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Nobody has mentioned the real reason the firearm replaced the bow, PENETRATING POWER
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Mmarsh I think it was mentioned in my earlier post i.e.
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A related question, which has always fascinated me, is why did muskets eventually replace the fast loading bow? The 2 obvious answers are a) they could penetrate armour more effectively.
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I think this is why crossbows temporarily came back into favour just before firearms as well, since they could also penetrate armour. Armour had also substantially improved between the early and late middle ages.
Speculating a little, I have often wondered how effective an automatic loading crossbow would be at close range into a solid pack of infantry. Imagine a powerful crossbow or ballista type weapon which is drawn by a line of 'pullers' using a rowing type technique (using the leg muscles for the draw). Every time the crossbow is drawn another arrow or bolt falls from a 'magazine' placed on top. This type of arrangement could have released an almost certain kill every second, and could have been operated by infantry and one aimer otherwise standing around doing nothing. Surprised no-one ever thought of this, it requires a mechanism , but nothing beyond the technology of the ancients or capabilities of an Archimedes.