Visit a reenactment of the War of 1812, or a demonstration at Old Quebec to see the muskets that were the standard firearms of that era, and you will inevitably hear about how short-ranged, inaccurate and slow to reload these guns were.
Pre-Gunpowder Weapons
In the Middle Ages the standard ranged weapons were the longbow and the crossbow. Longbows were powerful, rapid-firing, and long-ranged. The crossbow threw its bolts with great accuracy. The musket improved little on the precision or range of the crossbows and fired quite slowly and inaccurately.
Part of the onset of firearms may have been their sheer novelty: their shocking noise and infliction of gruesome injuries may have spoken louder than their lack of mechanical effectiveness.
It was also easier to carry a great quantity of musket ammunition and powder than a quiver of arrows. Longbows required great strength, training and practice. Teaching a soldier to shoot a musket was substantially easier. The musket also leapfrogged defensive technology; plate armour to repel arrows had been perfected during the 14th Century, but was once again overpowered by musket balls.
The Wars of the Renaissance
The sixteenth century saw their ascension, and it was an era of great experimentation, with various tests of weapons and tactics being a feature of warfare. Musketry units had to be protected from being overrun by enemy cavalry, so a great deal of effort was made to put musketry in an effective position. During the Holy Roman Empire’s rivalry with France, placement of muskets behind ditches and other earthworks allowed them to wreak havoc on the French.
The popularity of muskets was also aided with the Spanish Empire’s attempt to quell the Dutch Revolt; they needed to clear away the defenders of Dutch towns to expedite the sieges. Maximizing their volleys meant the opposing side had to be able to throw the same back: increasingly, lines of musketeers now faced each other instead of columns of pikemen. Using muskets also required vigorous drilling, so they were favoured for their tendency to create more disciplined soldiers. The Swedes improved on the new tactics by inventing a lighter musket that could be used offensively on the battlefield. They also developed the cavalry caracole, whereby horsemen with pistols could damage infantry without the risks of a full-on charge.
The Primacy of Firearms
Muskets came into their own in 1703 when the French introduced the socket bayonet, combining the range of muskets and anti-cavalry power of pikes into one force. The pike formation was rendered moot; the musket became supreme, and from that position evolved into the repeating rifle, semi-automatic and all the terrible variety of firearms of the modern era.
Sources:
Arnold, Thomas F. Renaissance at War. London: Cassell and Co. 2001
Jörgensen, Christer, Michael F. Pavkovic, Rob S. Rice, Frederick C. Schneid, Chris L. Scott. Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World. Staplehurst, Kent: Amber Books, ltd., 2005.
Kelly, Jack. Gunpowder: A History of the Explosive that Changed the World. London: Atlantic Books, 2004.
Parker, Geoffrey, ed. Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
