A weapon is a tool which can be used during combat to kill or incapacitate, to destroy property, or
to otherwise render resources non-functional or unavailable. It may be used to
attack and defend, and consequently also to threaten. The use of weapons
has been recorded since the advent of cave painting, and the process has
been formulated resulting in both martial arts and strategic doctrines.
Metaphorically, anything used to damage (even psychologically) can be
referred to as a weapon. A weapon can be as simple as a club or as
complex as an intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM).
For a comprehensive list of weapons and doctrines see military technology and equipment.
History
From the earliest traces of mankind up to our modern civilization, weapons have been a facet of human development. Weapons
development has accelerated along with other areas of technology in more modern times. In ancient times, from the dawn of
humanity through the Classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, weapons were primarily extensions of an individual's strength, essentially
making up for the human body's lack of natural weapons such as claws. These weapons allowed the bearer to be substantially more
lethal than a similar human without such a weapon.
The Medieval period, including the Middle Ages, marked a period of
distinct advancement in weaponry. Due to some of the unique influences of the period, weapons revolved around two major areas.
First was that of knights. These horsemen required new weapons, as well as promoting development of weapons to defeat them.
Second was that of castles. The building of castles on a large scale necessitated new weapons to help defend and attack them.
The Rennaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of
technological devices in warfare. The most long-lasting effect of this was the introduction of cannon and firearms to the
battlefield, where they are still at the core of modern weaponry. However, many other machines of war were experimented with.
From the American Revolution through the beginning of the
20th Century, human-powered weapons were finally excluded from the
battlefield for the most part. Sometimes referred to as the Age of Rifles, 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.
World War I marked the entry of fully industrialized warfare, and weapons
as well were developed quickly to meet wartime needs. Many new tecnologies were developed, particularly in the development of
military aircraft and vehicles. 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. Ultimately, the most powerful of all invented weapons was the
nuclear bomb.
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.
Ancient Weapons
The basic tasks a weapon must perform have not changed since ancient times. All weapons do one or more of the following:
- Concentrate pressure: the sharp end of a broken stone or pointed stick will
apply more pressure, and do more harm, than the blunt end; similarly. A material's hardness determines its ability to apply or resist pressure.
- Store energy: an object accumulates kinetic energy as a person accelerates it, and
releases this energy in a much shorter time frame upon impact, thus magnifying a person's power.
- Project force: a thrown rock or long stick allow a person to affect an adversary from
a distance.
As shown by the preceeding examples, even simple items such as rocks and sticks can serve these functions better than the
human body. The usefulness of such tools made their development of paramount importance for a humanity consisting of small, thinly spread, hunter-gatherer communities. The first known traces of weapons are
from the stone age with flint knives, handaxes and heads
for large darts. There is no evidence for handaxes being thrown,
but very good evidence for them having been used to butcher animals. Instead, darts seem to have been a powerful projectile weapon: anthropologists have thrown reconstructed darts through several
inches of oak using atlatls. The broad, leaf-shaped heads penetrate deeply, and easily cut arteries.
Some weapons are probably much older than the dart, although little early evidence for them exists. These include the sling and the spear. Even though these weapons are quite
simple, they were a major military weapon at least until Roman times; a unit of fast-moving skirmishers could be equipped with them at very little cost. Lack of early evidence is understandable, as slings
are prone to decay, and it would be difficult to prove that a particular stone has been used as ammunition. Similarly, there is
less incentive to put a stone point onto a spear than a dart. A weighted spear point is a liability rather than an asset, and the
greater momentum imparted by stabbing makes sharpness less critical than toughness, so that points of bone, antler, or even
fire-hardened wood can make more effective spear points. Once metal became available, its toughness made spears and pikes the core of most infantry forces.
Some of the earliest evidence for arrows are from ca. 20,000 BC in the Levant (the so-called 'Geometric Kebaran' period), made with several very small sharp pieces of
stone embedded in an arrowshaft. Here again, far earlier examples may have been subject to decay: for instance, some cultures
make weighted arrow points by cutting a hollow reed diagonally and filling the end segment with clay.
Archery and swords have been crucial for
warfare. Archery, because of the large amount of energy that can be easily stored and released using a bow, and short swords because of their lethality in close combat. Far greater
energy can be stored in a composite bow than a wooden bow of the same
weight due to clever mechanical design and choice of materials, but militarily such weapons were mostly limited to use in dry
climates since traditional designs are held together by animal glue (chemically similar to gelatin). The long bow makes up for less exotic materials with its
larger size. In another tradeoff, short swords can be optimized for either stabbing or chopping; the former focuses on pressure,
the latter on energy. The gladius hispaniensis could slip through openings in
armor, and Roman doctrine held that a stab wound as shallow as one inch could be lethal. The hatchet-like Greek kopis, by contrast, seems built to dismember, but its point-heavy balance might make it clumsy against
comprehensive armor.
The most effective defense to traditional weapons was a fortress. The doctrines
to support fortresses in the age of edged weapons may have greatly influenced medieval and noble history. Medieval siege weapons were used in countervailing doctrines, but
the stave-sling and even the bow often had superior range, making them unsafe to use.
Combustion-powered weapons
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 realeased quite rapidly, without much effort by the
user, so that even early firearms 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 are able to destroy any masonry fortress. This single invention caused a revolution in military affairs and doctrines that
continues to this day. See military 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 relativeley minor improvements on those of World War II. See military technology during World War II for a detailed discussion.
Nuclear Weapons
The greatest development in weaponry since World War II has been the combination and further development of two weapons first
used in it - nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile, leading to its ultimate configuration the ICBM. 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 prepared to go to war with the other. 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 smart bombs to computer-aimed tank rounds, has
greatly increased weaponry's accuracy.
Information Warfare
In modern warfare, since all redoubts are traps, maneuver and coordination of forces is decisive, overshadowing particular
weapons. The goal of every modern commander is therefore to "operate within the observation-decision-action cycle of the enemy."
In this way, the modern commander can bring overwhelming force to bear on isolated groups of the enemy, and tactically
overwhelm an enemy. See military technology of the late 20th century.
Traditional military maneuvers tried to achieve this coordination with "fronts" made of lines of military assets. These were
formerly the only way to prevent harm to friendly forces. Close-order marching and drill (a traditional military skill) was an
early method to get relative superiority of coordination. Derivative methods (such as "leapfrogging units to advance a line")
survived into combined arms warfare to coordinate aircraft, artillery, armor and infantry.
Computers are changing this. The most extreme example so far (2003) is the use of
"swarm" tactics by the U.S. military in Iraq. The U.S. had instantaneous, reliably
encrypted communications, perfect navigation using GPS and computer-mediated communications
to aim precision weapons.
In swarm tactics, small units pass through possible enemy territory. When attacked, they try to survive, and call down
immediate overwhelming showers of precision-guided air-dropped munitions for armor, and cluster bombs for enemy troops. To consolidate such a region, nearby artillery begin bombardment, and ground
units rush in on safe vectors through the bombardments, avoiding them by computer-mediated navigation aids.
Thus in modern warfare, satellite navigation
systems and especially computers give a decisive advantages to ordinary
military personnel armed with weapons that are otherwise unremarkable.
Types of weapons
There are essentially three facets to classifying weapon types: who uses it, how it works, and what it targets.
Who uses it essentially determines how it can be employed:
- Personal weapons are designed to be used by an individual
person.
- Crew served
weapons are larger than personal weapons, requiring more than one crew member to
operate correctly.
- Fortification
weapons are designed to be mounted in a permanent installation, or used primarily within a fortification.
- Mountain weapons are
designed for use by mountain forces or those operating in difficult terrain and harsh climates.
- Vehicle weapons are
designed to be mounted on any type of military vehicle.
- Railway weapons are
designed to be mounted on railway cars, including armored trains.
- Aircraft weapons are
designed to be carried on and used by some type of aircraft, helicopter, or other aerial vehicle.
- Naval weapons are designed to
be mounted on ships and submarines.
- Space weapons are designed to
be used in or launched from space.
How it works refers to the construction of the weapon and how it operates:
- Archery related weapons operate by using a tensioned string to launch a
projectile at some target.
- Artillery are large firearms capable of launching heavy projectiles (normally
explosive) over long distances.
- Biological weapons spread biological agents, attacking humans
(or livestock) by causing disease and infection.
- Chemical weapons spread chemical agents, attacking humans by
poisoning and causing reactions.
- Energy weapons rely on concentrating forms of energy to attack, such
as lasers, electrical shocks, and thermal or sonic attack.
- Explosive weapons use a physical explosion to create blast
concussion or spread shrapnel.
- Firearms use a chemical charge to launch a projectile down a rifled or
smoothbore barrel.
- Incendiary weapons rely on combustible materials and an
ignition mechanism to cause damage by fire.
- Non-lethal weapons are used to attack and subdue humans, but
are designed to minimize the risk of killing the target.
- Mêlée weapons operate as physical extensions of the user's body and
directly impact their target.
- Missiles are rockets which are guided to their target after launch.
- Nuclear weapons use fissile materials to create nuclear explosions
above a target ("air-burst") or at ground-level.
- Primitive weapons make
no use of technological or industrial elements, instead being purely constructed of easily obtainable natural materials.
- Ranged weapons cause a projectile to leave the user's hands and
(ideally) strike a target afterwards.
- Rockets use chemical propellent to accelerate a projectile (usually with an
explosive warhead) towards a target and are typically unguided once fired.
- Suicide weapons are typically explosive in nature and exploit the
willingness of their operator to not survive the attack to reach their target.
What it targets refers to what type of target the weapon is designed to attack:
- Anti-aircraft weapons target enemy aircraft, helicopters, missiles
and any other aerial vehicles in flight.
- Anti-fortification weapons are designed to target enemy installations, including bunkers and
fortifications.
- Anti-personnel weapons are designed to attack people,
either individually or in numbers.
- Anti-radiation weapons
target enemy sources of electronic radiation, particularly radar emitters.
- Anti-ship weapons target enemy ships
and vessels on water.
- Anti-submarine weapons target enemy submarines and
other underwater targets.
- Anti-tank weapons are primarily used to defeat tanks, but may
be targeted against other less well armored targets.
- Area denial
weapons are designed to target territory, making it unsafe or unsuitable for enemy use.
- Hunting weapons are
designed particularly for use against animals for hunting purposes.
- Infantry
support weapons are designed to attack various threats to infantry units, supporting the infantry's operations.
Weapons by era
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