fbpx

KidsKonnect

Claude-Étienne Minié Facts & Worksheets

Claude-Étienne Minié was a French Army Officer famous for designing a reliable muzzle-loading rifle, by inventing the Minié ball in 1846 and then the Minié rifle in 1849.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Inventors /Claude-Étienne Minié Facts & Worksheets
Premium
Claude-Étienne Minié Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Claude-Étienne Minié was a French Army Officer famous for designing a reliable muzzle-loading rifle, by inventing the Minié ball in 1846 and then the Minié rifle in 1849.

See the fact file below for more information on the Claude-Étienne Minié or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Claude-Étienne Minié worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

PERSONAL LIFE

  • Claude-Étienne Minié was born on 13 February 1804; in Paris.
  • Claude-Étienne Minié died on 14 December 1879 at the age of 75.

CAREER

  • Claude served in several African campaigns in Chasseurs, rising through the ranks to Captain.
  • In 1849 he designed the Minié ball, a cylindrical bullet with a conical point. The Minié ball produced lethally accurate firing at long ranges. It was adopted by the armies of Europe and the US, being used throughout the American Civil War. Claude was rewarded 20 000 francs from the French government and was appointed to the staff of the military school at Vincennes.
  • Claude retired in 1858 with the rank of Colonel.
  • He served as a military instructor for the Khedive of Egypt and as manager at the Remington Arms Company in the US.
  • The French army never adopted the Minié bullet, but the British did, paying Claude for his patent to use the ammunition in 1851.

MINIÉ BULLET

  • In 1849 when Claude was an inspector of musketry at the military academy, he found the solution to the round ball. It loses velocity as soon as it left the muzzle of the rifle, whereas the other rifle was faster but lacked the accuracy it needed. The solution Claude found was to merge the two. Choosing to make the Minié bullet out of the soft lead, no longer making it into a ball shape but turning it into a cylindrical-shaped bullet, also made it smaller than the diameter of the barrel. The Minié bullet was easier to drop inside the barrel.
  • The cylindrical shape they made was a coned shape with a cavity in its base, with three grooves on its body. So when the powdered charge exploded against the base, the bullet would expand, and the grooves would create a tight fit in the rifled barrel.
  • The Minié ball caused 94 percent of all wounds; artillery shells and canister accounted for 6 percent.
  • 35 percent of all the wounds were in the arms; 35.7 percent to the legs, shots to the head and body were only 18.4 percent and 10.7 percent. The chances of surviving the war became a one in four chance compared to previous years, which was one in 124.

MINIÉ RIFLE

  • Claude inspired Delvigne’s later work on cylindrical bullets. They began designing them longer, still keeping them smaller than the barrel but maintaining the weight of the large ball.
  • So even though the Minié bullet flat base expanded against the barrel, the rest of the bullet maintained its shape. The French chose to combine the Carabine Modele of 1846 and the Fusil d’infanterie Modele of 1848.
  • In 1851 the royal small arms factory in Enfield began production of the .702-inch pattern 1851 Minié Rifle.
  • When a loaded rifle; was shot with a Minié bullet, the bullet would ram back onto the charge, exploding and sending the bullet down the barrel. While going down the barrel, the bullet expands, gripping the spiral rifling and spinning so tightly along the barrel with better accuracy and fewer misfires. Making the effective range from 200 to 250 yards.
  • The long-range of the Minié bullet meant that in traditional wars, where infantry and cavalry assaults could be successful, it no longer had the impact it used to. Now soldiers armed with Minié bullets loaded into their rifles would mean they could hide behind trees or blockades, taking down approaching soldiers without them getting close enough to do damage, making weapons like the bayonet obsolete.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

  • Even though Claude was not the first person to come up with the expanding bullet, he was the one who simplified and improved on earlier designs, including the one developed by Captain John Norton and William Greener from Britain.
  • James Burton of the US Armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, improved on the Minié bullet by eliminating the need for the iron plug and making it easier and cheaper to mass-produce. He adapted the use of the Minié bullet for the US in 1855.

FAKE NEWS

  • There was an Urban legend about a girl who stood near a Virginia battlefield in 1863, who was impregnated by a stray Minié bullet passing through the scrotum of a Union soldier before lodging in her abdomen.
  • The origin of the story was a fake story published in The American Medical Weekly in 1874.

Claude-Étienne Minié Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Claude-Étienne Minié across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Claude-Étienne Minié worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Claude-Étienne Minié who was a French Army Officer famous for designing a reliable muzzle-loading rifle, by inventing the Minié ball in 1846 and then the Minié rifle in 1849.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Claude-Étienne Minié Facts
  • Fill in the Blanks
  • Journal Entry
  • Claude-Étienne Minié Quiz
  • True or False
  • Through another’s eyes
  • Destructive Bullets
  • Hazards
  • Write a Peace Treaty
  • Bullet Limerick
  • Military Design

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Claude-Étienne Minié Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, June 5, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources