Page 172 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

WEAPONS OF WAR

Ever since our Stone Age ancestors first bashed one another over
the heads with flint clubs, the battlefield has been a place of
extreme danger. With the passage of time, the weapons used
have become more and more powerful and more and more
lethal. But with these weapons of mass play time, war has
been waged in the sandpit; who's the king of the castle here?

Chariot

In about 1500 BCE,
the ancient Egyptians
and Hittites fought
pitched battles in light
two-wheeled war chariots.
Pulled by horses and highly
mobile, each chariot carried Cannon
a driver and an archer armed The invention of gunpowder by the Chinese in 900 CE transformed
with a short bow to fire arrows warfare. Cannons—heavy guns mounted on wooden carriages that fired
down onto the enemy. stones and shells (explosive missiles)—were widespread in Europe from
the 1400s onward, when battles became bloodier than ever.

Musket
This gun was in use from
the late 1600s until about
1850. It fired iron balls and
had a bayonet (dagger)
attached to the end of
the barrel. Soldiers would fire
their muskets in a single volley
and then charge the enemy
with their bayonets. stabbing at the enemy in the thick of battle.

Gladius

This short sword carried by Roman legionary
soldiers was a fearsome weapon that could
be used for cutting, chopping, thrusting, and
with a heavy javelin and dagger.
Tank Roman soldiers also went to war armed
The heavily
armored tank came Trireme
into its own as a combat This very fast warship was used
weapon during World War II by the ancient Greeks. It was powered by
(1939–1945). Equipped with tracks three rows of oarsmen seated on benches
for all-terrain mobility and mounted with one above the other. A bronze-covered ram
a gun in a rotating turret, its purpose was to called a beak, which projected from the bow
advance forward and break through enemy lines. (front) of the trireme, was used to batter
and sink enemy ships.
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