page_title: Self-propelled artillery
section_title: Precursors
hierarchical_section_title: Self-propelled artillery / History / Precursors
caption_attribution_description: A full-scale display of Swedish horse-drawn artillery from Wendes Artilleriregemente, with an artillery piece that was used up to the mid-19th century, and uniforms from around 1850 (originally in the Army Museum in Stockholm but now in the Artillery Museum in Kristianstad, Sweden). English translation of the accompanying caption in Swedish: WENDE HORSE ARTILLERY 1850 When the riding artillery advanced on the enemy it could easily be confused with cavalry. A riding battery had a "front" of 52 artillerymen on horseback and moved at a gallop. When the six-horse strong carriages wheeled around and unlimbered [made ready for fire] the cannons, they could be an unpleasant surprise for the enemy. Trials performed in the late 18th century showed that it could be done rapidly: "To take 300 paces, unlimber and fire took only one minute". The entire gun crew of the riding artillery was on horseback. One on each of the six horses towing one cannon and the rest riding on separate horses. Other types of artillery could not move as fast because some of the crew rode on the gun carriages. Swedish riding artillery took part in the Pomeranian War 1805-07 and the Napoleonic Wars 1813-14.
context_page_description: Self-propelled artillery is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move towards its target. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mortar, and rocket artillery. They are high mobility vehicles, usually based on continuous tracks carrying either a large field gun, howitzer, mortar, or some form of rocket/missile launcher. They are usually used for long-range indirect bombardment support on the battlefield.
  In the past, self-propelled artillery has included direct-fire vehicles, such as assault guns and tank destroyers. These have been heavily armoured vehicles, the former providing close fire-support for infantry and the latter acting as specialized anti-tank vehicles.
  Modern self-propelled artillery vehicles may superficially resemble tanks, but they are generally lightly armoured, too lightly to survive in direct-fire combat. However, they protect their crews against shrapnel and small arms and are therefore usually included as armoured fighting vehicles. Many are equipped with machine guns for defense against enemy infantry.
context_section_description: During the Thirty Years' War, early 17th century experiments were made with early types of horse artillery. Batteries towed light field guns where most or all of the crew rode horses into battle. The gunners were trained to quickly dismount, deploy the guns and provide instant fire support to cavalry, and act as a flexible reserve. The Russian army organized small units of horse artillery that were distributed among their cavalry formations in the early 18th century. While not forming large batteries and employing only lighter 2- and 3-pound guns, they were still effective and inflicted serious losses to Prussian units in the Seven Years' War. This inspired Frederick the Great to organize the first regular horse artillery unit in 1759. Other nations quickly realized the capability of the new arm and by the start of French Revolutionary Wars in 1790s Austria, Hannover, Portugal, Russia, France, Great Britain and Sweden had all formed regular units of horse artillery. The arm was employed throughout the Napoleonic Wars and remained in use throughout the entire 19th century and into the first half of the 20th century, when advances in weapons technology finally made it obsolete.
caption: A lifesize model of a Swedish 1850s horse artillery team towing a light artillery piece. Displayed at the Army Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
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