Essay On Medieval Weapons

The civil war is the most violent war in American history, a war against Northern Free States and Southern Slave States to see which side wins because, the nation was split in two nations. The weapons were used in the war are Battle knifes, Musket rifles, Hand guns, Gatling guns, and cannons for maximum damage and kills to the enemy.

During the Elizabethan time there were a variety of weapons used for defence and leisure. Despite the end of the medieval times, many of its weapons were still in use (Mahabal). Because of this, the Queen pushed to have new, modern weapons be created in case of a war. The threat of a war was real because of the constant dispute between the Catholic Spanish and the French (Alchin). Most of the weaponry that came to be happened to influence English history forever such as the Rapier, the musket, and the cannon.

According to Merriam-Webster, a weapon is: something (such as a gun, knife, club, or bomb) that is used for fighting or attacking someone or for defending yourself when someone is attacking you. Weapons have been used for thousands of years, since the creation of man. However, its use was limited to only hunting and defending against large predatory animals. As time passed, man 's knowledge of weaponry expanded beyond a simple club and transformed into guns. Prior to the 1850s, Americans owned guns though none were used to inflict violence upon another person. “As a result, guns contributed little to the homicide rate, which was low everywhere, even in the South and on the frontier, where historians once assumed guns and murder went

The Civil War, also called The War Between the States, was one of the bloodiest wars in American history. What made the Civil War such a massacre? The Civil War was such a bloodbath because the technological advances were so far superior to the tactics of the infantry, that the weapons virtually obliterated the soldiers. Soldiers would form lines known as a battalions. In these battalions, soldiers would basically march to their deaths. In addition to weapons doing so much damage, fortification on the battlefield was far more advanced than had ever been before. The Cheveau-de-frise was the main focus of armored fortification in the Civil War. This fortification consisted of 10 to 12 foot

The Middle Ages which was known to be a very violent era in our world consisted of multiple weapons. The weapons that were used in this era were determined by the social class that you belonged to. These classes consisted of the lower class which would be the foot soldiers and then the knights. The weapons these two classes had though differed from one another. What types of weapons did each class have and how would these weapons have looked back in the middle age time period?

Another result of technological progression was the matchlock, which would shoot with ignition of a lit match. "The introduction of firearms into the Elizabethan Weapons Arsenal saw the end of castle warfare and the building of the magnificent Medieval castles"(Alchin 1). With the invention of lethal, quick cannons came the decline of forts for defense as soldiers prepared for battle. Cannons were made of bronze and iron, in many different sizes, and they fired stone or iron, to be used on land or

The 100 Years’ War was given a misleading name, as this conflict between England and France was not a war that lasted one hundred years, it was rather a series of related clashes that lasted just over a century. However, the fact that this conflict lasted more that one hundred years meant that many new tactics and weaponry came into play that changed the concepts of warfare forever. During this one hundred years, tactics changed from the system of feudal armies dominated by heavy Calvary, to the first attempt at some sort of ‘standing army’. The evolution in the types of tactics and weapons that nations used caused the battlefields of Europe to be covered in blood, as the more advanced the weapons, became, the more casualties amounted. The 100 Years’ War was the first time that strategy was used in order to command troops on the battlefield, and it was during this time that the fabrication of early martial handbooks also came into the battle. One of the more famous authors of one of these books was “the great Swabian practitioner and teacher, Johannes Liechtenauer” . Unfortunately, there are no French texts concerning martial handbooks that predate 1570, meaning that in order to look at tactics, sources from surrounding nations at the time have to suffice. Another thing that evolved extremely rapidly during the 100 years’ war, was the escalation of the types of weapons used during conflicts. Inasmuch there were 100 years of outright fighting, each side had a chance to

Trebuchets were a big way of fighting in the 12th century. They got the kind of weapons they used right, they just did

At the beginning of the Civil War, the Regular Army Soldiers were generally armed with primarily the 1842 Springfield, a .69 caliber smoothbore musket, and with whatever weaponry that was purchased by state authorities. This included other various types and calibers of domestic and foreign smoothbore guns and the longer rifled muskets. In 1861, a shortage of rifles on both sides forced the Northern and Southern governments purchase weapons from European nations. Also widely used was artillery including cannons. Some of the new weapon technologies used in the civil war include rifled gun barrels, the Minie ball and repeating rifles. (Parker 2005-20016)

The discovery of gunpowder changed war from being fought with medieval weaponry and battle tactics to more modern day weapons and tactics because the gunpowder powered weapons are more deadly. Weapons that use gunpowder to launch projectiles have a greater range than melee weapons and are more powerful than bow and arrows. Also, cannons are more powerful and have a greater range and accuracy than catapults and they also can be reloaded faster than catapults. Gunpowder weapons changed war because they are stronger, more accurate, have a greater range and are able to be reloaded faster than medieval weaponry.

Handheld weapons represented a large portion of the weapons used during 16th Century warfare (Iannuzzo). Most commonly used was the sword. Throughout the middles ages, metals were developed to withstand more abuse and thus became more effective (Iannuzzo). The metals now had to strong enough to pierce through the newly developed armor of the time (Revell, "Armour"). The use of carbonized iron, which was heated, beaten, and cut the process repeated many times over to form a solid and durable and lighter than previous swords. The double edge sword was far superior in strength and sharpness of the other swords of the time (Grolier). The 16th century also brought forth the use of flamberge sword that had an undulating cutting edge, that was believed to be able to easily pierce the armor, but was too awkward for battle and was eventually abandoned. By this time the Great sword, sometimes over six feet in length, were being deployed. This sword was deadly only because of the pure size of it. The great swords required enormous strength just to hold and even more to be effective. Eventually the great sword became too awkward to use in battle just as the flamberge. These two inferior swords took a back seat to the smaller and more agile estoc sword. The estoc had a

The common weapon in war was the spear. Conventional spears were seven feet long with a iron head and was used to be thrown and also to jab. Shields were plain and round, made of wood with an iron center. Only the rich and noble used swords, which were made of iron with steel edges. The Vikings were more heavily armed than the Anglo-Saxons, and they relied on chain mail and helmets as protection, and most people used a short stabbing swords as protection, although some used either a lance or a double-edged sword. (Ross, http://www.britainexpress.com).

During the Mid-15th century gunpowder stared to get better. Austrians and the Spanish had begun to use pikes and guns together. This flexibility allowed them to experiment with muskets on the battlefield; one of the uses of them was muskets on the sides, and the pikes in the middle. It was believed that the pike was a superior killing weapon, and the muskets were only useful to scare the enemy. To counter the pike and musket formation, a form of carbine was invented. This was used by people on horseback. The use of horseback carbines was so useful; the use of the lance went extinct within 100 years (Pike, J. 2014).

It can be said that the period of time between 1400 and 1600 was one of transformation. The Renaissance revolutionized art and reintroduced Greek and Roman works to Europe. Increased technologies and a hunger for products from the Indies led to Columbus’s discovery of the Americas in 1492 which revolutionized commerce and international trade. In 1517 a German monk named Martin Luther listed a series of complaints against the Roman church leading to a reformation that transformed the western church. At the same time a more obscure, though equally important revolution was taking place, one whose effects were no less significant.

The history of weapons started centuries ago when cave people initially developed a weapon called a bow and arrow, for hunting purposes. They created this weapon from yew or elm for the bow and the arrow’s shaft, and used animal ligaments, or sinew to add tension to the bow. Archeologists have also found arrow heads made of sharp rocks and angled bones from different types of animals. These artifacts are all over the world displayed beautifully in museums to make new civilization realize the important role weapons have played in daily life.