Editing Arquebus (section)

==History==
{{see also|History of gunpowder|Timeline of the Gunpowder Age}}
[[File:Weinlese Erlenbach 1444.jpg|thumb|Two soldiers on the left using arquebuses, 1470]]
[[File:Early matchlocks.jpg|thumb|upright|Early matchlocks as illustrated in the [[Baburnama]] (16th century)]]
[[File:Jacob de Gheyn - Wapenhandelinge 4.jpg|thumb|upright|Musketeer from Jacob van Gheyn's ''Wapenhandelingen van Roers, Musquetten ende Spiesen'' (1608)]]
[[File:EdoJapaneseArquebuse.jpg|thumb|[[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|Tanegashima]] arquebus of the [[Edo period]]]]
[[File:1639 Ming musketry volley formation.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration of a 1639 Ming musketry volley formation]]

===Origins===
The earliest known examples of an "arquebus" date back to 1411 in Europe and no later than 1425 in the Ottoman Empire.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=443}} This early firearm was a [[hand cannon]], whose roots trace back to China, with a serpentine lever to hold matches.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=425}} However it did not have the matchlock mechanism traditionally associated with the arquebus. The exact dating of the matchlock addition is disputed. The first references to the use of what may have been arquebuses (''tüfek'') by the [[Janissary]] corps of the [[Ottoman army]] date them from 1394 to 1465.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=443}} However, it is unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons as late as 1444, but according to Gábor Ágoston the fact that they were listed separately from cannons in mid-15th century inventories suggest they were handheld firearms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ágoston |first1=Gábor |title=Military Transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500–1800 |journal=Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History |date=2011 |volume=12 |issue=2 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254954728 |pages=281–319 [294] |doi=10.1353/kri.2011.0018|s2cid=19755686 |quote=Initially the Janissaries were equipped with bows, crossbows, and javelins. In the first half of the 15th century, they began to use matchlock arquebuses, although the first references to the Ottomans' use of tüfek or hand firearms of the arquebus type (1394, 1402, 1421, 1430, 1440, 1442) are disputable.}}</ref>

In Europe, a [[shoulder stock]], probably inspired by the [[crossbow]] stock,<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal|last=Khan |first=Iqtidar Alam|date=1991|title=The Nature of Handguns in Mughal India: 16th and 17th Centuries|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=52|pages=378–389|jstor=44142632}}</ref> was added to the arquebus around 1470 and the appearance of the matchlock mechanism is dated to a little before 1475. The matchlock arquebus was the first firearm equipped with a trigger mechanism.{{sfn|Phillips|2016}}{{sfn|Petzal|2014|p=5}} It is also considered to be the first portable shoulder-arms firearm.{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=xxvii}}

===Ottomans===
{{Main|Ottoman matchlock musket}}
The Ottomans made use of arquebuses as early as the first half of the fifteenth century. During the [[Ottoman–Hungarian wars]] of 1443–1444, it was noted that Ottoman defenders in [[Vidin]] had arquebuses. Based on the earliest known contemporary written sources, [[Godfrey Goodwin (scholar)|Godfrey Goodwin]] dates the first use of the arquebus by the Janissaries to no earlier than 1465.<ref>Godfrey Goodwin: ''The Janissaries'', saqu Books, 2006, p. 129 {{ISBN|978-0-86356-740-7}}</ref> According to contemporary accounts, 400 arquebusiers served in Sultan Murad II's campaign in the 1440s when he crossed Bosporus straits and arquebuses were used in combat by the Ottomans at the second battle of Kosovo in 1448. Ottomans also made some use of Wagon Fortresses which they copied from the [[Hussites]], which often involved the placing of arquebusiers in the [[Wagon fort|protective wagons]] and using them against the enemy. Arquebusiers were also used effectively at the battle of Bashkent in 1473 when they were used in conjunction with artillery.<ref name=":04">{{Cite journal|last=Ágoston|first=Gábor|date=2014|title=Firearms and Military Adaptation: The Ottomans and the European Military Revolution, 1450–1800|journal=Journal of World History|volume=25|issue=1|pages=85–124|doi=10.1353/jwh.2014.0005|s2cid=143042353|issn=1527-8050}}</ref>

===Europe===
The arquebus was used in substantial numbers for the first time in Europe during the reign of King [[Matthias Corvinus]] of Hungary (r. 1458–1490).{{sfn|Bak|1982|pp=125–40}} One in four soldiers in the infantry of the [[Black Army of Hungary]] wielded an arquebus, and one in five when accounting for the whole army,{{sfn|Janin|2013|p=41}} which was an unusually high proportion at the time. Although they were present on the battlefield King Mathias preferred enlisting shielded men instead due to the arquebus's low rate of fire. While the Black Army adopted arquebuses relatively early, the trend did not catch on for decades in Europe and by the turn of the 16th century only around 10% of Western European infantrymen used firearms.<ref>Vajna-Naday, Warhistory. p. 40.</ref><ref>Courtlandt Canby: ''A History of Weaponry''. Recontre and Edito Service, London. p. 62.</ref> Arquebuses were used as early as 1472 by the Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses as well in 1476.{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=123}} The French started adopting the arquebus in 1520.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stevenson|first=Cornelius|date=1909|title=Wheel-Lock Guns and Pistols|journal=Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum|volume=7|issue=25|pages=6–9|doi=10.2307/3793657|jstor=3793657}}</ref> However, arquebus designs continued to develop and in 1496 Philip Monch of the Palatinate composed an illustrated ''Buch der Strynt un(d) Buchsse(n)'' on guns and "harquebuses".{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=160}}

The effectiveness of the arquebus was apparent by the [[Battle of Cerignola]] of 1503, which is the earliest-recorded military conflict where arquebuses played a decisive role in the outcome of the battle.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=167}}

In Russia, a small arquebus called ''pishchal'' ({{Langx|ru|пищаль}}) appeared in 1478 in [[Pskov]]. The Russian arquebusiers, or ''pishchal'niki'', were seen as integral parts of the army and one thousand ''pishchal'niki'' participated in the final annexation of the [[Pskov Republic]] in 1510 as well as the [[Siege of Smolensk (1514)|conquest of Smolensk]] in 1512. The Russian need to acquire gunpowder weaponry bears some resemblance to the situation the Iranians were in. In 1545, two thousand ''pishchal'niki'' (one thousand on horseback) were levied by the towns and outfitted at treasury expense. Their use of mounted troops was also unique to the time period. The ''pishchal'niki'' eventually became skilled hereditary [[tradesmen]] farmers rather than conscripts.<ref>Michael C. Paul (2004). "The Military Revolution in Russia, 1550–1682". ''Journal of Military History'', Vol. 68, No. 1. pp. 24–25</ref>

Arquebuses were used in the [[Italian Wars]] in the first half of the 16th century. Frederick Lewis Taylor claims that a kneeling volley fire may have been employed by [[Prospero Colonna]]'s [[arquebusier]]s as early as the [[Battle of Bicocca]] (1522).<ref>Taylor, Frederick. (1921). ''The Art of War in Italy, 1494–1529''. p. 52.</ref> However, this has been called into question by [[Tonio Andrade]] who believes this is an overinterpretation as well as a mis-citation of a passage by [[Charles Oman]] suggesting that the Spanish arquebusiers knelt to reload, when in fact Oman never made such a claim.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=350}} This is contested by Idan Sherer, who quotes [[Paolo Giovio]] saying that the arquebusiers kneeled to reload so that the second line of arquebusiers could fire without endangering those in front of them.{{sfn|Sherer|2017|p=190}}

===Mamluks===
The [[Mamluks]] in particular were conservatively against the incorporation of gunpowder weapons. When faced with cannons and arquebuses wielded by the Ottomans they criticized them thus, "God curse the man who invented them, and God curse the man who fires on Muslims with them."{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=208}} Insults were also levied against the Ottomans for having "brought with you this contrivance artfully devised by the Christians of Europe when they were incapable of meeting the Muslim armies on the battlefield".{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=208}} Similarly, [[musketeer]]s and musket-wielding infantrymen were despised in society by the [[feudal]] [[knight]]s, even until the time of [[Miguel de Cervantes]] (1547–1616).{{sfn|Khan|2004}} Eventually the Mamluks under [[Qaitbay]] were ordered in 1489 to train in the use of ''al-bunduq al-rasas'' (arquebuses). However, in 1514 an Ottoman army of 12,000 soldiers wielding arquebuses devastated a much larger Mamluk army.{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=208}} The arquebus had become a common infantry weapon by the 16th century due to its relative cheapness—a helmet, breastplate and pike cost about three and a quarter ducats while an arquebus only a little over one ducat.{{sfn|Purton|2010|p=422}}{{sfn|Arnold|2001|p=44}} Another advantage of arquebuses over other equipment and weapons was its short training period. While a bow potentially took years to master, an effective arquebusier could be trained in just two weeks.{{sfn|Arnold|2001|p=74}}

===Asia===
The arquebus spread further east, reaching India by 1500, Southeast Asia by 1540, and China sometime between 1523 and 1548.{{sfn|Khan|2004|p=131}}{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} They were introduced to Japan in 1543 by Portuguese traders who landed by accident on [[Tanegashima]] (種子島), an island south of [[Kyūshū]] in the region controlled by the [[Shimazu clan]].{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} By 1550, arquebuses known as [[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|''tanegashima'']], ''[[Firearms of Japan|teppō]] (鉄砲)'' or [[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|''hinawaju (火縄銃)'']] were being produced in large numbers in Japan. The ''tanegashima'' seem to have utilized [[snap matchlock]]s based on firearms from [[Goa]], India, which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510.<ref>Rainer Daehnhardt (1994). ''The bewitched gun: the introduction of the firearm in the Far East by the Portuguese'', p. 26</ref> Within ten years of its introduction upwards of three hundred thousand tanegashima were reported to have been manufactured.{{sfn|Nagayama|1997}} The tanegashima eventually became one of the most important weapons in Japan. [[Oda Nobunaga]] revolutionized musket tactics in Japan by splitting loaders and shooters and assigning three guns to a shooter at the [[Battle of Nagashino]] in 1575, during which volley fire may have been implemented. However, the volley fire technique of 1575 has been called into dispute in recent years by J. S. A. Elisonas and J. P. Lamers in their translation of ''The Chronicle of Oda Nobunaga'' by Ota Gyuichi. In Lamers' ''Japonius'' he says that "whether or not Nobunaga actually operated with three rotating ranks cannot be determined on the basis of reliable evidence."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=354}} They claim that the version of events describing volley fire was written several years after the battle, and an earlier account says to the contrary that guns were fired en masse.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=170}} Even so, both Korean and Chinese sources note that Japanese gunners were making use of volley fire during the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592 to 1598.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=181}}

====Iran====
Regarding Iranian use of the arquebus, much of the credit for their increase in use can be attributed to [[Shah Ismail I]] who, after being defeated by the firearm-using Ottomans in 1514, began extensive use of arquebuses and other firearms himself with an estimated 12,000 arquebusiers in service less than 10 years after his initial defeat by the Ottomans.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Nourbakhsh|first=Mohammad Reza (Farhad)|date=2008|title=Iran's Early Encounter with Three Medieval European Inventions (875–1153 AH/1470–1740 CE)|journal=Iranian Studies|volume=41|issue=4|pages=549–558|jstor=25597489|doi=10.1080/00210860802246242|s2cid=144208564}}</ref> According to a 1571 report by Vincentio d'Alessandri, Persian arms including arquebuses "were superior and better tempered than those of any other nation", suggesting that such firearms were in common use among middle eastern powers by at least the mid-16th century.{{sfn|Adle|2003|p=475}} While the use of 12,000 arquebusiers is impressive, the firearms were not widely adopted in Iran. This is in no small part due to the reliance on light cavalry by the Iranians.<ref name=":0" /> Riding a horse and operating an arquebus are incredibly difficult which helped lead to both limited use and heavy stagnation in the technology associated with firearms.<ref name=":0" /> These limitations aside, the Iranians still made use of firearms and Europe was very important in facilitating that as Europeans supplied Iran with firearms and sent experts to help them produce some of the firearms themselves.<ref name=":0" /> Iran also made use of elephant mounted arquebusiers which would give them a clear view of their targets and better mobility.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Khan|first=Iqtidar Alam |title=Firearms in Central Asia and Iran During the Fifteenth Century and the Origins and Nature of Firearms Brought by Babur|date=1995|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=56|pages=435–46|jstor=44158646}}</ref>

====Southeast Asia====
[[Southeast Asia]]n powers started fielding arquebuses by 1540.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} [[Đại Việt]] was considered by the Ming to have produced particularly advanced matchlocks during the 16–17th century, surpassing even Ottoman, Japanese, and European firearms. European observers of the [[Lê–Mạc War]] and later [[Trịnh–Nguyễn War]] also noted the proficiency of matchlock making by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese matchlock was said to have been able to pierce several layers of iron armour, kill two to five men in one shot, yet also fire quietly for a weapon of its caliber.<ref>{{citation |url=http://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2014/11/matchlock-of-ming-dynasty.html |title=Matchlock firearms of the Ming Dynasty |date=10 November 2014 |access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref>

====China====
The arquebus was introduced to the [[Ming dynasty]] in the early 16th century and was used in small numbers to fight off pirates by 1548. There is, however, no exact date for its introduction and sources conflict on the time and manner in which it was introduced. Versions of the arquebus' introduction to China include the capture of firearms by the Ming during a battle in 1523,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Xiaodong|first=Yin|title=Western Cannons in China in the 16th–17th Centuries|date=2008|journal=Icon|volume=14|pages=41–61|jstor=23787161}}</ref> the capture of the pirate Wang Zhi, who had arquebuses, in 1558, which contradicts the usage of arquebuses by the Ming army ten years earlier, and the capture of arquebuses from Europeans by the Xu brother pirates, which later came into possession of a man named Bald Li, from whom the Ming officials captured the arquebuses. About 10,000 muskets were ordered by the Central Military Weaponry Bureau in 1558 and the firearms were used to fight off pirates.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=171}}

[[Qi Jiguang]] developed military formations for the effective use of arquebus equipped troops with different mixtures of troops deployed in 12-man teams. The number of arquebuses assigned to each team could vary depending on the context but theoretically in certain cases all members of the team could have been deployed as gunners. These formations also made use of countermarch volley fire techniques. Firearm platoons deployed one team in front of them at the blast of a bamboo flute. They started firing after their leader fired and fired once at the blast of a trumpet, and then spread out according to their drilling pattern. Each layer could also fire once at the blowing of a horn and were supported by close-quarters troops who could advance should the need arise. To avoid self-inflicted injuries and ensure a consistent rate of fire in the heat of battle, Qi emphasized drilling in the procedure required to reload the weapon. Qi Jiguang gave a eulogy on the effectiveness of the gun in 1560:

{{blockquote|It is unlike any other of the many types of fire weapons. In strength it can pierce armor. In accuracy it can strike the center of targets, even to the point of hitting the eye of a coin [i.e., shooting right through a coin], and not just for exceptional shooters.&nbsp;... The arquebus [鳥銃] is such a powerful weapon and is so accurate that even bow and arrow cannot match it, and&nbsp;... nothing is so strong as to be able to defend against it.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=172}}|''Jixiao Xinshu''}}

===European arquebus formations===
[[File:1594 Dutch musketry volley technique.jpg|thumb|left|Diagram of a 1594 Dutch musketry volley formation]]
In Europe, [[Maurice, Prince of Orange|Maurice of Nassau]] pioneered the countermarch volley fire technique. After outfitting his entire army with new, standardized arms in 1599, Maurice of Nassau attempted to recapture Spanish forts built on former Dutch lands. In the [[Battle of Nieuwpoort]] in 1600, he administered the new techniques and technologies for the first time. The Dutch marched onto the beach where the fort was located and fully utilized the countermarching tactic. By orienting all of his arquebusiers into a block, he was able to maintain a steady stream of fire out of a disciplined formation using volley fire tactics. The result was a lopsided victory with 4,000 Spanish casualties to only 1,000 dead and 700 wounded on the Dutch side. Although the battle was principally won by the decisive counterattack of the Dutch cavalry and despite the failure of the new Dutch infantry tactic in stopping the veteran Spanish [[tercio]]s, the battle is considered a decisive step forward in the development [[early modern warfare]], where firearms took on an increasingly large role in Europe in the following centuries.<ref>Parker 347–353</ref>

===Use with other weapons===
The arquebus had many advantages but also severe limitations on the battlefield. This led to it often being paired up with other weaponry to mitigate these weaknesses. Qi Jiguang from China developed systems where soldiers with traditional weaponry stayed right behind the arquebusiers to protect them should enemy infantry get too close.{{sfn|Andrade|2016}} Pikemen were used to protect the arquebusiers by the English and the Venetians often used archers to lay down cover fire during the long reloading process.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Phillips|first=Gervase|date=1999|title=Longbow and Hackbutt: Weapons Technology and Technology Transfer in Early Modern England|journal=Technology and Culture|volume=40|issue=3|pages=576–593|doi=10.1353/tech.1999.0150|jstor=25147360|s2cid=108977407}}</ref> The Ottomans often supported their arquebusiers with artillery fire or placed them in fortified wagons, a tactic they borrowed from the Hussites.<ref name=":04" />