While the aims and intentions of humans at war have remained essentially the same since the very dawn of civilization, the history of weaponry and tactics has been a process of near-constant adaptation, reinvention, and progression, with the result that battlefield technology has grown increasingly effective, and ever more deadly.
INTRODUCTION The development of arms and armaments is central to the story of military history. However, there are various different conventions for the measurement of calibre and displacement. Stephen Woolford MBE Head of Interpretation and Collections Imperial War Museum, DuxfordĬONTRIBUTORS R G Grant Philip Parker Ian Bottomley Charles Phillips Roger Ford Adrian Gilbert Malcolm Claridgeĭiscover more at Weights and measurements given in this book are expressed in their metric and imperial equivalents, wherever the information is available.
Karen Watts Senior Curator of Armour and ArtĪDDITIONAL CONSULTANTS Brian Lavery Curator of Naval History National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Trevor Weston Manager of Modern Military Firearms
Mark Murray-Flutter Senior Curator of Firearms Robert C Woosnam-Savage Curator of European Edged Weapons Thom Richardson Keeper of Armour and Oriental Collections Spanning antiquity to the present day, the collections include Royal armours, the arms and armour of the English Civil Wars, weapons from the Board of Ordnance and Ministry of Defence, civilian hunting and sporting pieces, and Oriental arms and armour. ROYAL ARMOURIES Acknowledged as one of the world’s finest museums of arms and armour, Royal Armouries holds in trust for the British nation one of the greatest and most comprehensive collections ever assembled – a treasure of international importance. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-4093-8344-4 Printed and bound in China by Leo Paper Products Ltd No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.