Colonel Minie is serving in the French Army in 1846 when he invents the bullet that bears his name. It replaces the traditional round shot, prone to wobble and lose direction in flight. The minie projectile is designed to rotate with the rifling inside the gun barrel to fundamentally change the accuracy and lethality of the weapon. The result is that soldiers fighting on the defense from entrenched positions are advantaged over those given to Napoleonic charges. Minie is given 20,000 Francs and a military school position for his invention, before serving in the Egyptian Army, dressed as seen in the photo.
Colonel Claude-Etienne Minie
