This is a blog about world history in general, world war ii, i, vietnam war, middle ages, boer war, weapons, and biographies of famous people, etc.
Introduced about 1630, the flintlock replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the matchlock and wheellock mechanisms. The flintlock firearm uses the same ancient principle of flint and steel fire making. When a gun is fired, the cock, holding a flint in its jaws, swings through an arc, scraping the flint down the hardened steel face [...]
The wheellock was the major development in firearms technology after the matchlock. Invented in the early 1500′s, the mechanism is so-called because it uses a rotating steel wheel to provide ignition. The wheellock design is comparable to that of a modern-day friction cigarette lighter, but the mechanism is far more complex. It is indeed an [...]
Slow match was the very slow burning cord fuse used by early gunpowder harquebusiers, artillerymen, and soldiers to ignite matchlock harquebuses, cannons, and petards. Slow matches were most suitable for use around black powder weapons because a slow match could be roughly handled without going out, and only presented a small glowing tip instead of [...]
Created in the mid-1400′s, the matchlock was the first mechanism designed to uncomplicate the firing of a hand-held firearm. This invention removed the need to lower a lit match into the flash pan by hand and made it possible to have both hands free to keep a firm grip on the weapon at the moment [...]
The Thirty Years’ War was a series of military conflicts which took place mainly in Germany from 1618 to 1648. The war began between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, but gradually developed into a general political strife which involved most of the European powers. During the long course of the Thirty Years [...]
