Shrapnel was a highly innovative artillery shell designed to be used against infantry formations. It contained a large number of musket balls held together by a thin iron casing. When the shell exploded, the casing would break apart, scattering the musket balls over a wide area.
This devastatingly effective weapon was first developed by Shrapnel in 1784, and it was quickly adopted by the British Army. The term "shrapnel" was subsequently used to describe this type of shell and eventually came to refer to the scattered projectiles themselves.