Weapons of War by Chris Cook & John Stevenson
Weapons of War by Chris Cook & John Stevenson
Hardcover
Publisher: Artus, London, 1980
Used - Very Good+. This book is in very good condition. The cover have some very limited signs of wear and the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. The book is protected with a Cellophane cover. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.
“Weapons of War” is a great general introduction to warfare through the ages – rather than strictly weapons as the title suggests, the first being necessary to achieve the second. “… the evolution of weapons proceeded without any noticeable interruption throughout both ancient and medieval periods,” the authors write in the opening paragraphs of the first chapter. “Significant change was delayed until the introduction of efficient gunpowder artillery and firearms, and lastly the rig bayonet, in the seventeenth century. A Macedonian phalanx of the fourth century BC would have been a match for such ‘modern’ troops as Cromwell’s Ironsides or the Spanish pikemen at Rocroi. Marlborough’s army at Blenheim in 1704 would have been a totally different proposition.
“The weapons of ancient war had one very obvious but nevertheless remarkable characteristic. They possessed little or none of the built-in obsolescence dogging nearly every modern ‘weapon system’. A modern battle tank, for instance, can easily be out of date by the time it actually enters service, and if it runs out of fuel and ammunition in the wrong place at the wrong time it rapidly becomes and expensive and highly vulnerable piece of junk. Spears and swords possessed a permanent efficiency which no modern weapon can hope to match. They could be used again and again until they broke.”
Insight galore and plenty of pretty pictures too. A must for every library.
