Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” The need for firearms did not come into existence overnight instead, the military has demanded dreadful weapon for so long. firearms have been in existence for more than a thousand years, not only have they affected the warfare but also the society in general. They have amended the armies around the world and have provoked an era of warfare at reduced cost.
The first cartridge breechloader was probably used in as early as 1400s which was actually a little cannon (Maiorino, 2006, p.107). In the ninteenth century military demanded breechloaders which fired cartridge, this lead to the invention of many different kinds of sliding breech bolts,tilting barrels, breechblocks,trap doors, and falling, rotating, and tilting breechlocks (Maiorino, 2006, p.111).The innovation of the breech-loading rifle and the machine gun presented the Euro-African armies with a distingushable advantage in battles. The breech loading rifles were considerably faster than the old muskets. Instead of loading and packing wadding, musket ball and gunpowder, a cartidge could be inserted into the breech, the gun could be fired and then reloaded, constantly (Maiorino, 2006, p.108). The machine gun allowed a quicker way of terminaniting enemies.
Bolt action rifles were produced at large amounts by the time of World war I(Maiorino, 2006, p.137). They were very useful for troops to pin each other down in the trenches from long distances with greater accuracy (Maiorino, 2006, p.131). The purpose was to shoot down enemy combatants. The soldiers were able to fire decent rate of shoots at a time, as they would pull the bolt back to discharge the spen...
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...e machine guns brought a revelution, it changed the ways wars were fought. To prevent mass killing, wars became more strategic. The armies didn't have to line up on a field and shoot at each other, they were able to use protective measures.The Maxim Machine gun entirely evolved the future of guns and had a significant effect on the society. The machine gun is a great invention that has the power to construct or demolish a society. The Automatic weapons come in all shapes and sizes, from pistols and assult rifles to vehicle and aircraft-mounted machine guns (Maiorino, 2006, p.227).
The old-guard weapons were slowly replaced by firearms because they were inexpensive. They did not only expand the battle feild for soliders but have had a sweeping affect on the nature of armed conflicts, from the distance the army combat fought eachother to the types of injury incur.
There were many technological developments in WWl. Machine guns were invented to help soldiers kill many people at the same time. Machine guns could fire
One weapon used in the Civil War is a Sharps Carbine. It was developed primarily for Calvary, because of the shorter barrel. They were much easier to handle on horse back than their longer brother the Breech-Loader. Sharps were preferred because they could be loaded on a moving horse, something virtually impossible with a Muzzle-Loader. Also, Breech-Loaders carbine which fired moisture proof metallic cartridges, where more reliable than rifles that fired paper cartridges. As I said be fore it is easier to load a Sharps than a Muzzle-Loader. A Muzzle-Loader took 9 long hard steps just to fire one shot. Even the most skilled solder could only get three rounds off in a minute on the old Civil War Muzzle-Loader. And No wonder. After each shot you have to (1) steady the gun on the ground take out a new cartridge out of a belt pouch. (2) Tear open a piece of paper with your teeth. (3) Empty the powder in the barrel and insert a bullet in to the muzzle. (4) Draw the long “rummer” out of its carrying groove under the barrel. (5) ram the bullet all the way down. (6) Return the rod back to its groove. (7) Lift the weapon half-cocked the hammer. (8) Fully cock the hammer, aim, and finally,(9) fire.
Weapons have been around from the Neanderthals of the post-ice age, to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Rocks became knives, sticks became spears, and bayonets became AK-47’s. The technology from the French and Indian War was revolutionized and manufactured by the newly opened weaponry companies. Colt and Winchester had a new end of the market during the times of conflict in the United States.
...waste ammunition.” During the war colonel Hiram Berdan formed a regiment of sharpshooter for the union army called Berdans sharpshooters. These new soldiers would be better shooters against their enemy and would be save great amounts of ammunition and money. Contests were held across the country to find these elite sharpshooters. To make the cut you had put 10 consecutive shots into a target at two hundred yards. Each shot couldn’t be more than to inches from the center of the bull’s eye. At the end of these contests 1,000 winners were enlisted in the 1st United States sharper shooters. The next generation of breechloaders called magazine rifles would prove ever more deadly to confederate opponents. “Guns such as Spencer and Henry repeating rifles were deigned to carry preloaded magazine of seven to fifteen bullets which could be inserted into the rear of the gun.”3
A popular weapon used by both sides was the rifle. Rifles were invented before the Civil War and were greatly used in the War of 1812. However, more types were built and a larger amount was used during the Civil War. Rifles added a spin to bullets for a greater accuracy at longer ranges. Using this weapon, soldiers could fire 400 yards away, as opposed to the average 80 yards (Robertson 50). Rifles were the fastest and hardest weapon of the time. Rifles allowed their bullets to be shot harder and faster towards its target. New inventions, used by the Union more than the Confederate, included Parrott rifles. They were composed of iron. Robert Parker Parrott, an American soldier and inventor, created these weapons, hence the name Parrott rifles. Despite its name, the Parrott rifle was actually a cannon. Its size ranged from 10 to 300 pounders. It was not favored by most because it was considered unsafe (“Civil War Artillery”). Because of its bulkiness and heaviness, it seldom led soldiers to inaccuratel...
A majority of weapons used in World War II were improved weapons from World War II. Most guns increased in power and abilities. In World War II people thought that pistols were useless but this was proved wrong due to the fact that the U.S. Mi...
Riczo, Steven. "Guns, America, and the 21st Century." EBSCO.com. USA Today Magazine, n.d. Web. Mar. 2001.
Since its declaration of independence from Great Britain, the United States has experienced wars of many different sorts. Each war introduced a new kind of warfare. The Revolutionary War introduced for the first time in American history, the idea of naval warfare. Ships were armed with dozens guns and carried several dozens of men. The musket, armed with its bayonet as well as the cannon proved to be worthy weaponry advancements in the infantry together with various pistols. The Civil War introduced the revolving pistol as well as the Gatling gun which enabled soldiers to produce rapid fire and destroy enemies in large quantities with a single round. New technological advancements in transportation such as the railroad, enabled large quantities of troops to travel to a given area in nearly half the amount of time. However, the turn of the twentieth introduced new technological advancements in the country as well as the military. This ignited a century of technological advancements in the military that has enabled the United States to excel in militaristic domination.
The next real step in the evolution of the gun came during the Civil War. Rifles were invented that ...
Some errors that could arise from this type of source include biases and limited points of views that lead to misinformation. However, using secondary sources does not detract from Chase’s ability to construct a general theory about firearms development, because a general theory does not require absolute accuracy. Chase also uses many paintings to show military formations in past societies and what weapons they possessed. The conclusions he makes are rational and the inclusion of the paintings provides visually engaging primary sources that further justify Chase’s thesis. Using more primary sources would strengthen the credibility of his descriptions of firearms development in the world, but his construction of a rational theory based on known facts is enough to give this work acceptable credibility.
The defense gun developed by James Puckle is the most recognized earliest form of automatic weaponry in the world. The weapon could fire up to nine rounds per minute with the rounds being fed to the barrel from a rotating cylindrical contraption. The barrel was a whooping 0.91m in length with a 32 mm bore. Puckle developed two versions of the gun, one customized for use on Christian enemies and the other version which was potent was customized for killing Turkish Muslims (Willbanks 154). The gun never found sufficient market in Europe and thus its further development was halted until the British army started engaging in the external aggressions. In particular, much of the development of the gun occurred during the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783 (Willbanks, 154).
During the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, over 620,000 accounted soldiers were killed. Known as the "the first modern war", historians generally agree that the reason for this was because this was a time of transition for the military. Armies and Navies were still using tactics where they would gather large forces of firepower to bear on the enemy. At the same time, weapons were being developed which were accurate and lethal well beyond any arms of the earlier conflicts. As a result of these two conditions many more casualties were sustained. Add to that the lack of medical knowledge of disease and infection and the numbers truly began to grow. This paper is an overview of the types of weaponry that was used during this time.
nature for the stronger to dominate the weaker. Firearms are a way that the weaker can
These kinds of weapons were impractical for military use, but attracted many people to the arms race for weapons that could sweep the battlefield. “They had limitations in practice, among them slow re...
The problem with guns is fairly obvious: they decrease the difficulty of killing or injuring a person. In Jeffrey A. Roth's Firearms and Violence (NIJ Research in Brief, February 1994), he points out the obvious dangers. About 60 percent of all murder victims in the United States in 1989 (about 12,000 people) were killed with firearms. Firearm attacks injured another 70,000 victims, some of whom were left permanently disabled. In 1985, the cost of shootings was an estimated $14 billion nationwide for medical care, long-term disability, and premature death. In robberies and assaults, victims are far more likely to die when the perpetrator is armed with a gun than when he or she has another weapon or is unarmed.