Mortar (Siege Weapon)

Timeline

1. 1450–1600Western and Central European battlefields · Central EuropeIn the mid-15th century European craftsmen, against a backdrop of improved cast-iron techniques, developed short-barreled, large-bore mortars that lobbed stone or iron shot at high angles (above 45°) over the walls into the city. Early models had extremely short barrels, large powder charges, low muzzle velocity but high trajectory curvature; similar weapons were recorded when the Ottomans besieged Constantinople in 1453. By the late 16th century, specialized mortar design (including matching wooden carriages and fused bombs) had matured on the battlefields of Italy, France, and the Netherlands.
2. 1621–1630Netherlands and German battlefields · Low CountriesAfter the Dutch-Spanish War resumed in 1621, Spanish forces systematically deployed mortars in sieges such as Breda (1624-1625), lobbing bombs to strike interior buildings and defender concentrations, combined with mine breaches to force surrender. During the same period of the Thirty Years' War both Imperial and Protestant forces used mortars extensively against towns and camps; the siege of Magdeburg (the sieges of surrounding towns in the late 1620s, before 1631) widely recorded mortar deployment; in this phase fused-bomb technology also became standardized across European armies through the spread of Dutch engineers and military advisers.