A History of the World in 100 Weapons

386 Pages·55.243 MB·English

by  Chris McNab

A OF
HISTORY
THE IN
W O R LD
10 0 WEAPONS
C H R IS M C N AB
FOREWORD BY ANDREW ROBERTS
AHISTORY
OF
WORLDrN
THE
lOOWEAPONS
OSPREY
PUBLISHING

A HISTORY OF
THE WORLD IN
100 WEAPONS
CHRIS MCNAB
F O R E W O RD BY A N D R EW R O B E R TS
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Osprey Publishing,
Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 OPH, UK
44-02 23rd Street, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA
OSPREY PUBLISHING IS PART OF THE OSPREY GROUP.
E-mail: [email protected]
Foreword © Andrew Roberts, 2011
Introduction © Chris McNab, 2011
Parts l-VIII © Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2011
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research,
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
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recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.
Every attempt has been made by the Publisher to secure the appropriate permissions for
material reproduced in this book. If there has been any oversight we will be happy to rectify
the situation and written submission should be made to the Publishers.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978 1 84908 520 5
Editing and picture research by Kate Moore and Emily Holmes
Page layout by Myriam Bell Design, France
Typeset in Optima and Minion Pro
Index by Alison Worthington
Originated by PDQ Media, Bungay, UK
Printed in China through Worldprint Ltd
11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Many of the photos in this book come from the Imperial War Museum's huge collections
which 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 www.iwmcollections.org.uk. In addition to Collections 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
[phone], or e-mail [email protected].
Imperial War Museum www.iwm.org.uk
www.ospreypublishing.com
FRONT COVER: An 1851 US Navy Colt. (The Bridgeman Art Library © Civil War Archive); The
Soviet T-34/76 Model 1943. (Artwork by Jim Laurier © Osprey Publishing Ltd.); An ornately
decorated halberd made for the Trabanten Guard in the 16th century. (© Wallace Collection,
London/The Bridgeman Art Library).
BACK COVER: Capture of Evreux, 1487 from Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis, (akg-images);
F-15 Eagle (USAF)
EDITOR'S NOTE:
In the compilation of this volume we relied on the extensive Osprey library of previous
military history publications. Works of particular relevance were Besieged by Dr Duncan
Campbell, Infantry Tactics of World War II by Dr Stephen Bull, Nuclear Dawn 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, Nimitiz-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 Missile,
and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Steven J. Zaloga
CONTENTS
FOREWORD by Andrew Roberts 6
INTRODUCTION 9
THE ANCIENT WORLD
12
5000 BC-AD 500
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 44
500-1500
THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 88
1500-1800
IMPERIAL WARS 118
1800-1914
WORLD WAR I 160
1914-18
WORLD WAR II 208
1939-45
MODERN WARFARE 278
1945-PRESENT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 378
ENDNOTES 378
INDEX 379
FOREWORD
THE IDEA OF WRITING A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN ONE The best weaponry affords defensive as well as offensive
hundred weapons is a truly inspired one, for warfare capability, principally through affording the maximum possible
physical distance between the attacker and his opponent.
has been the driving force of history, and we cannot
From the day that the first cave dweller threw a rock at his enemy
really consider the story of mankind without
or prey rather than grappling hand-to-hand, this principle has
inevitably looking at how wars have shaped our governed the development of weaponry, right the way up to the
cultures and societies. That might be a disconcerting stealth bombers and drones of the present day. To strike yet still
remain out of reach of immediate counterattack: that has always
comment upon the human condition, but it's
been the key.
nonetheless true.
Magnificently diverse though the hundred weapons presented
Certainly, no-one could be better qualified than
in this superbly illustrated book undoubtedly are, I believe that
Dr Chris McNab to write such a definitive book about all weapons of war can be divided into only eight categories.
the interaction between world history and individual These "families" of weapons comprise:
weapons. His expertise straddles the centuries and all
Artillery - including cannon, howitzers, shells, and
the weapon types, as witnessed by the eclectic nature
anti-aircraft guns
of the books that he has either written, edited, or
Handheld Weapons - axes, swords, pikes, halberds, bayonets,
contributed to, such as Tools of Violence: Guns, Tanks and suicide vests
and Dirty Bombs, Firearms, Fighting Techniques of the Handheld Projectiles - longbows and crossbows, muskets
Oriental World, Guns: A Visual History, The AK47, and rifles, flamethrowers, machine-guns, hand and
rocket-propelled grenades, and bazookas
Gunfighters: The Outlaws and Their Weapons, The
Missiles - Roman ballistae, Greek Fire, torpedoes, V-weapons,
Machine Gun Story, and Deadly Force: Firearms and
SCUDs, Sidewinders, Exocets, Tomahawks, Cruise and
American Law Enforcement, as well as many others. intercontinental ballistic missiles
This tremendous body of scholarship means that his Land Armor - siege-trains, heavy-armored cavalry,
readers are in safe hands when he tells us about the and tracked vehicles (primarily tanks)
Seaborne - triremes, ships of the line, submarines,
weapons themselves, how they were deployed, how
dreadnoughts, cruisers, and aircraft carriers
battlefield tactics evolved to accommodate their lethal
Airborne - zeppelins, fighter planes, poison gas, bombers,
power, and what it was like both to wield and try to helicopters, jet fighters, stealth bombers, and Unmanned
defend against them. Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
FOREWORD 1
Bombs: landmines, depth charges, atomic bombs, Museum of Tank Construction at Kubinka, about 40 miles
and Improvised Explosive Devices (lEDs) outside Moscow. With no fewer than four hundred different
types of tank it is the largest museum of its kind in the world,
The fascination of this book lies in how human ingenuity - and I heartily recommend it to any reader of this book. What
and inventors of the caliber of Messrs Mauser, Browning, I saw there entirely supports Dr McNab in his contention that
Thompson, Baker, Gatling, Maxim, Vickers, Lewis, Colt, sheer numbers of mass-produced but inferior weapons - such
Kalashnikov, Schmeisser, Messerschmitt, and so on - has as the T-34 that took on and defeated the better but fewer
learnt from past achievements going back centuries to deliver German tanks - can overwhelm superior weaponry, and that
ever more efficiently destructive power. Great commanders simplicity of production and use is vital.
have therefore constantly had to innovate new tactics, and Of course many factors other than numbers can lead to
on occasion entirely new strategies, in order to make the best victory or defeat in battle - courage, leadership, morale,
use of new weaponry. Intelligence, speed of movement, lie of the land, and so on -
Historically, people have been quick to learn how to copy, but none is more important than the amount and quality of
improve, and perfect weapons that have been used against weaponry deployed. In the calendar year 1944, for example,
them. The very nature of warfare, where enemy weapons when Britain produced 28,000 warplanes and the Russians
can be captured on the battlefield and instantly analyzed, and Germans each produced 40,000, the United States
facilitates this important phenomenon. Although in 1 720 BC churned off their production lines no fewer than 98,000
the Hysos invasion of Egypt was immeasurably aided by the warplanes (several marks of which are included in this book).
use of composite bows and chariots, for example, it did not It was an incredible achievement, and an unmistakable
take long for the defeated Egyptians to learn from them and pointer to which side would ultimately prevail. This book is
use both to devastating effect themselves. Similarly, many full of amazing facts; I didn't know, for example, that Sam Colt
weapons intended in an offensive capacity can be quickly created the industrial production line some 60 years before
adapted to defense. Perhaps the supreme example of this Henry Ford, but it serves to remind us that the desire for
came in March 1799 when the British admiral, Sir Sidney military victory, even more than the desire for financial profit,
Smith, captured seven French vessels on their way to Acre, is the true mainspring of industrial development.
which carried the siege train with which Napoleon Bonaparte Some weapons can be useful far outside their allotted hour
had hoped to destroy the city's walls. Once mounted on those in history. Dr McNab reminds us that the ancient order to "Fix
self same walls in defense, the heavy guns meant that Smith bayonets!" was heard as recently as 2004, when a detachment
was able to deny the French the city, and thus halt Napoleon's of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders had to use cold steel
march on the Orient. after they were pinned down by Iraqi insurgents and started to
Very few weapons have been invented and not used, and run out of ammunition. The attack was wholly successful, and
no weapon can be dis-invented, as the world has discovered the circumstances will thrill the heart of any reader. As for
with the atom bomb. Although Ronald Reagan was routinely other supposedly "obsolete" weapons, there are some military
denounced as a warmonger, it was he who decreed in 1986 historians who argue that the British Army's accuracy,
that the neutron bomb - which was capable of killing people stopping power, and rate of fire would have been higher at
but leaving buildings intact - should no longer be produced, the battle of Waterloo had it used longbows instead of Brown
much to the chagrin of its inventor, Samuel T. Cohen. Bess muskets.
But such examples are rare in history. The sheer aesthetic of some of the 1 6th, 1 7th and 18th
In the course of writing my history of the Second World War, century weapons, including the beautiful workmanship of the
The Storm of War, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexandr Anatolyevich rapiers, halberds, and arquebuses, is beautifully depicted in
Kulikov, formerly of the Red Army, showed me around the this sumptuous Osprey edition, making this book something
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 WEAPONS
of a collector's item in itself. Yet however attractive some of bomb made out of Plaster of Paris and painted over to look
these weapons might look, we must not blind ourselves to the like a kerbstone - have led to over half of all British and
terrible uses to which they were designed to be put. In his American casualties in Iraq.
magisterial Nobel Prize Lecture of 1986, the great Jewish Overall for the past half-millennium, the West has had the
novelist Elie Wiesel pointed out that: edge, especially when it comes to retaining control of the air,
which proved to be so important in the Second World War and
Of course some wars may have been necessary or inevitable, other postwar conflicts. Yet with the Chinese now making
but none was ever regarded as holy. For us, a holy war is a decisive strides in weapon technology - especially in the field
contradiction in terms. War dehumanizes, war diminishes, of drones, lasers, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and space
war debases all those who wage it. The Talmud says "Talmidei - perhaps the West's days of primacy are now numbered. It
hukhamim shemarbin shalom baolam" (It is the wise men might even be that whichever country can neutralize its
who will bring about peace). Perhaps, because wise men enemies' space satellites first might decide the future hegemony
remember best. of the world, almost without any fighting needing to be done
terrestrially. Whatever the future holds, we know that it is vital
So what of the future? Technological advances seem to have to be on the cutting edge of weapons technology, and this book
been developing exponentially in recent decades, bringing tells us how this has been achieved over the past millennia.
with them ever-deadlier weapons, yet conflicts are becoming I therefore take great pleasure in introducing this fine book
less likely to be state-on-state affairs so much as the kind of to you.
guerilla and insurgency warfare seen around the world since
1945, and most notably recently in the Global War Against Andrew Roberts
Terror. Dr McNab reminds us that IEDs - such as a roadside December 2010
INTRODUCTION
TECHNOLOGY IS ONE OF THE MOTIVE POWERS OF TRANSFORMATIVE WEAPONS
history. Inventions great and small, from fire-
Warfare is, sadly for humankind, one of the most technologically
making wooden drills to Global Positioning Satellite and intellectually productive social conditions. Ever since prehistoric
(GPS), not only reshape individual human existence man first grabbed a rock as a "force-multiplier" for his fist, war has
been fundamentally bound up with the attempt to achieve
but, to varying degrees, human consciousness itself.
technological superiority over the enemy. The incentives to design
Think, for example, how mobile phones have
decisive weaponry are powerful. The 19th-century inventor Hiram
altered inter-human relations, language, and
Maxim was experimenting with domestic inventions relating to gas
culture. At the same time, technology can act as and electricity, until one day a friend recommended: "Hang your
an engine of wider social and political revolution. electricity. If you want to make your fortune, invent something to
help these fool Europeans kill each other more quickly!" True to the
We need only reflect on the invention of the wheel
advice, Maxim went away and invented the machine-gun, which
in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC, or on
has been scything down all nationalities, not just Europeans, ever
the application of steam power to transport and since. Maxim's motivation to invent new weaponry was primarily
manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution, commercial, but warfare also adds further grinding compulsions,
to comprehend what it can achieve. Seminal such as patriotism, curiosity, and, most important, fear.
This book attempts to view history through the prism of military
technologies such as these can also transform the
invention. Any claim to define the "Top 100" of history's most
nature of state power and international relations,
influential weapons is contentious, and doubtless will inspire much
and in so doing lead either to cooperation or - the
debate and disagreement. Broadly speaking, the weapons here
subject of this book - conflict. have either helped to shape history itself (military or otherwise), or
they act as important snapshots of military technology and tactical
thinking at a particular moment in time. Examples of the former
include the flintlock musket, which became the dominant tool
of infantry warfare for three centuries, and the intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM), the weapon system that defined the politics
of the Cold War. The latter include the German Me 262 fighter jet
and the SCUD missile, weapons that were salient in their field and
time, if only by laying foundations for future developments.
A persistent question underpins this book. Why do some
weapons technologies succeed, while others fail, or at least