3,000 Years of Artillery Explained in 13 Minutes

Artillery has killed more soldiers than every sword, every rifle and every bomb in history combined. This is the deadliest artillery piece from every era of war, explained in one video — from Roman torsion engines made of rope and animal sinew, to the medieval trebuchet that ended the age of castles, to the bombard that brought down the walls of Constantinople in 1453, to the carronade at Trafalgar, Napoleon's massed batteries at Friedland, the creeping barrage of the First World War, the largest gun ever fired, and the modern rocket truck that fires and disappears in under three minutes. Eight eras. Eight answers to the same question: how do you kill an enemy who cannot reach you. Chapters: 00:00 Hook — the weapon most of its victims never saw 00:33 Era 1: Ancient Rome — the scorpio and the onager 01:49 Era 2: The Middle Ages — the counterweight trebuchet and Warwolf 03:04 Quick pause — like, subscribe, and what is coming next 03:44 Era 3: The gunpowder age — Orban's bombard and the fall of Constantinople 05:04 Era 4: The age of sail — the carronade and Trafalgar 06:29 Era 5: The Napoleonic wars — Gribeauval, Senarmont and the massed battery 07:41 Era 6: The First World War — the creeping barrage and the Paris Gun 09:22 Era 7: The Second World War — Schwerer Gustav vs the Katyusha 10:42 Era 8: The modern era — counter-battery radar, HIMARS and the drone 12:00 The answer: which artillery has killed the most people in a single day The pattern across all eight eras is the same. Every single time a nation built the biggest gun in the world, it became a monument instead of a weapon. And every time somebody made an ordinary gun faster, more mobile, better timed or better aimed, the casualty numbers went up. Sources and further reading: — Vegetius, De Re Militari (on Roman legion artillery) — Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 3 (eyewitness account at Jotapata, 67 AD) — Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453 — Peter Purton, A History of the Late Medieval Siege — Spencer Tucker, Instruments of War: Weapons and Technologies That Have Changed History — Bruce Gudmundsson, On Artillery — Alistair Horne, The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 If you like military history explained with Paint drawings, simple words and no filler, subscribe. New video every week. #artillery #militaryhistory #history #cannon #trebuchet #ww1 #ww2 #napoleon #trafalgar #constantinople #himars #katyusha #siegewarfare #explained #warhistory