The heavy engineering of sovereignty.
A scholarly visual record of the most formidable cannons and field artillery ever built — from the bronze foundries of fifteenth-century Burgundy to the railway monsters of the Second World War. Every photograph is sourced from Wikimedia Commons under a public domain or open license, with full attribution.
Featured Specimen — Plate 001
The largest gun ever fired in war
Schwerer Gustav
"Heavy Gustav"
Built by Krupp to breach the Maginot Line, Schwerer Gustav and her sister Dora required 250 men to assemble and 2,500 men to operate. Her one operational deployment was at the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942, where she fired 47 shells, destroying an underground ammunition magazine beneath Severnaya Bay. She was destroyed by German forces in April 1945 to prevent capture.
- Weight
- 1350 t
- Caliber
- 800 mm
- Projectile
- 7100 kg
- Range
- 47 km
From the Archive
Selected pieces
Mons Meg
A medieval bombard of staggering caliber, gifted to King James II of Scotland.
Tsar Cannon
"Царь-пушка"
The largest bombard by caliber ever cast — a colossal bronze monument in the Moscow Kremlin.
Dardanelles Gun
"Great Turkish Bombard"
An Ottoman bronze siege bombard cast a decade after the fall of Constantinople.
Pumhart von Steyr
The largest known wrought-iron bombard by caliber, built in early 15th-century Styria.
Faule Mette
A 15th-century German super-sized bombard, melted down centuries later for scrap.
Armstrong 100-ton Gun
A Victorian rifled muzzle-loader of monstrous proportions, defending Mediterranean fortresses.
Schwerer Gustav
"Heavy Gustav"
The largest-caliber rifled weapon ever used in combat — a 1,350-ton railway gun.
Paris Gun
"Pariser Kanone"
The longest-ranged gun ever fielded — shells reached the stratosphere on their way to Paris.
Big Bertha
"Dicke Bertha"
Krupp's super-heavy howitzer that demolished the Belgian forts in August 1914.