Vallière system: Difference between revisions

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===Operational activity===

===Operational activity===

⚫

The Valliere guns proved rather good in siege warfare but were less satisfactory in a war of movement.{{sfn|Corvisier|1994|p=837}} That was especially visible during the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] (1747–1748) and during the [[Seven Years’ War]] (1756–1763) in which mobility was a key factor and lighter guns were clearly in need. The lack of [[howitzers]] was another issue.{{sfn|Chartrand|Hutchins|2003|p=4}}

The Valliere guns proved rather good in siege warfare but were less satisfactory in a war of movement.{{sfn|Corvisier|1994|p=837}} That was especially visible during the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] (1747–1748) and during the [[Seven Years’ War]] (1756–1763) in which mobility was a key factor and lighter guns were clearly in need. The lack of [[howitzers]] was another issue.{{sfn|Chartrand|Hutchins|2003|p=4}}

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==Obsolescence==

==Obsolescence==

Tests conducted at [[Strasbourg]] in 1765 found the ranges achieved by the lighter Gribeauval guns were comparable to those of the much heavier Vallière guns. Unlike the Vallière guns, the smaller caliber Gribeauval guns were true field artillery pieces. (See table below.){{sfn|Kiley|2021|p=522}}

[[File:French 4pdr 60s.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|alt=Black and white photo shows men in 1960s military uniforms next to an old cannon.|1960s [[US Army]] personnel are standing with a Vallière 4-pounder mounted on a [[20-pounder Parrott rifle]] carriage.]]

{| class=”wikitable” style=”text-align:center; width:70%;”

|+Characteristics: Vallière system vs. Gribeauval system artillery pieces{{sfn|Kiley|2021|pp=564–565}}

! System

! Caliber

! Tube Weight

! Tube Length

! Shot Weight

|-

| rowspan=1 | Vallière || 4-pounder || {{cvt|563|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|2.19|m|ft|1}}<ref group=note>There was typographical error in Kiley, so the length of the Vallière 4-pounder comes from Summerfield (2025), p. 36.</ref> || {{cvt|2|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Vallière || 8-pounder || {{cvt|1,028|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|2.85|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|4|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Vallière || 12-pounder || {{cvt|1,566|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|3.17|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|6|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Vallière || 16-pounder || {{cvt|2,056|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|3.36|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|8|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Vallière || 24-pounder || {{cvt|2,643|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|3.53|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|12|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Gribeauval || 4-pounder || {{cvt|290|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|1.57|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|2|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Gribeauval || 8-pounder || {{cvt|580|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|2.00|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|4|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Gribeauval || 12-pounder || {{cvt|880|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|2.29|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|6|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Gribeauval || 16-pounder || {{cvt|2,000|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|3.36|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|8|kg|lb|1}}

|-

| rowspan=1 | Gribeauval || 24-pounder || {{cvt|2,740|kg|lb|0}} || {{cvt|3.53|m|ft|1}} || {{cvt|12|kg|lb|1}}

|-

⚫

His son, Joseph Florent de Vallière (1717–1776), who became Commander of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery in 1747, persisted in implementing his father’s system. From 1763, [[Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval]], as Inspector General of the French Artillery, and second in rank to de Vallière, started efforts to introduce the more modern system that would give France one of the strongest artilleries for the following century.{{sfn|Chartrand|Hutchins|2003|p=4}}

His son, Joseph Florent de Vallière (1717–1776), who became Commander of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery in 1747, persisted in implementing his father’s system. From 1763, [[Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval]], as Inspector General of the French Artillery, and second in rank to de Vallière, started efforts to introduce the more modern system that would give France one of the strongest artilleries for the following century.{{sfn|Chartrand|Hutchins|2003|p=4}}

{{Gallery

|title=

|align=center

⚫

|File:French 4pdr 60s.jpg|[[US Army]] personnel with a [[Canon de 4 de Vallière|de Vallière 4-pounder]] in the 1960s. The carriage belongs to the 20-pounder [[Parrott rifle]].

⚫

==Notes==

==Notes==

;Footnotes

{{reflist|group=note}}

;Citations

{{reflist|30em}}

{{reflist|30em}}

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*{{cite book|last=Kiley |first=Kevin F. |author-link=Kevin F. Kiley |title=Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars: A Concise Dictionary 1792-1815 |year=2021 |publisher=Pen and Sword Books Ltd. |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-84832-953-9 }}

*{{cite book|last=Kiley |first=Kevin F. |author-link=Kevin F. Kiley |title=Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars: A Concise Dictionary 1792-1815 |year=2021 |publisher=Pen and Sword Books Ltd. |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-84832-953-9 }}

*{{cite web|last=Marine |title=Académie de Marine: Jean-Florent de VALLIÈRE |year=2025 |publisher=Académie de Marine |access-date=17 September 2025 |url=https://www.academiedemarine.fr/anciens-academiciens/?uid=2219 }}

*{{cite web|last=Marine |title=Académie de Marine: Jean-Florent de VALLIÈRE |year=2025 |publisher=Académie de Marine |access-date=17 September 2025 |url=https://www.academiedemarine.fr/anciens-academiciens/?uid=2219 }}

*{{cite web|last=Summerfield |first=Stephen |title=Smoothbore Ordnance Journal: M1732 Vallière System (1732-1765) |year=2025 |publisher=The Napoleon Series |access-date=30 September 2025 |url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/OrdnanceJournal/Issue4/SOJ_4-2b-Valliere.pdf }}

{{De Vallière system}}

{{De Vallière system}}

French artillery system

The Vallière system was a new system of artillery introduced by Florent-Jean de Vallière and adopted by the French Royal Army in the 1730s. Under the new system, artillery pieces were produced in only five different calibers of cannons and two sizes of mortars. Henceforth, all new artillery pieces were manufactured in France to standard sizes. Previously, there was no standard system in place, so that the artillery included guns of various calibers and different nations of manufacture.

In the War of the Austrian Succession in the 1740s, the Vallière system began to reveal its shortcomings. Though the smaller caliber guns were considered to be suitable for field artillery, in fact, they were too heavy to quickly maneuver on the battlefield. Though the gun barrels were standardized, the gun carriages, limbers, and other vehicles were not standardized. After the same problems hampered the French artillery in the Seven Years’ War, the French Army replaced the Vallière system with the lighter field artillery of the Gribeauval system in 1765.

The Artillerie de Nouvelle Invention had been introduced to the French Royal Army by Lieutenant General François de la Frézelière, but never fully adopted. This system had been developed in 1679 by Antonio Gonzales, a Spaniard, and consisted of a range of fairly lightweight cannons. The Artillerie de Nouvelle Invention proved to have recoil problems and was never fully adopted and was discontinued in 1720. Oddly, the system’s 4-pounder, 8-pounder, and 12-pounder cannons turned out to be similar in weight to the Gribeauval system’s guns of the 1760s. The problem with French artillery of the 1720s was that the cannons were manufactured in different nations and were of various calibers. Supplying such a wide assortment of ammunition calibers was a logistical nightmare.[2]

Whereas numerous formats and designs had been in place in the French army, Vallière standardized the French sizes in artillery pieces by allowing only for the production of 24 (Canon de 24), 12, 8 and 4 pound guns (the weight is the weight of the cannonballs), mortars of 12 and 8 French inches, and stone-throwing mortars of 15 French inches.

The French pound weighing 1.097 English pounds, the French guns fired slightly heavier balls (13.164 pounds) than their English equivalent 12-pounder.[4] The French inch was 2.707 cm, slightly longer than the English inch of 2.54 cm.[5]

The Vallière system used core drilling of the bore of cannons founded in one piece of bronze, a method developed at that time by Jean Maritz, which allowed for much higher precision of the bore shape and surface, and therefore higher shooting efficiency.

The Valliere guns were also highly decorative and contained numerous designs and inscriptions.

The back part occasionally included an inscription showing the weight of the cannonball (for example a “4” for a 4-pounder), followed by the Latin inscription “Nec pluribus impar,” a motto of King Louis XIV and translated literally as “not unequal to many,” but ascribed various meanings including “alone against all,” “none his equal,” or “capable of anything” among many others.[7][8][9][10] This was followed by the royal crest of the Bourbon dynasty. The location and date of manufacture were inscribed (in the example “Strasbourg, 1745”) at the bottom of the gun, and finally the name and title of the founder (in the example “Fondu par Jean Maritz, Commissaire des Fontes”).[11] The breech was decorated with an animal face showing the rating of the gun (in the example the lion head for a 24-pounder).

The guns had cascabel designs which allowed to easily recognize their rating: a 4-pounder would have a “Face in a sunburst”, an 8-pounder a “Monkey head”, a 12-pounder a “Rooster head”, a 16-pounder a “Medusa head”, and a 24-pounder a “Bacchus head” or a “Lion head”.[11]

Operational activity

[edit]

Painting shows two red-coated officers surrendering to blue-coated officers. A cannon is at right.
The surrender at Saratoga painting shows Daniel Morgan, in white, standing next to a Vallière 4-pounder.

The Valliere guns proved rather good in siege warfare but were less satisfactory in a war of movement. That was especially visible during the War of the Austrian Succession (1747–1748) and during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) in which mobility was a key factor and lighter guns were clearly in need. The lack of howitzers was another issue.[12]

Numerous Valliere guns were used in the American War of Independence, especially the smaller field guns. The guns were shipped from France and the field carriages provided for in the US. The guns played an important role in such battles as the Battle of Saratoga,[11] and the Siege of Yorktown. George Washington wrote about the guns in a letter to General William Heath on 2 May 1777:

“I was this morning favored with yours containing the pleasing accounts of the late arrivals at Portsmouth and Boston. That of the French ships of war, with artillery and other military stores, is most valuable. It is my intent to have all the arms that were not immediately wanted by the Eastern States, to be removed to Springfield, as a much safer place than Portsmouth …. I shall also write Congress and press the immediate removal of the artillery, and other military stores from Portsmouth. I would also have you forward the twenty-five chests of arms lately arrived from Martinico to Springfield.”

— George Washington letter to General Heath, 2 May 1777.[11]

Tests conducted at Strasbourg in 1765 found the ranges achieved by the lighter Gribeauval guns were comparable to those of the much heavier Vallière guns. Unlike the Vallière guns, the smaller caliber Gribeauval guns were true field artillery pieces. (See table below.)

Black and white photo shows men in 1960s military uniforms next to an old cannon.
1960s US Army personnel are standing with a Vallière 4-pounder mounted on a 20-pounder Parrott rifle carriage.
Characteristics: Vallière system vs. Gribeauval system artillery pieces
System Caliber Tube Weight Tube Length Shot Weight
Vallière 4-pounder 563 kg (1,241 lb) 2.19 m (7.2 ft)[note 1] 2 kg (4.4 lb)
Vallière 8-pounder 1,028 kg (2,266 lb) 2.85 m (9.4 ft) 4 kg (8.8 lb)
Vallière 12-pounder 1,566 kg (3,452 lb) 3.17 m (10.4 ft) 6 kg (13.2 lb)
Vallière 16-pounder 2,056 kg (4,533 lb) 3.36 m (11.0 ft) 8 kg (17.6 lb)
Vallière 24-pounder 2,643 kg (5,827 lb) 3.53 m (11.6 ft) 12 kg (26.5 lb)
Gribeauval 4-pounder 290 kg (639 lb) 1.57 m (5.2 ft) 2 kg (4.4 lb)
Gribeauval 8-pounder 580 kg (1,279 lb) 2.00 m (6.6 ft) 4 kg (8.8 lb)
Gribeauval 12-pounder 880 kg (1,940 lb) 2.29 m (7.5 ft) 6 kg (13.2 lb)
Gribeauval 16-pounder 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) 3.36 m (11.0 ft) 8 kg (17.6 lb)
Gribeauval 24-pounder 2,740 kg (6,041 lb) 3.53 m (11.6 ft) 12 kg (26.5 lb)

His son, Joseph Florent de Vallière (1717–1776), who became Commander of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery in 1747, persisted in implementing his father’s system. From 1763, Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, as Inspector General of the French Artillery, and second in rank to de Vallière, started efforts to introduce the more modern system that would give France one of the strongest artilleries for the following century.[12]

Footnotes
  1. ^ There was typographical error in Kiley, so the length of the Vallière 4-pounder comes from Summerfield (2025), p. 36.
Citations
  1. ^ Chartrand & Hutchins 2003, p. 3.
  2. ^ History.navy.mil
  3. ^ Chartrand, p.2
  4. ^ a b c d e A Dictionary of Military History and the Art of War by André Corvisier, John Childs, John Charles Roger Childs, Chris Turner Page 42 [1]
  5. ^ Martin, Henri (1865). Martin’s History of France: 1661-1683. Walker, Wise and Company.
  6. ^ Martin, John Rupert (1977). Baroque (1 ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-435332-X. OCLC 3710397.
  7. ^ Berger, Robert W. (1993). The palace of the sun : the Louvre of Louis XIV. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00847-4. OCLC 24912717.
  8. ^ Riley, Philip F. (2001). A lust for virtue : Louis XIV’s attack on sin in seventeenth-century France. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-00106-5. OCLC 50321974.
  9. ^ a b c d Springfield Armory
  10. ^ a b Chartrand & Hutchins 2003, p. 4.

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