Historical Trends Related to Weapon Lethality. Annex Volume 1. Basic Historical Studies
Abstract
The origin of many weapons in the arsenal of fighting men for hundreds and thousands of years is lost in the mass of unrecorded history. The first uses of metal, the invention of the sword, of the bow, and of the spear must all have had dramatic effects on the development of combat effectiveness and, ultimately, tactics but these events were not recorded. In later ages, however, major changes were made in these basic weapons and in the ways in which they were used, and new weapons were introduced, again affecting what men did in battle. Annex 1 discusses the significant changes in weapons that increased their respective lethalities and the resultant, or in some cases the causative, changes in organization and tactics. Part A deals with the relationship of weapons to organization, tactics, and strategy from the 4th Century B.C. to the middle of the 15th Century, when gunpowder began to dominate the battlefield. Part B deals with the Age of Gunpowder, until the Industrial Revolution started to exert its dramatic effect on the implements of war. Part C covers the relationships of weapons and tactics through the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 15, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0458757