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Concept
Musketeer
Summary
A musketeer (mousquetaire) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifleman. Muskets were replaced by rifles as the almost universal firearm for modern armies during the period 1850 to 1860. The traditional designation of "musketeer" for an infantry private survived in the Imperial German Army until World War I.
The hand cannon was invented in Song Dynasty the 12th century and was in widespread use there in the 13th century. It spread westward across Asia during the 14th century. Arquebusiers and musketeers were employed in the armies of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasties (1644–1911). Zhao Shizhen's book of 1598 AD, the Shenqipu, contains illustrations of Ottoman Turkish and European musketeers together with detailed diagrams of their muskets. There was also an illustration and description of how the Han people had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position when firing, while favoring the use of European-made muskets. The Han people also built the first repeating firearm: several barrels behind a small wooden shield. The gunman would turn these barrels lighting each barrel with a slow match one by one. These weapons were most effective when fired from walls or high positions. Needham considered this weapon to be a "primitive machine-gun".
Muskets were first introduced in Central-Asia under the Timurid dynasty, being used by the first Mughal emperor Babur in the first Battle of Panipat 1526 CE. The weapon became an integral part of Indian warfare from the 16th century onward, mainly from the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar. It was used as an effective defense against war elephants. The Mughals, Marathas, Rajputs, Sikhs and Ahoms made use of musketeers, firing from cover, to ambush opposing infantry, cavalry and elephants. Many Indian gunsmiths created matchlock muskets for the Mughal infantry plus some combination weapons.
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