Every resident of Russia during a tour of the Moscow Kremlin, of course, saw two unique historical artifacts - the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell. At the same time, the guide probably claimed that the bell never rang, and the cannon did not fire. This is not true. A shot was once fired from the Tsar Cannon, although from the point of view of military science it was never an artillery weapon.
Cannon for the king
Despite the fact that in our days the Tsar Cannon is considered a fake, it was cast in 1586 by the order of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich for the defense of Moscow. The creator of the gigantic weapon, or rather its barrel, was the cannon yard caster Andrey Chokhov. For 18 years of his work as a gunsmith, this talented master made many unique weapons, among which the Tsar Cannon turned out to be the most ambitious. Its weight was 39,310 kilograms, with a barrel length of 5.4 meters and a caliber of 890 mm. Since the formidable weapon was intended to defend Moscow, from the moment of its creation until 1706, the tsar cannon served in the fortifications of Kitai-Gorod. Subsequently, she was moved to the courtyard of the Arsenal, and then to the Ivanovskaya square of the Moscow Kremlin.
King Mortar
What the guides are right about is that the cannon balls and carriage of the Tsar Cannon were actually made much later and are fake. The fact is that the Tsar Cannon is actually a mortar, which was never installed when shooting on a carriage, but was dug into the ground, reinforcing with logs. Most often, this type of weaponry was used when storming fortresses or their defenses. The carriage for the Tsar Cannon was made in 1835 according to a sketch by Alexander Bryullov, when it was decided to install the gun on Ivanovskaya Square as a decoration. The kernels were cast at the Byrd plant in St. Petersburg. Each of them weighs about two tons. According to the calculations of experts, if the Tsar Cannon is charged with these metal cannonballs and fired, then its barrel will break, and the carriage will fall apart. This is not surprising, since at the time of the creation of this weapon it was assumed thatthat they will shoot from it stone cannonballs weighing about 800 kilograms, while the weapon itself will be strengthened in the ground so that the recoil from the shot goes into it. No more than six shots could be fired from such a gun per day.
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Weapons of the formidable king
The most interesting thing is that during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who made many military campaigns, 11 such guns were cast. They were used in the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, as well as in military campaigns against Sweden, Poland and Lithuania. Among the predecessors of the Tsar Cannon, the Kashpirova cannon weighing 19.65 tons and the "Peacock" weighing 16.7 tons can be noted. These guns were actively used during the siege of Polotsk by the troops of Ivan the Terrible to destroy the city walls.
It should be noted that according to legend, the Tsar Cannon was once fired … with the ashes of False Dmitry. By the way, the fact of a single shot from the Tsar Cannon was confirmed by experts who conducted a study of the barrel of the Tsar Cannon in Soviet times. But, scientists could not say exactly when exactly the shot was fired. In their opinion, it was much earlier than the Time of Troubles. Most likely, the shot was fired shortly after the gun was cast in the cannon yard, with the aim of testing it before being installed in Kitay-Gorod. At the same time, the fact that the cannon never took part in battles is explained solely by the absence of hostilities near the city walls during the years of its combat duty, and not at all by professional unsuitability, as is commonly believed today.