Mortar (weapon)
artillery weapon that launches explosive projectiles at high angles
A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition. Historically, mortars were heavy siege artillery. Mortars launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high arching ballistic trajectories.
History
Mortars have been used for hundreds of years. The earliest reported use of mortars occurred in Korea in a 1413 naval battle: Korean gunsmiths developed the wan'gu (gourd-shaped mortar) (완구, 碗口). The earliest version of the wan'gu dates back to 1407. Ch'oe Hae-san (1380–1443), the son of Ch'oe Mu-sŏn (1325–1395), is generally credited with inventing the wan'gu. During the Ming dynasty, general Qi Jiguang (1528-1588) recorded the use of a mini-cannon called the hu dun pao that resembled a mortar.
The first use in siege warfare was at the 1453 siege of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror.
The public source identifies “Mortar (weapon)” as artillery weapon that launches explosive projectiles at high angles. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mortar, weapon and artillery.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7905205. The first chronological checks are 1413, 1407, 1380 and 1443.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mortar (weapon)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.