Weapons: A Brief History of Their Development

Weapons first came about when cavemen realized it was easier to kill prey with stone than with their bare hands. Since then the development of weapons has grown quickly.

Prehistoric men quickly went from stones to stone knives. From there they made daggers and swords.

Early hunters, who were afraid to get close to animals, developed missile weapons such as spears.

The earliest swords are believed to have been developed around 1500 BC. Original swords were made of brass and later iron and steel. Some were for cutting and others for throwing.

Soon slingshots, bows and arrows and other similar equipment were invented.

Bows and arrows are built around a spring and the energy the user has to draw the string. The more strength when pulling the arrow back, the farther it goes. Cave paintings show bows and arrows were in use over 10,000 years ago. Early bows were only about 3 ½" feet long, but in the 14^th century the English made bows in various sizes with some as long as each user of the weapon.

Crossbows are similar to bows and arrow but are very short. A bow is mounted on a piece of wood. A catch holds the bow until the user pulls the bow back and releases it.

The first weapons that were considered guns were cannons made around the 14^th century. At that time they were just a thick metal tube closed at one end and packed with a steel ball and gunpowder. Lighting a fuse causes the gunpowder to go off. When the cannon explodes it blasts a steel ball out of it and into the air towards a target.

It wasn't until the 16^th century that pistols were first made. The early ones only shot about 10 yards and were hard to reload.

Not many pistols were used at that time. More sophisticated engineering was needed.

So grenades were invented. These have a timing device inside. The user pulls the device, which is set to explode according to a timer, and then throws the grenade at a target.

In the past few hundred years, pistols and guns have been perfected and there are four types of handheld guns - pistols, submachine guns, machine guns and rifles.

Pistols are usually made for personal use and have a rotating drum with six shots fired before it needs reloading.

Rifles are long barreled guns that are fired off the shoulder. Inside there are grooves that make the bullets spin as fired.

Machine guns are usually mounted onto a jeep or vehicle because they are very heavy. They fire about 600 rounds a minute.

A submachine gun is much lighter than a machine gun and can be held by a soldier. With one squeeze several bullets can be fired in succession.

The most dangerous of all weapons are nuclear. Nuclear weapons make a large extremely strong blast that makes severe heat and lethal radiation.

A lot has changed since the prehistoric man picked up a stone. But the most common intent, too kill, has remained the same.

Source: The Random House Encyclopedia