ughuvfkjkuhyA gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force.

[1][2] The
projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons), or gas (e.g.
light-gas gun). Solid projectiles may be free-flying (as with bullets and artillery shells) or tethered (as with
Tasers, spearguns and harpoon guns). A large-caliber gun is also called a cannon.

The means of projectile propulsion vary according to designs, but are traditionally effected pneumatically
by a high gas pressure contained within a barrel tube (gun barrel), produced either through the rapid
exothermic combustion of propellants (as with firearms), or by mechanical compression (as with air
guns). The high-pressure gas is introduced behind the projectile, pushing and accelerating it down the
length of the tube, imparting sufficient launch velocity to sustain its further travel towards the target
once the propelling gas ceases acting upon it after it exits the muzzle. Alternatively, new-concept linear
motor weapons may employ an electromagnetic field to achieve acceleration, in which case the barrel
may be substituted by guide rails (as in railguns) or wrapped with magnetic coils (as in coilguns).

The first devices identified as guns or proto-guns appeared in China from around AD 1000.[3] By the end
of the 13th century, they had become "true guns," metal barrel firearms that fired single projectiles
which occluded the barrel.[4][5] Gunpowder and gun technology spread throughout Eurasia during the
14th century.[6][7][8]

Etymology and terminology

A 'flying-cloud thunderclap-eruptor,' a proto-gun firing thunderclap bombs, from the Huolongjing.

The origin of the English word gun is considered to derive from the name given to a particular historical
weapon. Domina Gunilda was the name given to a remarkably large ballista, a mechanical bolt throwing
weapon of enormous size, mounted at Windsor Castle during the 14th century. This name in turn may
have derived from the Old Norse woman's proper name Gunnhildr which combines two Norse words
referring to battle.[9] "Gunnildr", which means "War-sword", was often shortened to "Gunna".[10]

The earliest recorded use of the term "gonne" was in a Latin document circa 1339. Other names for guns
during this era were "schioppi" (Italian translation-"thunderers"), and "donrebusse" (Dutch
translation-"thunder gun") which was incorporated into the English language as "blunderbuss".[10]
Artillerymen were often referred to as "gonners" and "artillers"[11] "Hand gun" was first used in 1373 in
reference to the handle of guns.[12]

Definition

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a gun could mean "a piece of ordnance usually with high
muzzle velocity and comparatively flat trajectory," " a portable firearm," or "a device that throws a
projectile."[13]

Gunpowder and firearm historian Kenneth Chase defines "firearms" and "guns" in his Firearms: A Global
History to 1700 as "gunpowder weapons that use the explosive force of the gunpowder to propel a
projectile from a tube: cannons, muskets, and pistols are typical examples."[14]

True gun

According to Tonio Andrade, a historian of gunpowder technology, a "true gun" is defined as a firearm
which shoots a bullet that fits the barrel as opposed to one which does not, such as the shrapnel
shooting fire lance.[3] As such, the fire lance, which appeared between the 10th and 12th centuries AD,
as well as other early metal barrel gunpowder weapons have been described as "proto-guns"[15] Joseph
Needham defined a type of firearm known as the "eruptor," which he described as a cross between a fire
lance and a gun, as a "proto-gun" for the same reason.[16] He defined a fully developed firearm, a "true
gun," as possessing three basic features: a metal barrel, gunpowder with high nitrate content, and a
projectile that occluded the barrel.[4] The "true gun" appears to have emerged in late 1200s China,
around 300 years after the appearance of the fire lance.[4][5] Although the term "gun" postdates the
invention of firearms, historians have applied it to the earliest firearms such as the Heilongjiang hand
cannon of 1288[17] or the vase shaped European cannon of 1326.[18]

Classic gun

Historians consider firearms to have reached the form of a "classic gun" in the 1480s, which persisted
until the mid-18th century. This "classic" form displayed longer, lighter, more efficient, and more
accurate design compared to its predecessors only 30 years prior. However this "classic" design changed
very little for almost 300 years and cannons of the 1480s show little difference and surprising similarity
with cannons later in the 1750s. This 300-year period during which the classic gun dominated gives it its
moniker.[19] The "classic gun" has also been described as the "modern ordnance synthesis."[20]

History

Further information: History of the firearm and Gunpowder § History

Proto-gun

The first firearm (a "proto-gun"), the fire lance, from the Huolongjing.

Gunpowder was invented in China during the 9th century.[21][22][23] The first firearm was the fire
lance, which appeared in China between the 10–12th centuries.[24][25][26] It was depicted in a silk
painting dated to the mid-10th century, but textual evidence of its use does not appear until 1132,
describing the siege of De'an.[24] It consisted of a bamboo tube of gunpowder tied to a spear or other
polearm. By the late 1100s, ingredients such as pieces of shrapnel like porcelain shards or small iron
pellets were added to the tube so that they would be blown out with the gunpowder.[27] It was
relatively short ranged and had a range of roughly 3 meters by the early 13th century.[28] This fire lance
is considered by some historians to be a "proto-gun" because its projectiles did not occlude the barrel.
[15] There was also another "proto-gun" called the eruptor, according to Joseph Needham, which did not
have a lance but still did not shoot projectiles which occluded the barrel.[16]

Transition to true guns

Hand cannon from the Chinese Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)

In due course, the proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to maximise its explosive
power.[29] To better withstand that explosive power, the paper and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels
were originally made came to be replaced by metal.[23] And to take full advantage of that power, the
shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size and shape filled the barrel more closely.[29] Fire
lance barrels made of metal appeared by 1276.[30] Earlier in 1259 a pellet wad that filled the barrel was
recorded to have been used as a fire lance projectile, making it the first recorded bullet in history.[27]
With this, the three basic features of a gun were put in place: a barrel made of metal, high-nitrate
gunpowder, and a projectile which totally occludes the muzzle so that the powder charge exerts its full
potential in propellant effect.[31] The metal barrel fire lances began to be used without the lance and
became guns by the late 13th century.[27]

Guns such as the hand cannon were being used in the Yuan dynasty by the 1280s.[32] Surviving cannons
such as the Heilongjiang hand cannon and the Xanadu Gun have been found dating to the late 13th
century and possibly earlier in the early 13th century.[33]

In 1287, the Yuan dynasty deployed Jurchen troops with hand cannons to put down a rebellion by the
Mongol prince Nayan.[32] The History of Yuan records that the cannons of Li Ting's soldiers "caused
great damage" and created "such confusion that the enemy soldiers attacked and killed each other."[34]
The hand cannons were used again in the beginning of 1288. Li Ting's "gun-soldiers" or chongzu (銃卒)
carried the hand cannons "on their backs". The passage on the 1288 battle is also the first to use the
name chong (銃) with the metal radical jin (金) for metal-barrel firearms. Chong was used instead of the
earlier and more ambiguous term huo tong (fire tube; 火筒), which may refer to the tubes of fire lances,
proto-cannons, or signal flares.[35] Hand cannons may have been used in the Mongol invasions of Japan.
Japanese descriptions of the invasions mention iron and bamboo pao causing "light and fire" and
emitting 2–3,000 iron bullets.[36] The Nihon Kokujokushi, written around 1300, mentions huo tong (fire
tubes) at the Battle of Tsushima in 1274 and the second coastal assault led by Holdon in 1281. The
Hachiman Gudoukun of 1360 mentions iron pao "which caused a flash of light and a loud noise when
fired."[37] The Taiheki of 1370 mentions "iron pao shaped like a bell."[37]
Spread

See also: Historiography of gunpowder and gun transmission

Western European handgun, 1380

The exact nature of the spread of firearms and its route is uncertain. One theory is that gunpowder and
cannons arrived in Europe via the Silk Road through the Middle East.[38][39] Hasan al-Rammah had
already written about fire lances in the 13th century, so proto-guns were known in the Middle East at
that point.[40] Another theory is that it was brought to Europe during the Mongol invasion in the first
half of the 13th century.[38][39]

The earliest depiction of a cannon in Europe dates to 1326 and evidence of firearm production can be
found in the following year.[8] The first recorded use of gunpowder weapons in Europe was in 1331
when two mounted German knights attacked Cividale del Friuli with gunpowder weapons of some sort.
[41][42] By 1338 hand cannons were in widespread use in France.[43] English Privy Wardrobe accounts
list "ribaldis", a type of cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346.
[44] Early guns and the men who used them were often associated with the devil and the gunner's craft
was considered a black art, a point reinforced by the smell of sulfur on battlefields created from the
firing of guns along with the muzzle blast and accompanying flash.[45]

Around the late 14th century in Europe, smaller and portable hand-held cannons were developed,
creating in effect the first smooth-bore personal firearm. In the late 15th century the Ottoman empire
used firearms as part of its regular infantry. In the Middle East, the Arabs seem to have used the hand
cannon to some degree during the 14th century.[14] Cannons are attested to in India starting from 1366.
[46]

A breech loading matchlock with a plug bayonet from the Binglu, 1606.

The Joseon kingdom in Korea learned how to produce gunpowder from China by 1372[6] and started
producing cannons by 1377.[47] In Southeast Asia, Đại Việt soldiers used hand cannons at the very latest
by 1390 when they employed them in killing Champa king Che Bong Nga.[48] Chinese observer recorded
the Javanese use of hand cannon for marriage ceremony in 1413 during Zheng He's voyage.[49][50]
Hand guns were utilized effectively during the Hussite Wars.[51] Japan knew of gunpowder due to the
Mongol invasions during the 13th century, but did not acquire a cannon until a monk took one back to
Japan from China in 1510,[52] and guns were not produced until 1543, when the Portuguese introduced
matchlocks which were known as tanegashima to the Japanese.[53]
Gunpowder technology entered Java in the Mongol invasion of Java (1293 A.D.).[54]: 1–2 [55][56]: 220
Majapahit under Mahapatih (prime minister) Gajah Mada utilized gunpowder technology obtained from
the Yuan dynasty for use in the naval fleet.[57]: 57 During the following years, the Majapahit army have
begun producing cannons known as cetbang. Early cetbang (also called Eastern-style cetbang) resembled
Chinese cannons and hand cannons. Eastern-style cetbangs were mostly made of bronze and were front-
loaded cannons. It fires arrow-like projectiles, but round bullets and co-viative projectiles[58] can also be
used. These arrows can be solid-tipped without explosives, or with explosives and incendiary materials
placed behind the tip. Near the rear, there is a combustion chamber or room, which refers to the bulging
part near the rear of the gun, where the gunpowder is placed. The cetbang is mounted on a fixed mount,
or as a hand cannon