Editing Howitzer (section)

=== Early modern period ===

The first artillery identified as howitzers developed in the late 16th century as a medium-[[Projectile motion|trajectory]] weapon between the low trajectory ([[direct fire]]) of cannons and the high trajectory ([[indirect fire]]) of mortars.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer |title=Instruments of war : weapons and technologies that have changed history |date=2015 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=978-1-4408-3654-1 |page=62}}</ref> Originally intended for use in [[Siege|siege warfare]], they were particularly useful for delivering [[cast iron]] shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In contrast to contemporaneous mortars, which were fired at a fixed angle and were entirely dependent on adjustments to the size of propellant charges to vary range, howitzers could be fired at a wide variety of angles. Thus, while howitzer gunnery was more complicated than the technique of employing mortars, the howitzer was an inherently more flexible weapon that could fire its projectiles along a wide range of trajectories.<ref>OFG Hogg ''Artillery: Its Origin, Heyday and Decline'' (London: C Hurst & Co, 1970), p. 94</ref>[[File:Keegan's howitzer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Mountain howitzer firing]]

In the middle of the 18th century, a number of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were mobile enough to accompany armies in the field. Though usually fired at the relatively high angles of fire used by contemporary siege howitzers, these field howitzers were rarely defined by this capability. Rather, as the field guns of the day were usually restricted to inert projectiles (which relied entirely on momentum for their destructive effects), the field howitzers of the 18th century were chiefly valued for their ability to fire explosive shells. Many, for the sake of simplicity and rapidity of fire, dispensed with adjustable propellant charges.<ref>Heinrich Rohne, "Zur Geschichte der schweren Feldhaubitze", ''Jahrbücher für die deutsche Armee und Marine'', No. 423, pp. 567–68</ref>

The [[Abus gun]] was an early form of howitzer in the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name="Dragoman">{{cite web|url=http://magweb.com/sample/sdra/sdr12gun.htm |title=William Johnson, "The Sultan's Big Guns." ''Dragoman'', vol.1, no.2 |access-date=2017-04-05 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710015533/http://magweb.com/sample/sdra/sdr12gun.htm |archive-date=July 10, 2007 }}</ref> In 1758, the [[Russian Empire]] introduced a specific type of howitzer (or rather gun-howitzer), with a conical chamber, called a [[licorne]], which remained in service for the next 100 years.<ref name="angus">{{cite book|last=Konstam|first=Angus |title=Russian Army of the Seven Years War (2)|publisher=Osprey Publishing|place=Londyn|year=1996|series=Men-at-Arms|pages=41|isbn=978-1-85532-587-6}}</ref> In the mid-19th century, some armies attempted to simplify their artillery parks by introducing [[smoothbore]] artillery pieces that were designed to fire both explosive projectiles and cannonballs, thereby replacing both field howitzers and field guns. The most famous of these "gun-howitzers" was the [[Canon obusier de 12|Napoleon 12-pounder]], a weapon of French design that was extensively used in the [[American Civil War]].<ref>Ildefonse Favé, “Résumé des progrès de l’artillerie depuis l’année 1800 jusqu’a l’année 1853”, in [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte]] and Ildefonse Favé, ''Études sur le passé et l'avenir de de l'artillerie'', (Paris: J. Dumaine, 1846–71), V, pp. 223–25</ref>

[[File:Oldhowitzer.jpg|thumb|upright=1|12-pound Napoleon at the [[Colorado State Capitol]]]]
[[File:12 pounder mountain howitzer on display at Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming.jpg|thumb|Nineteenth-century 12-pounder (5&nbsp;kg) mountain howitzer displayed by the [[National Park Service]] at [[Fort Laramie]] in [[Wyoming]], United States]]

In 1859, the armies of Europe (including those that had recently adopted gun-howitzers) began to rearm field batteries with [[Rifling|rifled]] field guns. These field pieces used cylindrical projectiles that, while smaller in caliber than the spherical shells of smoothbore field howitzers, could carry a comparable charge of gunpowder. Moreover, their greater range let them create many of the same effects (such as firing over low walls) that previously required the sharply curved trajectories of smoothbore field howitzers. Because of this, military authorities saw no point in obtaining rifled field howitzers to replace their smoothbore counterparts but instead used rifled field guns to replace both guns and howitzers.<ref>Charles Thoumas, ''Les transformations de l'Armée française: essais d'histoire et de critique sur l'état militaire de la France'', (Paris : Berger-Levrault, 1887), II, pp. 123–26</ref>

In siege warfare, the introduction of rifling had the opposite effect. In the 1860s, artillery officers discovered that rifled siege howitzers (substantially larger than field howitzers) were a more efficient means of destroying walls (particularly walls protected by certain kinds of intervening obstacles) than smoothbore siege guns or siege mortars. Thus, at the same time armies were taking howitzers of one sort out of their field batteries, they were introducing howitzers of another sort into their siege trains and fortresses. The lightest of these weapons (later known as "light siege howitzers") had calibers around {{convert|150|mm|abbr=on}} and fired shells that weighed between {{convert|40|and|50|kg|abbr=on}}. The heaviest (later called "medium siege howitzers") had calibers between {{convert|200|and|220|mm|abbr=on}} and fired shells that weighed about {{convert|100|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref>Hermann von Müller, ''Die Entwickelung der deutschen Festungs und Belagerungstrains'', (Berlin: E. S. Mittler, 1896), pp. 328–35</ref>

During the 1880s, a third type of siege howitzer was added to inventories of a number of European armies. With calibers that ranged between {{convert|240|and|270|mm|abbr=on}} and shells that weighed more than {{convert|150|kg|abbr=on}}, these soon came to be known as "heavy siege howitzers". A good example of a weapon of this class is provided by the [[24 cm Mörser M 98|9.45-inch (240&nbsp;mm) weapon]] that the [[British Army]] purchased from the [[Škoda Works|Skoda works]] in 1899.<ref>Ortner, M. Christian. The Austro-Hungarian Artillery From 1867 to 1918: Technology, Organization, and Tactics. Vienna, Verlag Militaria, 2007 {{ISBN|978-3-902526-13-7}}</ref>