The document outlines the evolution of weapons from ancient tools like clubs and spears to modern firearms and sophisticated military technology. It details various historical periods, including the rise of chariots, the significance of armor in warfare, and the transformational impact of the industrial revolution on weaponry. World Wars I and II marked significant advancements in weapon technology, leading to the introduction of mass destruction capabilities and modern guided munitions.

1. History of
weapons
Saswat Das

2. 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.

3. National defense
Self defense
Terrorism
Other criminal activities
Sports

5. People used clubs, axes and
spears.
Weapons were made from wood,
stones and metal.
Used for protection and hunting.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. A Roman legionnaire 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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

16. Samurai were hereditary warriors
who followed a code of
behaviour called bushido.
Samurai fought with long
swords, spears, daggers,
skewers and small knive.

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. September 1916 the
British introduced
the tank.
Submarines were
used during the First
and Second World
Wars.
1915 the Germans
began using
Zeppelin airships

22. World War I
World War I marked the entry of fully industrialized warfare as well as weapons
of mass destruction (e.g., chemical and biological weapons), and new weapons
were developed quickly to meet wartime needs.
Above all, it promised to the military commanders the independence from the
horse and the resurgence in maneuver warfare through extensive use of motor
vehicles

23. World War 2
Armoured vehicles: The Tank destroyer, Specialist Tanks for Combat
engineering including mine clearing Flail tanks, Flame tank, and amphibious
designs
Aircraft: Glide bombs – the first "smart bombs", such as the Fritz X anti-
shipping missile, had wire or radio remote control; the world's first jet fighter
(Messerschmitt 262) and jet bomber (Arado 234), the world's first operational
military helicopters (Flettner Fl 282), the world's first rocket-powered fighter
(Messerschmitt 163)
Missiles: The Pulse jet-powered V-1 flying bomb was the world's first cruise
missile, Rockets progressed enormously: V-2 rocket, Katyusha rocket artillery
and air-launched rockets.
Specialised bombs: cluster bombs, blockbuster bombs, Bouncing bombs, and
bunker busters.
HEAT, and HESH anti-armour warheads.

24. Proximity fuze for shells, bombs and rockets. This fuze is designed to detonate an
explosive automatically when close enough to the target to destroy it, so a direct
hit is not required and time/place of closest approach does not need to be
estimated. Magnetic torpedoes and mines also had a sort of proximity
fuse.[clarification needed]
Guided weapons (by radio or trailing wires): glide bombs, crawling bombs and
rockets – the precursors of today's precision-guided munitions existed between
1942–45, in the German Fritz X and Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship ordnance designs,
which along with the American Azon, were all MCLOS radio-guided ordnance
designs in World War II service.
Self-guiding weapons: torpedoes (sound-seeking, compass-guided and looping),
V1 missile (compass- and timer-guided), and the U.S. Navy's Bat air-launched
anti-ship glide ordnance, using active radar homing for the first time anywhere.

25. Aiming devices for bombs, torpedoes, artillery and machine guns, using special
purpose mechanical and electronic analog and (perhaps) digital "computers".
The mechanical analog Norden bomb sight is a well-known example.
The first generation of nerve agents was invented and produced in Germany,
but wasn't used as a weapon
Napalm was developed, but did not see wide use until the Korean War
Plastic explosives like Nobel 808, Hexoplast 75, Compositions C and C2

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. Although many sophisticated weapons were seen in World war 2…It
was 75 years ago.today in the 21st century we have unmanned
combat air vehicles, weaponized Drones and what not.
With todays computerized machines, with precise accuracy, long
rage snipers,Automatic assault rifles,Anti arcraft missiles,nuclear
weapons ,we have come too far from swords and shields and also
from bolt action rifles of 1940s for that matter.
But we are still not satisfied n we will
never be.