NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Armaments

A weapon is a tool which can be used during combat to kill or incapacitate, to destroy property, or to otherwise render resources non-functional or unavailable. It may be used to attack and defend, and consequently also to threaten. The use of weapons has been recorded since the advent of cave painting, and the process has been formulated resulting in both martial arts and strategic doctrines. a 19th century prussian bayonet This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... a 19th century prussian bayonet This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The US Marine Corps OKC-3S bayonet From right to left: a carbine, a straight infantry officer sabre, a short curved infantry sabre (briquet), two bayonets. ... traditional Scandinavian puukko knife A knife is a sharp-edged hand tool used for cutting. ... A spear is an ancient weapon, used for hunting and war. ... This page discusses common devices known as tools, for other meanings see Tool (disambiguation) Modern hammer A tool is, among other things, a device that provides a mechanical or mental advantage in accomplishing a task. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the ending of life. ... Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ... Resources comprise the base material for an activity or industry: See resource (economics) for the term as used in economics See human capital for human resources (HR) and innovation See natural resources for material matter See resource (computer science) for the computer science meaning of resources This is a disambiguation... In military science, an attack is the aggressive attempt to conquer enemy territory, installations, personnel, or equipment or to deny the enemy the use of territory, installations, personnel, or equipment, for example by destroying the equipment. ... In military science, defense (or defence) is the art of preventing an enemy from conquering territory; usually via fortifications. ... A threat can be the perception of insecurity; see also risk. ... Cave, or rock, paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to pre_historic times. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ...

Metaphorically, anything used to damage (even psychologically) can be referred to as a weapon. A weapon can be as simple as a club or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul and logos = word) is the study of mind, thought, and behaviour. ... Hercules fights the Lernaean Hydra with a club A club or cudgel is perhaps the simplest of all melée weapons. ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ...

For a comprehensive list of weapons and doctrines see military technology and equipment. Martial arts Bo-jutsu Kung Fu Jujitsu Judo Aikido Sumo Karate Sambo Wing Chun Capoeira Krav Maga Taekwondo List of martial arts weapons Personal weapons (Melée) Club baton mace nunchaku quarterstaff and bo war hammer pole weapon axe Spear Pike Bill Ahlspiess Bow and archery compound bow Crossbow longbow...

History

From the earliest traces of mankind up to our modern civilization, weapons have been a facet of human development. Weapons development has accelerated along with other areas of technology in more modern times. In ancient times, from the dawn of humanity through the Classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, weapons were primarily extensions of an individual's strength, essentially making up for the human body's lack of natural weapons such as claws. These weapons allowed the bearer to be substantially more lethal than a similar human without such a weapon. Roman Empire between AD 60 and 400 with major cities. ...

The Medieval period, including the Middle Ages, marked a period of distinct advancement in weaponry. Due to some of the unique influences of the period, weapons revolved around two major areas. First was that of knights. These horsemen required new weapons, as well as promoting development of weapons to defeat them. Second was that of castles. The building of castles on a large scale necessitated new weapons to help defend and attack them. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

The Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of technological devices in warfare. The most long-lasting effect of this was the introduction of cannon and firearms to the battlefield, where they are still at the core of modern weaponry. However, many other machines of war were experimented with. By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ...

From the American Revolution through the beginning of the 20th Century, human-powered weapons were finally excluded from the battlefield for the most part. Sometimes referred to as the Age of Rifles, this period was characterized by the development of firearms for infantry and cannons for support, as well as the beginnings of mechanized weapons such as the machine gun. Before the Revolution: The 13 colonies are in red, the pink area was claimed by Great Britain after the French and Indian War, and the orange region was claimed by Spain. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

World War I marked the entry of fully industrialized warfare, and weapons as well were developed quickly to meet wartime needs. Many new technologies were developed, particularly in the development of military aircraft and vehicles. World War II however, perhaps marked the most frantic period of weapons development in the history of humanity. Massive numbers of new designs and concepts were fielded, and all existing technologies were improved between 1939 and 1945. Ultimately, the most powerful of all invented weapons was the nuclear bomb. Missing image Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...

After World War II, with the onset of the Cold War, the constant technological development of new weapons was institutionalized, as participants engaged in a constant race to develop weapons and counter-weapons. This constant state of weapons development continues into the modern era, and remains a constant draw on the resources of most nations. A cold war is a state of conflict between nations that does not involve direct military action but is pursued primarily through economic and political actions, acts of espionage or conflict through surrogates. ...

Ancient Weapons

The basic tasks a weapon must perform have not changed since ancient times. All weapons do one or more of the following:

As shown by the preceding examples, even simple items such as rocks and sticks can serve these functions better than the human body. The usefulness of such tools made their development of paramount importance for a humanity consisting of small, thinly spread, hunter-gatherer communities. The first known traces of weapons are from the stone age with flint knives, handaxes and heads for large darts. There is no evidence for handaxes being thrown, but very good evidence for them having been used to butcher animals. Instead, darts seem to have been a powerful projectile weapon: anthropologists have thrown reconstructed darts through several inches of oak using atlatls. The broad, leaf-shaped heads penetrate deeply, and easily cut arteries. Pressure (symbol: p or P) is the measure of the force that acts on a unit area. ... In materials science, hardness is the characteristic of a solid material expressing its resistance to permament deformation. ... Mechanical power In physics, power (symbol: P) is the amount of work W done per unit of time t. ... In physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... Stone Age fishing hook. ... Flint tools were made by stone age peoples worldwide. ... traditional Scandinavian puukko knife A knife is a sharp-edged hand tool used for cutting. ... Ax music is a style of popular music which orginated in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. ... Darts are missile weapons, designed to fly such that a sharp, often weighted point will strike first. ... A projectile is any object sent through the air by the application of some force. ... Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial unit of length. ... This article is about oaks (Quercus desert-oak is unrelated, and instead belongs to the genus Allocasuarina. ... The atlatl is a weapon that uses leverage to achieve greater speed in spear-throwing. ... Section of an artery An artery or arterial is also a class of highway. ...

Some weapons are probably much older than the dart, although little early evidence for them exists. These include the sling and the spear. Even though these weapons are quite simple, they were a major military weapon at least until Roman times; a unit of fast-moving skirmishers could be equipped with them at very little cost. Lack of early evidence is understandable, as slings are prone to decay, and it would be difficult to prove that a particular stone has been used as ammunition. Similarly, there is less incentive to put a stone point onto a spear than a dart. A weighted spear point is a liability rather than an asset, and the greater momentum imparted by stabbing makes sharpness less critical than toughness, so that points of bone, antler, or even fire-hardened wood can make more effective spear points. Once metal became available, its toughness made spears and pikes the core of most infantry forces. The word sling may refer to one of the following: A sling (weapon) is a device used to hurl projectiles A sling is one of any sort of mixed alcoholic drink, also known as a cocktail. ... A spear is an ancient weapon, used for hunting and war. ... Skirmishers are soldiers who make up a Skirmish Line. ... Pike can mean: A pole weapon, see pike (weapon) A carnivorous fish, see pike (fish) A programming language, see Pike programming language Stream cipher Pike (cryptography) A male elf character (skilled with his namesake weapon) in the comic book Elfquest Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, see Pi Kappa Alpha Pike is...

Some of the earliest evidence for arrows are from ca. 20,000 BC in the Levant (the so-called 'Geometric Kebaran' period), made with several very small sharp pieces of stone embedded in an arrowshaft. Here again, far earlier examples may have been subject to decay: for instance, some cultures make weighted arrow points by cutting a hollow reed diagonally and filling the end segment with clay. This is an article about the projectile; see Arrow (disambiguation) for other meanings. ... The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ...

Archery and swords have been crucial for warfare. Archery, because of the large amount of energy that can be easily stored and released using a bow, and short swords because of their lethality in close combat. Far greater energy can be stored in a composite bow than a wooden bow of the same weight due to clever mechanical design and choice of materials, but militarily such weapons were mostly limited to use in dry climates since traditional designs are held together by animal glue (chemically similar to gelatin). The long bow makes up for less exotic materials with its larger size. In another tradeoff, short swords can be optimized for either stabbing or chopping; the former focuses on pressure, the latter on energy. The gladius hispaniensis could slip through openings in armor, and Roman doctrine held that a stab wound as shallow as one inch could be lethal. The hatchet-like Greek kopis, by contrast, seems built to dismember, but its point-heavy balance might make it clumsy against comprehensive armor. Archers in Competition Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. ... A sword (from Old English sweord; akin to Old High German swerd lit. ... A bow is a weapon that shoots arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow and/or its string. ... Age of Empires, sometimes abbreviated AoE, is a history-based real-time strategy computer game. ... Gelatin (also gelatine) is a translucent brittle solid, colorless or slightly yellow, nearly tasteless and odorless, that is created by prolonged boiling of connective tissue of animal cadavers. ... The longbow (or English longbow, or Welsh longbow, see below) was a type of bow about 6 feet long used in the Middle Ages both for hunting and as a weapon of war. ... From left to right: Mainz, Fulham, Pompeii, and Pompeii Gladii. ... Roman or Romans has several meanings, primarily related to the Roman citizens, but also applicable to typography, math, and a commune. ... Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial unit of length. ... An illustration showing a kopis with a hook-like hilt. ...

The most effective defense to traditional weapons was a fortress. The doctrines to support fortresses in the age of edged weapons may have greatly influenced medieval and noble history. Medieval siege weapons were used in countervailing doctrines, but the stave-sling and even the bow often had superior range, making them unsafe to use. Fortifications (Latin fortis, strong, and facere, to make) are military constructions designed for defensive warfare. ... A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. ...

Combustion-powered weapons

Firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they store energy in a combustible propellant such as gunpowder, rather than in a weight or spring. This energy is released quite rapidly, and can be restored without much effort by the user, so that even early firearms were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. They became increasingly important and effective during the 16th century to 19th century, with progressive improvements in ignition mechanisms followed by revolutionary changes in ammunition handling and propellant. During the U.S. Civil War various technologies including the machine gun and ironclad warship emerged that would be recognizable and useful military weapons today, particularly in lower-technology conflicts. In the 19th century warship propulsion changed from sail power to fossil fuel-powered steam engines. A firearm is a kinetic energy weapon that fires either a single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced by action of the rapid confined burning of a propellant. ... A propellant is a material that is used to move an object by applying a motive force. ... Gunpowder is a substance which burns very rapidly and is used as a propellant in firearms. ... The Arquebus (sometimes spelled harquebus or hackbut) was a primitive firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. ... Mechanical power In physics, power (symbol: P) is the amount of work W done per unit of time t. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ignition is the act of starting a reaction. ... The word lock came from Anglo-Saxon loca = a secure enclosure. Currently lock has several meanings: A lock (device) a mechanical fastening device which may be used on a door, vehicle, or container. ... Boxes of ammunition clog a warehouse in Baghdad Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. ... The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as the U.S., the Union, the North, or the Yankees; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as the Confederate States of America, the CSA, the Confederacy... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... Ironclad warships, frequently shortened to just ironclads, were ships sheathed with thick iron plates for protection. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga class cruiser. ... A sail is a surface intended to generate thrust by being placed in a wind. ... Coal rail cars in Ashtabula, Ohio Fossil fuels, also known as mineral fuels, are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. ... A steam engine is a heat engine that makes use of the thermal energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ...

The age of edged weapons ended abruptly just before World War I with rifled artillery, such as howitzers which are able to destroy any masonry fortress. This single invention caused a revolution in military affairs and doctrines that continues to this day. See military technology during World War I for a detailed discussion. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... An early Maxim gun in operation The Maxim gun was the first self-acting machine gun. ... Missing image Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Historically, artillery refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ... Loading a WW1 British 15 in (381 mm) howitzer 155 mm M198 Howitzer A howitzer or hauwitzer is a type of field artillery. ... Military technology during World War I, which began in August 1914, reflected a general trend to industrialism and the application of mass production techniques to killing. ...

An important feature of industrial age warfare was technological escalation - an innovation could, and would, be rapidly matched by copying it, and often with yet another innovation to counter it. The technological escalation during World War I was profound, producing armed aircraft and tanks. Industrialisation (or industrialization) or an industrial revolution (in general, with lowercase letters) is a process of social and economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial state . ... The term Technological escalation describes the fact that whenever two parties are in competition, each side tends to employ continuing technological improvements to defeat the other. ... August 1914 marked the end of a relatively peaceful century in Europe with unprecedented invention and new science, becoming a rapid technological escalation during World War I. Dual-use technology, initially designed for civilian use but applied to the task of killing, and defending against means of killing, on the... An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ...

This continued in the period between the end of that war and the next, with continuous improvements of all weapons by all major powers. Many modern military weapons, particularly ground-based ones, are relatively minor improvements on those of World War II. See military technology during World War II for a detailed discussion. Technological escalation during World War II was more in the Pacific, and invention of carrier-type aircraft such as the Mitsubishi Zero, largely considered the best plane of its time. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... German Enigma encryption machine Military technology during World War II played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war. ...

Nuclear Weapons

The greatest development in weaponry since World War II has been the combination and further development of two weapons first used in it - nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile, leading to its ultimate configuration the ICBM. The mutual possession of these by the United States and the Soviet Union ensured that either nation could inflict terrible damage on the other; so terrible, in fact, that neither nation was prepared to instigate direct, all-out war with the other. The indiscriminate nature of the destruction has made nuclear-tipped missiles essentially useless for the smaller wars fought since. However computer-guided weaponry of all kinds, from smart bombs to computer-aimed tank rounds, has greatly increased weaponry's accuracy. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... Polish missile wz. ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... BOLT-117 laser guided bomb Precision-guided munitions (smart munitions or smart bombs) are self-guiding weapons intended to maximize damage to the target while minimizing collateral damage. Because the damage effects of an explosive weapon scale as a power law with distance, quite modest improvements in accuracy (and hence...

Information Warfare

In modern warfare, since all redoubts are traps, maneuver and coordination of forces is decisive, overshadowing particular weapons. The goal of every modern commander is therefore to "operate within the observation-decision-action cycle of the enemy." In this way, the modern commander can bring overwhelming force to bear on isolated groups of the enemy, and tactically overwhelm an enemy. See military technology of the late 20th century.

Traditional military maneuvers tried to achieve this coordination with "fronts" made of lines of military assets. These were formerly the only way to prevent harm to friendly forces. Close-order marching and drill (a traditional military skill) was an early method to get relative superiority of coordination. Derivative methods (such as "leapfrogging units to advance a line") survived into combined arms warfare to coordinate aircraft, artillery, armor and infantry.

Computers are changing this. The most extreme example so far (2003) is the use of "swarm" tactics by the U.S. military in Iraq. The U.S. had instantaneous, reliably encrypted communications, perfect navigation using GPS and computer-mediated communications to aim precision weapons. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ...

In swarm tactics, small units pass through possible enemy territory. When attacked, they try to survive, and call down immediate overwhelming showers of precision-guided air-dropped munitions for armor, and cluster bombs for enemy troops. To consolidate such a region, nearby artillery begin bombardment, and ground units rush in on safe vectors through the bombardments, avoiding them by computer-mediated navigation aids. Cluster bomb exploding A cluster bomb is an air-dropped bomb that ejects multiple small submunitions (bomblets). ...

Thus in modern warfare, satellite navigation systems and especially computers give a decisive advantages to ordinary military personnel armed with weapons that are otherwise unremarkable. Satellite navigation systems use radio time signals transmitted by satellites to enable mobile receivers on the ground to determine their exact location. ... The tower of a personal computer (specifically a Power Mac G5). ...

Types of weapons

There are essentially three facets to classifying weapon types: who uses it, how it works, and what it targets.

How it works refers to the construction of the weapon and how it operates: A personal weapon is a weapon that can be carried and employed by a single person, although their use may be restricted to specialist members of attack or defense teams. ... Crew, the first regular Czech international comic magazine started publication in 1997. ... An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ... A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more large horizontal rotors (propellers). ... A ship is a large, usually decked watercraft. ... USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ... Space Weapons are weapons that are designed to be used in Space or be lauched from space. ...

What it targets refers to what type of target the weapon is designed to attack: Archers in Competition Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. ... Historically, artillery refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ... Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of any organism (bacteria, virus or other disease_causing organism) or toxin found in nature, as a weapon of war. ... Dressing the wounded during a gas attack by Austin O. Spare, 1918. ... The concept of a death ray is generally portrayed as some form of directed energy weapon that projects energy at a person or object in order to destroy them. ... An incendiary device is a device or weapon designed to create a fire. ... A firearm is a kinetic energy weapon that fires either a single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced by action of the rapid confined burning of a propellant. ... An incendiary device is a device or weapon designed to create a fire. ... Non-lethal force is force which is not inherently likely to kill or cause great bodily injury to a living target. ... A mêlée weapon is any weapon that does not involve a projectile--that is, both the user and target of the weapon are in contact with it simultaneously in normal use. ... A missile (British English: miss-isle; U.S. English: missl) is, in general, a projectile—that is, something thrown or otherwise propelled. ... A projectile is any object sent through the air by the application of some force. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... A ranged weapon is any weapon that launches a projectile or that is a projectile itself. ... A projectile is any object sent through the air by the application of some force. ... A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. ... Suicide weapons are weapons designed to kill individuals or destroy military targets at the cost of the users life. ...

American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... An anti-personnel weapon is one primarily used to injure or kill people. ... An anti-submarine weapon is any weapon system designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), that is to attack and destroy enemy submarines and other underwater devices. ... Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ...

Weapons by era

Ancient weapons Melée Club Axe Knife Sword Polearms Spear Javelin Ranged Bow Sling Cavalry Siege Ballista Battering ram Catapult Warships Galley Trireme Armor Shield Fortification City wall Gate Culture specific Greek Hoplite Roman Legion Click to see all eras. ... Medieval weapons Melée Club Mace Morning star Flail Axe Dagger or Knife Rondel Sword War hammer Gudendag Quarterstaff Polearms Lance Spear Pike Halberd Ranged Bow Crossbow Ram Arbalest Arquebus Cavalry Siege Battering ram Ballista Catapult Siege tower Trebuchet Greek fire Warships Galleon Galley Longship Armor Chainmail Gauntlet Shield Plate... Military technology during World War I, which began in August 1914, reflected a general trend to industrialism and the application of mass production techniques to killing. ... German Enigma encryption machine Military technology during World War II played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war. ... Small Arms See also List of firearms Small Arms (Pistols) Semi-automatic handgun Beretta Beretta 92F/FS (M9) Colt Model 1900 Model 1902 Sporting Model 1902 Military Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless Model 1903 Pocket Hammer Model 1905 Military Model 1907 Military Model 1908 Vest Pocket Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless Model... Martial arts Bo-jutsu Kung Fu Jujitsu Judo Aikido Sumo Karate Sambo Wing Chun Capoeira Krav Maga Taekwondo List of martial arts weapons Personal weapons (Melée) Club baton mace nunchaku quarterstaff and bo war hammer pole weapon axe Spear Pike Bill Ahlspiess Bow and archery compound bow Crossbow longbow...

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