Liechtenstein artillery system

Prince Wenzel Liechtenstein was appointed Director General of the Austrian artillery in 1744. In fact, Liechtenstein was the inhaber (proprietor) of a dragoon regiment and not an artilleryman. As early as 1743, Liechtenstein produced a 3-pounder gun, but it proved to be a failure on the battlefield. In the War of the Austrian Succession, the obsolete Austrian artillery was consistently outclassed by the Prussian artillery. The problem with Austrian gunners of the 1740s was that they really belonged to a civilian guild. Austria only had 800 gunners during the War of the Austrian Succession. The gunners were assisted by the Handlanger, who were infantrymen assigned to gun crews in order to perform simple jobs like moving the gun.^[1]

This was one of the most fruitful periods in the development of field artillery.^[2] In 1731, Christian Nicolaus von Linger redesigned the Prussian artillery so that there were only four calibers, 3-pounder, 6-pounder, 12-pounder, and 24-pounder guns.^[3] The Prussian artillery introduced the screw quoin which was a wedge that elevated the gun barrel. Formerly, a simple wedge was used, but by adding a screw the gun crew was able to more easily adjust the gun tube's elevation.^[4] In 1732, Jean-Florent de Vallière also reformed the French artillery by implementing the Vallière system. This reduced calibers to 4-pounder, 8-pounder, 12-pounder, 16-pounder, and 24-pounder cannons.^[5] In 1757, Russia would reform its artillery by instituting the Shuvalov artillery system.^[6]

Liechtenstein devoted a substantial amount of his family's wealth to the reform of Austria's artillery arm. Though he had been head of the artillery since 1744, the reforms were dated from 1753. Not only were the weapons upgraded, but also the gunners and the organization. A new artillery school was established at Budweis and Liechtenstein began conducting weapons tests. The screw quoin was copied from Prussia and carriage parts were made interchangeable.^[7] The artillery pieces were made lighter in weight and had less ornamentation than the older cannons. Rammers and handspikes were attached to the gun carriage for the convenience of the gunners.^[8]

The new field artillery was standardized to 3-pounder, 6-pounder, and 12-pounder guns, plus 1-pounder and 7-pounder howitzers. Heavy artillery was made up of 12-pounder, 18-pounder, and 24-pounder siege guns. Mortars consisted of 10-, 30-, 60-, and 100-pounders. There was also a 100-pounder stone throwing mortar.^[9] A field gun or cannon fired round shot or canister shot in a relatively flat trajectory.^[10] A round shot was a cast iron ball that was most commonly used artillery ammunition.^[11] Canister was a container filled with cast iron balls that turned a cannon into a monstrous shotgun, firing anti-personnel ammunition.^[12] A howitzer fired at a higher angle than a cannon. Howitzers could fire canister shot or common shell and were mounted on carriages similar to cannons.^[13] Mortars were mostly used in siege operations and fired large caliber common shells at a high angle.^[14]

Austrian artillery officers and senior non-commissioned officers were trained at special schools. Only men who were Austrian subjects, healthy, literate, and unmarried were admitted to the service as enlisted gunners.^[15] Liechtenstein's main assistants were Andreas Franz Feuerstein (1697–1774)^[16] and Ignaz Walther von Waldenau (1713–1760).^[17] The new organization included a Field Artillery Staff of 98–101 officers, the Netherlands national artillery corps of 8 companies, the Artillery Fusilier Regiment (3 battalions) which replaced the outmoded Handlanger, the Feldzeugamt or Ordnance Branch with 351 artificiers, and the Field Artillery Corps of three brigades of 8 companies each. Company strength was 95, but this was later increased to 140 by 1762. The number of companies was later increased from 8 to 10.^[18]

In 1752, a French artillery officer, Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval was ordered on an inspection tour of the Prussian artillery that had proved so successful in the War of the Austrian Succession. France and Austria were allies in the Seven Years' War. In 1757, at the request of Empress Maria Theresa, Gribeauval was lent to the Austrian artillery arm because it had a shortage of high-ranking officers. The Frenchman distinguished himself as an artillery expert but also improved the Austrian engineer corps. Gribeauval was promoted Generalfeldwachtmeister for his efforts at the Siege of Neisse, but he really showed his talent in the Siege of Schweidnitz in 1762 where he led the Austrian artillery and engineers. The Prussian king Frederick the Great remarked that its prolonged defense was because of "that devil Gribeauval". After the war, the Frenchman returned to his own army and greatly improved its artillery by implementing the Gribeauval system.^[19]

Caliber is normally measured as the inner diameter of the gun barrel. However, in the 1700s, caliber was often measured by the weight of a round shot. Charge weight is the amount of gunpowder needed to propel the shot or shell.^{[20][note 1]}