A howitzer is a classification of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to through projectiles at trajectories with a steep angle of descent. In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European armies in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the "gun" which was characterized by a longer barrel, larger propelling charges, smaller shells, higher velocities and flatter trajectories. The very first howitzer was made in sweden toward the end of the seventeenth century
