For nearly 600 years, from the battles of the early fourteenth century to the dropping of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, firearms derived from gunpowder and other chemicals defined the frightful extent of war. The apparatus and materials used in World War I would have been familiar to our remote ancestors. In this classic work, first published in 1960, James Riddick Partington provides a worldwide survey of the evolution of incendiary devices, Greek fire, and gunpowder.

Greek fire, a composition Partington believes was made of a distilled petroleum fraction and other ingredients (but not saltpetre), was most famously used in the sieges of Constantinople and the Crusades. Partington moves from its antecedents--other incendiaries used in ancient warfare--to European gunpowder recipe books ( "The Latin Book of Fire, Bellifortis, " and "Feuerwerkbuch") and the history of infernal machines, mines, canon, small arms, and artillery. His book includes chapters on gunpowder and weapons in Muslim lands, India, and China--including fire books, the use of gunpowder as a propellant, the artillery of the Mughal Emperors, and the use of saltpetre in explosives. He traces the development of gunpowder to eleventh-century China and cites the first known mention and picture of a firearm in 1326.

"The history of gunpowder and firearms has attracted many authors with varying interests. The general historian must take account of major inventions effecting revolutions in the life of nations. The historian of science is concerned mostly with the invention of gunpowder. The historian of technology examines the development in the manufacture of explosives and weapons, and the way in which gunpowder has found applications in the peaceful arts. The military historian deals mainly with the use of gunpowder as an explosive and a propellant... and the development of firearms and their use in warfare. No recent book in English (or for that matter in any language) has attempted a concise survey of the subject."--from the Preface

The U.S. military has a stockpile of approximately 400,000 tons of excess, obsolete, or unserviceable munitions. About 60,000 tons are added to the stockpile each year. Munitions include projectiles, bombs, rockets, landmines, and missiles. Open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) of these munitions has been a common disposal practice for decades, although it has decreased significantly since 2011. OB/OD is relatively quick, procedurally straightforward, and inexpensive. However, the downside of OB and OD is that they release contaminants from the operation directly into the environment. Over time, a number of technology alternatives to OB/OD have become available and more are in research and development. Alternative technologies generally involve some type of contained destruction of the energetic materials, including contained burning or contained detonation as well as contained methods that forego combustion or detonation. Alternatives for the Demilitarization of Conventional Munitions reviews the current conventional munitions demilitarization stockpile and analyzes existing and emerging disposal, treatment, and reuse technologies. This report identifies and evaluates any barriers to full-scale deployment of alternatives to OB/OD or non-closed loop incineration/combustion, and provides recommendations to overcome such barriers. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 An Overview of the U.S. Army Demilitarization Program, the Demilitarization Stockpile, and Factors Bearing on the Program 3 Review of Conventional Open Burning/Open Detonation Technologies 4 Review of Candidate Alternative Technologies 5 Evaluation Criteria 6 Regulatory Requirements Applicable to Open Burning, Open Detonation, and Alternative Technologies 7 Applicability of Treatment Types to Munitions and Energetic Types 8 Comparative Assessment of Demilitarization Technologies 9 Barriers and Other Considerations Appendixes Appendix A: Committee Activities Appendix B: CEASE FIRE! Campaign Technology Criteria Appendix C: Military Munitions Rule Appendix D: Public Concerns About Open Burning/Open Detonation and Alternative Demilitarization Options Appendix E: Committee Biographical Information Appendix F: Acronyms

Craig F. Morris explores the beginnings of American strategic bombing theory, why it changed over time, the factors that shaped that change, and how technology molded military doctrine. This much-needed book provides a full spectrum discussion of the American strategic bombing concept in a way that advances aviation history.In the minds of forward thinking aerial theorists the new technology of the airplane removed the limitations of geography, defenses, and operational reach that had restricted ground and naval forces since the dawn of human conflict. With aviation, a nation could avoid costly traditional military campaigns and attack the industrial heart of an enemy using long-range bombers. Yet, the acceptance of strategic bombing doctrine proved a hard-fought process. This is not the story of any one person or event; instead, it is a twisting tale of individual efforts, organizational infighting, political priorities, and technological integration. By tracing the complex interrelationships of these four causal factors, this book provides a greater understanding of the origins and rise to dominance of American strategic bombing theory.

Military robots are affecting both the decision to go to war and the means by which wars are conducted. This book covers the history of military robotics, analyzes their current employment, and examines the ramifications of their future utilization. Robotic systems are the future of military conflicts: their development is already revolutionizing the nature of human conflict-and eroding the standards of acceptable behavior in wartime. Written by a professor who teaches strategy and leadership for the U.S. Air Force, one of the global leaders in the development and utilization of military robots, this book both addresses the history of military robotics and discusses the troubling future ramifications of this game-changing technology. Organized both chronologically and thematically, the book's chapters describe the development and evolution of unmanned warfare; clarify the past, current, and future capabilities of military robotics; and offer a detailed and convincing argument that limits should be placed upon their development before it is too late. This standout work presents an eye-opening analysis that military personnel, civil servants, and academic instructors who teach military history, social policy, and ethics can ill afford to ignore, and will also provide the general public with information that will correct misconceptions about military robotics derived through popular culture and the news media. Clearly identifies the links between the technological developments of the most recent innovations and the ethical and legal challenges of the future Presents accurate, up-to-date information that is grounded in scholarly research regarding an ever-changing field Clarifies the capabilities aspect of military robotics and offers detailed analysis on why limits need to be placed on their development Includes tables, charts, and photographs to illustrate the main points of the text

Napalm, incendiary gel that sticks to skin and burns to the bone, came into the world on Valentine's Day 1942 at a secret Harvard war research laboratory. On March 9, 1945, it created an inferno that killed over 87,500 people in Tokyo-more than died in the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It went on to incinerate sixty-four of Japan's largest cities. The Bomb got the press, but napalm did the work. After World War II, the incendiary held the line against communism in Greece and Korea-Napalm Day led the 1950 counter-attack from Inchon-and fought elsewhere under many flags. Americans generally applauded, until the Vietnam War. Today, napalm lives on as a pariah: a symbol of American cruelty and the misguided use of power, according to anti-war protesters in the 1960s and popular culture from Apocalypse Now to the punk band Napalm Death and British street artist Banksy. Its use by Serbia in 1994 and by the United States in Iraq in 2003 drew condemnation. United Nations delegates judged deployment against concentrations of civilians a war crime in 1980. After thirty-one years, America joined the global consensus, in 2011. Robert Neer has written the first history of napalm, from its inaugural test on the Harvard College soccer field, to a Marine Corps plan to attack Japan with millions of bats armed with tiny napalm time bombs, to the reflections of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a girl who knew firsthand about its power and its morality.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest consumer of energy in the federal government. In turn, the U.S. Air Force is the largest consumer of energy in the DoD, with a total annual energy expenditure of around $10 billion. Approximately 84 percent of Air Force energy use involves liquid fuel consumed in aviation whereas approximately 12 percent is energy (primarily electricity) used in facilities on the ground. This workshop was concerned primarily with opportunities to reduce energy consumption within Air Force facilities that employ energy intensive industrial processes-for example, assembly/disassembly, painting, metal working, and operation of radar facilities-such as those that occur in the maintenance depots and testing facilities. Air Force efforts to reduce energy consumption are driven largely by external goals and mandates derived from Congressional legislation and executive orders. To date, these goals and mandates have targeted the energy used at the building or facility level rather than in specific industrial processes. In response to a request from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology, and Engineering, the National Research Council, under the auspices of the Air Force Studies Board, formed the Committee on Energy Reduction at U.S. Air Force Facilities Using Industrial Processes: A Workshop. The terms of reference called for a committee to plan and convene one 3 day public workshop to discuss: (1) what are the current industrial processes that are least efficient and most cost ineffective? (2) what are best practices in comparable facilities for comparable processes to achieve energy efficiency? (3) what are the potential applications for the best practices to be found in comparable facilities for comparable processes to achieve energy efficiency? (4) what are constraints and considerations that might limit applicability to Air Force facilities and processes over the next ten year implementation time frame? (5) what are the costs and paybacks from implementation of the best practices? (6) what will be a proposed resulting scheme of priorities for study and implementation of the identified best practices? (7) what does a holistic representation of energy and water consumption look like within operations and maintenance? Table of Contents Front Matter Overview 1 Introduction 2 Presentations and Comments 3 Wrap Up Discussion Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members Appendix B Workshop Agenda Appendix C Workshop Participants Appendix D Presentation Abstracts Appendix E Energy Management Checklist

This book presents the history of the Hoplites, fighters who permanently altered the art of war in the West. You will be able to enter the history and the life of its elite warriors which appeared in the 8th century BC and discover their equipment and martial tactics. Richly illustrated, you can study the most beautiful artefacts and iconographic witnesses. Ce livre presente l'histoire de ces combattants, les Hoplites, qui ont modifie durablement l'art de la guerre en Occident. Ainsi, vous pourrez penetrer dans l'histoire et la vie de ses guerriers d'elite apparus au VIIIe siecle av. J.-C et decouvrir leur equipement et leurs tactiques martiales. Richement illustre, vous pourrez observer les plus beaux artefacts ou temoins iconographiques.

The history of jewellery manufacturer Corbella Milano, one of the most renowned excellences of Made in Italy. The Corbella company, 'the first Italian manufacturer of jewellery and weapons for the theatre', was founded in the heart of Milan in 1865. Through reproductions of weapons, jewels and accessories, it soon became one of the first official suppliers of the Teatro alla Scala, as well as signing contracts with prestigious institutions including La Fenice di Venezia, the Costanzi in Rome and the Colon of Buenos Aires. The industrious Milan after the Unification of Italy, of the National and International Expositions, of the years between the two world wars and of the economic boom has seen the owners of Corbella always acting as protagonists, first in the theatrical sector, with specific supplies to the great lyrical interpreters, from Margherita Carosio to Renata Tebaldi, then in the field of the great Italian producers of costume jewellery, up to the production changes due to the globalisation of the 21st century. Text in English and Italian.

This beautiful book combines archaeological documents, paintings and photos of a reconstruction of the first wooden amphitheatre at the Coliseum. It is a complete documentation with all categories of gladiators with their particular equipment up their fighting methods and ways of dying. This excellent reference guide is a must-have for all fans of archaeology and the Romans. - TEXT IN FRENCH -

"South Africa's Weapons of Mass Destruction" offers an in-depth view of the secret development and voluntary disarmament of South Africa's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons program, Project Coast. Helen E. Purkitt and Stephen F. Burgess explore how systems used for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in South Africa were acquired and established beyond the gaze of international and domestic political actors. On the basis of archival evidence from Project Coast and their own extensive interviews with military and political officials, Purkitt and Burgess consider what motivates countries to acquire and build such powerful weaponry and examine when and how decisions are made to dismantle a military arsenal voluntarily. Questions such as how to destroy weapons safely and keep them from reappearing on international markets are considered along with comparative strategies for successful disarmament in other nation-states.Helen E. Purkitt is Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Naval Academy. Stephen F. Burgess is Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategy and International Security at the U.S. Air War College and an Associate of the U.S.; Air Force Counterprolif

At its dawn in the early twentieth century, the new technology of aviation posed a crucial question to American and British cavalry: what do we do with the airplane? Lacking the hindsight of historical perspective, cavalry planners based their decisions on incomplete information. Harnessing the Airplane compares how the American and British armies dealt with this unique challenge. A multilayered look at a critical aspect of modern industrial warfare, this book examines the ramifications of technological innovation and its role in the fraught relationship that developed between traditional ground units and emerging air forces. Cavalry officers pondered the potential military uses of airplanes and other new technologies early on, but preferred to test them before embracing and incorporating them in their operations. Cavalrymen cautiously examined airplane capabilities, developed applications and doctrine for joint operations, and in the United States, even tried to develop their own, specially designed craft. Throughout the interwar period, instead of replacing the cavalry, airplanes were used cooperatively with cavalry forces in reconnaissance, security, communication, protection, and pursuit - a collaboration tested in maneuvers and officially blessed in both British and American doctrine. This interdependent relationship changed drastically, however, during the 1930s as aviation priorities and doctrine shifted from tactical support of ground troops toward independent strategic bombardment. Henning shows that the American and British experiences with military aviation differed. The nascent British aviation service made quicker inroads into reconnaissance and scouting, even though the British cavalry was the older institution with more-established traditions. The American cavalry, despite its youth, contested the control of reconnaissance as late as the 1930s, years after similar arguments ended in Britain. Drawing on contemporary government reports, memoirs and journals of service personnel, books, and professional and trade journals and magazines, Harnessing the Airplane is a nuanced account of the cavalry's response to aviation over time and presents a new perspective on a significant chapter of twentieth-century military history.

By the Sword is an epic history of sword fighting—a science, an art, and, for many, a religion that began at the dawn of civilization in ancient Egypt and has been an obsession for mankind ever since. With wit and insight, Richard Cohen gives us an engrossing history of the world via the sword.

Over 750 detailed, high-quality illustrations from rare 19th-century sources: suits of armor, chain mail, swords, helmets, knives, crossbows and other implements, along with scenes of battle, soldiers, horses, artillery and more. Especially suitable for projects requiring a medieval or old-fashioned flavor, these illustrations will fill a myriad of needs for battle-related graphic art.

Adopted by the German Wehrmacht at the end of 1939, more than 1.2 million P.38s were manufactured up to 1945. Designed by the Walther company from its civilian model PP, it was the first double-action military pistol. Its robustness and simplicity of manufacture made it a worthy successor to the legendary P.08 Luger in the Second World War. This illustrated book presents the design, manufacturing, and development of the various models, from initial acceptance by the German military in 1938 through their production and use from 1939 to 1945. Includes close-up views of markings and other details, as well as a visual breakdown of the weapon. Accessories such as magazines, ammunition, holsters, and cleaning kits are featured throughout the book, as are rarely seen combat-related uniform and equipment items.

The U.S. Army entered World War II unprepared. In addition, lacking Germany's blitzkrieg approach of coordinated armor and air power, the army was organized to fight two wars: one on the ground and one in the air. Previous commentators have blamed Congressional funding and public apathy for the army's unprepared state. David E. Johnson believes instead that the principal causes were internal: army culture and bureaucracy, and their combined impact on the development of weapons and doctrine.

Johnson examines the U.S. Army's innovations for both armor and aviation between the world wars, arguing that the tank became a captive of the conservative infantry and cavalry branches, while the airplane's development was channeled by air power insurgents bent on creating an independent air force. He maintains that as a consequence, the tank's potential was hindered by the traditional arms, while air power advocates focused mainly on proving the decisiveness of strategic bombing, neglecting the mission of tactical support for ground troops. Minimal interaction between ground and air officers resulted in insufficient cooperation between armored forces and air forces.

Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers makes a major contribution to a new understanding of both the creation of the modern U.S. Army and the Army's performance in World War II. The book also provides important insights for future military innovation.

A History of Artillery traces the development of artillery through the ages, providing a thorough study of these weapons. From its earliest recorded use in battle over a millennium ago, up to the recent Gulf War, Balkan, and Afghanistan conflicts, artillery has often been the deciding factor in battle. Black shows that artillery sits within the general history of a war as a means that varied greatly between armies and navies, and also across time.

A History of Artillery traces the development of artillery through the ages, providing a thorough study of these weapons. From its earliest recorded use in battle over a millennium ago, up to the recent Gulf War, Balkan, and Afghanistan conflicts, artillery has often been the deciding factor in battle. Black shows that artillery sits within the general history of a war as a means that varied greatly between armies and navies, and also across time.

This book is a study of all aspects of air defense from its beginnings during the French Revolution when artillery gunners tried to hit primitive balloons with their cannons to the use of Patriot missiles in the Gulf War to shoot down tactical ballistic missiles. Crabtree's history focuses on the development of tactics and technology from the Franco-Prussian War to the present. The strategic air defense of World War I and World War II are featured, as are the development of surface-to-air missiles by Germany in World War II and by the United States and the USSR in Vietnam and the Middle East.

Depicts the uniforms, insignia, decorations, horse equipment, and weaponry of cavalry regiments against the background of events in American military history.