From Crossbow to H-Bomb - Book Report/Review Example

From Crossbow to H-Bomb Summary: From Crossbow to H-Bomb is a fantastic book, which presents in-depthknowledge and information about the military history and discovery of weapons from Archimedes catapult to MIRV and hydrogen bomb. The book focuses on the contribution of science in the warfare and introduces a new world of nuclear weapons to the reader. The information presented in the book is detailed, comprehensive and extensive. The title of the book also depicts that the author has discussed the transformation of war and weapons form crossbow era to the modern hydrogen bomb. The book also demonstrates the devastating consequences of these weapons on the world with the advancement in technology. This paper will present the summary of five chapters from chapter 2 to 6. Chapter 2 (354 words) The second chapter is titled as “Middle Ages” discussing the changes in weapons and modes of fighting in the middle ages. It was the era of barbarism and anarchy in the Western Europe. The war technology from the Roman Empire and the techniques of fortification and sieges were replaced by the use of single blade ax (Brodie and Brodie 28). On the other hand the Byzantines continued to build fortifications of stone, which were decorated with art by the Turks and Saracens. Battles were not preferred in that age, and cunning was practiced for good generalship and unnecessary sacrificing lives was discouraged. Overall the war was considered as a practical act not some act of showing heroism (Brodie and Brodie 29). Battles were avoided to be fought in the winters. Fortifications and castles helped people to escape the deadly consequences of the war (Brodie and Brodie 30). From religious concerns, the Christians were not allowed to fight against Christians as per catholic belief. In the thirteenth century, there were many advancements and scientific developments observed. Different sorts of manuals and instruction documents were developed for the manufacturing of primitive machines. The invention of crank also appeared in the thirteenth century. The cams and gears were modified for improved function. Major development was done in various metallurgic techniques, which were later implemented till nineteenth century (Brodie and Brodie 34). Other medieval inventions include printing technique and the two most crucial instruments invented were the hinged rudders and the mariner’s compass. By 1370 crossbow fitted with a stout steel and advanced, mechanical advantages were in use. The power of the armed and mounted knight was not impacted by the invention of the gun as it did by slight modifications in the crossbow (Brodie and Brodie 37). Edward III of England trained his army on using longbow for his fight against France in 1337. The battle gave messages to both the countries where French would have learned to use their horses and dismounting their knights and the Edwards II learned to use the combination of archery fire and spearmen for more pronounced victory (Brodie and Brodie 40). Chapter 3 (332 words) In the third chapter, the author has discussed the invention of gunpowder and how it has revolutionized the way wars have been conducted in the fifteenth century. The gunpowder siege weapons and various types of handguns were already in use however the invention of body plate armor was modified into an extraordinary art. The warships, banners and sails used to be highly decorated in the seventeenth century. The ornamentation of the war instruments and weapons became a fashion in those days. Flagships were decorated with gildings and paintings. The soldiers were interested in the quality if the steel used in their swords and the elegance of their weapon (Brodie and Brodie 42). Before 1490 discoveries were made in the metallurgic forms of copper and iron, which greatly increased the use of firearms. The water driven machines were developed in the Medieval Europe, which were for grinding grains and filling cloths in the eleventh century. In the twelfth and thirteenth century they were used for weaponry and metallurgy. Improvements in copper and iron forms led to modifications in the firearms including bow, swords and lances but they could not displace the terror value of the gunpowder linked with the use of different types of guns (Brodie and Brodie 65). The pressure for modifying the weapons was insistent in that era. The soldiers satisfactorily used their weapons whereas the monarch was hesitant is increasing their expenditure on weaponry (Brodie and Brodie 43). Chinese were the first nation to develop the gunpowder for an incendiary purpose. They developed a rocket in 1232 to fight against Tartars. The concept of rocket was soon disseminated to Mongols, Indians and Arabs and then to the Europeans. Inspired from the rocket, the first cannon was built by the Arabians. Later different engineers were involved in the development of cannons and other weapons including Vannoccio Briringuccio of Siena from Italy. In the seventeenth-century scientists like Simon Stevin and Ottovon Guericke served as the professional military engineers (Brodie and Brodie 73). Chapter 4 (494 words) The Chapter 4 was given the title “War and Science in the Seventeenth Century.” Apart from the above chapters this chapter is more focused on science and technology development in the warfare and weapons. European culture has a significant place of wars, in the Western Europe; peace was usually temporary, enforced forcefully or as the result of some war agreement. In the seventeenth century the art of weapons and war was intermingled with the science of astronomy, chemistry and ballistics. The governments realized the use of training and research schools for military and established some (Brodie and Brodie 74). War and its consequences have been reshaped by seventeenth century. Wars have been more organized using complex military hierarchy and modified weapons of gunpowder on the land and the sea. However, it was difficult to conclude that the development in war technology was due to prolonged battles or due to the decline of industrial improvement required for producing more weapons because of thirty years war of devastation (Brodie and Brodie 75). The outcomes of this thirty years prolonged battle were incredible. The changes in the war technology and methodology were credited to the King of Sweden Gustavus Adophus. He was a magnetic leader with sharp tactical mind. He was keenly interested in developing the technology of armaments, which made the gun industry established in 1618 competitive with the British (Brodie and Brodie 76). In the early seventeenth century, the development were made in the handgun. The first handgun was invented in the late 14th century, which was used as a proper weapon in the seventeenth century. The basic handgun in the 17th century was the smoothbore flintlock. England incorporated the flintlock into its inventory in 1682. Soon it was modified into “Brown Bess”, the famous gun, which was used in the British army for around 160 years. The invention of the ‘bayonet’ was one of the significant changes in the infantry techniques in the seventeenth century (Brodie and Brodie 82). Apart from modifying the handgun the other advancement in weapons included change in cannon scale and use of Tarttaglia quadrant for accurate shot from ships. The other invention was ‘coehorn’ which was a motor device built by a Dutch fighting engineer (Brodie and Brodie 83). Although the war continued from 1540 to 1721 in Europe but the main style of the handguns remained same. The noticeable achievements were the establishment of military and naval academies for forming established military units in Europe and France. Chapter 5 (235 words) The chapter 5 is titled as “Eighteenth Century and Napoleonic Wars”. The chapter is based on the ideology of power dominance in the world. The concepts of fortification and defense were faded. Russia became the conqueror of the Sweden, Ukraine and established its colonies in the Eastern Europe. Fredrick II of Prussia focused on the technical concerns of the war instead on strategical issues. He improved the training of his infantry and mastered his soldiers in securing a quick and static musket fire at close ranges. He also worked to increase the artillery mobility. He employed numbers of horses and trained his men to use them so that the horses could carry the light men and were able to move with the speed of cavalry. In the Battle of Burkersdorf, he gathered forty-five howitzers on the ground of battle. Before Fredrich II, no European emperor had used the men power resources so strategically as he did by installing restricted conscription. At the time when France had one soldier over 150 citizens Frederich successfully made one soldier for twenty-five citizens. His wisdom and planning made Prussia the strongest state in the Europe with a history of victories (Brodie and Brodie 101). The eighteenth century introduced the idea of standing the army. Mercenary armies were eradicated, and foreign soldiers were only employed as individuals. This ensured more uniformly trained men with least desertion (Brodie and Brodie 102). New improvements were made in the artillery by Gribeauval (1715-1789). He organized the entire artillery infrastructure from top to bottom. He also invented the barbette carriage. It helped the French army to attack and smash the enemy from 350 yards distance. Benjamin Robins (1707-1751) was the first British mathematician who used gunnery in truly scientific manner. He contributed commendable work related to projectile trajectory and interior ballistics on theoretical ground. He also pointed out various glitches in the ballistic theories of Newton, Galileo and other scientists following them. He also successfully combined scientific revelations with the gunnery mechanics. He proposed the ‘New Principles of Gunnery’, which were published in 1742 (Brodie and Brodie, 105). However the biggest revolution of the 18th century was the invention of universal conscription adopted by the French Army in 1793 (Brodie and Brodie, 106). Lynn Monstross has declared that in the eighteenth century the European ground was led by partially monsters and partial humans who conducted war out of greed and voracity. Napoleon also brought novel ideas and innovations in the warfare. He improved tha war tactics and developed communication system using Chappe’s signal telegraph system. There was also immense work in the field of science especially chemistry. The experiments by Cavendish and Franklin also appeared in the eighteenth century. Advancement in analytical chemistry helped in the discovery of new metals. Publications by Edward Jenner also contributed in the field of medicine in 1798. Chapter 6 (226 words) The chapter 6 is titled as The 19th Century and discusses the transformation of warfare on land, impact of science on wars, revolution in sea power and development in science in the late 19th century (Brodie and Brodie 124). The invention of double –barrel cannon was made in the nineteenth century. It was the time of the industrial revolution, which transformed the mechanics, weapons, and strategies of war. From 1815 to 1848 there was a prolonged duration of peace in Europe with extensive industrial expansion. In the early 19th century, Sir William Congreve built the Congreve rocket. In 1807, these rockets were used at Copenhagen. Another invention of the 19th century was percussion cap, which successfully replaced the flintlock (Brodie and Brodie, 131). Different experiments were also observed on machine guns, which resulted in the invention of Gatling gun and Maxim gum, which were used in British army in 1889. The Minie rifle with improved bullet was used in the Kaffir War of 1851 and Crimean War of 1854-56. American inventors developed the firsr long bullet named ‘the sugar loaf’ which increased the range of the rifle to 500 yards (Brodie and Brodie, 132) The wars at sea were also transformed by using exploding shells. In 1858 French invented La Gloire whereas in 1860 British launched HMS warrior. The use of conventional guns on deck was replaced by turret guns. Torpedo was invented by Robert Whitehead in 1860, which was incorporated in the British army in 1871 (Brodie and Brodie 153). Explosives, which replaced the gunpowder, were also invented in the 19th century such as TNT in 1863, dynamite in 1867 and Cordite in 1889. A number of colonial wars were also fought by European army in 19th century against Africa. Conclusion From Crossbow to H-Bomb is an interesting and comprehensive history of innovations, developments and advancements in the area of war, warfare and weapons. It discussed how the weapons were used in primitive shapes and got evolved with time from Crossbow to H-bomb. Its each chapter incredibly explains the socio-political conditions in that particular era and relates them with the causes and reasons of war. The book was detailed and interest grabbing. The authors have also discussed the famous battles of times and the strategies used by the Kings and emperors in that time. It also relates scientific technology to the war and weapon development. It is found that the book has been written with detailed research from history till modern inventions and were very informative. Works Cited Brodie, Bernard and Fawn McKay Brodie. From Crossbow to H-bomb. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1962. Print. Read More