The activities of scientific and technical bodies in the field of artillery science and technology in the first half of the XIX century

The article deals with the transformations of the central management bodies of the army and reforms in the field of artillery management and scientific and technical work. The management of scientific and technical work in the field of improving artillery weapons, equipment and ammunition, as well as their production in the first half of the XIX century was entrusted to various scientific and technical bodies that changed their name, organization and range of tasks assigned to them. One of these bodies in the period under review was the «Artillery Department of the Military Scientific Committee», which was tasked with monitoring scientific and technical activities in the field of improving artillery weapons, equipment and ammunition and their production. It is noted that one of the directions that contributed to the dissemination and improvement of special knowledge by officers and non-commissioned officers of artillery units was the publication and distribution of the «Artillery Magazine», the publication of which resumed after 1812 in 1839. It is concluded that the Artillery Department received from various sources many different proposals for new models of artillery weapons, equipment and ammunition, and methods of their combat use, as well as scientific and technical literature published abroad, according to which the department should prepare reasoned conclusions about the possibility or impossibility of using them in Russia, about the advantages and disadvantages of foreign publications. Previously unpublished archival and other little-studied sources are introduced into scientific circulation.