ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of war, probably comes from Late Lat. articulum, dim. of ars, art, cf. " engine " from ingenium, or of artus, joint)

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 685 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ARN-AUD

ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of war, probably comes from Late Lat. articulum, dim. of ars, art, cf. " engine " from ingenium, or of artus, joint) , a

term

TERM

originally applied to all engines for discharging missiles, and in this sense used in

English

ENGLISH

in the early 17th century. In a more restricted sense, artillery has come to mean all firearms not carried and used by hand, and also the personnel and organization by which the power of such weapons is wielded. It is, however, not usual to class

machine

guns (q.v.) as artillery. The present article deals with the development and contemporary state of the artillery arm in land warfare, in respect of its organization, personnel and

special

SPECIAL

or " formal " employment. For the materielthe guns, their carriages and their ammunitionsee ORDNANCE and AMMUNITION. For

ballistics

BALLISTICS (from the Gr. fMXkee)

, see that heading, and for the

work

WORK

of artillery in combination with the other arms, see TACTICS.
Artillery, as distinct from ordnance, is usually classified in accordance with the functions it has to perform. The simplest division is that into mobile and immobile artillery, the former being concerned with the handling of all weapons so mounted as to be capable of more or less easy

movement

MOVEMENT

from place to place, the latter with that of weapons which are installed in fixed positions. Mobile artillery is subdivided, again chiefly in respect of its employment, into horse and field batteries, heavy field or position artillery, field howitzers,

mountain

MOUNTAIN (0. Fr. montaigne; popular Lat. montanea, an adjectival form from the classical
mons
- MONS (Flemish Bergen)
, montis, whence Eng. " mount," a form usually used along with the name of an individual mountain, e.g. Mt Everest)
MOUNTAIN, THE (La Montagne)

artillery and siege trains, adapted to every kind of terrain in which field troops may be employed, and

work

WORK

they may have to do. Immobile artillery is used in fixed positions of all kinds, and above all in permanent fortifications; it cannot, therefore, be classified as above, inasmuch as the raison d'etre, and consequently the armament of one fort or battery may be totally distinct from that of another. " Fortress," " Garrison " and " Foot " artillery are the usual names for this branch. The dividing line, indeed, in the case of the heavier weapons, varies with circumstances; guns of position may remain on their ground while elaborate-ARTILLERY 685
fortifications grow up around them, or the deficiencies of a field army in artillery may be made good from the materiel, more frequently still from the personnel, of the fortress artillery. Thus it may happen that mobile artillery becomes immobile and vice versa. But under normal circumstances the principle of classification indicated is maintained in all organized military forces.

End of Article: ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of war, probably comes from Late Lat. articulum, dim. of ars, art, cf. " engine " from ingenium, or of artus, joint)

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