Weaponry: A History :: essays research papers

Weaponry: A History   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is the most destructive power in history? Is it a rocket torpedo that shoots straight to the surface from a submarine, flies through the air toward an enemy sub, and then dives at its target? Is it the electrically powered machine gun that spews out 110 rounds per second to obliterate its opponent completely? Maybe it’s an intercontinental ballistic missile armed with nuclear warheads, capable of killing hundreds of thousands with a single atomic bomb. Then again, is it the tank with thermal-imaging sight that senses an enemy vehicle’s heat so it can see—and kill—even it total darkness?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Actually, it is none of these. One must go all the way back to the beginning of weapons development, when humans first figured out that certain tools made warfare a lot more effective. A person’s arm, for example, could not throw a stone or stick very far, so people devised slings and sharp tips to let their projectiles travel farther, faster and land harder. Iron-tipped spears, javelins and swords came into existence when humans learned to use and shape metals thousands of years ago. Other early warfare devices included bows and arrows, catapults , and with the domestication of the horse, the horse-driven chariot.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  None of these primitive weapons seem to answer the above question, so skip ahead to the transport of gunpowder from China to Europe in the thirteenth century. With the introduction of gunpowder, the armor of the famed â€Å"knights in shining armor† gradually became useless against the penetration of ammunition shot from a harquebus, musket, or cannon . By the fourteenth century, most European armies used gunpowder, rockets and other explosives in warfare. Yet the art of war was revolutionized again by the revolver and the automatic firearm in the nineteenth century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first major war to use the rapid-fire guns was WWI. New contraptions were needed to protect the soldiers, now huddled in trenches, unable to move, let alone fight. Enter the tank. Infantry could now be on the offensive. Progress in the building of warships led to stronger, more lethal submarines that fired torpedoes from beneath the waves. Torpedo-boat â€Å"destroyers† were then created to combat the submarines.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Germany’s defeat in WWI led to its development of ballistic missiles, one of the inventions that reformed warfare again. Advances in automatic weapons and aviation were the latest innovations on the battlefront. However, it was the deadliest weapon ever created- the atomic bomb- that decided and ended the war once and for all.