WEAPONS

A weapon is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm (either physical or mental) to

living beings or artificial structures.

NEED FOR WEAPONS

HISTORY OF WEAPONS

People used clubs, axes and spears.

Weapons were made from wood, stones and metal.

Used for protection and hunting.

PREHISTORIC WEAPONS

They fought with chariots pulled by donkeys.

They also used bows and arrows, spears, axes and clubs.

They wore copper helmets and carried rectangular shields.

ANCIENT WEAPONSSumerian Weapons

They fought with spears, swords, axes, daggers and clubs or maces.

From about 1,700 BC the army also had chariots.

Important soldiers wore armour made of bronze.

Egyptian Weapons

The first people to use only iron weapons. They used a combination of chariots,

cavalry and infantry. The Assyrians also equipped their soldiers

with sturdy boots.

Assyrian Weapons

Protected by helmets, breastplates and backplates and shin guards called greaves.

Thry carried two throwing spears and a sword.

They carried round, bronze shields, long spears made of wood with a metal point.

Greek Weapons

A Roman legionary wore a helmet, segmented armour, a curved shield made of layers of wood covered in leather.

He carried a throwing spear called a pilum but his main weapon was a short sword called a gladius.

Roman Weapons

Saxon tactic was to form a 'shield wall' by standing side-by-side holding their shields in a line.

The Vikings fought with spears, axes and swords.they use to built forts also.

WEAPONS IN THE MIDDLE AGESSaxon and Viking Weapons

Castles were built of stone. In the centre was a stone tower.

Surrounding it was a curtain wall. The weakest part of a castle was its gate. Around the curtain wall were arrow slits and

openings through which boiling liquids could be poured or stones could be dropped.

Castles

Attackers could use a variety of siege weapons like battering ram.

To climb the castle walls you could use ladders.

The attackers could also hurl missiles using siege engines

In the 16th century guns transformed warfare.

Handguns were increasingly used.

Forts and walled towns had bastions.

Solid cannonballs (called shot) were useful for firing at walls during sieges and for firing at enemy ships.

WEAPONS 1500-1800-16th Century Weapons

In the early 16th century the Aztecs were fearsome warriors.

They fought with slings and spears made of wood with blades edged with pieces of sharp obsidian

The Aztecs

Samurai were hereditary warriors who followed a code of behaviour called bushido.

Samurai fought with long swords, spears, daggers, skewers and small knive.

Japanese Weapons

Indian soldiers fought with a curved sword called tulwar.

Indian warriors carried a round shield called a dhal made of steel.

Indians also fought with matchlock muskets, which they called bandukh toradas.

Indian Weapons

In the early 17th century firearms were either matchlocks or wheel locks.

In 17th century the cartridge was invented. About 1680 the ring bayonet was invented

17th Century Weapons

19th Century Weapons The industrial revolution transformed warfare.

Railways meant armies could be transported much faster than before.

Sir William Congreve (1772-1828) developed the Congreve rocket.

1807 a Scot named Alexander Forsyth patented the percussion cap.

In 1837 Johann von Dreyse invented the first breech loading firearm, the needle-gun.

MODERN WEAPONS

1835 Samuel Colt invented the revolver, the revolver made swords obsolete.

In the 19th century many people experimented with machine guns. In the 19th century new explosives were invented to replace gunpowder. TNT was invented in 1863 and dynamite followed in 1867.

September 1916 the British introduced the tank.

Submarines were used during the First and Second World Wars.

1915 the Germans began using Zeppelin airships

20th Century Weapons

The war aircraft technology changed rapidly. During the Second World War aircraft realised their full potential.

.In 1944 jet engines were introduced and planes became still faster.

The Germans began using rockets.

The other development was the atomic bomb.

In 1952 American scientists invented the much more powerful hydrogen bomb. The USSR expl

During the Vietnam War the Americans experimented with laser guided missiles.