Page 173 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

Poison gas
Fighter plane World War I saw the use of a horrible new
Flying was still in its infancy when weapon—poison gas. Chemicals (chlorine,
warfare took to the air for the first phosgene, or mustard gas) that caused terrible
time during World War I (1914–1918). burns and blindness were released into the enemy
Fighter planes were armed with trenches. And if a soldier wasn't wearing a gas
machine guns, timed cleverly to fire mask, the chemicals attacked the lungs
between the propeller, and the pilots after being breathed in.
danced with death as they fought
daring one-on-one battles in the sky.

Mace
Medieval knights
rode into battle
armed with a mace.
This weapon consisted of a heavy
knobbed head mounted on a wooden
shaft. A blow from a mace had great force
and was powerful enough to smash
through armor and chain mail.

Crossbow
First used in Asia about
2,500 years ago, the hand-held
crossbow was the supreme
killing machine of late-medieval
European warfare. It shot an iron
bolt with enough force to penetrate
a knight's armor at a distance
of 600 ft (180 m).

WEAPONS 173
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