Important Weapons for Modern War

by George Solomon


It seems that throughout history, modern and ancient, the greatest efforts expended by man have been directed towards the development of war weapons. It may be a response to man's aggressiveness that wants domination of others as means of survival. He who can command others has the least chance of expiring through extraordinary methods because he has more means at his disposal, including human lives.

Others may argue, however, that to respond to aggression of people with greater capabilities, those with less capacities must reduce if not eliminate the numerical advantage of the other via superior weapons. This was probably the line of reasoning why Hitler developed the Vergeltungswaffen, the V1 and V2 flying bombs, and the Me262, the first jetfighters to engage in air combat. Adolf Hitler sought to counter the Allied Powers' superiority in weapons quantity and men through 'miracle weapons' or, more exactly, 'vengeance weapons'.

Yet the significant world war weapons were not rockets but the armored tanks. In both World War 1 and World War 2, the tank was the decisive weapon in many battles in various fronts: Africa, Europe, Russia and Poland. In such battles, tank formations either captured territory or inflicted such grave losses on the enemy that caused him to withdraw. The introduction of the first tanks in the Battle of the Somme caused so much consternation on the Germans they were forced to give up so much ground. Technology won the day for the Allies at the time.

So the tank became the building block of aggressive blitzkrieg warfare by Germany -along with air offensives--- in the panzer divisions of the next war. Tank formations enabled Heinz Guderian's forces to penetrate very deeply into French territory in the first days of the conflict that they would have reached the English Channel had Hitler not stopped him. The German Army Command and Hitler believed Guderian was lying in his combat progress reports and commanded him to stop for verification. Thus, the miracle of Dunkirk came to pass.

In the American Civil War, among the most prominent civil war weapons will be the bayonet. Although it has been used before in many conflicts, it came to effective use during the American Civil War, when both sides fought hand-to-hand combat in substantive numbers with it. The bayonet eclipsed the sword which was a primarily cavalry weapon, and the repeating rifle which have not come yet in great numbers to play a pivotal role in the conflict. After the musket, the bayonet was the second most effective killing instrument at the time.

Among the medieval weapons, perhaps the most significant weapon -if it may be called so since it is for a defensive purpose--- is the knight's armor. Wearing it, a knight can smite a hundred unprotected foot soldiers without suffering a scratch, fight a similarly-clad knight for a day without anyone winning if of equal expertise, and rest for the night as if nothing has happened, to fight the next day. He is much protected in his suit of armor that he can confident of surviving every battle, until the English long bow gave him his match.

But the long bow is a totally different topic for discussion next.




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