<span style='`font-size`:25pt;`line-height`:100%'><u>Topics for 5/26/04</u></span>
1)<u>History Question, Answered.</u>
Here are the two reasons for the invention of the Bayonet:
1. (Here is what everyone said for an answer) For the Musket Man to better engage in close combat.
2. (Here is what no one said, that I was thinking of) To Replace the Pikeman.
With the Invention of the Matchlock System, another reasonable way to bring long range fire without major training came about. Going back to the middle ages, the Long Bow was the ultamite weapon, but it took years of experience to be able to operate well. So as an answer to that, the crossbow was made. It took only a week to learn how to properly use this, but the accuracy and range was terrible. The Matchlock was sort of like the crossbow as in what is was made to do, to find a weapon easy to use by commoners. It was aslo deadlier.
With that came a whole new system of fighting. You would have your musket men, pikemen, cavalry, and artillery. The musket men could easily shoot the cavarly men down, but slow reloading opened up a time for the cavalry to rush in and slaughter the musket men. To defend the musket men, Pikeman would be used. A very effective system of 3 pikemen together was used. One man would go for the rider, another for the horse, and the third was support or a replacement. Artillery could be deadly to the packed ranks of men, or at least scare the bejebus out of you. When pikemen and musket men fought against other pikemen and musket men in close combat, wasn't much of a fight. Think about it, how are you going to fight with a huge pike about 8 feet long, or a huge, unwealdy musket?
Then the Flintlock system came major use after 1650 in the battlefield. This made the gun lighter, easier to load, maneaverable, and a bit more reliable. As the 17th Century went on, Pikemen were being used less and less. In the English Civil Wars, there was a ratio of 2 musket men there was 1 pikeman. The one thing about pikemen is that they are only used for one job, fending off cavalry attacks, and musket men just shoot them down. So why not combine the musket man and the Pikeman into one job, getting rid of wasting money and men on pikes?
So the bayonet (when I say bayonet, I mean a sharp item actually designed to go on the end of a gun, not just a knife. It was actually concidered illegal to put knives on the end of gun before this) is invented around 1675, and is in major use by the end of the century. Before 1700, another evolution in the bayonet was made. The bayonet at first was not a socket bayonet that left the barrel open for firing, but was put into the barrel and would have to be removed for further firing (imagine what could happen if someone fired thier gun with the bayonet on the end!!). So the socket bayonet was invented around the same time the bayonet itself was invented. But the English took a couple decades to except the socket bayonet, and by 1700, pikemen were officialy made outlawed in the rules of war. The average Infantryman was now armed with a Flintlock Musket, with a Socket Bayonet, with no supporting pikeman, and could better fight in close combat.
Tactics with the musket evolved. The square formation was made to defend against cavalry, and the battle line to fight against other infantry. Eventually Skirmisher Lines (or just plain Skirmishers) were created to scout out an enemy, and to warn of an attack, and to stall it. Fighting became even more "civilized". With the introduction of the gun alone "civilized" combat, changing it from big close combat brawls to tactical, chess like, fights. On the seas, muskets were used, but mainly boarding was the thing with cutlases. The combination of sea water and a rolling ship made muskets hard to use. With the Flintlock though, you had a much better chance in getting a shot than with a Matchlock, due to the priming pan on a Flinlock is sort of covered. The Musket or Rifle never really did find it's place in the Navy that much.
After that, the musket was worked on here and there, with common types being made like the brown bess. The only major musket advancement until the Percussion Cap system was introduced was rifling. Rifling was originally made to help reduce gunpowder residue build up. Rifling was used for a long time, and is almost as old as the gun itself, but was hard to make without mass production. So rifles were not used as much in the army. I was majorly a sniper weapon for the British, Napoleon outlawed it, and Americans had the highest ratio of men armed with flintlock rifles to men armed with muskets.
Then the Percussion cap is invented, making firing a little easier. With the cap, fighting in the rain was possible, and there was no more worring about priming your powder pan. With the industrial revolution, producing rifles was made easy. So when the American Civil War came along, Rifles (or Rifled muskets to be more correct) became the dominant weapon for the first time, and the percussion cap system of firing was dominant too (I am not sure if when the U.S. fought Mexico if percussion caps were used.). With that came the end of the Musket.
2)<u>Napoleon, Steriotype</u>
Why is Napoleon considered Crazy? Is it because he invaded Russia with almost half a million men, coming back with only 10,000 because he stayed during winter? Napoleon was a genius. His organization of the French Government was excellent. His tactics in battle stupendeous. He inspired men to do anything for them, even made them enthusiastic for battle. This man's combination of tactical genius in fighting battle and insparation for soldiers to fight with enthusiasm and and courage created France's best army, and the one of the world's greatest armies. His only weakneses were greed for fame and power, and a minor disadvantage when facing armies in lands different from Europe (When he faced the Turks in Egypt and the Middle East, he had to deal with the Black Death. When dealing with the Hispaniola Slave Revolt, Tropical Disease majorly stunted in the defeat of the slaves.) Here is the most important thing of all:
There seems to be a fine line between sanity and genius.
3)<u>Historical Question 2</u>
Here is another technology I want to cover, Artillery. Here is a question to think about before discussion next topic day, which would you rather have in a artillery if you had to choose only one, deadlyness or accuracy and long range?
<u>Note to Catalina</u>: Thanks for the site, it was awesome! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="cheers.gif" />:
: So people's perceptions of how things should be portrayed has changed. 
:
" border="0" alt="yes.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" /> thank goodness. Stupid cats. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blah:" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" /> 
" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> Keith, I would think you'd be interested in it too, has some great info on the Caribbean.
:" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> Not a job for the fainthearted! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="no.gif" />
