Development of military small arms in Burgundie

While Burgundie has long had an on-again-off-again relationship with the concept of a professional and or standing army, the origin of weapons, currently classified as sidearms, serving a purpose that is currently attributed to modern militaries goes back beyond the horizon in the long moral arc of human history. That history, like the last sentence, is unending and brutal. While the first standing armies were not present in the principalities that make up modern Burgundie until 1461 when the Bishop of Bonavix passed a decree restricted military recruitment and training to himself. There was a new tax to be raised known as the taille that was to provide funding for a new provincial army. The taille started a tradition of centralized provisioning and logistical standardization that took many centuries to perfect. It also was the first time that an army within the bounds of modern Burgundie spent money to buy side arms and conduct common training in their use.

Because of its access to Audonia and Alshar through its vast trade and colonial empire early modern Burgundie was replete with horses and gunpowder. However, this did not correlate to its innovation in the space of firearms. In fact, Burgundie lagged behind in firearms development until the outbreak of the Second Great War.

Stone Age

Rocks on sticks

Of the variaties sharp and blunt

High Middle Ages

Spanning from 917-1575, warfare in the High Middle Ages in what is now Burgundie was characterized by mercenaries and countless petty conflicts between the numerous kings, princes, military orders, mercantile leagues, bishops, and archbishops that ruled the coast of Dericania. The major military milestones of this era that drove small arms development were the War of the Three Princes (1071), resulting in the establishment of the Kingdom of Gassavelia; the Crusades in Sarpedon (1095–1291), in Audonia (1167–1428), in modern Yonderre (1458-1574). The era is considered to have ended with the conclusion of the Great Confessional War.

Polearms

With the fall of regional power brokers like Alvaria, the Principality of Eagavix, and the Bishopric of Rabascall, in the 930s and the establishment of the far off and overarching Eastern Kingdom of the Levantines, the monopoly on violence devolved to the local fief lords. These changed combat and therefore the type of small arms used immensely. Gone were the well-funded mercenary armies of the upper nobility, instead they were replaced by the knight-service rabble of farmers and serfs. Because the lowest level vassals were responsible for the equipment of their own soldiers it often fell to the lowest common denominator and farming equipment was repurposed in times of war into a myriad of polearms.

Projectile weapons ban

In 1139, canon 29 of the "second Lateran Council" banned the use of bows, slings, and crossbow against other Christians under penalty of anathema as a weapon “hateful to God and unfit for Christians,” and Emperor Uc I (reigned 1108–40) forbade its use in the Holy Levantine Empire. But the crossbow proved useful in the Crusades against the infidel in Audonia from 1167-1428.

Age of Discovery

Coming out of the Great Confessional War the victorious Catholic princelings had learned many new and vicious ways to conduct war. While not a common feature of the war itself, some wealthier nobles had started to adopt pike and shot, particularly in the newly formed Duchy of Martilles and on the island Duchy of Bourgondi. As the Early Modern period progressed pike and shot became the predominant method of warfare in the coastal fiefs of the Kingdom of Dericania. However, as the colonial period exploded, those princelings involved in colonization brought back new or improved tactics which informed their weapon development. Large number of horses made cuirassiers a staple for the dukes at the head of colonial armies.

Late Modern

19th Century

Pre-Fratricide

The various coastal principalities of the Kingdom of Dericania entered the 19th-century with flintlock muskets and pistols as well as halberds and swords like the legends of pike and shot they assumed themselves to be.

Fratricide

Main article: First Fratricide

As the First Fratricide expanded many of the Dericanian states sought to increase their advantage over the other. In 1858 Burgundie adopted the Fusil muscetoun patron 1857 with both percussion caps and Mainard tape primer which was standard issue until 1875 when the Fusil muscetoun patron 1874. While other more advanced firearms platforms were available it the plodding pace of development was determined to be prudent as the General of the Infantry determined "...the work required is good for the morale and moral fiber of the soldier." The Naval Board of Procurement and Munitions found in 1869 that "The wasteful expenditure of ammunition from fast-loading rifles not only creates a burden to the State but a sloth of the spiritual-warrior of every Bergendii fighting man."

Unified Burgundie

Main article: Burgundie

Contemporary

Following the disasterous Overland Campaign during the Red Interregnum in 1899, a Board of Inquiry was formed to determine if, despite the lose of moral superiority over the foe, Burgundie would need to adopt a bolt action rifle with a copper-jacketed bullet. This caused a panic in the middle class who had the time to read the papers and the compunction to take issue with the Board of Inquiries investigation. The Great Bolt Action Panic of 1903 resulted when the Board of Inquiry published its findings and recommend that the Army and Navy of Burgundie adopt a modern bolt action rifle with a copper-jacketed bullet. Articles decrying the bolt action, that it would "spur the worst, lustful spirits within the hearts of men" and that their action "resembles in the most obvious way...fornication" were common in the tabloid press. They were labeled "Weapons Without Good Moral Fiber" and l'armetouspecats (Eng: gun of all [the seven capital] sins). There was even an arson event known as the "Corset Riot" in which society mothers stormed and burned down a weapons factory thought to be making bolt action rifles to save their sons the "indignity" of having to use them in military drill. The factory was in fact one of the only manufactories of the Fusil muscetoun patron 1874 on the Ile Burgundie and its destruction was mentioned by reformers as another reason to adopt the new style rifle. A further Board of Inquiry determined that much of this panic was fomented by a bevy of itinerant preachers who sought donations to "pray the rifle away".

See Also

• Development of armored warfare in Burgundie
• Shipstory of Burgundie
• Development of aircraft in Burgundie