; such crossbows were called arkbalists.

Device

The base part of the crossbow is the stock, inside which the trigger mechanism is attached. On the upper surface of the bed there is a guide groove for bolts, and at the end of the bed a stirrup and a cross were installed with elastic elements (shoulders) fixed on it, which are usually made of steel, wood or horn.

A typical trigger mechanism consisted of a trigger lever, a nut (a washer with a slot for an arrow shank and a hook for a bowstring) and a fixing spring. More short shoulder the trigger lever rested against the protrusion of the nut, the spring pressed on the long arm and held the mechanism in the cocked position. When the crossbowman pressed the trigger, the short arm disengaged from the nut, which in turn scrolled around the axis under the action of the bowstring and released it from the hook.

Cocking methods

The most ancient crossbows were cocked either with a belt hook (the crossbowman stepped with his foot into the stirrup at the end of the crossbow chute, leaned over, hooked the bowstring with a hook - and then unbent), or simply with both hands (the bowstring in this case was made wide so as not to cut fingers).

The hook cocking system has spread in Europe since the 13th century. Prior to that, late Roman (for the mass armament of federates) samples were cocked by hand. The oldest Chinese crossbows were also cocked by hand, although in the Middle Ages the Chinese switched to a lever system.

Depending on the method of cocking the bowstring, medieval crossbows were divided into three main types. In the simplest, the bowstring was pulled with the help of an attached iron lever, called the "goat's leg". In a more powerful crossbow, the bowstring was pulled with a block tensioner. This type tensioner, called the "English gate", became widespread in England and France during the Hundred Years War. In Germany, from the end of the 14th century, the crossbow was equipped with a rack and pinion mechanism called Kranekin. This type of tensioner was more convenient and stronger than the block one and was supplied with the most powerful crossbows.

Each subsequent of these types was more perfect than the previous one, but required more time to recharge. Therefore, crossbows of the first type prevailed numerically. The "goat's leg" hung on a thick, wide leather belt, connected to it with metal rivets. They hooked the bowstring with it, rested their foot on the stirrup at the end of the box behind the bow and, tilting the body back, cocked the crossbow into a combat position. The fuse saved from accidental shots, and a special latch did not allow the arrow to fall out of the crossbow when it was lowered down.

Story

One of the most sensitive inconveniences of the bow was the need to keep the string taut while aiming. Naturally, the idea arose to somehow fix it - to store energy. It was not enough to invent a mechanism that could reliably hold a tight bowstring in a taut state, and then, when the trigger was pressed, release it - it was also necessary to establish mass production of such mechanisms.

For the first time these problems were solved, apparently, in Ancient Greece (Syracuse) in the 5th century BC. The Greek crossbow was called gastraphet(belly bow), since its design already provided not only a trigger mechanism, but also a cocking lever mechanism (and it was necessary to lean on the lever with your stomach). In the II century BC. e. (and according to other sources as early as the 4th century BC), crossbows were independently invented in China.

Thus, crossbows have a very ancient history. However, the fate of this invention was very difficult. In China, the crossbow, having played a prominent role in the fight against opponents during the Han Dynasty, was later forgotten, which allowed it to be reinvented in the 11th century. In Europe, crossbows apparently had some circulation in the Hellenistic period, but the Romans did not like something and reappeared on the scene under the name manualist only during the decline of the Roman Empire - in the III-V centuries.

With the transition to professional armies, interest in throwing combat did not increase. Since the reforms of Mary, the Roman legion no longer included regular divisions of throwers. The shooters belonged to the auxiliary troops and armed themselves, and since the Romans actively used detachments of eastern archers with compound bows, in combination with standard legion throwing machines, they did not leave a niche for the crossbow.

In 1139, the Second Lateran Council (also called the Tenth Ecumenical Council) was held, at which it is believed that a decision was made to prohibit the use of crossbows by Christians against Christians. Pope Innocent II condemned crossbows and said that this weapon is contrary to God and unacceptable for use by Christians. Pope Innocent III, in turn, confirmed this prohibition a few years later. Probably due to the fact that the crossbow made it possible for commoners to effectively fight the knightly cavalry, and therefore the ban on them became a kind of protection measure.

However, in Rus' there are more ancient evidence of crossbows - and not only annalistic, but also material. So, the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1259 reports: “Weakly take it,” says the ancient chronicler about the city of Kholm - the citadel of Prince Daniil Romanovich - beat boyars and good people in it, in order to establish the city firmly, vices and crossbows.

Another example is the discovery in the ruins of the annalistic city of Izyaslavl of the remains of a deceased Russian crossbowman. A special hook was found on the warrior's belt, which clung to the crossbow string for cocking the crossbow for battle. Moreover, if we compare all the finds of crossbow belt hooks, it turns out that the hook of the Izyaslavl crossbowman is the oldest in Europe.

There is also evidence to the contrary. So, "Chronicle of Livonia" by Henry of Latvia reports that the Russians from the Principality of Polotsk and their Estonian allies at the beginning of the 13th century did not yet know the crossbow. This evidence must be approached with caution, perhaps there is a mistake of a translator or recognizer, firstly, judging by the text, the crossbows used by the defenders had a strangely long firing range, and secondly, our attempt to shoot from captured crossbows ended unsuccessfully, because. the shells flew in an arbitrary direction, which does not correspond to the obvious simplicity of firing from a crossbow. Perhaps under the crossbows in the "Chronicle .." was understood a kind of catapults.

Spreading

It is interesting that the number of tips found for bolts and arrows is 1/20. That is, arming the Russian shooter with a crossbow was an exception, but not rare - approximately like the ratio of machine guns to machine guns in the modern army. Until the closure of this institution by Alexei Tishaishy in the 17th century, in Moscow, along with a cannon yard, there was also a state-owned crossbow yard. But this did not allow the crossbow to triumph over the bow.

Specifications

In Rus', crossbows were called crossbows. The crossbow was a small bow made of horn or iron, embedded in a wooden plow (butt) with a strip (stock), on which short, forged iron bolts were placed in the existing groove. The stretched string clung to the release lever, pressing which the shooter lowered the string.

Later crossbows began to be subdivided into hand and easel ones. A hand-held crossbow was pulled with a lever and a stirrup (an iron bracket for foot rest) or a collar, and the descent was made by a simple trigger device.

The easel crossbow was mounted on a special machine (frame) with wheels. It used a steel bow and a thick bowstring made of rope or ox veins, for cocking which a geared device was used - a self-shooting brace. The cocking of kolovorots (self-shooting kolovrats) was a major improvement in the design of crossbows in the 12th-14th centuries, since their size was sometimes unusual: the Polovtsian Khan Konchak “byahu luci tuzi self-shooting, one 50 husband can strain it”("there were tight self-shooting bows, one 50 men can strain").

In this passage, apparently, it was not meant that the weapon was actually cocked by 50 people, which is very unlikely, but that such was the power of his bow - that is, "human strength" was used as a unit for measuring the pull force; in reality, the weapon was cocked, most likely, by one or two arrows with the help of one or another mechanism such as a gate, like the Arab easel crossbows of that time.

For example, a resident of Alexandria, Murda ibn Ali ibn Murda at-Tarsusi, around the 1170s, describing a powerful easel bow made by Sheikh Abu l’Hasan ibn al-Abraki al-Iskandarani "ziyar"(quoted from a French translation by Claude Cahen), makes an indication that his

the strength of the shot would require twenty people to pull it, with dexterity, but whose work actually provided by a single person, when firing the most powerful and deadly, thanks to the most durable and the most efficient device.

Modern researchers estimate such a tension force "in 20 human forces" as equivalent to 1000 ... 2000 kg.

Usage

The difficult fate of the crossbow was due to the fact that, decisively superior to the bow in range and accuracy of shooting (at short distances), it also had significant drawbacks - an inconvenient shape, high cost and complexity of loading.

The high cost limited the distribution of crossbows to social limits - only wealthy militias could afford such weapons. But at the heart of the organization of the militia of ancient and medieval armies was a property qualification: wealthy citizens went on a campaign in armor and fought close combat, and ordinary warriors used throwing weapons.

However, the crossbow had an undeniable advantage. The archer had to learn archery for years, when it was enough for the crossbowman to understand the mechanism of reloading and aiming.

Although the penetrating power of crossbow bolts was great, the lever crossbow did not penetrate steel cuirasses, and the speed of the projectile, although it was greater than that of the bow, remained insignificant in absolute terms. The main advantage of a crossbow over a bow was that crossbow bolts could be made with a reverse taper - in this case, unlike an arrow from a bow, they did not get stuck in the shields (even if the arrowhead pierced the shield, the shaft would still get stuck in it, while the reverse taper and short length of the bolt shaft prevented it from getting stuck).

Except for the special case of the comparatively massive armament of the Han Dynasty infantry with crossbows, this weapon received real recognition only in Europe from the 14th century, when numerous detachments of crossbowmen became an indispensable accessory of the knightly armies. The decisive role in raising the popularity of crossbows was played by the fact that from the 14th century their bowstring began to be pulled with a collar. Thus, the restrictions imposed on the force of tension by the physical capabilities of the shooter were removed, and the light crossbow became heavy - its advantage in penetrating power over the bow became overwhelming - bolts began to pierce even solid armor. At the same time, the gate allowed cocking the crossbow without much effort.

The worst examples of crossbows, both in Europe and in Rus', were made for a long time with wooden arcs, which reduced their advantages over bows to a minimum - to the convenience of aiming. However, crossbows of an extremely simplified design - with a wooden bow and without a trigger (the bowstring, when stretched, clung to a gentle ledge of the bed, from where it collided simply with a fingernail thumb) were circulated among poachers until the 17th century. The projectile for such devices was more often not an arrow, but a stone or a lead bullet.

The arc of a military crossbow was first made from a conventional bow composite, and later from elastic steel.

Crossbows compared to bows saved the physical energy of the shooter. Although the tension of the crossbow exceeded the tension of the bow many times (for example, for cocking Chinese crossbow it was necessary to squeeze out more than 130 kg), even collarless crossbows were much easier to cock, since they use different groups muscles. The bow is pulled by the extensor muscles of the arm and upper back, which are weakly developed in the average person, and the crossbow is cocked by the strongest - the legs, biceps and abdominal muscles. Also, the load was reduced due to the fact that when pulling the bow, it was necessary to maintain a balance between strength, accuracy and speed of movement, and only strength was important for the crossbow. As a result, if the bow tension was always limited physical development arrow, then the tension of the crossbow is mainly the strength of the trigger mechanism.

On the other hand, even light crossbows had a shot energy of up to 150 J, compared to about 50 J for bows. The ability to use a lever, legs, or at least eight fingers (instead of two) to pull the bowstring made it possible to achieve a significant increase in weapon power even with twice as short a bow (for lever ones - usually 65 cm, for hand and hook designs - up to 80 cm).

A bolt from a light crossbow could have a weight of 50 g and an initial speed of up to 70 m / s. Such bolts flew at 250 meters and were dangerous up to 150 meters, moreover, chain mail made its way from 80 meters, and armor made of leather and iron also made its way near. Bolts of the most powerful lever models (for example, from gastrofet) pierced a bronze cuirass from 50 meters. Tests conducted by modern reenactors strongly contradict these statements.

Even at a short distance, the trajectory of the bolt was, by modern standards, very far from flatness, but at ranges close to the limit, the fire was fired exclusively by a canopy. For a very long time, crossbows were not aimed in the usual sense for us - pointing at the target. Strictly speaking, that is why the classic crossbow did not have a butt in the usual sense of the word for us: Chinese crossbows, Roman archballists, and European crossbows were not applied to the shoulder until the late Middle Ages, but simply held in their hands, giving them the necessary to defeat target elevation - when shooting at a group target in a major battle, this was quite enough, but the defeat of individual targets already required great skill and excellent practical knowledge of the ballistics of their weapons from the shooter. Europeans, apparently, began to realize the convenience of applying a long stock to the shoulder during a shot only by the 14th century, and curved butts of the modern type appeared on crossbows in the 16th-17th centuries, already under the clear influence of firearms, for which, due to their large mass and powerful recoil, this method of retention turned out to be the only possible one.

The rate of fire of a light crossbow (with a lever design) reached 4 rounds per minute. The aiming range for a hunting crossbow was 60 meters, for a military crossbow - twice as much. The gunsmith of Philip IV, Alonzo Martinez de Espinar, in his book (1644) reports that military crossbows of the 16th century could kill at 200 steps, hunting - at 150. Monier de Moral in his book "La chasse au fusil" writes that English crossbowmen hit the target at a distance of 260-400 steps. Good shooters did not miss a chicken egg at a distance of 100 steps, easily beating the legendary "record" of William Tell.

The "muzzle energy" of a heavy crossbow has already reached 400 J (for comparison, the Makarov pistol has a muzzle energy of 340 J). The heavy crossbow had an arc of up to 100 cm in span and accelerated a 100 gram bolt up to 90 m/s. Accordingly, the firing range reached 420 meters, but the lethal force was only sufficient up to 250, and shooting at a moving target remained effective up to 70 meters. At the same time, chain mail made its way from 150 meters, light shells from 50-70, and steel cuirasses (together with chain mail and a padded jacket underneath) - from 25 meters.

The rate of fire, however, was already only 2 rounds per minute - the collar was worn separately, it had to be attached and detached. And the heavy crossbow itself weighed up to 7 kg (against 3-5 kg ​​for a light one), required a support in the form of a pavese and was served by two arrows.

In the XVI-XVII centuries, somewhat lightweight crossbows with an integral rack ("German") collar and a steel arc were used. The length of the arc was reduced to 80 cm, and the calculation was reduced to one person. The rate of fire was again increased to 4 rounds per minute, but the initial energy of the bolt no longer exceeded 250 J.

The flight range of a bolt in the 16th century did not exceed 330 meters. These crossbows no longer pierced modern armor - firearms took over the armor-piercing functions, however, due to the increase in the initial velocity of the projectile and the improvement of sighting devices, the accuracy of shooting became satisfactory up to 80 meters, and at this distance the bolts were quite dangerous.

The great advantage of the crossbow was the high accuracy of shooting, comparable only to that of rifled weapons XVII-XVIII centuries. This was achieved not only by the convenience of aiming, but also by the fact that the bowstring moved in the same plane with the arrow. In addition, as noted above, the crossbow could have sights.

The design of the projectile also significantly increased the accuracy of shooting - the best archer shot accurately, only while using his arrows, which he was used to. But he might not have had so many of them, and when the archer began to receive state-owned arrows from the convoy, the accuracy of shooting fell many times over. Short crossbow bolts had a significantly less pronounced "individuality". Not only were they much more standard than long arrows, but they also had a less displaced center of aerodynamic drag.

Short and thick bolts were made, however, from other considerations. Overloading when ejecting a projectile from the crossbow chute would simply break the bow arrow.

Very often in the historical and near-historical environment the question arises about the relationship between the crossbow and the bow. Here we have to state that both types of weapons rather than competed with each other, but coexisted, mutually complementing each other. The Arab scientist Ibn Hudayl, who was still living in Spain during the widespread use of crossbows (XIII-XIV centuries), gave an almost exhaustive description of the areas of their application: in his opinion, bows are most suitable for mounted warriors, "as faster and less expensive", and having an advantage in power and firing range, but low-speed crossbows - to infantrymen, “especially in the sieges of fortified places, naval battles and operations of this kind .

The crossbow, due to its power, inflicted heavy damage. Because of the terrible wounds inflicted by crossbow bolts, the Catholic Church banned the use of this weapon for some time. True, few people considered this ban.

Crossbows in the XX-XXI centuries

It is known that during the First World War, the Germans, French and British used an easel crossbow as a grenade launcher - the Sauterelle model. Such a crossbow was made entirely of steel. The bow of such a crossbow had a spring design with a steel cable string. Ahead of the spring there was a support bar, which relieved the excessive tension of the bow and string. They pulled the bow with the help of a rotating handle: at the same time, a string was wound around the shaft and dragged the bowstring slider to a stop on the trigger hook.

In the 20th century, crossbows were sometimes used as military weapon in national liberation wars, most often as a crossbow-trap.

Since the mid 1950s. crossbow sport began to develop in the West. It is modern sports models served as a model for the creation of modern combat crossbows. In terms of size and weight, they are close to machine guns and submachine guns. They are often made collapsible for ease of transport and camouflage.

Recently, interest in the crossbow as an alternative to firearms for some special tasks has begun to grow. This is explained by the improvement of the design of crossbows. The use of lightweight plastic for the manufacture of the stock, modern lightweight materials for the bow made it possible to significantly reduce the weight of the crossbow, and in some samples make it foldable.

IN modern crossbows a variety of sights are often used (optical, silent weapons in terms of reload speed, dimensions, stopping and damaging effect, accuracy. It’s easy to miss from it, an arrow flying past the enemy, or even injuring him, can be a cause for raising an alarm, reloading will take about half a minute. For In comparison, a silent pistol, which has a slightly higher (or lower) noise level, provides greater reliability of hitting a target and a rate of fire of up to a couple of shots per second. sniper rifle Vintorez, penetrating bulletproof vests of the 2nd class of protection at a distance of up to 300 m.
Instead of using a crossbow as a harpoon launcher, it is easier to use a gun with a blank cartridge and a barrel attachment, after removing which the gun can be used as a weapon.
It is also better to use an ordinary grenade launcher as a grenade launcher, since firing bolts with grenades attached to them is inconvenient and dangerous - they have more weight, fly close, increasing the risk of hitting the shooter himself. For comparison, a well-trained shooter, armed with a weapon with an underbarrel grenade launcher, is able to accurately fire a grenade at a distance of 150-400 m.

In Russia

Crossbows, depending on the design-foreseen purpose, are divided according to the strength of the arc into:

• combat;
• hunting;
• sports:

traditional; match(up to 135 kgf); field(up to 43 kgf); universal (sports and hunting)(up to 68 kgf);

• for recreation and entertainment (up to 20 kgf).

According to the law Russian Federation the first 3 are throwable weapons and require certain gun statutory permits (other than field sports). Crossbows with an arc force of less than 43 kgf are not weapons, permission for their acquisition, storage and use not as weapons is not required, while the bolts must have a rounded tip, the use of pointed or bladed tips with such crossbows Samoilov K.I. Marine Dictionary . Volume 2. - M.-L.: State Naval Publishing House of the NKVMF of the USSR, 1941. - 544 p.

Semin S. Medieval weapons of the Crimea in the second half of the XIII-XV centuries. Crossbow: based on materials from archaeological excavations / Semin S // Weapons and equipment of the prez kasnat of antiquity and the Middle Ages IV-XV centuries: mat. int. conf. - 2000. - S. 14-16.

Senchenko A. Semi-legal crossbow // Weapon. - 1998. - no. 5. - S. 14-18.

Ushakov D.N. Dictionary Russian language, ed. D.N. Ushakov. - M: State. publishing house "Sov. encyclopedia"; OGIZ; State. foreign publishing house and national words, 1935-1940.

Funken F., Funken L. Middle Ages. VIII-XV centuries: Armor and weapons / Per. from French N. P. Sokolova. - M.: LLC "AST"; Astrel, 2004. - 148, p.: ill. - A series of "Encyclopedia of weapons and military costume." - ISBN 978-5-17-014496-9.

Shokarev Yu. V. Bows and crossbows / Khudozh. design by I. Kravchenko. - M. : AST, Astrel, 2001. - 176 p. - (History of weapons). - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-004579-4, ISBN 5-271-01457-6.(in trans.)

The crossbow or crossbow, as it was called in Rus', is a bow of increased elasticity, made on a wooden lodgement with a butt, outwardly resembling the butts of modern hunting rifles. They shot from a crossbow with short, usually made of metal arrows (bolts).

A guide was hollowed out or mounted in the weapon bed, into which the bolt was placed before firing. The main mechanisms for firing were also located there: tension - for cocking a crossbow and trigger - for firing a shot.

The history of the creation of the crossbow has several millennia. This is a very old weapon, however, the crossbow was invented much later than the bow. In fact, this is one of the options for the development of bows. The first mention of crossbows in ancient chronicles dates back to the 5th century BC. The ancient Chinese thinker Sun Tzu tells us about them. In addition, Chinese archaeologists still find individual structural elements of crossbows, which indicates the high quality of the materials from which crossbows were made in antiquity.

At the same time, residents made weapons similar in design. Ancient Greece. The simplest crossbows were also used by the ancient Romans. In Rome, there were several variants of the crossbow. Historians are well aware of their names "manuballist", "arcuballist".

For some time, crossbows were forgotten: they were not made and were not used during wars. The second stage in the development of this weapon falls on the 12th century. At this time, a series of internecine wars just broke out in Europe.

The advantages that a crossbow gives over a conventional bow include the faster flight speed of a heavier projectile, better accuracy and, as a result, greater effectiveness in battle. The mechanical devices used to cock the crossbow made it possible to achieve tremendous power of the shot, as well as to keep it ready to fire for a long time, which did not allow making an ordinary bow.

The range of an aimed shot from a crossbow exceeded that of a bow. This was due not only to the springs used, but also to the ammunition used. The crossbow bolt weighed about 400 grams, which, combined with its high flight speed, allowed it to hit warriors protected by armor that could not be pierced by a bow. In addition, the use of a chute, along which the bolt slid during the shot, had a beneficial effect on the accuracy of shooting.

However, the crossbow had one very big drawback. The reloading process was very difficult and took a long time, which during the battle could cost the warrior his life. The simplest crossbows were reloaded only due to the muscular strength of the shooter himself. He rested the crossbow on the ground, stepped on the stop bracket and pulled the bowstring upwards, securing it to a special trigger stop. Only in the 19th century did more complex crossbows appear, the design of which made it possible to increase the rate of fire of these weapons. However, medieval warriors could only dream of such crossbows.

With the development of technological progress, crossbows were modernized and complicated. They were equipped with additional mechanisms to reduce the load on the shooter and speed up the pulling of the bowstring. Instead of a gutter, they began to use tubes with slots (prototypes of future firearms barrels). So, the “arquebus” appeared - a crossbow capable of firing bullets.

Now it is easy to buy a crossbow in almost any store that sells goods for hunting or sports. Using modern composite materials and new technologies, manufacturers have achieved the highest power and reliability of crossbows.

The history of crossbows continues to develop today. However, the scope of crossbows today is extremely narrow. Usually it's a sport. However, they remain in service with the military. Special reconnaissance and anti-terror units of the leading countries of the world use crossbows for silent shooting at the enemy and for overcoming obstacles.

(often movable) and used as throwing machines; such crossbows were called arkbalists.

Encyclopedic YouTube

• 1 / 5

  The base part of the crossbow is the stock, inside which the trigger mechanism is attached. On the upper surface of the bed there is a guide groove for bolts, and at the end of the bed a stirrup and a cross were installed with elastic elements (shoulders) fixed on it, which are usually made of steel, wood or horn.

  A typical trigger mechanism consisted of a trigger lever, a nut (a washer with a slot for an arrow shank and a hook for a bowstring) and a fixing spring. The shorter arm of the trigger rested against the protrusion of the nut, the spring pressed on the long arm and held the mechanism in the cocked position. When the crossbowman pressed the trigger, the short arm disengaged from the nut, which in turn scrolled around the axis under the action of the bowstring and released it from the hook.

  With the transition to professional armies, interest in throwing combat did not increase. Since the reforms of Mary, the Roman legion no longer included regular divisions of throwers. The shooters belonged to the auxiliary troops and armed themselves, and since the Romans actively used detachments of eastern archers with compound bows, in combination with standard legion throwing machines, they did not leave a niche for the crossbow.

  However, in Rus' there are more ancient evidence of crossbows - and not only annalistic, but also material. So, the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1259 reports: “Weakly take it,” says the ancient chronicler about the city of Kholm - the citadel of Prince Daniil Romanovich - beat boyars and good people in it, in order to establish the city firmly, vices and crossbows.

  Another example is the discovery in the ruins of the annalistic city of Izyaslavl of the remains of a deceased Russian crossbowman. A special hook was found on the warrior's belt, which clung to the crossbow string for cocking the crossbow for battle. Moreover, if we compare all the finds of crossbow belt hooks, it turns out that the hook of the Izyaslavl crossbowman is the oldest in Europe.

  There is also evidence to the contrary. "The Chronicle of Henry of Latvia" reports that in the Polotsk principality at the turn of the 13th century, the crossbow was not known. [ ]

  Spreading

  It is interesting that the number of tips found for bolts and arrows is 1/20. That is, arming the Russian shooter with a crossbow was an exception, but not rare - approximately like the ratio of machine guns to machine guns in the modern army. Until the closure of this institution by Alexei the Quietest in the 17th century, in addition to the cannon yard, there was also a state-owned crossbow yard in Moscow. But this did not allow the crossbow to triumph over the bow.

  Specifications

  In Rus', crossbows were called crossbows. The crossbow was a small bow made of horn or iron, embedded in a wooden plow (butt) with a strip (stock), on which short, forged iron bolts were placed in the existing groove. The stretched string clung to the release lever, pressing which the shooter lowered the string.

  Later crossbows began to be subdivided into hand and easel ones. A hand-held crossbow was pulled with a lever and a stirrup (an iron bracket for foot rest) or a collar, and the descent was made by a simple trigger device.

  The easel crossbow was mounted on a special machine (frame) with wheels. It used a steel bow and a thick bowstring made of rope or ox veins, for cocking which a geared device was used - a self-shooting brace. The cocking of kolovorots (self-shooting kolovrats) was a major improvement in the design of crossbows in the 12th-14th centuries, since their size was sometimes unusual: the Polovtsian Khan Konchak “byahu luci tuzi self-shooting, one 50 husband can strain it”("there were tight self-shooting bows, one 50 men can strain").

  In this passage, apparently, it was not meant that the weapon was actually cocked by 50 people, which is very unlikely, but that such was the power of his bow - that is, "human strength" was used as a unit for measuring the pull force; in reality, the weapon was cocked, most likely, by one or two arrows with the help of one or another mechanism such as a gate, like the Arab easel crossbows of that time.

  For example, a resident of Alexandria, Murda ibn Ali ibn Murda at-Tarsusi, around the 1170s, describing a powerful easel bow made by Sheikh Abu l’Hasan ibn al-Abraki al-Iskandarani "ziyar"(quoted from a French translation by Claude Cahen), makes an indication that his

  the strength of the shot would require twenty people to pull it, with dexterity, but whose work actually provided by a single person, when firing the most powerful and deadly, thanks to the most durable and the most efficient device.

  Modern researchers estimate such a tension force "in 20 human forces" as equivalent to 1000 ... 2000 kg.

  Usage

  The difficult fate of the crossbow was due to the fact that, while decisively surpassing the bow in range and accuracy of shooting, and most importantly, in penetrating power, it also had significant drawbacks - an uncomfortable shape, high cost and complexity of loading.

  The high cost limited the distribution of crossbows to social limits - only wealthy militias could afford such weapons. But at the heart of the organization of the militia of ancient and medieval armies was a property qualification: wealthy citizens went on a campaign in armor and fought close combat, and ordinary warriors used throwing weapons.

  However, the crossbow had an undeniable advantage. The archer had to learn archery for years, when it was enough for the crossbowman to understand the mechanism of reloading and aiming.

  Although the penetrating power of crossbow bolts was great, the lever crossbow did not penetrate steel cuirasses, and the speed of the projectile, although it was greater than that of the bow, remained insignificant in absolute terms. Most importantly, crossbow bolts, just like arrows from a bow, got stuck in shields - even if the tip pierced the shield, the shaft still got stuck in it.

  Except for the special case of the comparatively massive armament of the Han Dynasty infantry with crossbows, this weapon received real recognition only in Europe from the 14th century, when numerous detachments of crossbowmen became an indispensable accessory of the knightly armies. The decisive role in raising the popularity of crossbows was played by the fact that from the 14th century their bowstring began to be pulled with a collar. Thus, the restrictions imposed on the force of tension by the physical capabilities of the shooter were removed, and the light crossbow became heavy - its advantage in penetrating power over the bow became overwhelming - bolts began to pierce even solid armor. At the same time, the gate allowed cocking the crossbow without much effort.

  The worst examples of crossbows, both in Europe and in Rus', were made for a long time with wooden arcs, which reduced their advantages over bows to a minimum - to the convenience of aiming. Nevertheless, crossbows of an extremely simplified design - with a wooden bow and without a trigger (the bowstring, when stretched, clung to a gentle ledge of the bed, from where it collided simply with a thumbnail) were used among poachers until the 17th century. The projectile for such devices was more often not an arrow, but a stone or a lead bullet.

  The arc of a military crossbow was first made from a conventional bow composite, and later from elastic steel.

  Crossbows compared to bows saved the physical energy of the shooter. Although the tension of the crossbow exceeded the tension of the bow many times over (for example, to cock a Chinese crossbow, it was necessary to squeeze out more than 130 kg), even collarless crossbows were much easier to cock, since different muscle groups are used to cock the crossbow and draw the bow. The bow is pulled by the extensor muscles of the arm and upper back, which are weakly developed in the average person, and the crossbow is cocked by the strongest - the legs, biceps and abdominal muscles. Also, the load was reduced due to the fact that when pulling the bow, it was necessary to maintain a balance between strength, accuracy and speed of movement, and only strength was important for the crossbow. As a result, if the tension of the bow was always limited by the physical development of the shooter, then the tension of the crossbow was mainly the strength of the trigger mechanism.

  On the other hand, even light crossbows had a shot energy of up to 150 J, compared to about 50 J for bows. The ability to use a lever, legs, or at least eight fingers (instead of two) to pull the bowstring made it possible to achieve a significant increase in weapon power even with twice as short a bow (for lever ones - usually 65 cm, for hand and hook designs - up to 80 cm).

  A bolt from a light crossbow could have a weight of 50 g and an initial speed of up to 70 m / s. Such bolts flew at 250 meters and were dangerous up to 150 meters, moreover, chain mail made its way from 80 meters, and armor made of leather and iron also made its way near. Bolts of the most powerful lever models (for example, from gastrofet) pierced a bronze cuirass from 50 meters.

  Even at a short distance, the trajectory of the bolt was, by modern standards, very far from flatness, but at ranges close to the limit, the fire was fired exclusively by a canopy. For a very long time, crossbows were not aimed in the usual sense for us - pointing at the target. Strictly speaking, that is why the classic crossbow did not have a butt in the usual sense of the word for us: Chinese crossbows, Roman archballists, and European crossbows were not applied to the shoulder until the late Middle Ages, but simply held in their hands, giving them the necessary to defeat target elevation - when shooting at a group target in a major battle, this was quite enough, but the defeat of individual targets already required great skill and excellent practical knowledge of the ballistics of their weapons from the shooter. Europeans, apparently, began to realize the convenience of applying a long stock to the shoulder during a shot only by the 14th century, and curved butts of the modern type appeared on crossbows in the 16th-17th centuries, already under the clear influence of firearms, for which, due to their large mass and powerful recoil, this method of retention turned out to be the only possible one.

  The rate of fire of a light crossbow (with a lever design) reached 4 rounds per minute. Sighting range was 60 meters.

  The "muzzle energy" of a heavy crossbow has already reached 400 J (for comparison, the Makarov pistol has a muzzle energy of 340 J). The heavy crossbow had an arc of up to 100 cm in span and accelerated a 100 gram bolt up to 90 m/s. Accordingly, the firing range reached 420 meters, but the lethal force was only sufficient up to 250, and shooting at a moving target remained effective up to 70 meters. At the same time, chain mail made its way from 150 meters, light shells from 50-70, and steel cuirasses (together with chain mail and a padded jacket underneath) - from 25 meters.

  The rate of fire, however, was already only 2 rounds per minute - the collar was worn separately, it had to be attached and detached. Yes, and the heavy crossbow itself weighed up to 7 kg (against 3-5 kg ​​for a light one), it required a backup in the form

  George Palmer, Werner Sodel, Vernard Foley

  Vernard Foley, George Palmer, Werner Soedel. The Crossbow

  This formidable weapon, invented 2400 years ago, was widespread in the 11th century. For 500 years, until the advent of firearms, crossbows were mainly used for protection.

  H ACHINAYA from the 11th century. For 500 years, the crossbow has been a formidable combat weapon. It was used mainly to protect various objects, such as castles and ships. In addition, the crossbow played a significant role in the knowledge of the properties of various materials (since the action of many forces had to be taken into account in its manufacture) and the laws of motion in the air (after all, the crossbow arrow had to have certain flight qualities). Leonardo da Vinci turned to the study of the principles underlying the shooting from a crossbow more than once.

  The craftsmen who made bows, crossbows and arrows did not know mathematics and the laws of mechanics. Nevertheless, tests of samples of old arrows carried out at Purdue University showed that these craftsmen managed to achieve high aerodynamic qualities.

  In appearance, the crossbow does not seem complicated. Its arc, as a rule, was strengthened in front, across a wooden or metal machine - a box. A special device held the bowstring stretched to failure and released it. The direction of flight of a short crossbow arrow was set either by a groove cut out at the top of the stock, into which the arrow was laid, or by two stops that fixed it in front and behind. If the arc was very elastic, then a special device was installed on the bed to stretch it; sometimes it was removable and worn with a crossbow.

  The design of the crossbow has two advantages over the conventional bow. Firstly, the crossbow shoots further, and the shooter armed with it in a duel with an archer remains inaccessible to the enemy. Secondly, the design of the stock, sight and trigger mechanism greatly facilitated the handling of weapons; it did not require special training from the shooter. The hook teeth, which held and released the string and arrow under tension, are one of the early attempts to mechanize some of the functions of the human hand.

  The only thing in which the crossbow was inferior to the bow was in the speed of fire. Therefore, it was possible to use it as a military weapon only if there was a shield behind which the warrior took cover during reloading. It is for this reason that the crossbow was mainly a common type of weapon for fortress garrisons, siege detachments and ship crews.

  A RBALLET was invented long before it was widely used. Regarding the invention of this weapon, there are two versions. According to one, it is believed that the first crossbow appeared in Greece, according to another - in China. Around 400 BC. e. The Greeks invented a throwing machine (catapult) for throwing stones and arrows. Her appearance was explained by the desire to create a weapon more powerful than a bow. Initially, some catapults, which, according to the principle of operation, resembled a crossbow, apparently did not exceed it in size.

  In favor of the version of the origin of the crossbow in China, archaeological finds of bronze triggers dating back to 200 BC speak. e. Although the evidence for the first appearance of the crossbow in Greece is earlier, written Chinese sources mention the use of this weapon in battles in 341 BC. e. According to other data, the reliability of which is more difficult to establish, the crossbow was known in China for another century earlier.

  Archaeological finds indicate that the crossbow was used in Europe throughout the entire period from ancient times to the 11th-16th centuries, when it became the most common. It can be assumed that its widespread use until the XI century. prevented by two factors. One of them is that arming the troops with crossbows was much more expensive than with bows. Another reason is the small number of castles in that period; castles began to play a historically important role only after the conquest of England by the Normans (1066).

  With the increasing role of castles, the crossbow became an indispensable weapon used in feudal strife, which could not do without fierce battles. Fortifications in the pre-Norman period were usually very simple and served mainly as shelters for people who lived nearby. Therefore, it was necessary to keep weapons behind the fortress walls in order to repel the attacks of the conquerors. The Normans exercised power in the conquered territories with the help of small, heavily armed military detachments. The castles served them as shelter from the indigenous people and to repel the attacks of other armed groups. The firing range of the crossbow contributed reliable protection these shelters.

  In the centuries after the appearance of the first crossbows, attempts were made to improve these weapons. One of the ways may have been borrowed from the Arabs. Arabic hand bows belonged to the type that was called composite or compound. Their design is fully consistent with this name, since they were made from various materials. A composite bow has distinct advantages over a bow made from a single piece of wood, as the latter has limited resilience due to the natural properties of the material. When the archer pulls the bowstring, the arc of the bow from the outside (from the archer) experiences tension, and from the inside - compression. With excessive tension, the wood fibers of the arc begin to deform and permanent "wrinkles" appear on its inner side. Usually the bow was held in a bent state, and exceeding a certain limit of tension could cause it to break.

  In a compound bow to outer surface the arc is attached to a material that can withstand more tension than wood. This additional layer takes the load and reduces the deformation of the wood fibers. Most often, animal tendons were used as such material, especially the ligamentum nuchae, a large elastic knot that runs along the spine and over the shoulders in most mammals. Tests have shown that such material, if properly processed, can withstand tensions up to 20 kg/sq. mm. This is about four times more than the most suitable tree can support.

  For inside bows used a material that works better in compression than wood. For these purposes, the Turks used a bull horn, the permissible compression force of which is about 13 kg / sq. mm. (Wood can withstand compressive loads four times less.) The unusually high awareness of archery masters about the properties of various materials can also be judged by the glues they used in the manufacture of bows. Glue made from the sky of the Volga sturgeon was considered the best. The variety of unusual materials used in archery suggests that many constructive solutions were achieved empirically.

  A BALLETS with compound arcs were common in the Middle Ages, including the Renaissance. They were lighter than steel bow crossbows, which began to be made at the beginning of the 15th century; with the same string tension, they shot further and were more reliable. The action of compound arcs interested Leonardo da Vinci. His manuscripts show that he used them to study the behavior of various materials under load.

  The advent of the steel arc in the Middle Ages was the zenith in the development of crossbow design. In terms of its parameters, it could yield only to a crossbow made of fiberglass and other modern materials. Steel arcs had a flexibility that no other organic material could provide before. The Victorian athlete Ralph Payne-Gallwey, who wrote a treatise on the crossbow, tested a large military crossbow, the tension of which was 550 kg, which sent an 85-gram arrow to a distance of 420 m. E. Harmuth, a specialist in the history of the crossbow, claims that arcs existed with twice the tension. However, in the Middle Ages, crossbows with a pull of less than 45 kg were the most common. Even with special lightweight arrows, they fired no further than 275 m.

  With the achievement of higher tensions, steel arcs ceased to win in efficiency. Increasing the mass of the arc limited its ability to impart greater acceleration to the arrow. Due to the difficulty of obtaining large steel ingots, crossbow arcs were usually alloyed from many pieces of metal. Each fusion point lowered the reliability of the crossbow: at any moment, the arc in this place could break.

  More powerful crossbows required reliable triggers. It should be noted that the triggers used by the Europeans, which usually consisted of a rotating tooth and a simple lever trigger, were inferior to the Chinese, which had an intermediate lever that allowed a shot to be fired with a short and light pull on the trigger lever. At the beginning of the XVI century. in Germany, multi-lever triggers of a more advanced design began to be used. Interestingly, a little earlier, Leonardo da Vinci came up with the same design of the trigger mechanism and proved its advantages by calculation.

  A The BALLET arrow also changed over time. Before tracing its evolution, let us consider the forces acting on the bow arrow. When shooting from a conventional bow, the arrow at the moment of aiming should be located between the center of the archer's chest and the fingers of his outstretched hand. The relative position of these two points determines the direction of the arrow's flight after the bowstring is released.

  The forces acting on the arrow at the moment it is released, however, do not exactly coincide with the line of sight. The released bowstring pushes the end of the arrow towards the center of the bow, and not to the side. Therefore, in order for the arrow not to deviate from the given direction, it must bend slightly at the moment of launch.

  Required boom flexibility for traditional bow imposes a limit on the amount of energy communicated to it. For example, it was found that an arrow designed for a bow with a tension of up to 9 kg, when fired from a crossbow with a tension of 38 kg, can bend so much that its shaft breaks.

  In this regard, in the ancient era, when crossbows and catapults began to be used, arrows of a new design were invented. Due to the fact that the surface of the crossbow stock ensured that the direction of movement of the bowstring coincided with the initial direction of the flight of the arrow, and a special guiding device made it possible to hold it in a certain position without the help of hands, it became possible to make crossbow arrows shorter and less elastic. This, in turn, made them easier to store and carry.

  The design of the arrows that appeared at that time can be judged by the two main types that have survived to this day. An arrow of one type is half the length of a regular, archery arrow. It widens sharply towards the rear end and has several vanes, or fletchings, which are too small to stabilize the arrow in flight. The end part of the boom is captured by hook teeth.

  Arrows of another type do not have blades. Their metal front is a third of their length, and the wooden shaft is reduced to a minimum. These arrows also have a shape that expands towards the tail. Their total length is less than 15 cm.

  The design features of these arrows indicate that the craftsmen ancient rome who first invented them, were familiar with the flight qualities of bodies of various shapes. Today we understand that the fletching, which prevents the arrow from rotating in flight, is the main reason for its deceleration. Reducing its size would increase the range of the arrow, provided that it does not turn to the side, which would further slow down its flight. This can be avoided by sharpening the shaft, i.e. making it narrower at the front than at the back. If an arrow with such a shaft begins to turn to the side, then the air pressure on the wider back will be higher than on the front; due to this, the direction of the arrow flight is aligned.

  It can also be assumed that the shaft has a center of pressure (the equilibrium point of all aerodynamic forces acting on it) located behind the center of gravity. On a cylindrical arrow without plumage, this point will be approximately in the middle of the shaft. With an expanding boom, the center of pressure shifts to the rear. Since the center of pressure is located behind the center of gravity, the stability of an arrow with an expanding shaft is higher than with a cylindrical one, and due to the lack of plumage, its drag is less. The expanding shaft also contributes to a more uniform distribution of air mass pressure on its surface. Using the terminology of modern aerodynamics, we can say that the boundary layer is less prone to destruction. Reducing the length of the boom also improves its flight performance, because with increasing length, the turbulence of the air stream parallel to the cylindrical surface increases, absorbing more energy.

  D ANOTHER factor that affects the effectiveness of shooting arrows with an expanding shaft is the design of the plumage. To hold the bolt with the gripping teeth of the trigger mechanism, a special notch was made in its plumage. Like the expanding shape of the shaft, the presence of a notch contributes to a more uniform flow of air around the arrow, reducing the energy-absorbing turbulence behind it.

  In the early Middle Ages, the craftsmen who made bows and crossbows were not familiar with the laws of air movement and the forces that arise on the surface of bodies when they move in the air. Concepts such as airflow and drag did not appear until the time of Leonardo da Vinci. There is no doubt that crossbow arrows were created mainly by trial and error. Probably, their creators were guided by the desire to achieve the maximum flight range and the greatest impact force.

  Nevertheless, the design of crossbow arrows is perfect. Wind tunnel tests carried out by us at the Aerodynamic Research Laboratory at Pardue University confirm this. The usual arrow for a combat bow, such as was used in the Middle Ages, a crossbow arrow belonging to the same period, and two types of arrows for a catapult were tested. The results obtained should be interpreted with some caution, since the dimensions of the studied objects, especially the smallest ones, approached the sensitivity threshold of the measuring equipment. But even under these limiting experimental conditions, very interesting data were obtained. Firstly, the smallest arrow, which was completely preserved, except for minor damage to the plumage, judging by the data obtained, stably maintained its position at all permissible flight angles.

  Secondly, a comparative analysis of the drag-to-mass ratios for all four types of arrows showed that the bow arrow was significantly inferior in its flight qualities to the other three. The mass of an arrow can be thought of as a measure of its ability to store kinetic energy. If all these arrows were launched at the same speed, then the mass of each of them would determine the energy reserve of the arrow at the initial moment. The rate of energy consumption depends on the drag. A low drag-to-mass ratio means that the range of the arrow is likely to be long.

  For a bow arrow, this ratio is about twice as large as for crossbow arrows. It can be assumed that if the medieval and earlier masters in the creation of arrows for bows managed to overcome the design limitations, then they could develop a more optimal design. The existing design of the arrow corresponded so well with the materials available at that time that its geometry was not improved during the period when the bow was considered the main weapon.

  IN CE THESE improvements were dictated by the urgent need for crossbows. Often in peacetime, garrisons were stationed on the territory of castles, consisting mainly of archers armed with crossbows. At well-defended outposts, such as the English port of Calais (on the northern coast of France), 53,000 crossbow arrows were in stock. The owners of these castles usually bought arrows in large quantities - 10-20 thousand pieces each. It is estimated that for 70 years from 1223 to 1293, one family in England made 1 million crossbow arrows.

  Based on these facts, we can say that the beginning of mass production was laid long before the industrial revolution. This can be confirmed by the simple device used at that time of two fastened wooden bars, forming something similar to a vice: an arrow blank was inserted into the recesses in the wooden bars for further processing. For the manufacture of tail blades, metal plates with grooves were used, into which blanks were inserted. Such a device made it possible to obtain the desired dimensions and symmetrical shape of the blades.

  Another device is a planer, which was probably intended both for turning the arrow shaft and for cutting grooves into which the plumage blades were inserted. Rods from wooden blanks of small diameter were not easy to make on primitive lathes of that time, since the blanks were bent when processed with a cutting tool. In a planer, a metal cutting tool was fixed in a wooden block with two clamps on opposite sides. The bar moved along the clamping device, which firmly held the arrow blank. The cutting tool removed the chips until the bar reached the surface of the clamping device. Thus, automatic control of the thickness of the cut layer and the direction of cutting was achieved. As a result, the arrows were almost the same size.

  H And the crossbow was replaced by firearms. The popularity of the ancient crossbow began to decline. However, they still continued to be used in naval battles. The reason was that the crossbow did not have a fuse, and for the shooter it was safe, unlike firearms, which at first often hit the shooter himself. In addition, the bulwark on the ship served as a good cover, behind which it was possible to safely reload the crossbow. Heavier crossbows continued to be used in whaling. Firearms gradually replaced the crossbow in hunting on land. The exception was crossbows, which fired stones or bullets. This type of weapon was used in hunting small game until the 19th century. The fact that these crossbows, which fired shot or bullets, had much in common with firearms, testifies to the mutual influence of the two types of weapons in the process of their evolution. Such elements of firearms as a stock, a trigger that requires weak pressure, and an aiming device were borrowed from crossbows, and primarily from sports ones. Such crossbows have not yet fallen into disuse.

  Appearance in the 20th century fiberglass materials led to the creation of a new generation of composite crossbows. Glass fibers in their properties are not inferior to natural veins, and their cellular structure is as strong as an ox horn. Although the crossbow still lags far behind the bow in popularity in the archery revival, it also has many adherents. The modern crossbow shooter has at his disposal a "weapon" much more advanced than what it was in the Middle Ages.

  ENGLISH CROSSBOW. The date of manufacture is indicated on its wooden stock - 1617. An ivory plate with inlay indicates that this crossbow was a hunting crossbow; a military crossbow would hardly have had such an artistic finish. To pull the bowstring of a crossbow, a force exceeding one hundred kilograms was required, so the crossbowman used a special mechanism with a gear train. There is a socket in the stock of the crossbow, which was probably intended for this mechanism. The string is shown in a taut state. In this position, she was held by hook teeth, which released her when the trigger was pressed, located at the bottom of the box. A short arrow 30.5 cm long fired from a crossbow flew a distance of about 400 m. The arc of the crossbow was attached to the stock with a ring and a harness. The drawing was made from a crossbow from the collection of the US Military Academy Museum at West Point, New York.

  FRENCH BATTLE CROSSBOW XIV century. and two arrows for it from the collection of the US Military Academy Museum at West Point (New York). It was impossible to manually pull the bowstring of such a crossbow, so a gate was installed at the rear end of the machine, or stock. The stock has a length of 101 cm, the width of the crossbow arc is 107 cm, the length of the arrows is approximately 38 cm.

  The ARROW PARADOX explains in part why short arrows were used in crossbow shooting. The paradox is demonstrated for the case when the shooter uses an arrow from a conventional bow. During aiming (1) the arrow is located on one side of the bow. The line of sight runs along the arrow. However, when the shooter releases the arrow (2), the force with which the string acts on it causes the tail of the arrow to move towards the center of the bow. In order for the arrow to maintain its direction towards the target, it must curve in flight (3). During the first few meters of flight, the arrow vibrates, but eventually its position stabilizes (4). The need for flexibility in a bow arrow limits the amount of energy that can be imparted to it. In contrast, the crossbow arrow must be shorter and stiffer, since the crossbow imparts significant energy to it. Such arrows also had the best aerodynamic properties.

  The triggers of crossbows had a different design. In China, 2000 years ago, a mechanism (a) was used with a tooth for hooking the bowstring, which was attached to the same axis as the trigger. A curved intermediate lever connected both parts, due to which the descent was carried out with a light and short press. On the right is shown the direction of movement of the bowstring during the descent. In the West, triggers were first used in catapults (b). In these mechanisms, when the bowstring was released, the tooth did not fall, but rose. In medieval Europe, the most common mechanism was the escapement wheel (c); its position was fixed by a simple trigger lever, which hooked onto a recess at the bottom of the wheel. When you press such a lever, the crossbow could move from the aiming position. Over time, in all designs of triggers, an intermediate lever began to be used, which facilitated the descent.

  RESULTS OF TESTS in a wind tunnel of five types of arrows shown in the upper figure. The tests were carried out with the participation of the author of the article in the laboratory of aerospace research at Pardue University. In the calculations performed by W. Hickam, it was assumed that the initial speed of each arrow was 80 m / s. Although such a speed was unlikely to have arrows for longbow, the accepted value was convenient for comparative analysis.

  Literature

  Ralph Payne Gallway. The crossbow, mediaeval and modern, military and sporting: its construction, history and management. Bramhall House, New York, 1958.

  George M. Stevens. Crossbows: "From thirty-five years with the weapon". Crossbow Books, Huntsville, Ark., 1978.

  Levkovich A.K. Crossbow. Kiev-Kharkov: Mystetstvo, 1936.

  Markevich V.E. Hand firearms, Vol. 1. Weapons before the introduction of smokeless powders. - L .: Artillery Academy of the Red Army. Dzerzhinsky, 1937.

  Shkolyar S.A. Chinese pre-fire artillery. - M.: Nauka, 1980.

  Publication:
  In the world of science. March 1985, pp. 66-72 (Scientific American. January 1985, pp. 104-110)

  
  

  Who is who in the world of discoveries and inventions Sitnikov Vitaly Pavlovich

  When was the crossbow invented?

  When was the crossbow invented?

  One of ancient species the weapon is the bow. A crossbow is the same bow, only its string is pulled mechanically. The first crossbow was invented around 1050 in France. An arrow fired from a crossbow could fly 305 meters or more.

  The crossbow is a military weapon that appeared as a result of the improvement of the hand bow. His bowstring, as a rule, is steel and is stretched with the help of a collar. The arrow is inserted into the stock, which also serves as a sight. The lethal power of the crossbow is such that it can hit a living target at a distance of up to a hundred or more meters. In the Middle Ages, the crossbow was the most common weapon, but in the 12th century it was banned as an extremely dangerous and insidious weapon.

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