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Originally Posted by kalos72
Question...obviously range is a big difference but is there a "use" or "design" difference between say a heavy mortar and a towed howitzer?
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Cannon are direct fire. Howitzers are indirect fire. Mortars threw a bomb over a wall or high enough upward to fall straight down and not at an angle. This got a bomb into a trench work or to impact near the base of the wall on the defenders side. Mortar bombs are lower velocity and pound for pound often have greater explosive filler than a shell.
Early blackpowder breech loading mortars are massive to absorb the detonation of an explosive bomb in the breech should one prematurely detonate. Mortars came before howitzers until explosive shells had matured enough to not blow up in gun barrels destroying them. Howitzers also came about as the defenses were built and manned further out creating more depth in the defense that was outside the maximum range of many mortars.