Each historical period marks a new advantage of the weapon over the knife, whose role reduces the role of remote combat, takes an increasingly misleading place at the expense of close combat, which determines the general nature of the evolution of weapons and determines the unity of our subject.
The Prussian infantry in the mid-18th century was armed with muskets equipped with bayonet sockets. The fighters of the time had a rifle that, at the same time, combined the principles of shock and jet stream, used for a long time in the construction of weapons from the wars of the past.
Transported into the New World, weapons technologies gave many advantages to Europeans. It should be noted that, in the face of indigenous populations often hostile to white settlers, the introduction of pathogens by the latter was devastating for bodies that did not possess natural resistance mechanisms. However, a relatively small number of well-equipped and disciplined European troops were able to bring empires such as the Aztecs and Incas to their knees. Equipped with weapons made of stones as their main material, they were not of high caliber compared to the metal swords and especially to the firearms of their Spanish conquerors on foot or mounted. Nor did the natives have the wheel, although, in other fields, such as astrology and mathematics, they had a high level of knowledge.
On another note, the end of the so-called "modern" period saw the emergence of a certain form of armament standardization. During the American Revolution, which in itself was not a high-tech war in the sense of developing new weapons, it was noted that British infantrymen were mostly equipped with the Brown Bess musket. Long in service in the British army, this weapon was much lower than the American Long Rifle. More effective for hunting at first, it was found in large quantities in the ranks of revolutionaries and it revealed surprising capabilities when used for military purposes. Moreover, for many American revolutionary militiamen, the Long Rifle was the only weapon at their disposal at the beginning of hostilities.
Another major technological advance of the time was the invention in 1784 of the bullet shell commonly known as the shrapnel, by Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel of the British Royal Artillery. Rather than firing full ammunition or a scrap box, the artillery could now fire a shell filled with bullets and specially designed to be thrown much further than the old scrap ammunition in addition to exploding in the air, near an enemy infantry formation. As an anti-personnel weapon, the shrapnel caused much more damage than a traditional iron ball.
The musket gave way to a stone rifle, very slowly in the French army, more suddenly in Germany. The disadvantages of the fuse disappeared, the speed of fire was considerably increased; the consumption of ammunition was such that it was necessary to regulate its supply on the battlefield. Finally, the socket bayonet appeared from the start, which determined the upcoming removal of the pikes. Their number is rapidly decreasing: according to official texts, there are only about a hundred of them per battalion; in practice, they have almost disappeared because they have become useless. What could small bodies of fifteen to twenty rows of picketers in four rows do as shock troops or reserves? Soldiers throw away their spikes to pick up a firearm.
Unlike the medieval period, when the early artillery was intended to destroy fortifications, the following period from the 16th to the 18th centuries saw the rapid development of artillery for anti-personal purposes.
In addition, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, which began a few years later, also saw their share of innovations. Still, in the field of artillery, the French improved their gun production capacities as well as their quality, although work in this direction had begun a few years earlier, at the end of the Ancien Régime. In addition to the guns, it was also noted that the manufacture of their mounts was standardized and the fire hydrants could be repaired with interchangeable parts, if necessary. What is interesting here, when studying the history of French artillery, is to observe this capacity to adapt to the military needs of the moment, especially in a socio-political context of undoubtedly difficult transitions between the Ancien Régime, the revolutionary governments and then imperial France. Moreover, Napoleon's "military genius" could lie more in his ability to make optimal use of existing weapons, in addition to designing new tactical uses, rather than having new weapons developed. However, France's opponents had to adapt to the pace and technologies of the Napoleonic armies.