Keyw Definition   Knowledge Organiser

ord Topic 1 – Warfare through time
Gentry   A person with land but no royal title 
The Battle of Waterloo
A member of the royal family such as a prince or duke. Why did Wellington Win?
Nobility 
 
The collective noun for all soldiers who fought on
 Cavalry
horseback.  
A solider who fought on foot, with little armour and
 Infantry
usually armed with a dagger or sword 
Use of large range guns on the battlefield – i.e.
 Artillery
cannons and the use of gunpowder 
 Dragoo infantrymen that moved around the battlefield on
ns horses and then got off of them to fight 
Bombar a continuous attack with bombs, shells, or other
dment missiles.
Flanking an enemy means attacking from one or
Flanks more sides, at an angle to the enemy's
direction of engagement.
Desertio
n
Leaving military service without permission
A military force that is raised from the civil
Militia population to supplement a regular army in an
emergency.
Purchas
In the military where the system of promotion are
e
system
bought Duke of Napoleon
Wellington Bonaparte
Enlistme
To be enrolled in military service
nt

Short
Something that happened immediately before the event
Term
you are looking at. 
causes 

 Long
Something that happened over years, decades or
Term
centuries before the main event you are looking at. 
causes
Conscri
Compulsory enlistment into the army
ption

 Musket A type of gun with a long barrel, used by infantrymen 

Drill Military instructions that involves a frequently repeated

training set of manoeuvres
The nature of warfare: The impact on warfare of developments in weaponry, including new muskets and pistols.
The development of science and technology in the late medieval period greatly contributed to changes in weapons. The introduction of gunpowder and cannons led to the
use of basic handguns which were more powerful than longbows and swords.

Matchlock muskets were

limited: they could not be
fired very accurately,
they were hard to use in
wet or damp conditions,
and
the reload time was too
long. Have a look at
some 1610 weapons
innovations:
Flintlock muskets:
expensive but Pistols: smaller and lighter than
quicker, less Cannon: they were now lighter and,
muskets, with shorter barrels. They
dangerous were used by the cavalry as they thanks to their new design, were easier
and more reliable to use. They had limited accuracy.
could be used with only one hand.
than matchlocks. The muzzle was loaded with
gunpowder and round lead shot using Pan filled with
a ram rod. gunpowder

Matchlock Musket

Advantages of muskets
● Compared to arrows, musket shot could
penetrate plate armours, if fired within 100
metres.
● Musket shot wound was more likely to be prone
to infection.
● Use of musket required less training than
longbow.
● Crossbows were more expensive to produce Limitations:
than muskets. ● Firing a musket in the 1600s was not always
● Longbows and crossbows were examples of successful.
weapons with limited technology, compared to ● Reloading time was lengthy. A soldier could
muskets. typically shoot one every two to three
minutes.
● Range was typically 100 metres, shorter than
a longbow.
The nature of warfare: Impact on warfare of changes in weaponry, including the use of rifles and bullets, and the development of field guns and
heavy artillery. The impact on warfare of industrialisation, including steam-powered transport and the mass production of weapons.
The Crimean War is seen as the first ‘modern war’ because new technologies developed in the
Industrial Revolution were used for the very first time. After 1850, weapons were produced at an During the American Civil War, Gatling Gun, a hand-driven
increased rate, with improved range and accuracy. Guns could now be loaded at the breech instead machine gun, was invented. With revolving barrels that could
of the muzzle, which resulted in reduced reload time and an increased rate of fire. With the fire about 150 bullets per minute, this weapon changed
introduction of new manufacturing methods, steel could be mass produced, which resulted in a warfare in Britain and the rest of Europe. At Waterloo, the
decrease in production costs. British artillery used shrapnel shells. Shrapnel shells were
Mass production of cheap steel in 1855 by Henry Bessemer resulted in low-cost rifle production. In hollow metal shells filled with metal balls, powder and a
1856, the Royal Small Arms Factory produced 1,750 rifles per week which soon led to the mass crude time fuse. It would explode after being fired and it
production of the Lee-Enfield rifle. would release the metal balls, which caused devastating
Weapon type and improvement injuries to infantry.
Muskets were replaced with rifles which had better accuracy. In the 1860s, rifles
In 1880s, lighter and smaller machine guns were used. At
could shoot from almost a mile away. the same time, cannons were built from steel which made
them more reliable. With new breech loading actions, a
Prior to this period, bullets were fired through sparks or flints which was difficult to
perform in damp weather. The invention of percussion cartridges with explosive caps
cannon could fire 10 rounds per minute.
at the back of the bullet made old bullets obsolete. Moreover, the problem of slow
loading was solved by the development of conical bullets which could be loaded and
fired in revolving magazines.

Another innovation was smokeless powder which became available from the 1880s.
It massively improved visibility on the battlefield.

Increasing use of factories for production from 185o had an important result that a
lot more weapons could be produced more quickly. Weapons and ammunition, Gatling Gun by Richard Jordan Gatling, Diagram of a shrapnel shell
1862 used at the Battle of Waterloo
began to be available in much larger quantities than ever before.

Overview of the development of bullets bullet

Metallic
10th c.
blackpowde
propellant case
r
19th c. full rim
17th c. round cylindro- metal jacket Spitzer bullet
lead balls conical bullets bullet primer
Howitzer during the Boer Wars
 Long Term Causes of World War 1 Short Term Causes of WW1
Topic 1 – Warfare through time
The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente meant if two In the 19th century, empires such as Britain, Germany and France
countries went to war, ALL the other countries began to expand.
would also be dragged in to support their allies. It
wasn’t possible to have a war between just two
countries anymore. By 1900, an arms race began between the major empires - Britain and
Germany were expanding their armies.
The German army began building their army and
planning how to attack France and Russia in 1905,
nine years before the actual war started. On June 28th, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a
Serbian called Gavrilo Princip in Bosnia. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
Britain and France argued with Germany over who
should control Morocco and Germany threatened to
use a battleship to bomb France.
By July of 1914, Russia had declared war on Austria-Hungary. Russia were allies with
Small countries in Eastern Europe such as Bosnia
Serbia and wanted to protect them.
and Serbia had been controlled and bossed around
by Austria-Hungary for years. They wanted revenge
for being treated badly for many years and Russia Due to Austria-Hungary being allies with Germany, Germany declared war on Russia.
said they would help them. France then declared war on Germany due to their alliance with Russia.

Germany and Austria-Hungary were competing with

Russia and France to expand their armies. Each Finally, because France and Germany were now at war, Germany wanted to invade
time one side built more weapons, the others felt France. To do this, they needed to go through Belgium. Britain were allies with Belgium
worried and built more for protection. due to the Treaty of London, signed in 1839. Britain were now at war with Germany.
All the countries in the Triple Alliance and the Triple
Entente were already fighting in Africa and Asia
over who should control smaller countries. They
wanted to control these countries so they could use
their resources such as coal, gold and food.
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was an aggressive
man who believed Germans were the strongest race
and wanted Germany to be the greatest nation in
the world. He thought the only way to do that was to
stand up to Britain, France and Russia.
Germany was competing with Britain to build bigger
and better battleships.