British Rockets of the Napoleonic and Colonial Wars 1805-1901

Книга: British Rockets of the Napoleonic and Colonial Wars 1805-1901
Автор: Carl Franklin
Издательство: Spellmount
Год: 2005
Страниц: 272
Язык: english
Формат: pdf
Размер: 113(+3%)Мб

The use of rockets as weapons can be traced back to thirteenth-century China and there are records to show that the Mogul Emperor Akbar also used them in India during the sixteenth century. The emerging British Empire first encountered rockets as weapons during the Mahratta Wars, particularly during the Siege of Serringapatam in 1799. One of the British regiments involved in the siege and subject to the new weapons was the 33rd Regiment of Foot whose colonel at the time was the future Duke of Wellington. The effect of the rockets was such as to cause the East India Company great concern and they decided to seek their own supply. William Congreve Junior became interested in the project and, with the patronage of his close friend the Prince of Wales, he was provided with the necessary political and military influence so that his father, Colonel Sir William Congreve, Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory, provided him with the necessary facilities in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich.