Jezail
The jezail<ref>From Template:Langx jazā'il or Template:Langx. The word is ultimately from the Arabic word Template:Lang jazā'il, a broken plural of Template:Lang jazīl, meaning "[something] big or thick".</ref><ref name=BurnellYule>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Cannon-jezail /> (or jezzail),<ref name=Ramsey2016>Template:Cite book</ref> also spelled juzail (or juzzail),<ref name=Cannon-jezail>Template:Cite book</ref> is a long-barrelled weapon used in Central Asia, British India, and parts of Middle East.<ref name=Ramsey2016 /><ref>For use in Central Asia, refer to: Template:Cite book</ref> A person operating it is called jazailchi.<ref>Also spelled juzailchee, jezailchee. From Template:Lang jazā'ilchī, also jazaerchi (Template:Langx jazā'erchī).</ref><ref name=BurnellYule /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Jezails were used by the elite jazayerchi troops of Safavid and Afsharid Iran, notably during the Naderian Wars. It was the main weapon used by the various ethnic tribesmen of Afghanistan in the 19th-century,<ref name=Adamec2011>Template:Cite book</ref> who deposed Shah Shuja<ref name="1966-08-26-12">Template:Cite web</ref> and fought in the First and Second Anglo-Afghan Wars.
Features
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Jezails (in Afghanistan) were often handmade weapons. That means, unlike other weapons of the time which were plain and utilitarian, jezails were tended to be well-crafted, personal, and each varied widely in their construction (and decoration).<ref name=Ramsey2016 />
Jezails have very long barrels,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which is uncommon in European counterparts (aside from the Spanish Template:Interlanguage link multi of the 15th century), but were common in the American rifles, such as the Kentucky rifle.<ref>The jezail is sometimes called "Afghanistan's Kentucky rifle". Template:Cite book</ref> These American rifles were of a smaller caliber (typically Template:Convert) as their primary use was hunting, while jezails had a caliber of Template:Convert and larger, making them suitable for warfare. Having a long length, jezail was heavier (typically Template:Convert) than typical muskets of the time (typically Template:Convert). This allowed the use of larger calibers. The heavy weight of the jezail also reduced recoil.<ref name=Ramsey2016 /><ref name=Jalali2017>Template:Cite book</ref> Jezail has a relatively long range of Template:Convert,<ref name=Stronge2014 /> In comparison, a Brown Bess had an effective range of Template:Convert and accurate range of Template:Convert.<ref name=Jalali2017 /> According to some British soldiers, jezail fired a ball three times larger than that of a musket ball, with accurate range of Template:Convert.<ref name=Jalali2017 />
The main weakness of jezail was low rate of fire: it fired one shot each two or three minutes, in comparison to two or three shot per minute by a musket. This made it unsuitable during offensive action, while a deadly weapon as a sniper weapon in the mountains, as well as against advancing forces in open battlefield.<ref name=Jalali2017 /> In an attack, a soldier carried two or three jezails on his horse and after shooting with them, would return to a safe distance to reload, or proceed with hand-to-hand combat.<ref name=Jalali2017 /><ref name=Adamec2011 />
Although jezails were mostly smoothbore weapons, some had their barrels rifled, which, combined with the barrel's long length, made it a very accurate weapon for its time.<ref name=Ramsey2016 />
The lock and trigger mechanism was either a matchlock or a flintlock. Due to the complexity of the latter and difficulty of manufacture, many jezails used the lock mechanism from captured or broken Brown Bess muskets.<ref name=Ramsey2016 /><ref name=Stronge2014>Template:Cite book</ref>
A unique feature of the jezail was the handmade stock, which had a distinctive curve and was intricately decorated.<ref>A description from the British Library dating to the First Anglo-Afghan War: Template:Quotation</ref> The role of the curve is debated. It may have made the stock lighter while still being able to be fired from the shoulder safely. It also allows firing by grasping the weapon near the trigger, like a pistol, while the curved portion is tucked under the forearm (as opposed to being held to the shoulder), allowing firing with one hand while mounted. In this case the flash pan is dangerously too close to the face and the aiming would also be more difficult, therefore this method was probably used only while mounted. The weapon could otherwise be fired from a forked A-shaped rest (which is common in Central Asia),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a horn, or a metal bipod,<ref name=Ramsey2016 /><ref name=Stronge2014 /> which further improved accuracy.<ref name=Johnson2011>Template:Cite book</ref>
Operational history
In Persia
The jazayer (Template:Langx jazāyer or Template:Langx jazā'er) was the primary weapon of the elite military unit jazayerchi (Template:Lang jazāyerchī) introduced by the Safavid Shah Abbas II. Due to its heavy weight, it was fired on a tripod.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Safavid general Nader Shah, who later founded the Afsharid dynasty, also maintained and trained an elite jazayerchi troops, which he used in his Wars with great effect.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Anglo-Afghan Wars
During this period, the jezail was the primary weapon used by the Pashtuns and was used with great effect during the First Anglo-Afghan War.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The range and accuracy of jezail, combined with the sniping tactics of the Afghans, made it superior to the British Brown Bess smoothbore muskets.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The latter was effective at no more than 150 yards, and unable to be consistently accurate beyond 50 yards. Because of their advantage in range, Pashtun marksmen typically used the jezail from the tops of cliffs along valleys and defiles during ambushes.<ref name=Jalali2017 /> Sir Charles Napier claims that jezail was overall the superior weapon.<ref name=Adamec2011 /> The jezailchees repeatedly inflicted heavy casualties on the British during their 1842 retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad.
In the First Anglo-Afghan War the British established a cantonment outside of Kabul with dirt walls approximately waist high. Surrounding the cantonment were several abandoned forts which, although out of range of British muskets, were close enough for jezail fire. When ghazi and other Pashtuns forces besieged Kabul and the cantonment, they occupied the forts and used them to snipe at British forces from a safe range.Template:Fact The Pashtun marksmen typically fired jezail while entrenched in a pushtah (individual rampart made of rocks).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A description from the British Library dating to the First Anglo-Afghan War: Template:Quotation
At any rate, the British histories that focus on the claimed superiority of the jezail as weapon do not explain the failures of the jezailchis to halt British offensives in 1842.<ref name=Johnson2011 />
In India
Jazail or Jazair in India was a swivel gun falling between a firearm and an artillery, with a length of Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The operator of the gun was called jazā'il-andāz or jazā'ilchī in Hindustani language.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Related words or spellings are gingall, janjal, ganjal, gazail.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Contemporary use
The jezail was still in use in Afghanistan in 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was replaced by Martini-Henry and other domestic and foreign rifles.<ref name=Adamec2011 /> Limited numbers were used by Mujahideen rebels during the Soviet–Afghan War. Jezails can still be found in arms bazaars of Afghanistan.<ref name=Adamec2011 />
Derivatives of the jezail, barely recognizable, and usually termed "country-made weapons", are in use in rural India—especially in the state of Uttar Pradesh.Template:Citation needed
In English literature
The jezail is the weapon which wounded Dr. Watson—the fictional biographer of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes—in the Battle of Maiwand during his military service in Afghanistan. There are discrepancies regarding the location of the wound, though; in A Study in Scarlet, Watson mentions it to be in the shoulder,<ref>Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet, 1887</ref> while in The Sign of the Four, he mentions his leg,<ref>Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of the Four, 1890</ref> and in "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" he refers to the Jezail bullet being "in one of my limbs".<ref name=Ramsey2016 />
The jezail is mentioned repeatedly in some of Wilbur Smith's books, notably Monsoon. It was also mentioned in the George MacDonald Fraser adventure Flashman, whose protagonist describes the slaughter by Afghan jezailchis during the 1842 retreat from Kabul.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The weapon appears in Rudyard Kipling's 1886 poem "Arithmetic on the Frontier", where the low cost of the weapon is contrasted with the relatively expensive training and education of British officers:
- A scrimmage in a Border Station
- A canter down some dark defile
- Two thousand pounds of education
- Drops to a ten-rupee jezail.
In Kipling's novel The Man Who Would Be King, the Kohat Jezail is mentioned along with the more advanced British rifles Snider and Martini.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Ramsey2016 />
P. G. Wodehouse in Jill the Reckless (1920) describes how the character Uncle Chris, in India during his first hill-campaign, would "walk up and down in front of his men under a desultory shower of jezail-bullets".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The rifle is also mentioned by Brian Jacques in his adventure novel, Voyage of Slaves.
In popular culture
- Team Fortress 2 features the "Bazaar Bargain", a weapon for the Sniper modeled after the Jezail.
- In the first case of The Great Ace Attorney, the victim is Dr. John Watson (changed to "Wilson" in the localization). His killer is revealed to be Jezaille Brett, a woman whose name references Watson's wounding by Jezail rifle in the original books.
See also
- Moukahla, a similar North African musket
- Kariofili, musket of the Greek revolution with similar stock shape
- Tançica, a long barreled musket from Albania
- Shishane, miquelet used in the Ottoman Empire
- Džeferdar, ornate musket from Montenegro
- Boyliya, Bulgarian musket with unique lock
- Khirimi, Caucasian miquelet musket
- Arquebus
References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- Tanner, Stephen, (2002) Afghanistan: A Military History From Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban, Da Capo Press, Template:ISBN
- "Firearms of the Islamic world in the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait" By Robert Elgood