for those who can read chinese only....

：[转贴]鸦片战争中的英国火枪与中国弩箭的比较

在一般人的心目中，鸦片战争的失败最大的原因就是中国的鸟铳长矛不敌英国的洋枪。但是实际上的差距是多少呢？就让从火枪和弓弩的对比上看看其差别。

按照何立波《鸦片战争时中英双方武器装备之比较》一文，在鸦片战争中，英军使用的火枪型号为两种：Brown Bess前膛燧发火枪和Baker前装滑膛燧发火枪。以下是两种枪的参数：

Brown Bess前膛燧发火枪
这是著名的印第安式Brown Bess前膛燧发火枪的照片。枪长1．42米，枪管口径0.76英寸，子弹口径0.71英寸。这种枪还有一种更早期的长型号（long land pattern）。该型枪曾经在拿破伦战争，美国独立战争等战争中被大量使用，英国装备过大约300万支该种火枪。

Baker前装线膛燧发火枪
这个是Baker前装线膛燧发火枪，1.16米长，0.75英寸口径，使用和Brown Bes相同口径的子弹。滑膛式Baker的资料没找到。照说Baker的滑膛枪只在1800年和英国陆军及东印度公司有合约，不该在1840年仍然有使用。而且做的规格应该就是Brown Bess前膛燧发火枪的规格。参考鸦片战争中两种枪的射速，Baker的射速相当于Brown Bess的2/3。如果都是滑膛枪的话差别不该那么大。我认为在鸦片战争中使用的伯克式燧发枪应该就是上面这把线膛枪。

为了方便对比，我在这里引入中国一种著名的远程武器――神臂弓的资料。大家可能认为我在冒傻气，拿宋代的弩箭和19世纪的火枪相提并论，哪有的比？别着急，且听我慢慢道来。

神臂弓
这是我国宋代大量使用的一种弩弓，式样是从西夏流入的。弩身长三尺二寸（约一公尺），弩弓长四尺五寸八分（1.43公尺），两弭各长九寸二分（0.29公尺），？长四寸，两闪（？和弭之间）各长一尺一寸一分，弦长二尺五寸（0.78公尺）。箭长数寸。

但凡我们评价一样远程武器的优劣，不外呼考虑三点：射程，射速，杀伤力。如果从经济上说，还要考虑造价和制造周期，以及训练周期。

先说射程，按照记录，Brown Bess前膛燧发火枪的最大射程是300码左右，有效杀伤射程约80码（约72米，一说50码，即45米），超出这个距离被打中的人可说是运气极背。英国陆军的汉格上校（Col. George Hanger）上校在1814年写下这么一段话：

如果一个士兵的枪膛不是制造得很糟的话（许多都很糟），可以打中80码外的人形靶、甚至是100码；但是如果一个士兵在150码外被敌人用一支平常的枪瞄准并打伤的话，那么他真的就是非常倒霉了；至于想用一支平常的枪射击200码外的人的话，你不如改为射击月亮，两者打中目标的机会都是一样的。
大家可记得电影《与狼共舞》的开头，一心想死的男主人公策马在南军阵前来回跑了两趟，竟然毫发无伤，其实是相当写实的。当时美国南方工业不发达，南军武器几乎全部依赖进口。一支Whitworth线膛枪要价美金500大元，可以买20头牛。所以南军没多少支线膛枪。滑膛枪的准确性又那么的差，打不中策马狂奔的人一点都不奇怪。但是南军如果想依样画瓢那一定会死的相当难看，北方军的武器全部在大陆制造，一支sharpes线膛步枪只卖43元。所以多数是线膛枪。扯远了，赶紧兜回来^_^
Baker线膛枪的最大射程因为膛线的缘故射程有所下降。但是得益于膛线的稳定作用，其有效射程有200米以上。不过由于射速很低，英军并未大量装备线膛枪。原因在后面祥述。
古代弓弩的普遍最大射程为300米左右，而神臂弓的最大射程更是达到了500余米，而且准确率很高，可以精确瞄准。欧洲到现代也还有弓弩射击比赛。一个训练有素的弩手可以准确地命中200码外。一个瑞典著名的神射手威廉.泰尔射中自己儿子头上的苹果用的就是弩弓而不是弓箭。如果那个总督使坏让他用滑膛枪去射，估计小泰的脑袋就要开花了。下面这个是瑞士的泰尔父子铜像，眼力好的朋友可以看到泰尔肩上扛着的弩弓，儿子手上捧着被木羽箭(英文叫bolt，有别于弓箭arrow)洞穿的苹果。

然后再来看射速，英国在18世纪已经采取纸包弹药以利装填，整个程序还是快不起来。按照官方训练手册的记录，Brown Bess前膛燧发火枪发射一次需要经过12个步骤，1834年时英国陆军测试使用雷管的前膛枪时的记录显示，即使是技术纯熟的士兵每分钟射速也不过三发；这还是在没有战斗压力下的成绩。在实战时，由于种种因素影响，能够维持每分钟两发就算不错了。而且士兵在战场上慌乱之际非常容易出错。最常见的错误之一就是在装填后忘了将通条抽出枪管，一扣扳机，通条就不知道飞到那里去了，自然无法再装填。

另外常见的错误是在忙乱之间误将弹头而非火药先塞入枪口，造成不发弹，士兵只能退出行列到后面慢慢把弹头挖出来。大家不难想象用通条去挖装填了火药和子弹的枪管是多么愉快的一件事。就这还算是先知先觉，要知道当时火枪是队列齐发的，那么多枪一起发射的情况下许多士兵在战斗时根本就不知道自己有没有开枪，有没有哑火，往往多次装弹。
在1863年美国内战的盖兹堡战役后北军清理战场，发现双方士兵遗留在战场上的 37,574支步枪中，枪管中还有子弹的有24,000支，其中有一颗弹头的有6,000支，误塞了两颗弹头的有12,000支，塞了3到10颗弹头的有6,000支，最高记录是一支枪中塞了23颗弹头，怎一个强字了得。

比较起滑膛枪，Baker线膛枪就更麻烦了，由于使用线膛枪的时候弹头与膛线必须紧密咬合，无法像滑膛枪一样使用直径较枪管内径还小的弹丸，因此前膛来复枪的装弹十分困难而耗时。射速一分钟有一发就算不错了。为求维持大量火力，当时各国的正规部队仍然配备滑膛枪，只有少数前卫部队（skirmisher）才配备线膛枪。直到1849年，法国陆军上尉Claude-Etienne Minie发明了弹底有凹孔的弹头，子弹发射时的气体会经由这个凹孔将弹头底部撑大，跟枪管的膛线咬合；这么一来，弹头直径可以做得比枪膛内径小，才解决了前膛来复枪装填困难的问题。

再来看神臂弓，这东西的射速大约是3-4发每分钟，而且操作十分简便，简单到大家很难想象竟会有人能装错。下图是神臂弓的装填过程。唯一的问题是神臂弓需要人手拉弦，发射次数太多容易疲劳，速度会减低。可是火枪连续发射以后一样会因枪管发热造成炸膛或者子弹威力减弱的情况。

最后说说破坏力，不论是Brown Bess还是Baker火枪，用的子弹口径都一样，威力相当不错，因为铅弹体积小，力量集中，常常嵌入骨头里面无法取出。而且子弹在体内的弹道通常都不是直线，造成的伤害是普通冷兵器不及的。

神臂弓的穿透力甚至比火枪子弹更强，按照记录它发出的弩箭可以穿透两层铁甲，连普通火枪子弹都未必能做到。但是破坏力却不如枪弹，伤口也比较容易处理。但是弩箭也有优点：可以涂毒或者加装炸药。

再说造价，神臂弓的材料是山桑木做的弩身，檀木做的弩梢，铜制的扳机，麻绳做的弦。照说造价也还是神臂弓便宜。在中国不会找不到木匠做这个吧？

按照这样推断，如果当时中国以神臂弓作武器，使用同样的阵列和英军对抗，失败的很可能是英军。可惜清朝不但不重视火器，连弓弩都不重视，这样的战斗只能在帝国时代里面去体验了。

顺便说说英军的火炮当时使用的是葡萄弹，用一个很薄的容器内装大量的铁弹丸，发射后容器爆裂，里面的铁弹丸将形成大面积的散射，威力极大，在鸦片战争中一次能杀伤几十人。但是比这种炮弹更先进的开花蛋在明清时代已经在中国生产并使用过了。

说了这么多，大家不难发现其实直到1840年，火枪仍然没能完全超越中国13世纪使用的弩箭。中国当时别说创新，只需将以前所掌握的拿出来，也不难取得胜利。清朝的失败，首先是制度上的失败，然后才是技术上的失败。

转自“中华网”

Interesting. However in war the equipment is not the only thing. There's also training, leadership, industry and strategy. In all these China was lacking.

In the first Opium War, besides the Brown Bess and Baker, the British also brought some experimental Brunswicks, which had a state of the art precussion lock, but was otherwise crap.

It's true that bows and arrows had a higher rate of fire and were more accurate compared to the relatively short ranged smoothbore muskets of the day. Indeed musketmen can be quite vulnerable to traditional armies of the period. Especially to mounted lancers as demonstrated in the Napoleonic wars.

However the musket had several advantages.

1. Ease of use. Anybody can be taught musket drills within days. A pretty decent regiment can be trained in weeks. It took months to become profecient with a bow.

2. Firepower. Sure bowmen have a much higher rate of fire, however you're unlikely to have two thousand skilled bowmen on hand where ever the enemy turned up. Even if you did, they would run out of arrows after 10-20 shots. Each musketman could carry many times that number of ammunition.

3. Sustainability. Arrows are expensive to make. The musketball can be made in the field by melting and casting lead in less than an hour. Armies sometimes go through towns looking for pieces of lead fixtures for making ammunition.

A myth of the Opium Wars was that only the British had firearms. Actually so did the Chinese. But Chinese firearms were of the older, matchlock variety which were slower to fire and required greater skill and therefore were scarce on the battlefield.

The British also had field artillery and seaborn mobility on their side. Traditionally Chinese armies were not concentrated in coastal China. Chinese generals were used to having months of time to call up the reserves, relocate troops from one part of the country to another. The British fleet was able to move troops from one coastal region to another fairly quickly. They overwhelmed weakly held fortifications before they could be reinforced and used them against the Chinese.

Another major problem was Lin Zexu covered up his initial defeats and the Emperor never realized how badly the war went until the British commander occupied Nanjing and sent him a letter.

Don't forget about the $ and gold that was going to upgrade industry and military that went into building the Summer Garden in Beijing and various fun projects for the Emperess ... and the Marbel paddle boat for the Emperess ...

Yes, you heard right ... a Marbel Boat ... it's still there today!

If I remember correctly, the money was suppose to be equivalent to about $20billion USD in today's term (I think ... I might be wrong ... in either case it was a lot of $)

That's great except the First Opium War took place about 30 years before the events of the summer palace. According to a lot of websites online Cixi spent 30 million taels of silver on the palace. Converting that at the price of silver today that would be about $15 million USD today, but of course silver was more expensive back then due to its use as a currency. However I have concerns with the number because I also seen a figure that states Cixi embezzeled 300,000 tael. Anyone have accurate number from a reputable source?

I know that my numbers are not 100% correct but ...

Are you sure that 1 tael is 0.5 USD ? According to the latest info I have 1oz silver is $7USD. 1 tael is 1.3oz. Therefore 1 tael is about $9.5USD (let's say 10USD). Hence 30million tael is about 300million USD in today's term.

I got some numbers from google (accuracy is not known). It says that silver price in 1792 is 0.452USD per gram. 1 ounce is 28.34g therefore 1 ounce of silver in 1792 is 12.8USD. 1 tael is about $16.64USD in 1792.

So 30million taels in 1792 is worth about 500million USD. Assuming inflation rate at 3% per annum over 213 years ... that makes it about ... 270billion USD in 2005 terms. Anyways, I'm no accountant ... someone check the numbers please. I am sure its not 100% correct but it is about there within a few billion.

As the palace was built 30 years after opium war of 1842 that makes it 1872. ... work it out on how much $ it is. I could not find silver price in 1872. Either case I got a feeling that it is a CRAP LOAD. My rough rough very rough numbers says 45billion USD in 2005 terms.

Please someone check my numbers.

The Nemesis was the reason why Britain won. Everything else is secondary. Steamers could push into the interior of the Yangze driving up the currents and use the shrapnel blasts(which was only used on ships in the 1830s.), a new cannon that sents explosive shells. While Nemesis itself is clad which no Qing artillery could destroy. Its in artillery and steamers that British won. The Brown Bess, Bakers Rifle, and even the Percusion lock, which was only used a few times was not the decisive factor.