How Were Weapons Fashioned in Medieval Times Without Glue

Weapons during the classical and medieval periods that used oestrus or burning for damage

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Nether the Control of Titus, A.D. 70, by David Roberts (1850), shows the city burning

Early thermal weapons, which used heat or burning activeness to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories, were employed in warfare during the classical and medieval periods (approximately the 8th century BC until the mid-16th century AD).

Incendiary devices were ofttimes used equally projectiles during warfare, particularly during sieges and naval battles: some substances were boiled or heated to inflict damage by scalding or burning; other substances relied on their chemical properties to inflict burns or impairment. These weapons or devices could exist used by individuals, thrown by siege engines, or utilised as army strategy. Incendiary mixtures, such equally the petroleum-based Greek fire, could exist launched past throwing machines or administered through a siphon. Sulfur- and oil-soaked materials were sometimes ignited and thrown at the enemy, or attached to spears, arrow and bolts and fired by hand or machine.

The simplest and virtually common thermal projectiles were boiling h2o and hot sand, which could be poured over attacking personnel. Other anti-personnel weapons included the use of hot pitch, oil, resin, animal fat and other like compounds. Fume was used to confuse or bulldoze off attackers. Substances such as quicklime and sulfur could exist toxic and blinding.

Burn down and incendiary weapons were also used against enemy structures and territory, sometimes on a massive scale. Large tracts of state, towns and villages were ofttimes ignited equally part of a scorched earth strategy. Some siege techniques—such as mining and slow—relied on combustibles and burn down to complete the plummet of walls and structures.

Towards the latter part of the period, gunpowder was invented, which increased the sophistication of the weapons, starting with fire lances, which led to the eventual development of the cannon and other firearms. Evolution of the early weapons has connected ever since, with modern war weapons such as napalm, flame throwers, and other explosives having straight roots in the original early thermal weapons. Burn-raising and other destructive strategies can still exist seen in modern strategic bombing.

"Burn and sword" [edit]

Behold from your walls the lands laid waste material with fire and sword, booty driven off, the houses ready on burn down in every management and smoking.

Livy, The History of Rome ^[1]

The devastation of enemy possessions and territory was a fundamental strategy of war, serving the dual purpose of punishment and deprivation of resources.^[2] Until the fifth century BC, the Greeks had little expertise in siege warfare and relied on a strategy of devastation to draw the enemy out; they destroyed crops, copse and houses. Centuries later, the Byzantines recommended this strategy, even though they had adult siege technology.^[3]

Fire was the easiest manner of harrying and destroying territories, and could be done easily and quickly by small forces.^[4] It was a strategy put to good utilise past the Scots during the Wars of Independence; they repeatedly launched raids into northern England, burning much of the countryside until the whole region was transformed.^[two] King Edward Two of England pursued i raiding party in 1327 past following the lights of burning villages.^[4]

The tactics were replicated by England during the Hundred Years' War; burn down became their chief weapon as they laid waste product to the French countryside during lightning raids called chevauchées, in a form of economical warfare. One estimate records the destruction of over 2000 villages and castles during i raid in 1339.^[6]

As well equally causing the destruction of lands, food and property, fire could also be used to divert manpower. 13th century Mongol armies regularly sent out small detachments from their main forces to outset grass fires and burn down settlements as diversions.^[7]

Devastation by burn was not only used every bit an offensive tactic; some countries and armies employed "scorched earth" policies on their own land to deprive invading armies of all nutrient and forage. Robert I of Scotland reacted to the English language invasion of 1322 by launching punitive and diversionary chevauchées into north-west England, then retreating to Culross, called-for as he went the Scottish lands which lay in the path of the English language army. The English ran out of food and had to carelessness the campaign.^[8]

Such acts of aggression were not limited to wars against territorial enemies, but could course part of the strategies of conquest, subjugation and punishment of rebellion. Alexander the Peachy suppressed a revolt in Thebes, Greece in 335 BC, after which he ordered the urban center to be torched and laid waste.^[ix] Alexander ordered (or allowed) a similar arson at Persepolis in 330 BC.^[10] It was a policy which was repeated throughout the period. William I of England, post-obit his conquest of England in the 11th century, asserted his control of Northumbria by destructive campaigns throughout the region: "He ordered that crops and herds, tools and food should be burned to ashes. More than 100,000 people perished of hunger", reported Orderic Vitalis, a contemporary chronicler.^[11] It was a scene repeated the following century, during the anarchy of Stephen of England's reign. Civil war erupted between Stephen'due south supporters and those of the Empress Matilda, a rival claimant for the throne. The Gesta Stephani tells of the deeds of ane of Stephen's supporters, Philip of Gloucester, by describing how he "raged in all directions with burn and sword, violence and plunder", reducing territory to "bare fields and dreadful desert".^[12]

Techniques of use [edit]

At the simplest level, fire itself was used as a weapon to cause large-scale destruction, or to target specific enemy positions or mechanism. It was oftentimes used against siege engines and wooden structures.^[13] Incendiary weapons could be used to gear up fire to towns and fortifications, and a wide range of thermal weapons were used confronting enemy personnel. Some armies developed specialised "fire-troops". Past 837, many Muslim armies had groups of "naffatin" (fire archers),^[14] and when the Mamluk Sultanate raised a fleet for an set on on Cyprus they had "nafata", or firetroops.^[15]

Elementary fire-raising [edit]

The burning of enemy positions and equipment was not necessarily a complicated procedure, and many fires were set by individuals using mutual materials. When William of Normandy'due south army besieged Mayenne in 1063, they shot fire into the castle to panic the garrison, while two boys stole into the castle in gild to offset a burn within. The garrison surrendered.^[sixteen]

Besieged forces would sometimes launch sorties in an endeavor to fire the attackers' camps or equipment. When Hugh Capet besieged Laon in 986–987, his troops became drunkard one dark, and Duke Charles's men sallied along and torched the military camp, forcing Hugh to abandon the siege.^[17]

The besieged were non the just ones who might fire siege equipment; when Frederick I Barbarossa abased his siege of Alessandria in 1175, he burned his own camp and equipment.^[18]

However, similar all weapons, burn-raising had its own dangers. In 651 Penda of Mercia attempted to win Bamburgh Castle by building a pyre at its base from planks, beams, wattle and thatch. The wind changed management and the burn blew dorsum on Penda'south men, who had to abandon the assail. This fortuitous wind-change was credited to Saint Aidan, who saw the smoke from the Farne Islands and prayed for the defenders.^[19]

Throwing machines [edit]

1869 engraving showing a 13th-century trebuchet launching an incendiary missile

Various throwing machines were in utilize throughout the classical and medieval periods. By and large referred to as "artillery", these engines could hurl, fire or shoot missiles and virtually could exist used or adapted for throwing thermal weapons, past attacking and defending forces.^[xx] Barrels, fire pots and other breakable containers of pitch, Greek fire, and other incendiary mixtures could be thrown;^[21] other machines fired arrows and bolts, which could be ignited, or adapted to carry flammable mixtures.^[22] From the 12th century, Muslims in Syria were using dirt and glass grenades for fire weapons, thrown by machines.^[23]

Most of the terms used for throwing machines were vague, and could refer to different engines, all of which went through changes and developments over the catamenia. Among the most mutual were the ballista, mangonel and trebuchet. The ballista was similar in form to a crossbow, though much larger, and used a string-winding mechanism to fire a missile or bolt placed in a groove.^[24] Other giant crossbows were used throughout the menstruum, and an "espringal", based on the ballista, which threw big bolts, was adult in the 13th century.^[25] Torsion-powered arrow firers had been used from 400 BC, and were adapted for stones.^[22] A mangonel had a wooden spoon-shaped arm, to concord a stone or other projectile, which was manipulated under tension from a twisted rope.^[26] The trebuchet was an avant-garde evolution of the 12th or 13th century, which used a counter-weight to power the throwing arm, and was the major siege engine until the cannon became widespread.^[26]

In mining [edit]

Forces attacking a castle or other strong fortification sometimes sought to undermine the foundations by digging "mines" or tunnels underneath them. Usually, such mining or excavation machinery was protected by a tortoise (also called a cat, sow, or owl): a covered shed on wheels, which shielded the miners from missile attack.^[27]

As the tunnels were constructed, they were generally supported by wooden beams and posts.^[28] Once the mine had been finished, the internal infinite was filled with combustibles, such every bit brushwood, firewood, resin, and other incendiary substances; once ignited, these would burn the supporting props, causing the mine to collapse, bringing down with it the structures lying above.^[29] From the 15th century, gunpowder was besides used, although the aim remained to fire the props.^[30]

Defenders might sometimes dig counter-tunnels in order to reach the enemy'southward mines and launch an assail; oftentimes thermal weapons were used to drive the besiegers from the tunnels.^[31]

Rather than undermining a structure, some besiegers used borers to drill holes in the outer walls in an effort to destroy them; such methods were more effective than rams on brick walls (which tended to absorb the shocks from the ram).^[32] Borers differed in size and mechanism, but a typical machine was fabricated from a log of wood, tipped with atomic number 26 and supported and driven past windlasses or ropes.^[32] One time a serial of holes had been bored along the length of a wall, the holes were typically filled with rods of dry out wood, saturated with sulfur or pitch and then ignited. Bellows could exist used to encourage a blaze.^[33]

Fire ships [edit]

Fire ships were used on several occasions throughout the menstruum. In 332 BC Alexander the Neat laid siege to Tyre, a littoral base of the Phoenicians. In guild to bring his siege engines inside range, Alexander ordered the construction of moles. The Tyrians responded by attacking the first mole with a large fireship, which destroyed information technology. A big horse transport ship was packed with cedar torches, pitch, dried brush and other combustibles; above this were suspended cauldrons of sulfur, bitumen and "every sort of cloth apt to kindle and nourish flame".^[34] This was towed to the mole, and lit by the Phoenicians before they jumped overboard and swam away.^[35]

Some other case occurred during the 886 Siege of Paris, when the Vikings filled three warships with flammable material and pulled them upriver in a failed attempt to destroy the Franks' fortified bridges.^[36] Burn down ships containing straw and pulverization were besides used during the Chinese Boxing of Lake Poyang in 1363.^[37]

Other methods [edit]

Often ingenious methods were developed for administering the weapons. The 10th-century Olga of Kiev is reported to have tied called-for tinder to birds which, when released, flew back to their nests in the hostile town and gear up them alight.^[38] Siege towers and ladders could be fitted with a long, narrow tilting beam at the top, gouged with a groove, so that hot oil and water could exist poured downwards on the enemy defenders during an escalade.^[39]

During an assault, castle or fortification defenders could launch or pour the substances on the heads of attackers below. This could be done over the battlements, only likewise through purpose-built holes such as machicolations and murder-holes.^[xl] Indian records advise smoke and burn was used defensively within a fortress to confuse and disorient attackers; iron grills could besides be heated and used to block passageways.^[41] During night attacks, defenders could drop lighted bundles over the walls so the enemy could be seen; Chinese and Muslim sources also depict the low-cal gained past torches hung on the walls.^[42]

Employ confronting rock castles [edit]

Stone castles were susceptible to burn, since they contained many combustible materials.^[43] In 1139, Henry de Tracy forced the surrender of Torrington Castle by the simple expedient of tossing lighted torches through the go along'south loopholes.^[44]

Rock was likewise susceptible to intense heat, which would crusade information technology to crack and collapse. Byzantine sources recorded the demolition of rock structures caused by placing clay pots of burning charcoal at the base of walls moistened with vinegar or urine,^[38] and the 6th century treatise by an engineer in Justinian'due south ground forces includes the lighting of fires beneath the walls among its instructions for sieges.^[45]

Stone castles sometimes offered other inflammatory targets. During the Crusades, Muslim defenders frequently hung bundles of straw confronting their walls as buffers against stones and rams; in turn, the Crusader archers would set these alight with fire arrows.^[46]

Defence force against thermal assail [edit]

Defence from thermal weapons and fire attacks was usually water or other liquids such equally urine; hides were soaked and draped over vulnerable wooden hoardings and siege engines, vats and barrels of liquid were collected and stored by defenders and attackers.^[40] Hides were hung in an overlapping manner so that any h2o would run down the whole structure to extinguish flames.^[47] Some thermal weapons (such every bit quicklime or oil) could non be extinguished or eased by h2o, in which instance sand or earth could be used.^[48] Wooden structures were ofttimes soaked in alum to increase their fire resistance.^[48] The Romans covered their tortoises (mobile siege sheds) with raw hides packed with vinegar-soaked seaweed or chaff, to serve as protection against regular and incendiary missiles.^[49] Throughout the period, sacks or nets might be filled with vinegar-moistened chaff, seaweed or moisture moss and hung on the exterior.^[47] The wooden siege engines of the Crusaders were vulnerable to attack from the Byzantine and Muslim fire-weapons, so the troops inside siege towers kept stores of water and vinegar.^[fifty]

During the High Centre Ages, the majority of Poland's castles were nonetheless made of woods, so uncut stone was frequently added to the front to improve their fire defences.^[51]

Both attackers and defenders needed to be prepared for incendiary and thermal attack. When the Athenians besieged Syracuse in 416 BC they lost many siege engines to fire. The Syracusan ruler Dionysius I must have taken note of this success, for when he laid siege to Motya in 398 BC he organised special burn "brigades", who successfully doused the fires when his siege engines were bombarded.^[52]

During the Starting time English language Civil War, incendiary devices were used to raze city centers. Defenders in London were advised to combat the flames using milk, sand, earth, and urine. In Colchester, fires caused by hand grenades (the weapon was called "wildfire" by the combatants) were extinguished using wet clothes saturated in milk and vinegar.^[53]

Types of weapons [edit]

Flaming arrows, bolts, spears and rockets [edit]

Two fire arrows (crossbow bolts). Southern Germany, ca. 15th Century, with preserved incendiary mixture of saltpeter, charcoal, sulphur and textile on the shaft.

Lit torches (burning sticks) were likely the earliest form of incendiary device. They were followed by incendiary arrows, which were used throughout the aboriginal and medieval periods. The simplest flaming arrows had oil- or resin-soaked tows tied just below the arrowhead and were effective against wooden structures.^[13] Both the Assyrians and the Judeans used flaming arrows at the siege of Lachish in 701 BC.^[54] More sophisticated devices were adult by the Romans which had fe boxes and tubes which were filled with incendiary substances and attached to arrows or spears. These arrows needed to exist shot from loose bows, since swift flight extinguished the flame; spears could be launched by hand or throwing auto.^[55]

Flaming arrows required the shooter to get quite close to their desired target and most volition accept extinguished themselves before reaching the target. In response, some other form of fire arrow was adult which consisted of curved metal bars connecting a tip and hollow end for the shaft. The resulting cage was filled with hot coals or other solid object which could be fired from a much stronger bow or ballista without fear of extinguishing and would be used to ignite harbinger or thatch roofs from a safer distance.

Flaming arrows and crossbow bolts were used throughout the period. Fifteenth-century author Gutierre Diaz de Gamez witnessed a Spanish assail on the Moorish town of Oran in 1404 and later on described how "During the most part of the dark, the galleys did non finish from firing bolts and quarrells dipped in tar into the boondocks, which is near the sea. The noise and the cries which came from the boondocks were very peachy by reason of the havoc that was wrought."^[56]

Anna Komnene records that at the 1091 Boxing of Levounion, lighted torches were fixed to spears.^[57]

The Chinese Song Dynasty created fire arrows – rockets attached to arrows and launched en masse through platforms, and later created rockets such as the huo long chu shui, a multistage rocket used in naval combat. Primitive rockets fabricated from bamboo and leather were used by the Mongols, under Genghis Khan, but were inaccurate.^[58] However, the Fatimids used "Chinese arrows" from the 11th Century, which probably included saltpetre.^[fourteen] The Mamluks experimented with a rocket-powered weapon described as "an egg which moves itself and burns".^[59]

A 2-metre-long (two.two yd) atomic number 26 crossbow-commodities probably designed to carry a fire cartridge was establish in a 13th-14th-century castle in Vladimir, Russia.^[sixty] Such big machine-thrown bolts were ideal for incendiary weapons. The Mongols used an "ox-bow" motorcar to throw bolts which had been dipped in burning pitch, with a range of 2500 paces.^[61]

During the British Civil Wars (mid-17th century in Great Uk), both the Parliamentarian and Royalist armies used various incendiary devices to attack enemies and destroy belongings that might be used for military purposes, according to historian Stephen Porter in Devastation in the English Civil Wars. The flaming arrow attack was used to set fire to buildings at a distance.^[62] An arrow with a combustible substance fastened to the shaft, close to the tip, was shot from a bow or short-muzzled musket. Such arrows shot from a musket had their feathers removed, to fit inside the cage, and were called fire-darts. These devices were inexpensive to brand and easy to prepare. Although used infrequently during the wars, the flaming arrows and darts proved to be destructive. The Royalists shot flaming arrows into the thatched homes in the suburbs of Chester causing extensive damage. Lyme Regis was partly razed using flaming arrows.

Greek burn [edit]

Greek burn was ane of the most effective thermal devices, although it was extremely dangerous for the users.^[63] A combustible liquid, it could be shot from siphons or catapults, and information technology burst into flames^{[ citation needed ]} on impact. Outset developed by the Byzantines in the 7th century, information technology was later used by the Turks during the Crusades, and was probably first used in Western Europe in the 12th century.^[64] Early experiments by the Byzantines in the 6th century used a mixture of sulfur and oil, which would accept been terrifying if not destructive.^[45] Diverse versions seem to take existed, and the recipes were frequently kept secret; experts today nevertheless debate the exact limerick, although some recipes are known.^[65] It probably had regional variations; the Islamic derivative was known as "naft" and had a petroleum base, with sulfur;^[66] the Persian give-and-take for "petroleum" is نفت (naft).

The combustible liquid could exist shot from catapults, and would flare-up into flames on touch on.^[64] Siphons, frequently of copper, were as well developed, outset appearing in the tenth and 11th centuries.^[14] The siphons could shoot a blazing stream, which a 10th-century Mesopotamian source claimed could engulf twelve men.^[66] Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi, who wrote a war machine manual for Saladin in the 12th century, suggested that "naft" could be placed inside blown eggshells, which could be thrown from horseback.^[66] From the 12th century, oral fissure-blown tubes were developed for utilise in mines.^[fourteen]

Similar petroleum and bitumen-based incendiary mixtures had been known for centuries before the invention of Greek fire, but this new recipe created a blaze which was extremely difficult to extinguish.^[45] It burned on water, and was used effectively in naval warfare,^[twoscore] although information technology was primarily an anti-personnel weapon rather than a ship-burner.^[67] Information technology remained effective at ocean even after its utilise had declined on country after the 13th century.^[66]

The Greek fire recipes continued to be developed over the centuries, and by the High Middle Ages was much more sophisticated than the early versions.^[68] Saltpetre (also called "Chinese table salt") was added to the mixture in the Islamic world, and China developed a dry saltpetre mixture in the 12th century, which eventually became gunpowder.^{[66] [69]} Both the Parliamentarian and Royalist armies used Greek-fire-similar petroleum-based incendiary devices known every bit "wildfire" during the British Civil Wars.^[62]

Duarte Barbosa ca. 1514 listed weapons fabricated by Javanese people, including Greek burn.^{[70] : 224} Zhang Xie in Dong Xi Yang Kao (1618) mentioned that city of Palembang, which has been conquered by Javanese, produces the furious fiery oil (ming huo yu), which according to the Hua I Kao is a kind of tree secretion (shu mentum), and is also chosen mud oil (ni yu). Zhang Xie wrote:^{[71] : 88}

It much resemble camphor, and can corrode human mankind. When ignited and thrown on water, its light and flame get all the more than intense. The barbarians use it every bit a fire-weapon and produce great conflagrations in which sails, bulwarks, upperworks and oars all catch fire and cannot withstand it. Fishes and tortoises coming in contact with it cannot escape from being scorched.

Because there was no mention of projector pump, the weapon is probably breakable bottles with fuses.^{[71] : 88}

Hot oil [edit]

Oil of various kinds could be heated to high temperatures and poured over an enemy,^[72] although, since it was extremely expensive, its use was limited, both in frequency and quantity.^{[21] [40]} Moreover, it could exist dangerous and volatile. Since the smoke point of oil is lower than its boiling bespeak, the oil was simply heated and not boiled.

Pouring-oil was used in celebrated battles, and Josephus described its use at Jotapata in AD 67, saying "the oil did hands run downward the whole torso from head to foot, under their unabridged armour, and fed upon their flesh like flame itself."^[73]

Oil was ordinarily used to create incendiary devices. The Roman-Byzantine armies of the 6th century created "burn down-pots", oil-based incendiary weapons which could be launched past hand or with ballistae.^[74] During the siege at Montreuil-en-Bellay in 1147, a mixture of oils from nuts, cannabis and flax, was heated in iron containers, launched past mangonel, and burst into flames on impact.^[75] The Chinese made early grenades out of oil-soaked hemp and cotton wool, which were ignited and thrown past mangonels.^[76]

Another apply of oil can be seen in the naval battle of La Rochelle during the Hundred Years' War; the Castilians sprayed oil on the decks of English ships then ignited it by shooting flaming arrows down.^[77]

Water, sand and other heated missiles [edit]

Hot oil was considerably less mutual than boiling water or heated sand, which were cheap and extremely constructive; even "dust from the street" could exist used. These would penetrate armour and crusade terrible burns.^[72] Sand, especially, could piece of work its mode through very small gaps in armour.^[21] The Phoenicians at the Siege of Tyre (332 BC) dropped burning sand down on the attacking Greeks, which got in behind the armour and burned the flesh.^[78]

They built copper and iron shields, put sand into them, and heated them over hot fire so the sand became red-hot. By means of some mechanism they threw this sand at those who had fought bravest and subjected their victims to virtually astringent suffering. The sand penetrated through the armour into the shirts, burned the body, and it could not be helped [...] they died, going mad with horrible pain, in sufferings piteous and unquenchable.

Such heated missiles take also been used in mining situations; the 1st century Roman writer Vitruvius describes a counter-mine dug above the attackers' gallery by defenders at the siege of Apollonia. Piercing the floor between the mines, the Apollonian defenders poured down humid water, hot sand and hot pitch onto the heads of their enemy.^[79] Other mixtures were more innovative; the defenders at Chester in 918 boiled a mixture of water and ale in copper tubs and poured information technology over the Viking besiegers, causing their skin to peel off.^[80]

When Frederick I Babarossa besieged Crema, Italian republic in the 12th century, the defenders threw cherry-hot iron objects down on their attackers.^[80]

Pitch, tar and resin [edit]

Burning pitch was used on occasion; the Mongols were known to fire containers of burning tar during sieges using catapults and trebuchets.^[58] Wheels could be covered in pitch, set alight, and rolled forth; this technique was commonly used during the Crusades.^[81] The besieged Carthaginians in Motya, 398 BC, set alight the siege engines of the attacking Syracusan forces nether Dionysius I by dropping called-for charred logs and resin-soaked oakum; withal, the Syracusans were able to put out the fires.^[52]

Pitch was a base ingredient in many incendiary devices throughout the period. The Boeotians adult a fire machine, which they used against the Athenian wooden fortifications during the Battle of Delium in 424 BC. A cauldron of burning dress-down, pitch and sulfur was suspended at one end of a hollowed-out log and bellows were fixed to the other end.^[82] A similar mixture was used 1700 years later by the Scots, when they dropped bales of woods, tar and sulfur past crane onto the English "sow" (a large protective shield covering the battering ram) at the 1319 siege of Berwick-upon-Tweed.^[43]

Animal renderings and parts [edit]

At the 1215 siege of Rochester Castle, Rex John ordered that fat from forty pigs exist used to gear up burn down to the mines beneath the go along, which acquired it to plummet; a cheap and effective technique in place of the more complicated mixture of sulfur, tallow, gum, pitch and quicksilver he had used in France the previous twelvemonth.^[83] Animal fat was not uncommon as an accelerant; in the 13th century French sortie-parties would ofttimes exist equipped with animal fat, straw and flax to apply every bit fuel when setting fires amongst enemy siege engines.^[84]

At that place were some other intriguing uses of animal parts; during the Siege of Paris in 886 Advertisement, the Franks dropped bucket-loads of a hot mixture of pitch (or oil), wax and fish on the attacking Vikings; the mixture got nether the armour and stuck to the skin.^[85] Konrad Kyeser'southward Bellifortis of 1405 describes a poisonous mixture of sulfur, tar and horses' hooves.^[81] Other incendiary ingredients included egg yolks, and pigeon and sheep droppings.^[86]

Some documented uses of animals were not thermal or incendiary. Alive insects were as well used, to sting the enemy. quaternary century BC writer Aeneas Tacticus suggested defenders should allow wasps and bees into enemy mines,^[79] and jars of scorpions were sometimes fired during early bombardment in naval battles.^[87] In 189 BC Ambracia was besieged past the Romans, who dug mines nether the walls. The defenders filled a clay jar with chicken feathers, which they then lit, using bellows to blow the acrid fume down the tunnel; unable to approach the pot due to defensive spears, the Romans were forced to carelessness their works.^[79]

Quicklime, sulfur and smoke [edit]

The 15th-century engineer Taccola recommended quicklime,^[72] although its use went back to ancient times, and might well accept been a component of Greek fire.^[88] Quicklime reacts violently with h2o, and can crusade blindness and burns.^[88] While quicklime was used in some naval battles,^[87] it does non appear to have been standard result on board ships, due to the danger of the quicklime bravado back and burning the user.^[63]

Other substances smoked rather than flamed. Sacks of burning sulfur were effective at clearing enemy mines due to the toxic fume produced.^[21] Any smoke could exist used in small-scale confines; the Greek military author Aeneas Tacticus recommended burning forest and straw to drive out enemy sappers by the fume.^[79]

Gunpowder and cannon [edit]

The discovery of gunpowder was probably the production of centuries of alchemical experimentation.^[89] Saltpetre was known to the Chinese past the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpetre and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations.^[90] The impetus for the development of gunpowder weapons in Prc was increasing encroachment past tribes on its borders.^[91] The earliest known formula for gunpowder can exist found in a Chinese work dating probably from the 9th century.^[92] The Chinese wasted petty time in applying information technology to warfare, and they produced a variety of gunpowder weapons, including flamethrowers, rockets, bombs, and mines, before inventing firearms.^[92] European descriptions of gunpowder starting time appear in Opus Maius and Opus Tertium, written past the English philosopher Roger Salary in the mid-13th century, although the mixture was not very constructive.^{[93] [94]} The composition of gunpowder varied throughout the flow, and did not settle into the current ratios of saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal until the 17th century.^[93]

The years 904–906 saw the utilise of incendiary projectiles chosen 'flying fires' (fei-huo).^[95] Needham (1986) argues that gunpowder was first used in warfare in China in 919 as a fuse for the ignition of another incendiary, Greek burn. Initially, gunpowder mixtures were utilised through traditional engines and throwing mechanisms; containers and grenades were thrown by mangonels and trebuchets, and explosive rockets and arrows were adult, forth with gunpowder flamethrowers.^[96]

Similar firearms, cannon are a descendant of the burn down-lance,^[97] a gunpowder-filled tube used as a flamethrower; shrapnel-similar material was sometimes placed in the barrel and then that it would fly out together with the flames.^[98] In due course, the proportion of saltpeter in the propellant was increased to increase its explosive power.^[98] To better withstand that explosive power, the paper and bamboo of which fire-lance barrels were originally fabricated came to be replaced by metal.^[89] And to take full advantage of that power, the shrapnel came to be replaced by projectiles whose size and shape filled the butt more closely.^[98] With this, nosotros have the three basic features of the gun: a barrel fabricated of metal, high-nitrate gunpowder, and a projectile which totally occludes the muzzle so that the pulverization charge exerts its full potential in propellant result.^[99]

Firearms remained in use in China throughout the following centuries. Meanwhile, gunpowder and firearms spread elsewhere very apace. Gunpowder seems to take been widely known by the 13th century. The Europeans, Arabs, and Koreans all obtained firearms in the 14th century.^[100] The Turks, Iranians, and Indians all got firearms no later than the 15th century, in each case straight or indirectly from the Europeans.^[100] The Japanese did not learn firearms until the 16th century, and so from the Portuguese rather than the Chinese.^[100]

In 1326, the primeval known European motion-picture show of a gun appeared in a treatise entitled "Of the Majesty, Wisdom and Prudence of Kings".^[101] On February 11 of that same year, the Signoria of Florence appointed two officers to obtain canones de mettallo and ammunition for the town's defense force.^[102] A reference from 1331 describes an assail mounted by two Germanic knights on Cividale del Friuli, using gunpowder weapons of some sort.^[101] Cannon were get-go used by the Muslims at Alicante in 1331, or Algeciras in 1343.^[103] The French raiding party that sacked and burned Southampton in 1338 brought with them a ribaudequin and 48 bolts (but only 3 pounds of gunpowder).^[101] The Battle of Crécy in 1346 was i of the first in Europe where cannons were used.^[104]

Even so, early cannon were not very effective, the chief benefits beingness psychological, frightening men and horses.^[103] Short barrelled, big-calibre "bombards" were used upward until the tardily 15th century in Europe, during which menstruation they grew increasingly larger.^[105] In the mid-15th century, mortars also appeared.^[106] Diverse smaller weapons also existed, including the serpentine, ribaudequin and cropaudin.^[107] The powder was of poor quality and was used in modest quantities – to prevent explosion of the barrel – and then the effective range of these cannon was rarely more than 200–250m.^[108]

The barrels of the cannon were forged or cast, and each gun generally differed in calibre and length.^[109] Early powder resembled a paste, and tended to burn slowly.^[110] Its composition varied in different geographical areas, the pulverisation of Europe being quite different to that used in the Islamic earth.^[111] The projectiles used were generally rock balls for bombards and mortars. Forged iron balls were used in smaller-calibre cannon, and coated with atomic number 82 to brand them smoothen. From the 15th century, cast iron assurance were used, which caused neat devastation. As they were denser than stone, even small-scale balls could be destructive. Thus, cannon became smaller in calibre, and longer barrels increased the range.^[111]

Later evolution [edit]

The use of incendiary devices had decreased past the 14th century, mayhap due to the economic realities of war where information technology became increasingly important that captured castles and towns were undamaged.^[21] Moreover, fewer wooden engines and structures were employed in the battleground after the late 13th century, mayhap considering of the prior success of the incendiary weapons at destroying them.^[112]

While the incidence of use dropped, towards the latter end of the Middle Ages the incendiary devices became more sophisticated, and the principle of wielding burn with sword remained present throughout the Early Mod and Modern periods; improving technology just immune the process to become more efficient.^{[ citation needed ]}

The principle of fire and sword [edit]

Fire itself remained a part of warfare. In his reminisces of the Peninsular State of war (1807–1814), a British soldier recorded that the French soldiers would "regularly burn to the ground every identify they pass through. In following them we find each boondocks and village a heap of smoking ruins."^[113] During Earth War I, Leuven, in Kingdom of belgium was "looted and burned in medieval fashion",^[114] when High german soldiers set fire to much of the town, destroying the library and other cultural buildings, and causing outrage effectually the globe.^[115] Yet the tactic was not dispensed with. In World War Two, firebombing with incendiary bombs was carried out by the Germans against Britain during the Blitz, and by the Allies against Deutschland and Japan. Later one heavy raid on Tokyo in March 1945, the resulting conflagration destroyed a quarter of the predominantly wooden buildings.^[116] Much every bit the Aboriginal Greeks before them, information technology was a strategy of devastation. Fire has connected to be used as a destructive measure in warfare. During the 1991–1992 Gulf War, Iraq set burn down to iii-quarters of Kuwait's oil wells.^[117]

Burn down remained an extremely successful weapon. During naval warfare of the Napoleonic Wars, "the i thing well-nigh likely to destroy a ship was burn down".^[118] Sometimes the fires were merely a side outcome of weapon engineering. Early on firearms proved incendiary in their use and could start fires. During the Peninsular State of war, both Talavera and Salamanca battlefields were wracked by tremendous grassfires, first started by the guns.^[119] At the Boxing of Trafalgar, 1805, the French send of the line Achille caught fire when musket-flashes from her own men'southward guns set fire to the tar and grease on the sail rigging; the send somewhen exploded.^[118]

Fume screens have continued to be used past attackers and defenders as a ways of sowing confusion and hiding movements. During naval battles in the 18–19th centuries, shots were sometimes fired early on so a defensive screen was erected earlier the ships converged, to spoil the aim of the enemy.^[120]

Development and continued employ of weapons [edit]

The major development of weapons in the early mod and modern periods occurred with firearms, which became progressively more efficient. Gunpowder settled into its standard ratio in the 17th century,^[93] and full general ballistic applied science improved. Initially, iron round shot replaced the earlier rock balls for cannon so, latterly, different types of shot were invented.^{[ citation needed ]}

A carcass was a hollow projectile ordinarily formed either past an iron muzzle of ribs joining two small rings or a cast atomic number 26 brawl with holes. A carcass was then named because the iron cage was idea to resemble the ribs of a torso. A carcass was filled with a highly combustible mixture.^{[121] [122]} Carcasses were used for the showtime time by the French under Louis XIV in 1672.^[123]

For short range utilise confronting personnel, canister and the smaller naval grapeshot were popular during the 19th century; it comprised smaller atomic number 26 or lead pellets contained within a case or bag, which scattered on explosion.^[124] In 1784, Lt Henry Shrapnel invented a spherical example-shot, which was afterwards named after him. The case was a hollow fe sphere which was filled with musket balls and was detonated by a gunpowder accuse.^[125] Shot fired from cannon could be so hot that information technology scorched or ready fire to materials that it brushed.^[126]

The incendiary liquids of the aboriginal and medieval periods were also developed, and take their mod equivalents. Globe War I saw the development of the flamethrower, a mod version of the Byzantine siphons, which used gas under pressure to eject a mixture of inflammable oil and petrol, ignited past a burning taper.^[127] Similarly, the carcass projectile institute new use in the Livens Projector, a primitive mortar that could throw a large canister of inflammable liquid (it was shortly used for poisonous substance gas instead).^{[128] [129]}

Technology improved throughout the 20th century, and the latter half saw the development and utilise of napalm, an incendiary liquid formed in part from naphtha, which was the main ingredient of the Arabic "naft".^{[ citation needed ]}

Flames connected to be used for defensive lite until artificial lights were adult. At the Siege of Badajoz in 1812, the French defenders flung down called-for "carcasses" of harbinger and so that the attacking British might be seen. Like the sieges of old, the British were met by incendiary weapons, but now these took the grade of explosive grenades, mines and powder barrels equally well as the enemy's guns.^[130]

Specific weapons from the ancient and medieval periods continued to develop, and many have modernistic equivalents. Rocket engineering science, originally trialled by the Mongols, Indians and the Chinese, amongst others, was improved past the 19th century; 1 case was the incendiary Congreve rocket, which had a tail, a fuse, and a powder accuse (saltpetre, sulfur and carbon) inside a hollow shell.^[125] Grenades continued to develop, although even so retaining some aspects of their medieval equivalents. The grenades carried on board British Royal Navy ships in the tardily 18th century and early 19th century were constructed from hollow bandage iron, filled with gunpowder; the fuse was a hollow wooden tube filled with combustible fabric.^[118] During Earth State of war I, grenades were even so occasionally launched past ballistae.^[131]

The utilise of some weapons continued with little change. The Koreans used fire arrows against the Japanese at the Battle of Hansan Isle in 1592.^[132] At Trafalgar, in 1805, the British ship Tonnant shot wads covered in sulfur, which ready burn down to the Algésiras.^[133] Fireships were used in subsequently periods. In 1588, the English sent fireships loaded with gunpowder, pitch and tar amid the anchored Spanish Fleet; the Spanish fleet broke formation, setting them up for the later battle.^[134] The last battle under sail was the Battle of Navarino (1827), part of the Greek War of Independence, during which fireships were utilised by the Turks.^[135]

Chemic warfare had been experimented with during the early catamenia with sulfur, quicklime (calcium oxide), and others, and developments connected. World War I saw many gases used, including the extremely effective sulfur mustard (mustard gas).^[136]

See as well [edit]

• Petroleum Warfare Department
• Scorched earth
• Death by boiling

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Titus Livius, The History of Rome p. 335
2. ^ ^{a b} Prestwich, pp. 198–200
3. ^ Nossov, pp. 27, 58
4. ^ ^{a b} Traquir, p. 198
5. ^ Bradbury (1992), p. 170
6. ^ Prestwich, pp. 200–2
7. ^ Carey et al., p. 118
8. ^ Traquir, p. 228
9. ^ Cartledge, p. 57
10. ^ Cartledge, p. 99
11. ^ "Orderic's reaction". NormanConquest.co.uk. 24 Oct 2007. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008.
12. ^ quoted in Prestwich, p. 199
13. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 190
14. ^ ^{a b c d} Nicolle (1996), p. 85
15. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 181
16. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 151
17. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 202
18. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 161
19. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 135
20. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 299
21. ^ ^{a b c d east} Nicolle (1995), p. 208
22. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, pp. 133–5
23. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 178
24. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 300
25. ^ Nossov, pp. 159–160
26. ^ ^{a b} Bradbury (2004), p. 305
27. ^ Nossov, p. 123
28. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 303
29. ^ Nossov, p. 124
30. ^ Nossov, p. 126
31. ^ Nossov, pp. 129–131
32. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 99
33. ^ Nossov, pp. 101–ii
34. ^ quote from Cartledge, p. 149
35. ^ Cartledge, pp. 148–9
36. ^ Bennett et al., p. 222
37. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 210
38. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 191
39. ^ Nossov, p. 78
40. ^ ^{a b c d} Kaufmann & Kaufmann, p. 61
41. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 208
42. ^ Nicolle (2006), p. 206
43. ^ ^{a b} Prestwich, p. 291
44. ^ Prestwich, pp. 297–8
45. ^ ^{a b c} Nicolle (1996), p. 45
46. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 174
47. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 108
48. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 203
49. ^ Nossov, p. 85
50. ^ Nicolle (1996) pp. 173–4
51. ^ Kaufmann & Kaufmann, p. 126
52. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 36
53. ^ Stephen Porter, Destruction in the English Civil War (Phoenix Manufacturing plant, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. 1997), p. 51.
54. ^ Grant, p. 17
55. ^ Nossov, pp. 190–191
56. ^ Diaz de Gamez, p. 90
57. ^ Bradbury (2004), p. 176
58. ^ ^{a b} Carey et al., p. 119
59. ^ quoted in Nicolle (1996), p. 181
60. ^ Nicolle (1996), p 121
61. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 121
62. ^ ^{a b} Porter 1997, p. 50.
63. ^ ^{a b} Bennett et al., p. 241
64. ^ ^{a b} Bradbury (2004), p. 302
65. ^ Nossov, pp. 196–8
66. ^ ^{a b c d e} Nicolle (1996), p. 194
67. ^ Bennett et al., p. 215
68. ^ Nicolle (1995) p. 194
69. ^ Nicolle (1995), p. 295
70. ^ Partington, J. R. (1999). A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. JHU Printing. ISBN978-0-8018-5954-0.
71. ^ ^{a b} Needham, Joseph (1986). Scientific discipline and Civilisation in China, Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Function vii, War machine Technology: The Gunpowder Ballsy. Cambridge: Cambridge Academy Press.
72. ^ ^{a b c} Nossov, p. 79
73. ^ ^{a b} quoted in Nossov, p. 79
74. ^ Nicolle (1995), p. 49
75. ^ Nossov, pp 200–201
76. ^ Nicolle (1996), p. 205
77. ^ Bennett et al., p. 248
78. ^ Cartledge, p. 150
79. ^ ^{a b c d} Nossov, p. 131
80. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. eighty
81. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 202
82. ^ Nossov, p. 32
83. ^ Matarasso, pp. 100–1
84. ^ Nicolle (2005), p. 152
85. ^ Bennett et al., pp. 180, 222
86. ^ Nossov, p. 193
87. ^ ^{a b} Bennett et al., p. 212
88. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 200
89. ^ ^{a b} Chase 2003: 31–32
90. ^ Buchanan. "Editor's Introduction: Setting the Context", in Buchanan (2006).
91. ^ Kelly 2004: eight–10
92. ^ ^{a b} Hunt 2003: 1
93. ^ ^{a b c} Nossov, p. 205
94. ^ Nicolle (1995), p. 296
95. ^ Gernet, Jacques (1996). A History of Chinese Civilization . Trans. J. R. Foster & Charles Hartman (second ed.). Cambridge Academy Printing. p. 311. ISBN9780521497121. The discovery originated from the alchemical researches made in the Taoist circles of the T'ang age, but was soon put to military use in the years 904–six. It was a affair at that fourth dimension of incendiary projectiles called 'flight fires' (fei-huo).
96. ^ Nicolle (1996), pp. 294–5
97. ^ Needham (1986): 263–275
98. ^ ^{a b c} Crosby 2002: 99
99. ^ Needham (1986): x
100. ^ ^{a b c} Chase 2003: 1 "The Europeans certainly had firearms by the first one-half of the 14th century. The Arabs obtained firearms in the 14th century too, and the Turks, Iranians, and Indians all got them no after than the 15th century, in each case directly or indirectly from the Europeans. The Koreans adopted firearms from the Chinese in the 14th century, simply the Japanese did not larn them until the 16th century, so from the Portuguese rather than the Chinese."
101. ^ ^{a b c} Kelly 2004: 29
102. ^ Crosby 2002: 120
103. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 209
104. ^ Kelly 2004: 19–37
105. ^ Nossov, pp. 209–ten
106. ^ Nossov, p. 216
107. ^ Nicolle (1995), p. 297
108. ^ Nossov, p. 213
109. ^ Nossov, pp. 217–8
110. ^ Nossov, p. 220
111. ^ ^{a b} Nossov, p. 222
112. ^ Nicolle, p. 178
113. ^ quoted in Bluth, p. 135
114. ^ Grant, p. 270
115. ^ Gibson, Craig (2008-01-30). "The culture of devastation in the First Globe War". Times Literary Supplement. London (January 30, 2008). Retrieved 2008-03-08 .
116. ^ Grant, p. 329
117. ^ Grant, p. 351
118. ^ ^{a b c} Adkins, p. 131
119. ^ Bryant, p. 36
120. ^ Adkins, p. 107
121. ^ "Carcass". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Printing. 2nd edition. 1989.
122. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
123. ^ Nicolas Édouard Delabarre-Duparcq and George Washington Cullum. Elements of Military Fine art and History. 1863. p 142.
124. ^ Grant, p. 156
125. ^ ^{a b} Bluth, p. 140
126. ^ Adkins, p. 106
127. ^ Haythornthwaite, p. 73
128. ^ host, but. "Welcome vectorsite.cyberspace - Justhost.com". www.vectorsite.internet.
129. ^ "1916 - Other Corps activities". Corps History - Office 14. Purple Engineers Museum. Archived from the original on 2006-05-15. Retrieved 2009-02-03 .
130. ^ Bryant, p. 23
131. ^ Nossov, pp. 184–five
132. ^ Grant, p. 176
133. ^ Adkins, p. 185
134. ^ Grant, p. 148
135. ^ Ortzen, p. fourscore
136. ^ Haythornthwaite, pp. ninety–92

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