Fire power is a military concept rooted in the ability to direct a heavy weight of metal onto an enemy or enemy possesion as measured by the concept of rate of fire. The concept is taught as one of the key principles of modern warfare wherein the enemy forces are destroyed or have their will to fight reduced to insignificance by sufficient and preferably overwhelming use of fire power on the field of battle.

Through the ages fire power has come to mean offensive power applied at a distance, as there is an immediate dissonance with the thought of one-on-one close quarters combat. Fire power is thus something which is employed to keep the enemy forces outside such ranges where even having superior numbers he can be defeated in detail or be sapped of his will to continue the contest of arms, and thus surrender his greater forces to the lesser force possessing the higher fire power. Defeat in detail is a military phrase referring to the tactic of bringing a large portion of ones own force to bear on a small enemy unit, rather than engaging the bulk of the enemy force. ...

History of fire power

The earliest forms of warfare that might be called fire power were the slingers of the Roman Legions and archery of the Parthanons, a Persian special cavalry unit. Eventually, the feared Huns would employ the composite bow and light cavalry tactics to shower arrow storms upon enemy forces, which later ability traveled to Great Britain, and it's famed Long bowmen during the various English-French conflicts known as the Hundred Years' Wars well before the Renaissance. A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt missile such as a stone, it is also known as the shepherds sling to distinguish it from other meanings. ... The Roman legion (from Latin legio, from legere — to collect) was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army. ... For other uses of this term see: Persia (disambiguation) The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... Many historians consider the Huns (meaning person in Mongolian language) the first Mongolian and Turkic people mentioned in European history. ... Hun bow The Hun bow is an asymmetric, composite and recurve bow. ... 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. ... A map of Europe in the 1430s, near the end of the Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War is the name modern historians have given to what was actually a series of related conflicts, fought over a 116-year period, between England and France, and later Burgundy; beginning in... In the traditional view, the Renaissance is understood as an historical age that was preceded by the Middle Ages and followed by the Reformation. ...

Examples of fire power

• Battle of Crecy
• Battle of Agincourt
• Operation Desert Storm
• Second Gulf War
• Invasion of Iraq 2003

The Battle of Cr cy took place on August 26, 1346, near Cr cy-en-Ponthieu, in the Somme d partement of northern France and was one of the defining combats of arms of the Hundred Years War. ... Combatants Kingdom of England Kingdom of France Commanders Henry V of England Charles dAlbret Strength 5,900 troops 900 men-at-arms and 5,000 archers (Longbowmen) 36,000 troops 11,200 mounted men-at-arms, 18,000 dismounted men-at-arms, 6,800 crossbowmen(few archers) Casualties 150... Combatants U.S.-led coalition Iraq Commanders George H. W. Bush, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan Al-Majid, Hussein Kamel Strength 660,000 ~545,000 Casualties 345 dead, 1,000 wounded 25,000 - 100,000 dead, 100,000 - 300,000 wounded The 1991 Gulf War (also Persian... There have been three conflicts in the late 20th century and early 21st century called the Persian Gulf War; two are occasionally referred to as the Second Gulf War: Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) (aka Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War). ...

See also

External links