Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, 'artillery' has largely meant cannon, and in contemporary usage, usually refers to shell-firing guns, howitzers, and mortars (collectively called barrel artillery, cannon artillery or gun artillery) and rocket artillery. Originally, the word 'artillery' referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. This development continues today modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility generally providing the largest share of an army's total firepower.
As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons developed for battlefield use. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines.
Artillery are ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms.
