War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
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Minié rifle

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The Minie rifle was a rifled musket used by the infantry of a number of countries in the mid-19th century, adopted briefly by Britain in 1851 and officially by the French Army in 1857. Its use followed the invention of the Minie ball in 1849 by the French Army officer Claude-Etienne Minie and by Henri-Gustave Delvigne, a bullet designed to allow rapid muzzle-loading of rifles. The innovation brought about the widespread use of the rifle, rather than the smoothbore musket, as the main battlefield weapon for individual soldiers.

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