Armament And History The Influence Of Armament On History From The Dawn Of Classical Warfare To The End Of The Second World War

by Fuller, J. F. C.

• ISBN13: 9780306808593
• ISBN10: 0306808595
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-08-22
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

Although skill, leadership, strategy, and number of forces have been important factors in battles, armaments have played the most decisive role in determining ultimate military victory. Entranced by the power and precision of armaments, man has continuously invented faster, more accurate, and more devastating weapons, from the javelin, stone axe, sword, and the arrow to the cannon, musket, rifle, tank, super-fortress, and missile. In this study of the influence of armaments on history, J.F.C. Fuller shows how the inventive genius of man can potentially obliterate his sense of moral values and destroy civilization. Divided into armament epochsAges of Valour, Chivalry, Gunpowder, Steam, Oil, and Atomic EnergyArmament and Historyexamines the most influential military innovations of each period as well as the key leaders (including Alexander, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, and Napoleon) who skillfully employed these weapons. Although the author acknowledges that war cannot be eliminated entirely, he urges man to impose restrictions on warfare before society descends into a second Dark Age. Completed immediately after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasakichilling examples of mass destruction caused by armamentsthis impassioned work remains relevant more than a half-century later.

Author Biography

Major General J.F.C. Fuller (1878-1966) was one of the most important and original military thinkers of this century. He served as lieutenant in the Boer War, organized the first British tank corps in World War I, and developed the strategy and tactics of tank warfare which were later put to such effective use by the Nazis for their World War II blitzkriegs. His many books include A Military History of the Western World (3 volumes), The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, Julius Caesar: Man, Soldier, and Tyrant, and The Generalship of Alexander the Great, all of which are available from Da Capo Press/Perseus Book Group.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	v	(3)
INTRODUCTION	viii
Chapter I ARMAMENT AND HISTORY	15	(21)
Chapter II THE AGE OF VALOUR	36	(24)
Chapter III THE AGE OF CHIVALRY	60	(23)
Chapter IV THE AGE OF GUNPOWDER	83	(24)
Chapter V THE AGE OF STEAM	107	(26)
Chapter VI THE AGE OF OIL--I	133	(30)
Chapter VII THE AGE OF OIL--II	163	(24)
Chapter VIII THE AGE OF ATOMIC ENERGY	187	(27)
INDEX	214