Download or read book The Bayonet written by Bill Harriman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although muskets delivered devastating projectiles at comparatively long ranges, their slow rate of fire left the soldier very vulnerable while reloading, and early muskets were useless for close-quarter fighting. Consequently, European infantry regiments of the 17th century were composed of both musketeers and pikemen, who protected the musketeers while loading but also formed the shock component for close-quarter combat. The development of the flintlock musket produced a much less cumbersome and faster-firing firearm. When a short knife was stuck into its muzzle, every soldier could be armed with a missile weapon as well as one that could be used for close combat. The only disadvantage was that the musket could not be loaded or fired while the plug bayonet was in place. The socket bayonet solved this problem and the musket/bayonet combination became the universal infantry weapon from c.1700 to c.1870. The advent of shorter rifled firearms saw the attachment of short swords to rifle barrels. Their longer blades still gave the infantryman the 'reach' that contemporaries believed he needed to fend off cavalry attacks. The perfection of the small-bore magazine rifle in the 1890s saw the bayonet lose its tactical importance, becoming smaller and more knife-like, a trend that continued in the world wars. When assault rifles predominated from the 1950s onwards, the bayonet became a weapon of last resort. Its potential usefulness continued to be recognized, but its blade was often combined with an item with some additional function, most notably a wire-cutter. Ultimately, for all its fearsome reputation as a visceral, close-quarter fighting weapon, the bayonet's greatest impact was actually as a psychological weapon. Featuring full-colour artwork as well as archive and close-up photographs, this is the absorbing story of the complementary weapon to every soldier's firearm from the army of Louis XIV to modern-day forces in all global theatres of conflict.
Download or read book Big Wars written by John Storey and published by Hybrid Publishers. This book was released on 2021-09-01 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World War II was the biggest and most destructive war in history. For two centuries wars had grown ever larger, with the use of more terrible weapons and rising casualties, culminating in the cataclysmic global events of 1939–45. And then, quite suddenly, large international wars have all but disappeared. What caused wars to grow in size to such an extent and then shrink so precipitously? Is this a permanent state of affairs or could big wars make a comeback? Lawyer and historian John P Storey explores these questions by looking at the evolution of military technology and tactics over the long history of warfare. From ancient bronze spears and chariots to World War II tanks and warplanes, from the nuclear weapons of the Cold War to the drones and robotics of the future, the changes in our methods of waging war has had, and will continue to have, a major impact on their size and destructiveness. The sobering conclusion Storey makes is that, based on past trends and the weapons in the pipeline for the future, there is a much higher risk of there being much bigger wars in the coming decades.
Download or read book The Dark Path written by Williamson Murray and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2024-10-22 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an esteemed military historian, a sweeping history of the revolutions in war-fighting that have shaped the modern world Heraclitus wrote that "war is the father of all," and it has formed much of the modern world. Although the fundamental nature of war has not altered over the centuries, constant change, innovation, and adaptation have repeatedly reshaped how wars are fought in the West. Revolutions in military practice cannot be separated from larger social developments in areas like logistics, finance and economics, and the culture of military organizations. In The Dark Path, Williamson Murray argues that the history of warfare in the West hinged on five revolutions, which both reflected the social, political, and economic conditions that produced them and in turn influenced how those conditions evolved. These five key turning points are the advent of the modern state, which formed bureaucracies and professional militaries; the Industrial Revolution, which produced the financial and industrial means to sustain and equip large armies; the French Revolution, which provided the ideological basis needed to sustain armies through continent-sized wars; the merging of the Industrial and French Revolutions in the U.S. Civil War; and the accelerating integration of technological advancement, financial capacity, ideology, and government that unleashed the modern capacity for total warfare. An ambitious work of synthesis, this book shows how the world continually re-creates war--and how war, in turn, continually re-creates the world.
Download or read book Networks of Domination written by Paul MacDonald and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the nineteenth century, European states conquered vast stretches of territory across the periphery of the international system. Much of Asia and Africa fell to the armies of the European great powers, and by World War I, those armies controlled 40 percent of the world's territory and 30 percent of its population. Conventional wisdom states that these conquests were the product of European military dominance or technological superiority, but the reality was far more complex. In Networks of Domination, Paul MacDonald argues that an ability to exploit the internal political situation within a targeted territory, not mere military might, was a crucial element of conquest. European states enjoyed greatest success when they were able to recruit local collaborators from within the society and exploit divisions among elites. Different configurations of social ties connecting potential conquerors with elites were central to both the patterns of imperial conquest and the strategies conquerors employed. MacDonald compares episodes of British colonial expansion in India, South Africa, and Nigeria during the nineteenth century, and also examines the contemporary applicability of the theory through an examination of the United States occupation of Iraq. The scramble for empire fundamentally shaped, and continues to shape, the international system we inhabit today. Featuring a powerful theory of the role of social networks in shaping the international system, Networks of Domination bridges past and present to highlight the lessons of conquest.
Download or read book Gun Digest 2004 written by Ken Ramage and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated catalog of current firearms and accessories.
Download or read book Socket Bayonets of the Great Powers written by Robert W. Shuey and published by . This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Socket Bayones of the Great Powers is a heavily-illustrated collector's guide to socket or angular bayonets. It highlights variations & features of these bayonets to aid the collector with fast, easy identification. Countries covered in the book are the United States, Austria, Belgium, Britain (& the East India Co.), Denmark, France, Germany & Prussia, Italy, Holland, Russia, Spain, Sweden & Switzerland. Toys, reproductions & fakes also are covered, as are socket bayonets as non-weapons. There are 133 photographs & 78 illustrations in the book. Contact Excalibur Publications, PO Box 35369, Tucson, AZ 85740-5369. Voice: (520) 575-9057. Fax: (520) 575-9068.
Download or read book How Europe Made the Modern World written by Jonathan Daly and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-03 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One thousand years ago, a traveler to Baghdad or the Chinese capital Kaifeng would have discovered a vast and flourishing city of broad streets, spacious gardens, and sophisticated urban amenities; meanwhile, Paris, Rome, and London were cramped and unhygienic collections of villages, and Europe was a backwater. How, then, did it rise to world preeminence over the next several centuries? This is the central historical conundrum of modern times. How Europe Made the Modern World draws upon the latest scholarship dealing with the various aspects of the West's divergence, including geography, demography, technology, culture, institutions, science and economics. It avoids the twin dangers of Eurocentrism and anti-Westernism, strongly emphasizing the contributions of other cultures of the world to the West's rise while rejecting the claim that there was nothing distinctive about Europe in the premodern period. Daly provides a concise summary of the debate from both sides, whilst also presenting his own provocative arguments. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and including maps and images to illuminate key evidence, this book will inspire students to think critically and engage in debates rather than accepting a single narrative of the rise of the West. It is an ideal primer for students studying Western Civilization and World History courses.
Download or read book The Writer s Market written by ERS. and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 1190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes thousands of markets for writers, covering magazines, publishers, syndicates, and contests; with information on submission requirements, pay scale, and freelance work, and listings of editors and agents.
Download or read book Forthcoming Books written by Rose Arny and published by . This book was released on 2000-06 with total page 1384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Chambers s Encyclopaedia written by and published by . This book was released on 1888 with total page 876 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book International Military and Defense Encyclopedia written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Princeton Companion to Atlantic History written by Joseph C. Miller and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-18 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first encyclopedic reference to Atlantic history Between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the connections among Africa, the Americas, and Europe transformed world history—through maritime exploration, commercial engagements, human migrations and settlements, political realignments and upheavals, cultural exchanges, and more. This book, the first encyclopedic reference work on Atlantic history, takes an integrated, multicontinental approach that emphasizes the dynamics of change and the perspectives and motivations of the peoples who made it happen. The entries—all specially commissioned for this volume from an international team of leading scholars—synthesize the latest scholarship on central themes, including economics, migration, politics, war, technologies and science, the physical environment, and culture. Part one features five major essays that trace the changes distinctive to each chronological phase of Atlantic history. Part two includes more than 125 entries on key topics, from the seemingly familiar viewed in unfamiliar and provocative ways (the Seven Years' War, trading companies) to less conventional subjects (family networks, canon law, utopias). This is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, and scholars in a range of fields, from early American, African, Latin American, and European history to the histories of economics, religion, and science. The first encyclopedic reference on Atlantic history Features five major essays and more than 125 alphabetical entries Provides essential context on major areas of change: Economies (for example, the slave trade, marine resources, commodities, specie, trading companies) Populations (emigrations, Native American removals, blended communities) Politics and law (the law of nations, royal liberties, paramount chiefdoms, independence struggles in Haiti, the Hispanic Americas, the United States, and France) Military actions (the African and Napoleonic wars, the Seven Years' War, wars of conquest) Technologies and science (cartography, nautical science, geography, healing practices) The physical environment (climate and weather, forest resources, agricultural production, food and diets, disease) Cultures and communities (captivity narratives, religions and religious practices) Includes original contributions from Sven Beckert, Holly Brewer, Peter A. Coclanis, Seymour Drescher, Eliga H. Gould, David S. Jones, Wim Klooster, Mark Peterson, Steven Pincus, Richard Price and Sophia Rosenfeld, and many more Contains illustrations, maps, and bibliographies
Download or read book War in the Eighteenth Century World written by Jeremy Black and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-07 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Placing eighteenth-century warfare in a truly global context, Jeremy Black challenges conventional accounts and offers a reappraisal of debates in Western and Asian history. This concise, up-to-date survey assumes little prior knowledge and provides cutting-edge historical insights into a crucial period of world history.
Download or read book War and the World written by Jeremy Black and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An attempt to write a global history of warfare in the modern era. Jeremy Black, here presents a wide-ranging account of the nature, purpose and experience of war over the last half millennium.
Download or read book American Book Publishing Record written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 1714 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guibert s General Essay on Tactics written by Jonathan Abel and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-10-18 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award 2023 (Reference) “’The God of War’ is near to revealing himself, because we have heard his prophet.” So wrote Jean Colin, naming Napoleon the God of War and Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert, as his prophet. Guibert was the foremost philosopher of the Military Enlightenment, dedicating his career to systematizing warfare in a single document. The result was his magnum opus, the General Essay on Tactics, which helped to lay the foundation for the success of French armies during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It is presented here in English for the first time since the 1780s, with extensive annotation and contextualization.
Download or read book Toward Combined Arms Warfare written by Jonathan Mallory House and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1985 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
