Explanation: While the thought is often that firearms had a shorter range than conventional ranged weapons, the truth is more nuanced.
Bows firing in an arc can reach much further than early firearms, but this is not actually a very common usage on the battlefield, as such long-range volleys are both inaccurate and greatly weakened by the flight path. Especially by the time of early firearms, wherein metal armor was ubiquitous even amongst common foot soldiers. The range of crossbows, on the other hand, is largely comparable to early firearms.
The real difference is twofold - first, that early firearms have a much flatter trajectory than bows, and a somewhat flatter trajectory than crossbows. In other words, the projectile goes in a straight line further and longer before starting to arc downwards by gravity’s pull. This means that it takes much less skill to hit someone at the same distance - a bunch of idiots simply leveling their muskets and pulling the trigger will cause casualties against a body of men comparable to carefully trained archers or crossbowmen loosing from the same distance.
Second, that bows and crossbows have superior precision to early firearms, more than superior range - but precision matters less on a battlefield where the enemy is quite literally packed shoulder-to-shoulder for a mile or more. You don’t need to hit someone specific, just someone on the other side. Notably, this is one of the reasons why European matchlocks commonly lacked ironsights - as military weapons for mass formations, their interest was ‘hit SOMEONE over there’.
Equally interestingly, Japanese matchlocks of the same period commonly were equipped with early ironsights. I don’t have the necessary education to speculate seriously on why that was, but it’s certainly a fascinating departure, considering that Europeans introduced the matchlock to Japan in this period.
For these reasons, it’s noted in both European and Japanese accounts that matchlock troops often managed to drive off archers and crossbowmen at the ‘normal’ engagement range for the traditional weapons.
Explanation: While the thought is often that firearms had a shorter range than conventional ranged weapons, the truth is more nuanced.
Bows firing in an arc can reach much further than early firearms, but this is not actually a very common usage on the battlefield, as such long-range volleys are both inaccurate and greatly weakened by the flight path. Especially by the time of early firearms, wherein metal armor was ubiquitous even amongst common foot soldiers. The range of crossbows, on the other hand, is largely comparable to early firearms.
The real difference is twofold - first, that early firearms have a much flatter trajectory than bows, and a somewhat flatter trajectory than crossbows. In other words, the projectile goes in a straight line further and longer before starting to arc downwards by gravity’s pull. This means that it takes much less skill to hit someone at the same distance - a bunch of idiots simply leveling their muskets and pulling the trigger will cause casualties against a body of men comparable to carefully trained archers or crossbowmen loosing from the same distance.
Second, that bows and crossbows have superior precision to early firearms, more than superior range - but precision matters less on a battlefield where the enemy is quite literally packed shoulder-to-shoulder for a mile or more. You don’t need to hit someone specific, just someone on the other side. Notably, this is one of the reasons why European matchlocks commonly lacked ironsights - as military weapons for mass formations, their interest was ‘hit SOMEONE over there’.
Equally interestingly, Japanese matchlocks of the same period commonly were equipped with early ironsights. I don’t have the necessary education to speculate seriously on why that was, but it’s certainly a fascinating departure, considering that Europeans introduced the matchlock to Japan in this period.
For these reasons, it’s noted in both European and Japanese accounts that matchlock troops often managed to drive off archers and crossbowmen at the ‘normal’ engagement range for the traditional weapons.
And let’s not underestimate the intimidation factor of “boom”.