Which master cast the famous Tsar cannon? Tsar Cannon: a weapon masterpiece or a toy? Description of the legendary Tsar Cannon
On January 7, 1598, the servant of God Fedor Ioanovich, Grand Duke of Moscow and Tsar of All Rus', died in the Moscow Kremlin. During the reign of the last of the direct Rurikovichs, quite a few significant events occurred. The cities were founded: Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn (Volgograd), Voronezh, Arkhangelsk, Tobolsk, Surgut - new frontiers of the actively growing Russian State were established.
The next Russian-Swedish war was completed and Russia, as a result of which, returned access to the Baltic Sea along the Koporye-Yam line... Quite a few worthy deeds are being accomplished, but this is not what Tsar Fedor is remembered for... The main memory of him still stands on Ivanovo Square of the Moscow Kremlin, and his name to her - Tsar Cannon!
Story
Not much time has passed since the death of Ivan the Terrible, the dust raised by the hooves of the guardsmen’s horses has not yet settled, and in Moscow the largest artillery piece in the world was created, which remains so to this day. Maybe not in size, but definitely in terms of the caliber of the barrel.
In 1586, by order of the highest order, work began on the creation of a grandiose cannon. Historians are still struggling with the reason for such an unusual step, but most are inclined to believe that the weapon was created to produce an external effect on foreign ambassadors. Like, look what we are capable of. Let's eat so hard it won't seem enough!
More seriously, the cannon was intended to testify to the growth of the power of the Russian State, both industrial and military. And, of course, she exalted the ruling Sovereign! (and Fyodor Ioanovich, according to contemporaries, was very unprepossessing physically and had a meek disposition).
The production was led by foundry master Andrei Chokhov.
Andrei Chokhov (1545 - 1629) - famous Russian foundry worker, creator of a large number of cannons and church bells. One of the surviving examples of the uniqueness of creativity is Chokhov’s siege arquebuses. The students continued and developed the traditions of the master (in particular, Alexey Nikiforov).
The casting work was carried out at the Moscow Cannon Yard (now the Lubyanka Square area) for several months. The main material for production was bronze. In terms of production technology, the weapon fully complied with the standards accepted at that time. Only more...much more!
The finished super-weapon was dragged with the help of two hundred horses to the Kremlin’s Red Square for demonstration to the sovereign. The barrel of the cannon was skillfully decorated with the image of Fyodor Ioannovich wearing all the royal regalia and riding a horse. In addition, the patterns run along the entire circumference of the trunk in the form of a ligature. Whether the giant cannon fired during the demonstration - no evidence has survived, and, given the meek disposition of Tsar Fedor, most likely not.
On the trunk there is also a dedication to Tsarina Irina Fedorovna Godunova (the wife of Tsar Fedor) and a mention of the fact that the monster was made by the “litz Chokhov”.
According to one version, due to the presence of the image of the Tsar, the cannon was named “Tsar Cannon”.
According to the second version, the name is associated primarily with the size of the work of cannon makers and foundry workers of medieval Rus'.
Another name for the gun was “Shotgun”, since it was intended for firing small projectiles - “shot” (stone or metal uncalibrated buckshot).
Having admired it enough, the cannon was hoisted onto a wooden frame (carriage) and placed on combat duty near the walls of the Kremlin (opposite the modern GUM). There she stood for almost a century! Once they tried to use the gun against the attacking Tatars of Khan Kazy - Girey, but they did not dare to approach effective shooting distance and the shot was missed.
Subsequently, already under Pyotr Alekeseevich Romanov in 1706, having gathered their strength, the cannon was dragged into the courtyard of the Kremlin Arsenal. And for a long time, the whole country admired the skill of gunsmiths and was amazed at the size, and also demonstrated it to overseas guests.
In 1835, a new cast-iron carriage was cast for the cannon (designed by Academician A.P. Bryullov) and decorative cannonballs weighing approximately 2 tons each. They then rolled it to the Armory, where other samples of guns were put on display.
In the 60s of the twentieth century, the Tsar Cannon was finally hoisted to the place where it still stands to this day, near the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Or not quite that, since already in the 70s the gun was sent for restoration to Serpukhov, where it was equipped with a new decorative carriage and returned to its place in 1980.
Features of the device and application
If we talk about the Tsar Cannon in the language of gunsmiths, then it is, first of all, a military weapon, such as a bombard, intended for firing along a flat or mounted trajectory. The charge was a small “shot” with a total weight of up to 800 kilograms. It does not have an ignition hole, although there is a platform for it. The shot could only be fired when the fuse was fired from the side of the barrel; for this, an ignition cord was inserted into the powder chamber from the side of the muzzle.
The total weight of the artillery dinosaur is about 39 tons 312 kg, the barrel length is 5 meters 34 centimeters, the barrel caliber is 890 millimeters.
There are several opinions as to whether the Tsar Cannon fired during its centuries-old history. When carrying out restoration work in Serpukhov, experts from the Artillery Academy named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky concluded that the cannon was fired at least once.
The historian L.N. Gumilev there is a mention that the ashes of False Dmitry I were scattered by a shot from a legendary weapon.
However, there are supporters and versions that the cannon was never fired. Intact traces of casting inside the barrel are indicated as evidence.
About records
The Tsar Cannon occupies an honorable place among the world record holders in the Guinness Book as a weapon of the largest caliber (890mm).
The Tsar Cannon Family
In 2001, in the city of gunsmiths Izhevsk, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, two copies of the symbol of artillery valor were made with almost exact compliance with the main parameters. One copy was solemnly presented to the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where it was installed near the city hall building.
The second replica adorns the territory of the Izhstal OJSC plant in Izhevsk.
In Yoshkar-Ola, on Obolensky-Nogotkov Square, there is a relatively small copy (weight - 12 tons). Also, the design of the gun does not correspond to the original; a number of patterns on the barrel are missing, others have been changed, and the decorative cores are also significantly smaller than the original ones. The cannon was suitable for firing, so the barrel was caulked with a special cannonball.
But the most interesting “Tsar Cannon” is located in the open-air museum of the Motovilikha Plant in the city of Perm. A real combat ship mortar, created in 1868 for the defense of St. Petersburg from the forts of Kronstadt.
The weight of the gun with carriage is 144 (!) tons, caliber 508 mm.
Having successfully passed artillery tests, the gun never entered combat duty - during tests and demonstrations in 1873 in Vienna, it became technically obsolete after Krupp created a bolt for loading guns from the breech. By decree of Tsar Alexander II, the cannon was preserved as a museum exhibit.
Conclusion
Why exactly the Tsar Cannon was created is not particularly important in our time. The main thing is that it is an eloquent symbol of the centuries-old military and industrial power of Russia, a bronze embodiment of the fighting spirit of the Russian people!
Video
I think each of us has heard about the Tsar Cannon, because it is the most famous and amazing artillery weapon in the world!
The Tsar Cannon was cast during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich - in 1586. This happened at the Cannon Yard, and it was cast by the best Russian foundry master, Andrei Chokhov. From under his hands a real miracle of artillery was born, 5.34 meters long and 890 millimeters in caliber. Just imagine, the outer diameter of the Tsar Cannon’s barrel is 1.2 meters, the diameter of the patterned belt at the barrel is 1.34 meters, and this gigantic weapon weighs 39.31 tons! The cannon is literally dotted with reliefs, and on the right side of the muzzle Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich himself is depicted on horseback
On each side of the barrel there are 4 brackets for attaching ropes, and above the front right bracket, directly above the image of the Tsar, there is the inscription “By the grace of God, the Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, sovereign and autocrat of all great Russia.”
There are two more inscriptions on the top of the barrel: on the right - “By the command of the pious and Christ-loving Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, the sovereign autocrat of all great Russia under his pious and Christ-loving queen, Grand Duchess Irina,” and on the left - “This cannon was drained in the most famous city of Moscow in the summer 7094, in the third summer of his reign, the cannon maker Ondrei Chokhov made the cannon."
There are many versions of the appearance of such a majestic name, some, for example, believe that it was named in honor of the king depicted on it, while others are sure that the cannon received this name for its size (like the Tsar Bell), and at the very beginning the cannon was generally called "Russian Shotgun", as it was intended for shooting buckshot
In 1834, to demonstrate the true caliber of the gun, special decorative cannonballs decorated with ornaments were made in St. Petersburg. Such cannonballs weigh almost two tons each, but the cannon cannot fire them
The Tsar Cannon was intended to become the main defensive weapon of the Kremlin, and therefore it was installed on a special log deck not far from Execution Ground, but it was never destined to take part in a real battle...
The cannon was moved to the Kremlin in the 18th century. Initially it stood in the courtyard of the Arsenal, and then was transferred to its gates. In the 1960s, when the Kremlin Palace of Congresses was built, the gun was placed on Ivanovskaya Square, at the foot of the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles
The Tsar Cannon is the largest howitzer in the world by caliber, as evidenced by the corresponding entry in the Guinness Book of Records. The largest artillery piece ever created is the German "Dora" with a caliber of 800 mm and a weight in firing position of 1350 tons.
The Tsar Cannon was thoroughly examined in 1980 for the purpose of repair. During this examination, it turned out that the weapon was designed to fire stone cannonballs weighing about 800 kilograms and that it was fired at least once
In the spring of 2001, by order of the Moscow government, a copy of the Tsar Cannon weighing 42 tons was made
In May 2001, the Moscow government donated this copy to Donetsk - since then, the “ghost” of the legendary weapon has been displayed in front of the local city hall building
Since the invention of gunpowder by mankind, the role of artillery on the battlefield has constantly increased. Guns were first used to destroy the walls of enemy fortresses and other enemy fortifications, and then began to be used to destroy enemy personnel. In the last century, artillery became a real “goddess of war”, largely determining the outcome of two world wars.
Military history knows dozens of examples of unique artillery pieces, some of them had unusual characteristics, while others took part in interesting events that sometimes changed the fate of entire countries or the outcome of military conflicts. The most famous and unique Russian artillery piece is, without a doubt, the Tsar Cannon. It is considered the largest cannon in the world, and for this reason is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
We can say that today the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell are one of the main attractions of Moscow; few tourists leave without taking a selfie with these wonderful monuments of Russian antiquity. Children are especially happy with this wonder.
The controversy surrounding the Tsar Cannon has not subsided for several centuries. It is not known for what purposes it was made, and whether it ever fired? Is this a prop or a real weapon created for the defense of Moscow in the Middle Ages? Who is he, the master who cast the Tsar Cannon? Where is this weapon located today?
Description
The Tsar Cannon is a medieval artillery weapon, or, more precisely, a bombard. It has a length of 5.34 m, the outer diameter of the barrel is 120 cm, the caliber of the gun is 890 mm, and it weighs 39.31 tons. The barrel length is six calibers, therefore, according to the modern classification, the Tsar Cannon is a mortar.
The gun is made entirely of bronze. It was made by the Russian master Andrei Chokhov (Chekhov) in 1586 at the Cannon Yard.
The master who cast the Tsar Cannon richly decorated it with various reliefs and inscriptions. On the right side of the muzzle of the gun there is a relief depicting Tsar Fyodor I Ioannovich, during whose reign this marvelous monument of foundry art was made. The Russian autocrat is depicted on a horse with a crown on his head, and in one hand he holds a scepter. There are inscriptions on the barrel, from which you can find out when and by whom the Tsar Cannon was made. Some historians believe that the name of the cannon appeared precisely because of the image of the king on it. Although, most likely, it is due to the huge size of the weapon.
On each side of the barrel there are four brackets designed for transporting the gun.
The bore of the Tsar Cannon is interesting. Inward from the muzzle, it has the shape of a cone, with an initial diameter of 900 mm and a final diameter of 825 mm. The charging chamber also resembles a cone: its initial diameter is 447 mm, and its final diameter (the one at the breech) is 467 mm. The bottom of the chamber is flat.
Story
As mentioned above, the Tsar Cannon was cast in 1586 by gunsmith Andrei Chokhov. At that time, raids by the Tatars were very frequent, who not only invaded Russian lands, but also captured and ravaged Moscow itself several times.
Therefore, it is believed that a gun of this size and caliber was made specifically to protect the capital from another Tatar raid.
Initially, the Tsar Cannon defended the bridge over the Moscow River and defended the Spassky Gate; later it was placed near Lobnoye Mesto, mounted on a special ramp made of logs. The Tsar Cannon never managed to take part in the real battle.
During the reign of Peter I, the cannon was moved to the courtyard of the Arsenal, and later took a place at its gates.
In the 19th century (in 1835, to be more precise), a magnificent carriage was made for the Tsar Cannon, decorated with carved ornaments and cast-iron cannonballs. All this was done at the Berd plant in St. Petersburg according to the sketches of the architect Bryullov.
In the 60s of the last century, the gun again had to change its location. Due to the construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, the Tsar Cannon was solemnly moved to Ivanovo Square in the Kremlin. She remains there to this day.
In 1980, they decided to repair the gun and sent it to the Serpukhov plant, where it was examined by specialists. It was then that it was established that the Tsar Cannon was still fired, probably while the gun was being zeroed. This is confirmed by the master’s personal seal, found on the inside of the barrel; in those days it was placed only after checking the gun. According to the poet Gumilev, it was from the Tsar Cannon that the ashes of False Dmitry were shot towards the Polish border. When examining the gun barrel, particles of gunpowder and soot were found in it, which confirmed the fact that the gun was used for its intended purpose. Although, some authors doubt this, pointing to the tides of bronze in the barrel, which would inevitably fail with the first shot. In addition, the Tsar Cannon does not have a pilot hole, which raises many questions.
Typically, guns of this size and caliber in those days were used to fire at the walls of enemy fortresses. A typical example of such tactics is the use of a huge cannon by the Seljuks during the siege of Constantinople in 1453. It was she who played a decisive role in the fall of Constantinople.
The bombards were placed on special wooden platforms, and piles were driven in behind them to support them when firing. The artillery crew was hiding next to the cannon in the trenches during the shot, because the guns of that time were very often torn apart.
An attentive observer will immediately notice that the Tsar Cannon does not have trunnions, with the help of which the elevation angle is given when firing modern guns. The bombards fired stone cannonballs; the process of loading them took hours, or even whole days. So using such a weapon on the battlefield against infantry or cavalry is extremely problematic. Those cast iron cannonballs (they are also hollow inside) that now lie next to the gun are nothing more than props. If you try to fire them, the gun is guaranteed to explode.
Weapon specialists of the 19th and 20th centuries generally believed that the Tsar Cannon was made to intimidate the enemy, so to speak, to suppress his morale, and they doubted that this weapon had ever been fired.
In documents of the 18th–19th centuries, the Tsar Cannon is often called a “shotgun.” Artillerymen used to call buckshot, which consisted of small stones, shot. However, as a shotgun this weapon is extremely ineffective. In short, the Tsar Cannon is too large for a shotgun. The inventories of the Moscow Arsenal of the early 18th century indicated the calibers of various shotguns. The largest was 25 pounds. However, the most numerous was an even smaller caliber - 2 pounds. The Tsar Cannon is also listed in the same inventory; its caliber was 1,500 pounds.
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The Tsar Cannon has long become one of the symbols of Russia. Almost no foreign tourist leaves Moscow without seeing the miracle of our technology. It is included in dozens of jokes that feature the Tsar Cannon that never fired, the Tsar Bell that never rang, and some other non-working miracle like the N-3 lunar rocket.
Alexander Shirokorad
The poet Alexander Roslavlev even ranked the famous monument to Alexander III by Trubetskoy alongside the Tsar Cannon:
Third wild toy
For the Russian serf:
There was a Tsar Bell, a Tsar Cannon,
And now the king...
But, alas, our venerable historians and dissident joke-tellers are wrong all around. Firstly, the Tsar Cannon fired, and secondly, this weapon is not a cannon at all.
But I'll start from the beginning. The Tsar Cannon was cast by the famous Russian master Andrei Chokhov (until 1917 he was listed as Chekhov) on the orders of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. A giant cannon weighing 2,400 pounds (39,312 kg) was cast in 1586 at the Moscow Cannon Yard. The length of the Tsar Cannon is 5345 mm, the outer diameter of the barrel is 1210 mm, and the diameter of the thickening at the muzzle is 1350 mm.
Currently, the Tsar Cannon is on a decorative cast-iron carriage, and next to it lie decorative cast-iron cannonballs, which were cast in 1834 in St. Petersburg at the Berda iron foundry. It is clear that it is physically impossible to either shoot from this cast-iron carriage or use cast-iron cannonballs - the Tsar Cannon will be smashed to smithereens! Documents about the testing of the Tsar Cannon or its use in combat conditions have not been preserved, which gave rise to lengthy disputes about its purpose. Most historians and military men in the 19th and early 20th centuries believed that the Tsar Cannon was a shotgun, that is, a weapon designed to fire shot, which in the 16th-17th centuries. /bm9icg===>ekah consisted of small stones. A minority of experts generally exclude the possibility of combat use of the gun, believing that it was made specifically to frighten foreigners, especially the ambassadors of the Crimean Tatars. Let us remember that in 1571 Khan Devlet Giray burned Moscow.
In the 18th - early 20th centuries, the Tsar Cannon was called a shotgun in all official documents. And only the Bolsheviks in the 1930s decided to increase its rank for propaganda purposes and began to call it a cannon.
The secret of the Tsar Cannon was revealed only in 1980, when a large truck crane removed it from its carriage and placed it on a huge trailer. Then the powerful KrAZ transported the Tsar Cannon to Serpukhov, where the cannon was repaired at the military unit No. 42708 plant. At the same time, a number of specialists from the Artillery Academy named after. Dzerzhinsky examined and measured it. For some reason the report was not published, but from the surviving draft materials it becomes clear that the Tsar Cannon... was not a cannon!
The highlight of the gun is its channel. At a distance of 3190 mm, it has the shape of a cone, the initial diameter of which is 900 mm and the final diameter is 825 mm. Then comes the charging chamber with a reverse taper - with an initial diameter of 447 mm and a final diameter (at the breech) of 467 mm. The length of the chamber is 1730 mm, and the bottom is flat.
So this is a classic bombard!
Bombards first appeared at the end of the 14th century. The name "bombarda" comes from the Latin words bombus (thunderous sound) and arder (to burn). The first bombards were made of iron and had screw-mounted chambers. For example, in 1382, in the city of Ghent (Belgium), the “Mad Margaret” bombard was made, named in memory of the Countess of Flanders Margaret the Cruel. The caliber of the bombard is 559 mm, the barrel length is 7.75 calibers (klb), and the bore length is 5 klb. The weight of the gun is 11 tons. “Mad Margarita” fired stone cannonballs weighing 320 kg. The bombarda consists of two layers: the inner one, consisting of longitudinal strips welded together, and the outer one, made of 41 iron hoops welded together and with the inner layer. A separate screw chamber consists of one layer of disks welded together and is equipped with sockets into which a lever was inserted when screwing it in and out.
Loading and aiming large bombards took about a day. Therefore, during the siege of the city of Pisa in 1370, every time the besiegers prepared to fire a shot, the besieged went to the opposite end of the city. The besiegers, taking advantage of this, rushed to attack.
The bombard's charge was no more than 10% of the core's weight. There were no trunnions or carriages. The guns were laid on wooden blocks and frames, and piles were driven in behind or brick walls were erected for support. Initially, the elevation angle did not change. In the 15th century, primitive lifting mechanisms began to be used and bombards were cast from copper.
Please note that the Tsar Cannon does not have trunnions, with the help of which the gun is given an elevation angle. In addition, it has an absolutely smooth rear section of the breech, with which it, like other bombards, rested against a stone wall or frame.
Defender of the Dardanelles
By the middle of the 15th century, the most powerful siege artillery was... the Turkish Sultan. Thus, during the siege of Constantinople in 1453, the Hungarian foundry maker Urban cast the Turks a copper bombard with a caliber of 24 inches (610 mm), which fired stone cannonballs weighing about 20 pounds (328 kg). It took 60 bulls and 100 people to transport it to the position. To eliminate the rollback, the Turks built a stone wall behind the gun. The rate of fire of this bombard was 4 shots per day. By the way, the rate of fire of large-caliber Western European bombards was approximately the same. Just before the capture of Constantinople, a 24-inch bombard exploded. At the same time, its designer Urban himself died. The Turks appreciated large-caliber bombards. Already in 1480, during the battles on the island of Rhodes, they used 24-35-inch caliber (610-890 mm) bombards. The casting of such giant bombards required, as indicated in ancient documents, 18 days.
It is curious that bombards of the 15th-16th centuries. eks in Turkey were in service until the middle of the 19th century. Thus, on March 1, 1807, during the crossing of the Dardanelles by the English squadron of Admiral Duckworth, a marble core of 25 inches (635 mm) caliber weighing 800 pounds (244 kg) hit the lower deck of the ship Windsor Castle and ignited several caps with gunpowder, as a result there was a terrible explosion. 46 people were killed and wounded. In addition, many sailors jumped overboard in fright and drowned. The Aktiv ship was hit by the same cannonball and punched a huge hole in the side above the waterline. Several people could stick their heads through this hole.
In 1868, over 20 huge bombards still stood on the forts defending the Dardanelles. There is information that during the Dardanelles operation of 1915, the English battleship Agamemnon was hit by a 400-kilogram stone core. Of course, it was unable to penetrate the armor and only amused the team.
Let's compare the Turkish 25-inch (630 mm) copper bombard, cast in 1464, which is currently kept in the museum in Woolwich (London), with our Tsar Cannon. The weight of the Turkish bombard is 19 tons, and the total length is 5232 mm. The outer diameter of the barrel is 894 mm. The length of the cylindrical part of the channel is 2819 mm. Chamber length - 2006 mm. The bottom of the chamber is rounded. The bombard fired stone cannonballs weighing 309 kg, the gunpowder charge weighed 22 kg.
Bombarda once defended the Dardanelles. As you can see, in appearance and in the design of the channel it is very similar to the Tsar Cannon. The main and fundamental difference is that the Turkish bombard has a screw-in breech. Apparently, the Tsar Cannon was made based on the model of such bombards.
Tsar Shotgun
So, the Tsar Cannon is a bombard designed to fire stone cannonballs. The weight of the stone core of the Tsar Cannon was about 50 pounds (819 kg), and a cast iron core of this caliber weighs 120 pounds (1.97 tons). As a shotgun, the Tsar Cannon was extremely ineffective. At the cost of the cost, instead, it was possible to produce 20 small shotguns, which would take much less time to load - not a day, but only 1-2 minutes. Let me note that in the official inventory “At the Moscow Arsenal of Artillery” # for 1730 there were 40 copper and 15 cast iron shotguns. Let's pay attention to their calibers: 1500 pounds - 1 (this is the Tsar Cannon), and then follow the calibers: 25 pounds - 2, 22 pounds - 1, 21 pounds - 3, etc. The largest number of shotguns, 11, are in the 2-pound gauge.
And yet she shot
Who and why wrote the Tsar Cannon into shotguns? The fact is that in Russia, all the old guns located in the fortresses, with the exception of mortars, over time were automatically transferred to shotguns, that is, in the event of a siege of the fortress, they had to shoot shot (stone), and later - cast iron grapeshot at the infantry marching for the assault. It was inappropriate to use old guns to fire cannonballs or bombs: what if the barrel would blow apart, and the new guns had much better ballistic data. So the Tsar Cannon was written down as a shotgun; at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, the military forgot about the procedures in smooth-bore fortress artillery, and civilian historians did not know at all and, based on the name “shotgun,” decided that the Tsar Cannon was to be used exclusively as an anti-assault weapon guns for firing stone shot.
The dispute over whether the Tsar Cannon fired was settled in 1980 by experts from the Academy. Dzerzhinsky. They examined the bore of the gun and, based on a number of signs, including the presence of particles of burnt gunpowder, concluded that the Tsar Cannon had been fired at least once. After the Tsar Cannon was cast and finished at the Cannon Yard, it was dragged to the Spassky Bridge and laid on the ground next to the Peacock cannon.# To move the cannon, ropes were tied to eight brackets on its barrel, and 200 were harnessed to these ropes at the same time horses, and they rolled the cannon, which lay on huge logs - rollers.
Initially, the “Tsar” and “Peacock” guns lay on the ground near the bridge leading to the Spasskaya Tower, and the Kashpirov cannon lay near the Zemsky Prikaz, located where the Historical Museum is now located. In 1626, they were lifted from the ground and installed on log frames tightly packed with earth. These platforms were called roskats. One of them, with the Tsar Cannon and the Peacock, was placed at the Execution Ground, the other, with the Kashpirova cannon, at the Nikolsky Gate. In 1636, the wooden rolls were replaced with stone ones, inside which warehouses and shops selling wine were built.
After the “Narva embarrassment,” when the tsar’s army lost all siege and regimental artillery, Peter I ordered new cannons to be urgently cast. The king decided to obtain the copper necessary for this by melting down bells and ancient cannons. According to the “nominal decree”, it was “ordered to pour the Peacock cannon into cannon and mortar casting, which is on the roskat in China near the Execution Ground; the Kashpirov cannon, which is near the new Money Dvor, where the Zemsky order was located; the Echidna cannon, near the village of Voskresensky; the Krechet cannon with a ten-pound cannonball; "Nightingale" cannon with a 6-pound cannonball, which is in China on the square."
Peter, due to his lack of education, did not spare the most ancient Moscow casting tools and made an exception only for the largest tools. Among them, naturally, was the Tsar Cannon, as well as two mortars cast by Andrei Chokhov, which are currently in the Artillery Museum in St. Petersburg.
The Tsar Cannon has long become one of the symbols of Russia. And it was also included in dozens of jokes that feature the Tsar Cannon that never fired, the Tsar Bell that never rang, and some other non-working Russian miracle. In the second half of the 19th century, a number of works appeared that proved that the Tsar Cannon was as fake as its carriage. She never fired and was intended only to intimidate the Crimean Tatars. One of the proofs of the fake function of the cannon is an elementary mathematical calculation, showing that when firing cast-iron cannonballs, it will be blown to pieces.
But many historians doubted that 2,400 pounds of copper were spent on creating a fake weapon. And in the middle of the twentieth century, the historian A. Pozdneev wrote: “In 1591, when the Tatar hordes of Kazy-Girey approached Moscow, all Moscow artillery, including Chokhov’s Tsar Cannon, was put on alert. It was installed in Kitay-Gorod to protect the main Kremlin gates and the crossing of the Moscow River.”
The dispute over whether the Tsar Cannon fired was settled in 1980 by experts from the Academy. Dzerzhinsky. They examined the bore of the gun and, based on a number of signs, including the presence of particles of burnt gunpowder, concluded that the Tsar Cannon had been fired at least once.
STORY
In 1586, alarming news arrived in Moscow: the Crimean Khan and his horde were moving towards the city. In this regard, the Russian master Andrei Chokhov, by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, cast a huge weapon that was intended to protect the Kremlin.
A giant cannon weighing 2,400 pounds (39,312 kg) was cast in 1586 at the Moscow Cannon Yard. The length of the Tsar Cannon is 5345 mm, the outer diameter of the barrel is 1210 mm, and the diameter of the thickening at the muzzle is 1350 mm. After the Tsar Cannon was cast and finished at the Cannon Yard, it was dragged and installed on a hill to protect the bridge over the Moscow River and the defense of the Spassky Gate and laid on the ground next to the Peacock cannon. To move the gun, ropes were tied to eight brackets on its barrel; 200 horses were harnessed to these ropes at the same time, and they rolled the cannon, which lay on huge logs - rollers.
In 1626, both cannons were lifted from the ground and installed on log frames tightly packed with earth. These platforms were called roskats. One of them, with the Tsar Cannon and the Peacock, was placed at the Execution Ground, the other, with the Kashpirova cannon, at the Nikolsky Gate. In 1636, the wooden rolls were replaced with stone ones, inside which warehouses and shops selling wine were built.
Currently, the Tsar Cannon is on a decorative cast-iron carriage, and next to it lie decorative cast-iron cannonballs, which were cast in 1834 in St. Petersburg at the Berda iron foundry. It is clear that it is physically impossible to shoot from this cast-iron carriage, nor to use cast-iron cannonballs (only lighter stone ones) - the Tsar Cannon will be smashed to smithereens! It’s worth saying right away that 4 cast-iron cannonballs, stacked in a pyramid near the foot of the cannon, serve a purely decorative function. They are hollow inside.
Documents about the testing of the Tsar Cannon or its use in combat conditions have not been preserved, which gave rise to lengthy disputes about its purpose. Most historians and military men in the 19th and early 20th centuries believed that the Tsar Cannon was a shotgun, that is, a weapon designed to fire shot, which in the 16th-17th centuries consisted of small stones. A minority of experts generally exclude the possibility of combat use of the gun, believing that it was made specifically to frighten foreigners, especially the ambassadors of the Crimean Tatars. Let us remember that in 1571 Khan Devlet Giray burned Moscow.
In the 18th - early 20th centuries, the Tsar Cannon was called a shotgun in all official documents. And only the Bolsheviks in the 1930s decided to increase its rank for propaganda purposes and began to call it a cannon.
In fact, this is not a cannon or a shotgun, but a classic bombard. A cannon is usually called a gun whose barrel length is more than 40 calibers. And this gun is only four calibers long, the same as the bombard. Bombards are large-sized battering guns that destroy a fortress wall. The carriage was not used for them, since the barrel was simply buried in the ground, and two trenches were dug nearby for the artillery crew, since such guns often exploded. Please note that the Tsar Cannon does not have trunnions, with the help of which the gun is given an elevation angle. In addition, it has an absolutely smooth rear section of the breech, with which it, like other bombards, rested against a stone wall or frame. The first bombard shells were round stones wrapped in ropes to smooth out irregularities in their shape.
So, the Tsar Cannon is a bombard designed to fire stone cannonballs. The weight of the stone core of the Tsar Cannon was about 50 pounds (819 kg), and a cast iron core of this caliber weighs 120 pounds (1.97 tons). As a shotgun, the Tsar Cannon was extremely ineffective. At the cost of the cost, instead, it was possible to produce 20 small shotguns, which would take much less time to load - not a day, but only 1-2 minutes.
Did 350-890mm bombards fire buckshot or crushed stone? Theoretically this is possible, but in practice it is very expensive and ineffective. Loading with a stone core lasted one and a half to two hours, and with crushed stone - several times longer. It was much more profitable to use buckshot from small and medium caliber guns.
Large bombards were intended to break through the walls of enemy fortresses. But at the end of the 16th century in Rus' there were dozens of battering guns that were much more effective, and most importantly, more mobile than the Tsar Cannon. Therefore, Chokhov's monster never left the walls of the Kremlin.
Instead of giant bombards, the functions of battering guns began to be performed by cannons. The invention of grained gunpowder, which was almost twice as effective as powder pulp, and the beginning of the production of cast iron cannonballs (first in France in 1493) made it feasible to manufacture long (20 calibers or more) guns. Such weapons had many names, of which one soon remained - cannon.
Who and why wrote the Tsar Cannon into shotguns? The fact is that in Russia, all the old guns located in the fortresses, with the exception of mortars, over time were automatically transferred to shotguns, that is, in the event of a siege of the fortress, they had to shoot shot (stone), and later - cast iron grapeshot at the infantry marching for the assault.
The fact is that a certificate about the state of artillery at the Moscow Arsenal in the early 1730s. provided by clerks who were not very literate in history and artillery.
Those guns that they wrote down as cannons could fire cast iron balls; howitzers and mortars - bombs, that is, hollow cannonballs filled with gunpowder. But the old guns could not fire either cast iron cannonballs or bombs, and stone cannonballs had long since been phased out. According to the clerks, these old artillery systems could only fire “shot,” so they were designated shotguns. It was inappropriate to use old guns to fire cannonballs or bombs: what if the barrel would blow apart, and the new guns had much better ballistic data. So the Tsar Cannon was recorded in shotguns.
FIRST SHOT
But the Tsar Cannon fired anyway. This happened once. According to LEGEND, after the impostor False Dmitry was exposed, he tried to escape from Moscow. But on the way he was brutally killed by an armed detachment.
The desecration of the body of False Dmitry showed how fickle the people are in their sympathies: a carnival mask was put on the dead face, a pipe was inserted into the mouth, and for another three days the corpse was smeared with tar, sprinkled with sand and spat on. This was a “trade execution”, to which only persons of “vile” origin were subjected.
On the day of his election, Tsar Vasily ordered the removal of False Dmitry from the square. The corpse was tied to a horse, dragged into a field and buried there by the side of the road. When the corpse of “Dmitry” was being transported through the fortress gates, a storm blew off the top of them.
Near the pit, which became the king’s last refuge, people saw blue lights rising straight from the ground.
The day after the burial, the corpse was found near the almshouse. They buried him even deeper, but after a while, the body appeared again, but in a different cemetery. People said that the land did not accept him.
Then the cold weather hit, and all the greenery in the city withered.
The clergy were alarmed by these events and the rumors accompanying them and deliberated for a long time on how best to put an end to the dead sorcerer and sorcerer.
On the advice of the monks, the corpse of False Dmitry was dug out of the hole, dragged through the streets of the city for the last time, after which it was taken to the village of Kotly, south of Moscow, and burned there. After this, the ashes were mixed with gunpowder and fired from the Tsar Cannon towards Poland - where False Dmitry came from.
Another refutation of the use of the weapon specifically for combat purposes is the absence of any traces in the barrel, including longitudinal scratches left by stone cannonballs.
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