A howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterize by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at trajectories with a steep angle of descent. In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European (and European-style) 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) and a "mortar" (which has the ability to fire projectiles at even higher angles of ascent and descent).