Help with English thesis ideas

Are you planning an honest to goodness firearms related research thesis for an English course or more of an essay?

Either way, a topic to consider is how gunpowder changed the dynamics of Native Americans in terms of either non-warfare survival (hunting) or inter-tribal warfare. The facts are there for the finding.

Have fun.
 
Gunpowder didn't change the nature of war. It is still, and always has been one group attacking another for percieved gain. The gain may be political, theological or economic, but there is some perceived gain to be had by the attackers.

What gunpowder changed was the details of war, the tactics, who did the majority of the fighting, and how effective/cost efficient they were.

As to sieges being eliminated by gunpowder, that idea is false. Just look at WWII to find numerous cases of sieges, in the modern era of not just gunpowder, but long range artillery and bombers. The 900+ day siege of Leningrad comes to mind as one huge example. There are others, of lesser duration everywhere, just look.
 
The introduction of infantry firearms didn't change tactics in the field that much. As has been mentioned above it was more of an economic change.
Having machines that sent ten pound balls through the ranks of your infantry formation did change things.

Gun powder allowed the introduction of field artillery. Before canons, heavy ranged weapons were mostly limited to sieges.
Very few mangonels or ballista made their way to the battlefield. Gun powder changed that because powder was much lighter than mechanical means of launching heavy objects. Canon were lighter than trebuchet.
The mobility of these machines changed things a lot.
 
If you want to look at an era when artillery was really transformational, look up Gustavus Adolphus and his artillery wizard, General Torstenson.

Torstenson perfected both the placement of field artillery, to get the best fire angle nearly parallel to enemy lines, and the grazing shot, which skipped a ball multiple times along the enemy lines.

Given the limited population of Sweden, the fact the Swedes were able to dominate most of continental Europe until the battlefield death of Gustavus Adolphus was amazing - and largely tied in to their better use of field artillery.
 
Narrow your research a bit: How gunpowder AND rifling AND the expanding-base bullet changed INFANTRY warfare. Until then it was the blade (pike or bayonet) which won battles upon closing after a desultory volley or two.

Gunpowder had been around nearly 800 years before practically-employed in linear/smoothbore battlefield tactics. Those tactics then remained in place for two centuries.

The rifle came on the scene just prior to the Revolution, but for 80 years it remained a specialty application.

The rifled musket/Minié ball came on the scene, and 36 months later it was the world-turned-upside-down.

Don't write about Shakespeare :eek: (as my English teacher used to say).
Instead, pick apart one passage in one sonet. ;)
 
When you do a Google search hit "more". At that point you can select the "scholar" option and access a database of prior scholarly works. That may not be worth much, but the cited works can often produce good sources.

Good topic, good luck. If I were writing a paper about this I'd consider the impact of gunpowder on the European discovery of North and South America. Have fun, that's when you really learn.
 
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