Social Impacts of Cannons

The end of the Hundred Years War between Britain and France marked a huge turning point in how wars are fought. Before this war, the nobility in a country would have the largest effect on the outcome of the war. However, after the war was over, wars were decided  by armed peasants in large numbers, not the nobility fighting for their own country. The standardization of the cannon and other revolutionary weapons meant that destruction could be wrought by whoever had the most peasants behind them.

This means that monarchies had to give way to the demands of the people, as revolts became harder to crush. A simple coordinated widespread revolt by peasants with access to cannons and other weapons would instantly reform their government. In a way, this standardization of firearms gave birth to more representative governments throughout the world. If the government doesn't meet the demands of the people in the modern world, there could be serious consequences due to the creation of weapons of mass destruction and their accessibility. In contrast, before this time, governments were autocratic and could simply rely on the military to deal with any rebellion within society.

The Crimean War in the 1800s was a conflict between Britain/France and Russia over the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a vast kingdom that was dominant in the area until the beginning of its decline. All it needed to crumble apart and give way to new powers was a military conflict. The period between the end of the Crimean War and the end of World War I (1856-1918) just about marked the end of the Ottoman Empire. What played the biggest role in its decline? New technology, specifically weapons. The Ottoman Empire, although still large at the time of its end, was not very militarily advanced and couldn't survive the conflicts that disturbed Europe throughout World War I.