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  1. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    Three/min was more typical. Four/min was the goal for well drilled troops. Brown Bess musket: Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle: The guy in the first video looks like he's rushing and isn't really aiming because he doesn't have sights. The guy in the second video appears to be taking his time and...
  2. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    They'd likely come up with something like the blunderbuss first. Those had a flared muzzle and sent out a cloud of shot addressed to "everyone downrange" instead of a musket's "to whom it may concern".
  3. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The Japanese were the first to design and build an aircraft carrier from scratch: Hōshō They also pulled off the first naval airstrike in 1914 ... back when the mere idea of using an airplane for anything but "lets go take a look" scouting was a new concept.
  4. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The Samauri were also so very fond of firearms in the early 17th century that Tokugawa Ieyasu pretty much had to ban them just to keep the peace. If you go looking you can find illustrated drill manuals demonstrating "here's how to use a matchlock musket in the middle of the night":
  5. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    Umm ... The Samurai were originally mounted archers. There's a reason that enormous yumi is asymetrical and a ya is over 3ft long.
  6. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The most important piece of army kit is the goddamn fucking shovel because you really don't want to be caught by surprise out in the open and attacking a fortified position you can't bypass and starve sucks for everyone involved.
  7. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    They weren't. Percussian cap revolvers were. When those came about muskets were becoming rifles. 1853 Enfields and 1861 Springfields had sights accurate to over 5/8 of a mile with "this is going to suck" addressed "to whom it may concern" or "you".
  8. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    Pikes are about 7lbs lighter than a bayonetted flintlock. It was new tactics which carried the day.
  9. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    I would say more like the 1864-1865 parts of the US Civil War: Trench Warfare with "we need more shovels".
  10. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    It was actually the socket bayonet combined with the infantry square which relegated cavalry to secondary roles. The former meant that soldiers with firearms could defend themselves from cavalry charges while continuing to fire. The latter meant that there was no exposed flank enemy cavalry...
  11. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The Romans were quite a bit different in how they went about conquering hostile neighbours while they were expanding ... They were slow and methodical about it. If there wasn't a paved road between where a Roman Legion was and where it was sent to one would be constructed while the Legion marched.
  12. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The world - and the battles - would look a lot like Europe ~2,000yrs later: a whole bunch of devastating fighting over minor differences and petty disagreements
  13. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    There will be someone similar to him in terms of ambition, ability, and opportunity.
  14. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The first really big changes would occur in city fortifications, at sea, and in transportation. If you've got flintlocks then stone city walls with ramparts are obsolete because you can build cannon. You're also going to want those on your ships. The barrel of a 6lb cannon weighs at least...
  15. bintananth

    Alternate History The Medes and the Persians invent the Flintlock Musket

    The Persians were pretty much at their limit when they invaded Greece c.480bc, so I doubt they could have expanded much further even with guns. When Alexander the Great enters the picture Persia still collapses like a house of cards which got looked at wrong ... only in this TL the Greeks have...
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