was made up of l0 cannons; four of the older, heavy Balyemez 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...Sahi was the Ottoman word for "field," and therefore Sahi artillery meant simply field artillery... The Abus guns were a form of howitzer and came in 10- and 7centimeter diameter bores. The French-design guns were known as SuratTopcusu (speed artillery) because of their greater mobility." [1]
[edit] 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 bombards 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.
[edit] Usage
Abus guns were a significant part of the Ottoman empire's artillery, and could perhaps even be referred to as the signature piece of artillery during the height of their power, in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries, for no other civilization used a gun quite like this gun,.[citation needed] While the Ottoman Empire employed other forms of artillery, the strategy of the moveable abus gun would have contributed to their rise during the Napoleonic Era. Indeed, at one point in the said time, after the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453, a great achievement for any empire at that time, the Ottoman force was greatly comprised of artillery.
As this gun was one of the first artillery weapons ever to be used in battle, its origins are not known. Early artillery such as this gun opened the way for the developments in artillery that we have made across the ages, and spawned more recent and familiar types of artillery.
[edit] Use in the Game.
In Age of Empires III, the gun becomes available, at approximately the correct historical time. [4]
In the game, the Abus gun is limited to only 3, 5, 7 and 9 caps, opposed to the long range guns who were limited to 22 and 40 caps. [5] (The term cap indicated the weight of projectile being used by the gun in ockles, an Ottoman equivalent to approximately 2.83 pounds.Wiktionary Thus a gun of 2 cap was capable of firing a projectile of 2 oklces, or 5.66 pounds).[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b William Johnson, "The Sultan's Big Guns." Dragoman v.1 no.2, Obtained March 4, 2007 from [[1]
- ^ Ensemble Studios , Age of Empires III strategy game instruction booklet Published by Microsoft (October 18, 2005).
- ^ Age of Empires III History
- ^ "Abus Gun"
- ^
- ^
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- MagWeb Online Archive of Military History and Related Magazines. War, Warfare, and War Toys from the Ancient Era to Modern Times. (Subscription access)
- Dragoman covers the miilitary history of the Ottoman Empire. (free sample access)
- HeavenGames homepage
- Abus Gun in Heaven Games "units"
