Prehistoric weapons
Very simple weapon use has been seen in some communities of chimpanzees.[1], leading to speculation that early hominids may have first used weapons five million years ago.[2] but these would probably have been wooden clubs, spears and unshaped stones—none of which would leave an unambiguous record.
The earliest unambiguous examples of weapons are:
- Eight wooden throwing spears, the Schöninger Speere, which have been dated to around 400,000 years old.[3]
- By 250,000 years ago wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points
- The oldest atlatl (a spear-throwing weapon) dates back to 27,000 years ago.
- Throwing sticks are also one of the earliest type of weapon.
Ancient world weapons
Ancient weapons were initially simply improvements of the late neolithic versions, but then significant improvement in materials and techniques created a series of revolutions in military technology:
- The use of metal, first copper from about 3,300 BC, followed shortly by bronze led to the Bronze Age sword and other similar weapons.
- The domestication of the horse - and the invention of the spoked wheel by the Andronovo culture - led to the light, horse-drawn chariot. Chariots for use in battle were important in this era. The earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca. 2000 BC and their usage peaked around 1300 BC (see Battle of Kadesh), then declined, ceasing to have military importance by the 4th century BC
- Cavalry developed once horses were bred to support the weight of a man
- Iron ore is much more common than the copper and tin required for bronze, so although the early Iron Age sword was not necessarily superior to their bronze predecessors, once iron-working developed - around 1200 BC in the ancient Near East, and India and much later 800 BC in Europe - iron began to be used widely in weapons.
- Aggressive, militaristic empires
- Professional armies.
- Siege weapons such as the battering ram, siege hook, catapult and ballista and Chinese repeating crossbow.
- Advanced fighting ships
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Weapons of the Middle Ages
In the Europe warfare in the middle ages was dominated by elite groups of knights supported by massed infantry (both in combat and ranged roles) and by sieges which involved varying siege weapons and tactics. Knights on horseback developed tactics for charging with lances and drawing more practical weapons (such as swords) once they are delivered the impact of their charge, whereas infantry, in the age before military organisation, relied on cheap, sturdy weapons such as spears and billhooks in close combat and bows at range. As time passed and armies grew more professional, equipment was more standardised and infantry switched to carrying pikes with smaller weapons as side-arms.
The introduction of gunpowder at the end of this period revolutionised warfare, as formations of musketeers, protected by pikemen came to dominate open battles, and the cannon replaced the trebuchet as the premier siege weapon.
Early modern period weapons
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The Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in warfare, with the introduction of guns and rockets to the battlefield.
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 such as the arquebus 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.
The age of edged weapons ended abruptly just before World War I with rifled artillery, such as howitzers which were able to destroy any masonry fortress, as well as destroy other fortifications. This single invention caused a revolution in military affairs and doctrines that continues to this day. See Technology during World War I for a detailed discussion.
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.
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.
Modern weapons
Since the mid-18th century North American French-Indian war through the beginning of the 20th century, human-powered weapons were reduced from the primary weaponry of the battlefield yielding to gunpowder-based weaponry. Sometimes referred to as the "Age of Rifles"[4], 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, the tank and above all the wide introduction of aircraft into warfare, including naval warfare with the introduction of the aircraft carriers. World War I marked the entry of fully industrialized warfare as well as weapons of mass destruction (e.g. chemical and biological), and weapons were developed quickly to meet wartime needs. Above all it promised to the military commanders the independence from the horse and the resurgence in maneuver warfare through extensive use of motor vehicles. The changes that these military technologies underwent before and during the Second World War were evolutionary, but defined the development for the rest of the century. 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. The most powerful weapon invented during this period was the atomic bomb.
Weapon development since the Second World War
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.
Notable development in weaponry since World War II has been the combination and further development of weapons like nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile, leading to the configuration: the ICBM. The Cold War race for bigger and more effective weapons lead to the development of the H-bomb (or hydrogen bomb) and multiple warhead missiles. 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 willing to instigate direct, all-out war with the other (a phenomenon known as Mutually Assured Destruction). 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 precision-guided munitions (or "smart bombs") to computer-aimed tank rounds, has greatly increased weaponry's accuracy.
Being able to prepare, maneuver and attack before the enemy can detect the threat and respond can be a decisive advantage. The element of surprise has long been recognized as a tactical advantage. Modern technology can increase this, such as when one side has sophisticated night vision technology allowing maneuvering and combat at night when the enemy, not so equipped, is limited. High tech surveillance and intelligence gathering methods such as unmanned aerial vehicles can prevent surprise or identify targets. Coordination of forces is necessary in order to utilize separated forces effectively, modern communications, if unjammed and unintercepted are substantial advantages. Even once targets or strategic objectives are identified, it is necessary to prepare detailed plans for individual forces to follow, a time consuming process that modern armies are trying to computerize to achieve an advantage of speed over the enemy.[citation needed]
Since interfering with enemy infrastructure, intelligence and communications yields an advantage, and a weapon is defined as something that grants such an advantage, new targets and weapons such as cyberwarfare are becoming possible.
