A HISTORY OF
THE WORLD IN
10 0 WEAPONS
C H RIS
MCNAB
FO REW O RD BY A N DREW RO BERTS
AHISTORY OF
THE WORLDrN
lOOWEAPONS
OSPREY
PUBLISHING
A HISTORY OF
THE WORLD IN
100 WEAPONS
CH RIS M C N A B
F O R E W O R D BY A N D R E W
R O BER T S
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Osprey Publishing,
M idland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 OPH, UK
44-02 23rd Street, Suite 219, Long Island Cit y, NY 11101, USA
OSPREY PUBLISHING IS PART OF THE OSPREY GROU P.
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Foreword © Andrew Roberts, 2011
Introduction © Chris M cNab, 2011
Parts l-VIII © Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2011
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ISBN: 978 1 84908 520 5
Editing and picture research by Kate
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Index by Alison Worthington
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M oore and Emily Holmes
France
UK
Ltd
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IM PERIAL W A R M USEUM COLLECTIONS
M any of the photos in this book come from the Imperial War M useum's huge collect ions
w hich cover all aspects of conflict involving Britain and the Commonwealth since the start
of the twentieth century. These rich resources are available online to search, browse and buy
at w w w .iw mcollect ions.org.uk. In addition to Collect ions Online, you can visit the Visitor
Rooms where you can explore over eight million photographs, thousands of hours of moving
images, the largest sound archive of its kind in the world, thousands of diaries and letters
written by people in wartime, and a huge reference library. To make an appointment, call
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Imperial War M useum w w w .iw m.org.uk
w w w . o sp r e y p u b l i sh i n g . co m
FRONT COVER: A n 1851 US Navy Co lt. (The Brid geman A rt Library © Civil W ar A rchive); The
So viet T-34/ 76 Mo d el 1943. (A rtw o rk by Jim Laurier © Osprey Publishing Ltd .); A n o rnately
d eco rated halberd mad e fo r the Trabanten Guard in the 16th century. (© W allace Co llectio n,
Lo nd o n/ The Brid geman A rt Library).
BACK COVER: Capture o f Evreux, 1487 fro m Chroniques
de France ou de Saint Denis, (akg-images);
F- 1 5 Eagle (USA F)
EDITOR'S NOTE:
In the compilat ion of this volume we relied on the extensive Osprey library of previous
military history publicat ions. Works of particular relevance were Besieged by Dr Duncan
Campbell, Infantry Tact ics of World War II by Dr Stephen Bull, Nuclear Daw n by James
Delgano, F-15 Eagle Engaged by Steve Davies, The Katana by Dr Stephen Turnbull, B-52
Stratofortress Units in Combat 1955-73 by Jon Lake, Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad
by Ron Field, Nimit iz-Class Aircraft Carriers by Brad Elward, SPAD XIII vs Fokker D VII by
Jon Guttman, Fw 190 vs B-17 by Robert Forsyth, M1 Abrams vs T-72, V-2 Ballistic M issile,
and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Steven J. Zaloga
CONTENTS
FOREW ORD by Andrew Robert s
6
I N TRODU CTI ON
9
THE AN CIEN T W ORLD
12
5 0 0 0 BC - A D 5 0 0
THE M EDIEVAL W ORLD
44
500-1500
THE EARLY M ODERN W ORLD
88
1500- 1800
IM PERIAL W ARS
118
1800- 1914
W ORLD W AR I
160
1914- 18
W ORLD W AR II
208
1939- 45
M ODERN W ARFARE
278
1945- PR ESEN T
ACKN OW LEDGM EN TS
378
ENDNOTES
378
INDEX
379
FOREW ORD
T H E IDEA OF WRIT IN G A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN ONE
The best w eaponry affords defensive as w ell as offensive
hundred w eapons is a truly inspired one, for w arfare
capabilit y, principally t hrough affording the m axim um possible
has been the driving fo rce o f history, and we canno t
physical dist ance bet w een the at t acker and his opponent .
From the day that the first cave dw eller threw a rock at his enemy
really co nsid er the sto ry o f mankind
w ithout
or prey rather t han grappling hand-t o-hand, this principle has
inevitably lo o king at ho w w ars have shaped o ur
governed the development of w eaponry, right the w ay up to the
cultures and societies. That might be a disconcerting
stealth bombers and drones of the present day. To strike yet still
co mment upon the human co nd itio n, but it's
remain out of reach of immediat e count erat t ack: that has alw ays
been the key.
nonetheless true.
M agnificent ly diverse t hough the hundred w eapons presented
Certainly, no -o ne could be better qualified than
in t his superbly illust rat ed book undoubt edly are, I believe that
Dr Chris McNab to write such a definitive bo o k about
all w eapons of w ar can be divided into only eight cat egories.
the interaction betw een w orld history and individual
These " fam ilies" of w eapons com prise:
w eapons. His expertise straddles the centuries and all
the weapon types, as w itnessed by the eclectic nature
Art illery - including cannon, how it zers, shells, and
ant i-aircraft guns
o f the bo o ks that he has either w ritten, edited, o r
contributed to, such as Tools of Violence: Guns, Tanks
and Dirty Bombs, Firearms, Fighting Techniques of the
Oriental W orld, Guns: A Visual History, The
Gunfighters:
AK47,
The Outlaws and Their W eapons,
The
Handheld W eapons - axes, sw ords, pikes, halberds, bayonets,
and suicide vests
Handheld Project iles - longbow s and crossbow s, muskets
and rifles, flamet hrow ers, m achine-guns, hand and
rocket -propelled grenades, and bazookas
M issiles - Roman ballist ae, Greek Fire, torpedoes, V-w eapons,
Machine Gun Story, and Deadly Force: Firearms
American
Law Enforcement,
and
as well as many others.
This tremendous body o f scholarship means that his
readers are in safe hands w hen he tells us about the
w eapons themselves, how they were deployed, ho w
SCUDs, Sidew inders, Exocet s, Tom ahaw ks, Cruise and
int ercont inent al ballist ic missiles
Land Arm or - siege-t rains, heavy-armored cavalry,
and t racked vehicles (primarily t anks)
Seaborne - triremes, ships of the line, submarines,
dreadnought s, cruisers, and aircraft carriers
battlefield tactics evolved to accommodate their lethal
Airborne - zeppelins, fight er planes, poison gas, bombers,
power, and what it was like bo th to wield and try to
helicopt ers, jet fight ers, stealth bombers, and Unm anned
defend against them.
Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
FOREWORD
Bombs: landm ines, dept h charges, at om ic bom bs,
and Im provised Explosive Devices (lEDs)
1
M useum of Tank Const ruct ion at Kubinka, about 40 m iles
out side M oscow . W it h no few er t han four hundred different
t ypes of t ank it is the largest m useum of its kind in t he w orld,
The fascinat ion of t his book lies in how hum an ingenuit y -
and I heart ily recom m end it to any reader of t his book. W hat
and invent ors of t he caliber of M essrs M auser, Br ow ning,
I saw there ent irely support s Dr M cNab in his cont ent ion that
Thom pson, Baker, Gat ling, M axim , Vicker s, Lew is, Colt ,
sheer numbers of m ass-produced but inferior w eapons - such
Kalashnikov, Schm eisser , M esserschm it t , and so on - has
as t he T-34 that t ook on and defeat ed t he better but few er
learnt from past achievem ent s going back cent uries to deliver
Germ an t anks - can overw helm superior w eaponry, and that
ever more efficient ly dest ruct ive pow er. Great com m ander s
sim plicit y of product ion and use is vit al.
have t herefore const ant ly had to innovat e new t act ics, and
Of cour se m any fact ors ot her t han num bers can lead to
on occasion ent irely new st rat egies, in order to m ake t he best
vict or y or defeat in bat t le - cour age, leadership, m orale,
use of new w eaponry.
Int elligence, speed of m ovem ent , lie of t he land, and so on -
Hist orically, people have been quick to learn how to copy,
but none is more import ant t han t he am ount and qualit y of
im prove, and perfect w eapons that have been used against
w eaponry deployed. In t he calendar year 1944, for exam ple,
t hem. The very nat ure of w arfare, w her e enem y w eapons
w hen Brit ain pr oduced 28,000 w ar planes and t he Russians
can be capt ured on t he bat t lefield and inst ant ly analyzed,
and Ger m ans each pr oduced 40,000, t he Unit ed St at es
facilit at es this import ant phenom enon. Alt hough in 1 720 BC
chur ned off t heir pr oduct ion lines no few er t han 98,000
the Hysos invasion of Egypt w as im m easurably aided by t he
w arplanes (several marks of w h ich are included in t his book).
use of com posit e bow s and chariot s, for exam ple, it did not
It w as an incr edible achievem ent , and an unm ist akable
t ake long for the defeat ed Egypt ians to learn from t hem and
point er to w h ich side w o u ld ult im at ely prevail. This book is
use bot h to devast at ing effect t hem selves. Sim ilar ly, m any
full of am azing fact s; I didn't know , for exam ple, that Sam Colt
w eapons int ended in an offensive capacit y can be q u i ckl y
creat ed t he indust rial pr oduct ion line som e 60 years before
adapt ed to defense. Perhaps t he suprem e exam ple of t his
Henr y Ford, but it serves t o rem ind us t hat t he desire for
cam e in M arch 1799 w hen t he Brit ish adm ir al, Sir Sidney
m ilit ary vict ory, even more t han t he desire for f inancial profit,
Smit h, capt ured seven French vessels on t heir w ay to Acr e,
is t he t rue m ainspring of indust rial developm ent .
w hich carried the siege t rain w it h w h ich Napoleon Bonapart e
Som e w eapons can be useful far out side t heir allot t ed hour
had hoped to destroy t he cit y's w alls. On ce mount ed on t hose
in hist ory. Dr M cNab reminds us that t he ancient order to " Fix
self same w alls in defense, the heavy guns meant that Sm it h
bayonet s! " w as heard as recent ly as 2004, w hen a det achment
w as able to deny the French the cit y, and t hus halt Napoleon's
of the Ar gyll and Sut herland Highlander s had to use co ld steel
march on the Orient .
after t hey w ere pinned dow n by Iraqi insurgent s and started to
Very few w eapons have been invent ed and not used, and
run out of am m unit ion. The at t ack w as w holly successful, and
no w eapon can be dis-invent ed, as t he w or ld has discovered
t he cir cum st ances w i l l t hrill t he heart of any reader. As for
w it h the atom bom b. Alt hough Ronald Reagan w as rout inely
other supposedly " obsolet e" w eapons, there are some m ilit ary
denounced as a w arm onger, it w as he w ho decreed in 1986
hist orians w h o argue t hat t he Brit ish Ar m y' s accu r acy,
that the neut ron bom b - w h ich w as capable of killing people
st opping pow er, and rate of fire w o u ld have been higher at
but leaving buildings int act - should no longer be produced,
t he bat t le of W at erloo had it used longbow s inst ead of Brow n
m uch to t he chagr in of its invent or, Sam uel T. Co h en .
Bess musket s.
But such exam ples are rare in hist ory.
In the course of w rit ing my history of the Second W or ld W ar,
Th e sheer aest het ic of som e of t he 1 6t h, 1 7th and 18t h
cent ury w eapons, including t he beaut iful w or km anship of t he
The St orm of War, Lieut enant -Colonel Alexandr Anat olyevich
rapiers, halberds, and arquebuses, is beaut ifully depict ed in
Kulikov, formerly of t he Red Ar m y, show ed me around t he
t his sum pt uous Ospr ey edit ion, m aking t his book som et hing
A H ISTO RY O F TH E W O RLD IN 100 W EA PO N S
of a collect or's item in itself. Yet how ever at t ract ive some of
bom b made out of Plaster of Paris and paint ed over to look
these w eapons might look, w e must not blind ourselves to the
like a kerbst one - have led to over half of all Brit ish and
t errible uses to w h ich t hey w ere designed to be put. In his
Am erican casualt ies in Iraq.
m agist erial Nobel Pr ize Lect ure of 1986, t he great Jew ish
novelist Elie W iesel point ed out that:
Overall for the past half-millennium, the West has had the
edge, especially w hen it comes to retaining control of the air,
w hich proved to be so important in the Second World War and
Of course some wars may have been necessary or inevitable,
other post war conflict s. Yet w it h the Chinese now making
but none was ever regarded as holy. For us, a holy war is a
decisive strides in w eapon t echnology - especially in the field
cont radict ion in terms. War dehumanizes, war diminishes,
of drones, lasers, nuclear-pow ered aircraft carriers, and space
war debases all those who wage it. The Talmud says " Talmidei
- perhaps the West 's days of prim acy are now numbered. It
hukhamim shemarbin shalom baolam" (It is the w ise men
might even be that w hichever count ry can neut ralize its
w ho w ill bring about peace). Perhaps, because w ise men
enemies' space satellites first might decide the future hegemony
remember best.
of the w orld, almost wit hout any fight ing needing to be done
terrestrially. What ever the future holds, w e know that it is vital
So w hat of the future? Technological advances seem to have
to be on the cutting edge of w eapons t echnology, and this book
been developing exponent ially in recent decades, bringing
tells us how this has been achieved over the past millennia.
w it h t hem ever-deadlier w eapons, yet conflict s are becom ing
less likely to be state-on-state affairs so m uch as the kind of
I therefore t ake great pleasure in int roducing this fine book
to you.
guerilla and insurgency w arfare seen around the w orld since
1945, and most not ably recent ly in the Global W ar Against
Andrew Roberts
Terror. Dr M cNab reminds us that IEDs - such as a roadside
Decem ber 2010
INTRODUCTION
TECHNOLOGY IS ONE OF THE M OTIVE POWERS OF
TRA N SFO RM A TIV E W EA PO N S
history. Inventio ns great and small, fro m fire-
Warfare is, sadly for humankind, one of the most t echnologically
making w ooden drills to Global Positioning Satellite
and intellectually productive social conditions. Ever since prehistoric
(GPS), not only reshape individual human existence
but, to varying degrees, human co nscio usness itself.
Think, for example, ho w mo bile p ho nes have
altered
inter-human
relatio ns,
language,
man first grabbed a rock as a "force-multiplier" for his fist, war has
been fundament ally bound up with the attempt to achieve
t echnological superiority over the enemy. The incentives to design
decisive weaponry are powerful. The 19th-century inventor Hiram
and
M axim was experimenting with domestic inventions relating to gas
culture. A t the same time, techno lo gy can act as
and electricity, until one day a friend recommended: " Hang your
an engine o f w ider social and po litical revo lutio n.
electricity. If you want to make your fortune, invent something to
We need only reflect on the invention o f the w heel
help these fool Europeans kill each other more quickly! " True to the
advice, M axim went away and invented the machine-gun, w hich
in Meso po tamia in the 4th millennium BC, o r o n
has been scything down all nationalities, not just Europeans, ever
the application o f steam po w er to transpo rt and
since. M axim's motivation to invent new weaponry was primarily
manufacturing during the Ind ustrial Revo lutio n,
commercial, but warfare also adds further grinding compulsions,
to co mprehend w hat it can achieve. Seminal
such as patriotism, curiosity, and, most important, fear.
techno lo gies such as these can also transfo rm the
nature o f state po w er and internatio nal relatio ns,
This book attempts to view history through the prism of military
invent ion. Any claim to define the " Top 100" of history's most
influential weapons is contentious, and doubtless w ill inspire much
and in so doing lead either to co o peratio n o r - the
debate and disagreement. Broadly speaking, the w eapons here
subject o f this bo o k - co nflict.
have either helped to shape history itself (military or otherwise), or
they act as important snapshots of military t echnology and t act ical
t hinking at a particular moment in time. Examples of the former
include the flint lock musket, w hich became the dominant t ool
of infantry warfare for three cent uries, and the intercontinental
ballist ic missile (ICBM ), the weapon system that defined the politics
of the Cold War. The latter include the German M e 262 fighter jet
and the SCU D missile, weapons that were salient in their field and
time, if only by laying foundations for future developments.
A persistent question underpins this book. W hy do some
w eapons t echnologies succeed, w hile others fail, or at least
| A H ISTO RY O F TH E W O RLD IN 100 W EA PO N S
disappoint? The answer is not straightforward, and can't be
change produced legions of overworked and impractical designs,
resolved simply by point ing to t echnological excellence. In the
as engineers crafted weapons they felt could achieve superiority on
armored battles of World War II, the Germans on many occasions
the battlefield largely by technological virtues. For example, during
fielded armor, artillery, and aircraft that were superior to anything
the 1960s the US Army developed the M 551 Sheridan Armored
the Allies presented, yet they st ill lost the M at erialschlacht
Reconnaissance/ Airborne Assault Vehicle, armed with a dual-
(material warfare), overw helmed by the superior numbers of
purpose M 81E1 152mm gun/ launcher system. The gun/ launcher
often, although not always, inferior weapons.
was designed to fire both conventional high-explosive anti-tank
That example alone, however, gives us one important quality
of
many
influential
w eapons -
w idespread
distribution.
(HEAT) shells and M GM -51 Shillelagh missiles from the same tube,
to cover both medium- and long-range gunnery requirements. In
Regardless of its sophist icat ion, if a w eapon is not delivered
reality, the system was over-complex and inefficient, and the tank's
prolifically, its battlefield effect w ill be limited. Distribution is itself
neglected armor requirements meant that the vehicle suffered high
dependent upon a w hole host of factors, including manufacturing
losses from RPGs and mines during its service in Vietnam. The
processes, production and purchasing budgets, availabilit y of raw
later Abrams tank, by contrast, combined a straightforward, high-
materials, market conditions, and so on. From such complexit y,
velocit y smoothbore cannon with excellent fire control, ease of
the message seems to emerge that in tactical scenarios at least, it
operation, and resilient armor to become arguably the best postwar
is far better to have a simpler weapon in the hands of many than
main battle tank (M BT) in the world.
an advanced weapon in the hands of few. The AK47 assault rifle,
To emphasize simplicit y of use, however, is not to say that the
for example, is act ually a fairly rudimentary firearm, yet the fact
weapon itself cannot be of state-of-the-art technology. Warfare
that 80 m illion AK-t ype w eapons have been distributed since
produces the curious situation in w hich both the brilliance and
1947 has literally reshaped the nature of post-World War II global
brutality of humankind are revealed in the same inventive
conflict . The same could not be said for, say, excellent weapons
act ivit ies. (Think of the development of the V-2 rocket system
such as the Heckler & Koch HK33 or the Beretta AR70/ 90.
during World War II, for w hich an estimated 20,000 slave laborers
died.) Whatever their purpose, it is undeniable that machine-guns,
FUN C TIO N A LITY A ND
SU PERIO RITY
atomic weapons, air-to-air missiles, and helicopter gunships are all
astonishing works of engineering and science. Furthermore, since
The AK47 perfectly illustrates another quality that sets a weapon
1945 w e have entered a world in w hich technology truly can be
apart - functionality. Technology and functionality don't always
king of the battlefield, in the right conditions and as long as it is
meet happily in the middle, as the goals of inventors and the
allied with good tactics and training. In the utterly one-sided 1991
expectations of soldiers are not always the same. W hile a scientist
Gulf War, the US-led coalit ion was quite effortlessly dominant
might strive to invent a w eapon that breaks new boundaries, a
over the t echnologically inferior Iraqi forces. Its major warfighting
soldier wants a robust tool that w ill simply work w ell and keep on
systems were computer linked through aerial and satellite
w orking in ext remis - any w eapon that fails mechanically
surveillance platforms that cast an all-seeing electronic eye over
threatens a warrior's very survival. Similarly, the weapon must also
occupied Kuwait and Iraq. The result was that thousands of Iraqi
be easy to use, as complex procedures tend to be forgotten in the
armored vehicles, artillery pieces, command posts, bunkers, and
midst of battle. During the ancient, medieval, and Early M odern
other facilities were wiped out by air-launched weapons before
periods, simple weapons tended not to be too much of a problem
their crews were even aware they were under attack, and in
at the infantry and cavalry levels, w hich were dominated by
armored engagements US M 1A1 Abrams and British Challenger
blades, staff weapons, and later, m uzzle-loading firearms and
M BTs destroyed their opponents at thousands of yards without
cannon. (Siege warfare admittedly produced plenty of impractical
experiencing significant
engines that consumed more time, effort, and materials than
conventional wars, it does seem that t echnological advantage, as
warranted.) Yet from the 19th century, the pace of t echnological
long as it is of sufficient scale, can be a war-winning element.
return fire. At
least in terms of
INTRODUCTION
CO N TEXTUA L WA R
Ot her t echnologies boast sim ilar aut horit y over hist ory. The
Having argued the case for t echnology, w e need to pull back a
t elegraph, radio, ship's rudder, nuclear pow erplant s, art ificial
little. A w eapon system may w ell be available, easy to use,
light ing, lasers, GPS, st eam engines, int ernal com bust ion
reliable, and t echnologically advanced, but such status st ill,
engines - such invent ions have plugged easily into w arfare as
ironically, doesn't guarantee that it w ill be bat t le-w inning. The
m uch as they have altered civilian lifestyles. M any w ere, in fact ,
fact remains that how ever good the w eapon system, it is st ill
first developed w it hin a m ilit ary cont ext , only later to prove
operated by people, w it h all their fallibilit ies. The w ay w eapons
valuable for w ider, more equable living. Hist orians, for inst ance,
are applied t act ically, above everyt hing, is crit ical t o what they
often credit Henry Ford w it h est ablishing product ion line
achieve. The Soviet T-34 tank, for example, is rightly included in
assem bly, but in act ual fact Sam uel Colt w as using such
this book, but its achievement s w ould have been that m uch
processes 60 years earlier t o manufact ure his revolvers. The
greater had t housands not been w ast ed t hrough amat eurish
boundaries bet w een civilian and m ilit ary t echnology are
Soviet t act ics and t raining -
only its huge volum es and
therefore more blurred than w e care to admit . It often doesn't
except ional qualit ies saved it from complet e annihilat ion at the
t ake m uch to " w eaponize" a civilian t echnology, or turn t he
hands of skilled German tank and anti-tank gun crew s. Looking
core t echnology of a w eapon to more gent le purposes.
further back in time, the pike was little more than a long w ooden
pole with a spike on one end, but used in intelligent fashion by
PA ST, PRESEN T, A ND FUTURE
Swiss pikemen or Landsknecht mercenaries during the 15th and
Go ing back to our earlier quest ion about w hy some w eapons
16th cent uries, it becam e a w eapon that unnerved an ent ire
succeed and others fail, our analysis hasn't ent irely led us to a
continent. In modern t imes, professional soldiers often right ly
definit ive answ er. Essent ially, the viabilit y and performance of
claim that training w ill more than compensat e for even mediocre
a w eapon system depends on m yriad m echanical, indust rial,
equipment. (For many years, the US M arine Corps virt ually w ore
personal, and t act ical fact ors all com ing t oget her in a single
outdated w eapons and equipment
as badges of honor.)
device, and at an advant ageous time and place. Furthermore, in
Follow ing the 1991 Gulf War, many US Arm y tank crew s even
one cont ext a w eapon syst em can excel, w hile in ot hers it
suggested that the out come of their armored battles w ould st ill
becom es a posit ive burden - a 50-t on M BT is a force t o be
have been the same if they had been riding in Iraqi T-72s and the
reckoned w it h in open landscape, but st ick it in narrow , rubble-
Iraqis had their M 1A1 Abrams.
On e other cont ext ual point t o remember
strewn streets w it hout adequat e infantry cover, then it suddenly
is that t he
becom es as aw kw ard and vulnerable as a w ounded dinosaur.
t echnology doesn't necessarily have to be of the fight ing variet y
W hat w e have here, nevertheless, are 100 w eapons that seem
to dict at e the terms of conflict . In fact , alt hough out side t he
t o punch t hrough t his com plexit y to t ake a deserved place in
scope of this book, there are numerous non-martial t echnologies
hist ory. The t echnological journey w e shall m ake from the
that have helped mold the face of warfare. The scale and human
ancient past to the com put erized present is huge, and leads us
cost of wars, for example, w ere magnified enormously by the
from fire-hardened w ooden spears t hrough to sea-skim m ing
introduction of the railw ays during the 19th cent ury. Railw ays
guided ant i-ship missiles. Such a journey is t echnologically
enabled the effective deployment and sustenance of mass armies
fascinat ing, but w e should alw ays remind ourselves that the end
in the field, increasing both the regularit y and size of battles,
result is endlessly, t erribly, the same - people die or suffer a
and driving up the death t olls commensurat ely. It is noteworthy
lifetime of debilit at ing injury. That same result w ill unfortunately
that the US Civil W ar (1861-65) w as the first major conflict to
be played out thousands, perhaps m illions, of times in the future,
rely on rail supply, and it cost the Unit ed States 600,000 dead -
w hen w eaponry promises to achieve levels of sophist icat ion that
more than the deat h t oll of all subsequent US conflict s
make science fict ion appear nost algic. W e must therefore
combined - w it h battles at an average frequency of one every
approach the study of fight ing t echnology w it h fascinat ion, but
four days.
also w it h humilit y and a cert ain t repidat ion.
FLINT AXE
T H E SPECIFIC ORIGINS OF H UM A N KI N D ' S FIRST WEA PO N S
W EA PO N S OF O PPO RTUN ITY
are lost in time. At so me po int in prehistory, human
Dur ing the St one Age, w hich roughly takes history up to about
beings picked up sticks o r ro cks with violent intent,
3000 BC, primit ive w eaponry gradually became more pract ical.
and smashed them into o ther peo ple, aw akening
W h ile t he first com bat t ools w ould have been object s of
a w orld o f dark po ssibilities. Thus, unfo rtunately,
opport unit y picked from a tree or from the ground, over t ime
the available mat erials w ere shaped and crafted specifically for
w ere the beginnings o f a techno lo gical evo lutio n
t he purpose of killing or inflict ing injury. St icks, for exam ple,
that w ould eventually lead to Stealth fighters and
w ere cr udely sharpened, and t heir point s fire-hardened to
GPS-guid ed bo mbs.
m ake spears. In due course, t hese spears received separate
heads m ade from splint ers of st one or bone, increasing both
penetration and the severity of the injury inflict ed. Indeed, some
early spears w ere specifically designed to leave their spearhead
inside the vict im w hen the spear w as w it hdraw n, m axim izing
the w ounding effect.
In terms of bladed w eapons, evidence from across Asia and
Af r ica indicat es that basic st one cut t ing implement s w ere in
BELO W : A n early example o f a simple flint axe head discovered
in rural England and now ho used in the Devizes Museum.
(The A rt A rchiv e)
1
T H E A N C I E N T W O R L D 5 0 0 0 B C - A D 5 0 0 117
A BO V E: A beautiful examp le o f an axe-head fro m the N eo lithic
t hese t echniques, hence flint w eaponr y - be it ar r ow heads,
p erio d and d isco vered in W iltshire, England - the same co unty
speart ips, knives, or t he f lint axe feat ured here - r eached
w here Sto nehenge is fo und . The N eo lithic p erio d is characteriz ed
co n sid er ab le
levels of sophist icat ion.
In areas w it h a
by the advent o f gro und and p o lished axe head s. O rig inally flint
w as the metal o f cho ice but it w as increasingly rep laced w ith o ther
hard er-w earing metals w hen these becam e available, (akgimages/ Erich Lessing)
vo l can i c geology, obsidian w as anot her st one ideally suit ed
t o cr eat ing pr essur e-f laked blades, w h i ch had edges oft en
r ivalin g t hose of m oder n blades in t erms of shar pness,
alt hough not in dur abilit y. Blades co u l d eit her be st raight
use up to 2.5 m illion years ago. Over t im e, t he t echniques of
edged or serrat ed, t he latter useful for cut t ing t hrough bone
lit hic reduct ion refined the rudiment ary blades - by ch ip p in g
or grist le w hen preparing meat .
aw ay flakes of rock w it h a ham m erst one, a single rock co u l d
acquire a relat ively pr act ical cut t ing edge. Thus prehist oric
LEV ERA GE A ND PO W ER
man w as able t o pr oduce a basic range of knives, w h i ch
Br in gin g t oget her im p r o ved blades w it h t he p r in cip les of
w o u ld serve as bot h hunt ing and co o ki n g im plem ent s.
lever age, bat t le axes w er e d evelo p ed t hat w er e easily
It w ouldn' t t ake m uch of a leap of im aginat ion to r ealize
cap ab le of inf lict ing a fat al head injury or shat t ering a lim b
that a blade t hat co u l d kill an anim al, co u l d do t he sam e
bone. St one axes w o u l d be am ongst t he most highly pr ized
to a hum an.
of prehist oric w eapons. Exam ples from t he Neo lit h ic period
At some point dur ing t his vast period of t im e, t w o cr it ical
t yp i cal l y feat ure a cut t ing head (or a m or e r ounded cl u b
changes occur r ed. First , f ixin g a bladed w eapon t o a hilt or
head) fit t ed int o a part ially split or bored-t hrough har dw ood
gr ip signif icant ly im pr oved its pow er t hrough p r in cip les
haft , and lashed f ir m ly int o p lace w it h an im al
sinew .
of leverage, w h i l e also p r o vid in g a pr ot ect ive dist ance,
Great er adhesion bet w een head and shaft w as achieved by
albeit a sm all one, bet w een user and prey/ vict im . Second,
using birch-t ar, one of hist ory's earliest glues. Som e designs
t echniques of lit hic reduct ion w ere signif icant ly im pr oved,
w er e even m or e elabor at e, f it t ing t he axe head int o a
in clu d in g t he use of " pressure f lakin g" - using ant ler or
sleeve of ant ler or horn, w h i ch w as in t urn b o u n d t o t he
bone to ch i p off very sm all pieces of r ock, p r o d u cin g a
shaft . Th e sleeve served t o lessen t he im pact on t he st one
more refined edge. Flint w as par t icular ly r esponsive t o
w h en t he axe w as being used, w h i ch in t urn r educed t he
A H ISTO RY O F TH E W O RLD IN 100 W EA PO N S
risk of split t ing t he haft. Axe head shape varied from very
broad, rounded conf igur at ions to long, t hin blades that
creat ed a basic adze.
The hafts from St one Age axes have not survived to the
present day. Yet based on later exam ples, haft lengt h w as
likely to have been a fact or in separat ing w ar axes from
general-purpose hand axes. Battle axes t ypically have a
haft about t he lengt h of an adult hum an's arm, providing
m axim um pract ical leverage and fight ing dist ance. Such
devices laid t he foundat ions of the very idea of w eaponry
it self, w h ich once m et al-w orking arrived w ould reach new
height s of let halit y.
LEFT: Tw o examp les o f flint axes d ating fro m 1 millio n BC o r the
Paleo lithic p erio d , d isco v ered by archaeo lo gists in France, (akgimages/ A lbum/ Oro no z)
BOW
T H E BO W WA S A T RUE GA M E- CH A N GER I N T H E HISTORY
o f w eapo ns d evelo pment. Its o rigins, as w ith
SELF BO W S
These early w eapons w ould have been rudiment ary self bow s
so many ancient w eapo ns, are uncertain. Sto ne
(or sim ple bow s), made from a single piece of w ood, horn, or
arrow heads have been d isco vered in A frica that
bone and st ringed w it h eit her t ough plant mat erial or anim al
date back to 40000- 25000 BC, and it is believed
sinew . At first the bow w ood w as likely to have been
unseasoned and green, a t ype that w as easily available but had
that flighted arrow s pro bably appeared befo re
limit ed durabilit y and pow er. The event ual sw it ch to seasoned
18000 BC. By the Meso lithic ( 20000- 7500 BC )
w oods provided far great er propert ies of com pression and
and Neo lithic perio d s, ( 7500- 3500 BC), w e have
release, increasing t he range and t he force (and hence t he
cave artw orks specifically depicting hunters killing
penet rat ion) of the w eapon. Classic bow w oods are ash, oak,
antelope, bear, and o ther large creatures w ith bo w
and arrow s.
O PPO SITE: A beautiful A ssyrian relief sho w ing King
A shubanipal on his chario t fro m the ancient palace o f Nineveh,
w hich was lo cated on the banks o f the Tigris no w in mo d ernday Iraq. The relief dates fro m c. 650 BC and clearly show s the
use o f a co mpo site bow by the king w hile on a hunting trip.
(The A rt A rchive)
elm, and yew , w hich in their seasoned forms, and properly cut ,
A H ISTO RY O F TH E W O RLD IN 100 W EA PO N S
specim ens from Denm ark measure up to 5ft 6in (1.7m) in
lengt h. Yet archery t ruly cam e of age in the M iddle East and
Asia during the Bronze Age (about 3500-700 BC), alongside
the int roduct ion of w orked metals. M etal arrow heads offered
better penet rat ion com pared to most st one t ypes, and
co uld be craft ed int o shapes that delivered more serious
injuries, such as backw ard-facing barbs that were harder to
ext ract from the body. M etal tools also made the process of
bow m aking m uch more cont rollable, leading to a fascinat ing
variet y of bow shapes and sizes. Bow s becam e curved,
recurved, double curved, asymmet ric, t riangular, or B-shaped,
each delivering different pow er charact erist ics.
C O M PO SITE BO W S
M at erial const ruct ion also m oved forw ard. " Backed" bow s
appeared, these m ult iplying the elast ic properties of the self
bow by gluing strips of bone or anim al sinew to the back of
t he st ave. M ore sophist icat ed yet w as the com posit e bow ,
t ypically m ade of t hree layers of mat erial - a w ooden core
w it h anim al horn glued to the face of the stave and sinew to
t he back. Com posit e bow s w ere t ypically shorter t han self
bow s, but they gave except ional pow er - their pull w eight s
could reach 1501b (68kg) - m aking them ideal for both foot
A BO V E: The first surv iv ing rep resentatio n o f the co m p o site bo w is
that carried by N aram -Sin, an ancient king o f M eso p o tam ia w ho
reigned in the 3rd century BC . This is a sectio n o f his v icto ry
m o nu m ent w hich is no w held in the Lo uv re M useum and his
attend ants are sho w n carry ing co m p o site bo w s. (M usee N atio nal
du Lo uv re, Paris, SB4. Field s-Carre Co llectio n)
provide both the strength and t he elast icit y needed for a good
bow . Pow er w as im proved by cut t ing t he bow so that t he
sapw ood sat on the bow face w hile t he heart w ood w as on t he
inside - t he sapw ood w as more f lexible, m eaning t he bow
could be draw n back further, w hile the heart w ood gave good
propert ies of com pression, both these features adding to the
strength of the bow release.
Som e of the earliest ext ant exam ples of bow s com e
from nort hern Europe (part icularly Denm ar k and nort hern
Germ any), and dat e back as far as 9000 BC. In their unst rung
form they have either a straight or slight ly curved shape, and
BELO W : Tw o Turkish co mp o site bo w s and o ne set o f arro w s.
Desp ite its small size, the co mp o site bo w co uld pull w eights up
to 1501b (68kg ). (akg-images/ Erich Lessing)
T H E A N C I E N T W O R L D 5 0 0 0 B C - A D 5 0 0 121
A BO V E: A n artistic recreatio n o f Parthian ho rsem en fro m the
3rd century A D. Parthian ho rse-archers relied o n the co m p o site
bo w as their main w eapo n o f attack fo r o ver five centuries.
Assyr ian w ar r ior s f rom t he 3r d m i l l en n i u m BC (see next
ent ry). They r evolut ionized t he art of m issile w arfare, gi vi n g
t he range and penet rat ion t hat m ade bow s let hally pr act ical
(A rtw o rk by A ngus M cBrid e © Osp rey Publishing Ltd .)
bat t lef ield w eapo ns.
Ar ch er s co u l d
w or k
dism ount ed,
oper at ing in unit s to deliver vo l l ey fire, w h i l e ot hers such
soldiers and mount ed w arriors. Com posit e bow s had superior
as t he Scyt hians and Part hians co u l d fight from hor seback,
range com par ed to t he self bow , despit e t he reduct ion
using d o u b le-ar ch ed co m p o sit e bo w s on t he m o ve w it h
in lengt h. W h en t he people of Hykso s invaded Egypt , for
ast ounding pr ecision.
exam ple, ar ound 1720 BC, t he Egypt ians f ound that t heir
By t he t im e of t he rise of ancient Gr eece and Rom e in t he
rivals' com posit e bow s out ranged t heir self bow s by up t o
1st m illennium BC, t herefore, archery had est ablished it self
200yds (182m). The gradual 50-year t akeover of Egypt by t he
as a key com ponent of bot h cavalr y and infant ry w arfare,
Hyksos w as not only a milit ary affair, but the use of com posit e
alt hough t he skill required to be a good archer meant bow m en
bow s, am ongst ot her t echnologies (such as t he penet rat ing
st ill largely f orm ed t he secondar y port ions of t he ranks.
axe and t he chariot ), w as a root cause of t heir success.
Com posit e bow s w ere first used w it h m ilit ar ily signif icant
effect by char iot -bor ne Sum er ian, Hit t it e, Egypt ian, and
Bow s gave soldiers a let hal ity that w asn't dependant on sheer
m uscle, augur ing t he " dem ocr at izat ion" of t he bat t lefield
event ually brought by firearm s.
CHARIOT
T H E WA R CH A RI O T EM ERGED O UT OF T H E FUSI O N OF
M O BILE W A RFA RE
tw o fund amental so cial d evelo p ments. First w as
The synergy between horse and w heeled cart therefore began its
the inventio n o f the w heel - evid ence for w heeled
journey. By the 3rd m illennium BC, horse-pow ered carts were
vehicles, mainly unw ieldy carts, dates back to the
fam iliar, alt hough the hefty nat ure of early cart s meant that
Mid d le East o f the 4th millennium BC. At ro ughly
oxen w ere preferred for pulling heavy loads. Yet during this
m illennium t he m ilit ary also saw the pot ent ial of the new
the same time, ho rses became d o mesticated rather
t ransport at ion. Evidence suggests that the Sumerians produced
than w ild fo o d, although these animals w ould have
the predecessor of the w ar chariot , the "battle w agon." These
been generally small and w eak co mp ared to many
w ere essent ially boxy w ooden carts set on four solid w ooden
o f today's creatures.
w heels and draw n by a pair of onagers. W it hin the cart stood
a javelin-ar m ed soldier, next to the driver. Both speed and
m aneuverabilit y
w ere unim pressive -
t he cart
probably
delivered lit t le more t han a hum an running pace and the
four-w heel design meant it w ould have been hard to turn out of
a straight line. But change w as on the horizon...
True w ar chariot s emerged around 2000 BC, possibly in
Cent ral Asia. The four w heels w ere replaced by only two, these
support ing a small t w o-m an plat form made of a lighter w ood
frame, t ypically cedar, w it h a floor made from leather straps.
O PPO SITE: A unit o f Egyptian chario ts d eplo y for battle,
as displayed on the Qad esh relief, at the temple o f Rameses II,
cut into the ro ck at A bydo s. No te the line o f sp ear-armed
tro o ps, w ho co uld be runners o perating in suppo rt o f the
chario ts. (Field s-Carre Co llectio n)
O PPO SITE PA GE, TO P: The Battle Standard o f Ur is
a Sumerian artifact disco vered in the 1920s during an
archaeo lo gical dig in the ancient city o f Ur lo cated in
mo d ern-d ay Iraq (so uth o f Baghd ad ). The scene, w hich w ould
have o nce ad o rned the royal cemetery, show s fo ur-w heeled
battlew ago ns equipped w ith quivers co ntaining sho rt spears.
(British Museum, Lo nd o n, W A 121201. Field s-Carre Co llectio n)
^^
...Avoid making contact with the stone, so that y ou will not injure y our horses and
wreck y our chariot, which would be a joy for y our opponents and a distress to y ou.
Homer, The Iliad, 23, 334-
BELO W : A recreatio n o f an ancient Ro m an lamp
A t w o-m an crew fulfilled the same roles - driver and fight er.
w ith a scene o f a chario t race in the Circus M axim us.
The soldiers also w ore armor, usually made from t hick layers
(akg-images/ No rth W ind Picture A rchiv es)
of anim al skin protected by scales of bronze or copper. Pulled
by the best horses the state could find, these chariot s w ere fast
- t op speed w as about 24m ph (39km/ h) - and nim ble.
The chariot 's appearance on the bat t lefield had t he same
disrupt ive effect on t act ics, at least on regions w it h conducive
flat lands, as t anks w ould have in the 20t h cent ury. Their use
spread rapidly, rippling out w ards from Cent ral Asia into the
M iddle East, India and East Asia, and upw ards t hrough
the M edit erranean into Europe. In doing so, t he design w as
perfected, part icularly by the Egypt ians, w hose t akeover by the
Hyksos from 1720 BC had first int roduced t hem to chariot
warfare. The Egypt ians replaced the t w o solid w heels w it h far
lighter spoked w heels, and m oved the chariot axle from the
front or m iddle of the plat form to the rear, producing a m uchimproved t urning circle. The Egypt ians also largely replaced
the javelin w it h the com posit e bow (see previous entry) as the
primary chariot w eapon. Indeed, the com posit e bow / chariot
becam e the defining pairing, the chariot providing fast
deployment , w hile the bow gave long-range killing capabilit y.
y y
22
A H ISTO RY O F TH E W O RLD IN 100 W EA PO N S
CH ARI O TS IN ACTI O N D U RI N G TH E ROM AN I N V ASI ON O F BRITAIN , 55 BC
^ ^
Their
[the Brit ons'] m ode of fight ing w it h t heir
chariot s is t his: first ly, t hey drive about
in all
retreat to t heir ow n t roops. Thus they display in battle
t he speed of horse, [together w it h] t he firmness of
direct ions and t hrow t heir w eapons and generally
infant ry; and by daily pract ice and exercise attain to
break the ranks of t he enem y w it h the very dread of
such expert ness that they are accust om ed, even on a
t heir horses and the noise of t heir w heels; and w hen
declining and steep place, to check their horses at full
they have w orked t hemselves in bet w een t he t roops
speed, and manage and turn t hem in an instant and
of horse, leap from t heir chariot s and engage on foot .
run along the pole, and st and on the yoke, and t hence
The chariot eers in t he meant ime w it hdraw som e little
bet ake t hemselves w it h the greatest celerit y to their
dist ance from the battle, and so place t hemselves w it h
chariot s again.
yy
the chariot s that, if t heir masters are overpow ered by
t he num ber of t he enem y, t hey may have a ready
- Julius Caesar'
T H E A N C I E N T W O R L D 5000 B C - A D
500
A BO V E: The famo us statue o f Bo ud icca, queen o f the Iceni, a Celtic
encount ers, t he o ppo sing forces w o u l d t hunder at each
tribe, w ho led an uprising against the o ccupying fo rces o f the Ro man
anot her, fire t heir arrow s on t he fly, t hen m ut ually about t urn
Empire. Despite their use o f w ar chario ts, the Celts w ere eventually
(m aint aining fire on the turn) - no one w ant ed to risk w r ecking
o verpo w ered by the better-o rganized Ro man fo rces. (i-Sto ck)
LEFT: The battle o f Kadesh in 1274 BC is o ne o f the mo st famo us
battles o f the ancient w o rld. It w as a co lo ssal enco unter betw een the
tw o -man Egyptian chario t and the three-man Hittite chario t.
an expensive chariot t hrough cr ashing int o each ot her. Th e
Egypt ians also pioneer ed chariot s as a def ensive shield for
t he infant ry. The infant ry w o u ld advance behind t he chariot s,
t he chariot s f ight ing off enem y chariot s and br inging t heir
The latter displayed a m ajo r advance in chario t techno lo g y as they
w ere the first to use a spear in co njunctio n w ith a chario t. The battle
was a stalemate. (A rtw o rk by A d am Ho o k © Osprey Publishing Ltd .)
infant ry up close for a rapid assault on t he enem y lines.
In time, chariot s becam e a visible representation of milit ary
w ealt h, and chariot battles grew to epic proport ions - at t he
battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, an est imat ed 5,000 chariot s w ere
CHA RIO T TA CTICS
involved. Yet by the end of the 1st m illennium BC, chariot s had
Tact ically, chariot s provided a means to assault infant ry ranks
largely disappeared from warfare. Several factors w ere involved
at range, inflict ing at t rit ion and disrupt ing form at ions. They
in t heir vanishing, including chariot s' unsuit abilit y for use on
did so by zip p in g across t he bat t lefield at speed, closing to
com plex terrain, the increasing use of im proved archery w it hin
w it hin bow range - but st aying out side that of t he self bow s
t he infant ry and more pow erful cavalr y forces - individual
used by many enem y foot -archers - and loosing show ers of
mounts could out pace the chariot . Yet they w ere used effectively
arrow s int o t he unfort unat e soldiery. If t he enem y char ged,
as far afield as Brit ain as late as the 1 st cent ury BC, and in many
the chariot eers could about t urn and disappear at speed, but
places they lingered on into t he new m illennium . W hat chariot s
if t he enem y spread out , t hey w ould provide m ore isolat ed
demonst rat ed w as that firepow er co uld be t ransformed by
targets for t he chariot eers to pick off. In chariot versus chariot
mobilit y, a lesson that remains true to this day.
23