World War I
As the evolution of artillery continued, almost all guns of any size became capable of being moved at some speed. With few exceptions, even the largest siege weapons had become mobile by road or rail by the start of World War I, and evolution after that point tended to be towards smaller weapons with increased mobility. Even the German super-heavy guns in World War II were rail or caterpillar-track mobile.
In British use, a field gun was anything up to around 4.5 inches in calibre—larger guns were medium and the largest of all heavy. Their largest gun (as opposed to howitzer) was the 5.5 inch (140 mm) Medium, with a range of about 15,000\16,000 yards.
Read more about this topic: Field Gun
Famous quotes containing the words war i, world and/or war:
“War is thus divine in itself, since it is a law of the world. War is divine through its consequences of a supernatural nature which are as much general as particular.... War is divine in the mysterious glory that surrounds it and in the no less inexplicable attraction that draws us to it.... War is divine by the manner in which it breaks out.”
—Joseph De Maistre (17531821)
“Never mind the ridicule, never mind the defeat: up again, old heart!it seems to say,there is victory yet for all justice; and the true romance which the world exists to realize, will be the transformation of genius into practical power.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“The war shook down the Tsardom, an unspeakable abomination, and made an end of the new German Empire and the old Apostolic Austrian one. It ... gave votes and seats in Parliament to women.... But if society can be reformed only by the accidental results of horrible catastrophes ... what hope is there for mankind in them? The war was a horror and everybody is the worse for it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (18561950)