ARTILLERY CORPS. Referring to CANNON for a history of large pieces of ordnance, we here treat of the organization of the artillery service.
The larger weapons, before the invention of gunpowder, were sometimes called engines of war, sometimes artillery, and were worked by strong and rough soldiers. who needed no particular apprenticeship to that art. When, however, large balls of iron came to be propelled by the irresistible force of gunpowder, a great revolution gradually took place, though garrison-guns and siege-guns were. improved more rapidly than field guns. Nevertheless, field-guns changed the whole aspect of military tactics; for it became necessary that an army should form in order of battle at a much greater distance from the enemy than in older times. And when the cannon were made more rapidly movable, so did tactics vary. Gradually, a body of men were set apart to study the force and action of gunpowder, the flight and range of projectiles, the weight and strength of cannon, and the maneuvering of heavy masses. The French were the first to make these researches; after them, the English; and still later, the Germans. During the thirty years' war, au important step was taken in Germany—that of including the artillerymen, who were till then a sort of guild, as a component in the regular army. Gustavus Adolphus in Sweden, Frederick II. in Prussia. and Napoleon I. in France, all attached a very high degree of importance to the artillery as an arm of the service. After the great wars in the beginning of the present century, nearly all the states of Europe formally recognized the artillery as the third great branch of military service (next after the infantry and cavalry); indeed, in almost all present armies, it takes prac tically the first place.
A. C., or artillerymen, are divided into land-artillery and marine-artillery. The
land-artillery is divided into field, coast, garrison, and siege artillery. The field-artil lery is subdivided into horse and foot. There are also the special appellation of reserve, light, and heavy artillery. In most European states, the artillerymen are divided into regiments, battalions, brigades, and companies; but in Britain the whole form one enor mous regiment., -which is expanded or contracted according to the exigencies of the service. See ARTILLERY, ROYAL REGIMENT OF. When . military men speak of the field-artillery, they usually include cannon, carriages, horses, ammunition, and stores of every description, as well as the artillerymen. The distinction between heavy and light artillery depends on the size of the cannon, and the weight of the shot and shell pro pelled from them. For obvious reasons the construction of very large field-guns is avoided. Military men are not quite agreed as to the precise figures; at there was in the time of Napoleon I. a general concurrence in opinion that a well-appointed field force should have two or three artillery guns to every 1000 infantry, and five or six horse-artillery guns to every 1000 cavalry. The proportion is necessarily affected by the kind of country and the amount of available transport. During the Peninsular war, Wellington had seldom more than 1 g.un to every 1000 soldiers; when he entered France, he had 3 to the 1000. Napoleon preferred 2 per 1000, with a larger supply of ammuni tion than had before been deemed necessamy; and many foreign governments followed his example. Since the Franco-German war, it is held that there should be always with the army 3 guns per 1000 infantry.