View source for Engineering:Abus gun

The '''Abus gun''' ({{lang-tr|Obüs}} meaning ''howitzer'') is an early form of artillery created by the [[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]]. They were small,<ref>{{cite book|title= Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1775-1820|first=David|last=Nicolle|first2=Angus|last2=McBride|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=1998|isbn=1-85532-697-3|pages=18}}</ref> but often too heavy to carry, and many were equipped with a type of tripod. They fired projectiles weighing between 3 and 9 caps (in modern measures, between {{convert|3.8|and|11.5|kg|lb}}).<ref name=gunsize>{{cite web|url=http://magweb.n1uro.com/sample/sdra/sdr12gsi.htm|title=Ottoman Gun Sizes|author=Johnson, William|authorlink=William Johnson (historian)|accessdate=2009-03-09|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921222403/http://magweb.n1uro.com/sample/sdra/sdr12gsi.htm|archive-date=September 21, 2008}}</ref>
Abus guns, despite being a form of howitzer, were primarily used as an anti-infantry [[Social:Weapon|weapon]].<ref name="Dragoman">{{cite web|url=http://www.magweb.com/sample/sdra/sdr12gun.htm|title=The Sultan's Big Guns|last=Johnson|first=William|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219031516/http://www.magweb.com/sample/sdra/sdr12gun.htm|archive-date=19 February 2008|access-date=2013-05-05}}</ref>

==Development==
Its origins are not known. Early artillery such as this gun opened the way for the developments in artillery made across the ages, and spawned more recent and familiar types of artillery. By the [[History:Napoleonic era|Napoleonic era]]:
<blockquote>
Each regiment of foot artillery was made up of 10 [[Engineering:Cannon|cannon]]s; four of the older, heavy {{ill|Scharfmetze|lt=Balyemez|de|Scharfmetze}} and [[Engineering:Bombard (weapon)|Sahi cannon]]s, two of the older, lighter Abus guns and four of the new French-designed field guns... each of which came in a bewildering range of sizes. The ''Balyemez'' were massive, long-range guns...''Şahi'' was the Ottoman word for "field," and therefore Şahi artillery meant simply field artillery... The Abus guns were a form of howitzer and came in 10- and 7-centimeter diameter bores. The French-design guns were known as Sürat Topçusu (''speed artillery'') because of their greater mobility."<ref name="Dragoman"/>
</blockquote>

==Mechanics==
Abus guns were a short-barreled artillery machine that fired shots about the size of a human fist. They also had many varieties of artillery, from large siege [[Engineering:Bombard (weapon)|bombard]] to the mobile Abus guns in question. Though light enough to carry, they needed to be equipped with a tripod of sorts. This movability was opposed to locating them in a guarded artillery emplacement, where versatility of the weapon would have been considerably restricted.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}} The design remained unchanged until 1830 when the [[Place:Prussia|Prussia]]n military advisers appointed by the [[Religion:Sultan|sultan]] made a few minor improvements, standardising the weapons in order to improve efficiency.<ref name=gunsize/>

==In popular culture==
Abus guns are used by the Ottomans in ''[[Software:Age of Empires III|Age of Empires III]]'', serving as a form of light artillery.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/wikis/age-of-empires-iii/Ottoman|publisher=News Corporation|website=IGN|last=Burton|first=Jason|title=Ottoman|date=24 September 2012|accessdate=25 July 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
*Camel gun
*Jezail
*[[Engineering:Wall gun|Wall gun]]
*[[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]]
*Napoleonic Era
*Howitzer

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Early firearms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abus Gun}}
[[Category:Cannon]]
[[Category:Medieval artillery]]

{{Sourceattribution|Abus gun}}