Category: Weapons and Technology
Damn the Torpedoes! – How a 19th Century Innovation in Naval Warfare Produced the Military Industrial Complex
In his 1961 farewell address, outgoing president Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned of the dangers posed to the American republic by what he called “military industrial complex”. According to Ike, the armaments industry, which had…
Before Gatling – Who Was The First To Invent A Rapid-Fire Gun?
“While the Gatling gun may be the best-known early-machine gun, the mechanical marvel was by no means the first attempt to fire lethal projectiles in volleys or in rapid succession.” ONE OF THE GREAT ironies of…
Stickin’ It To ‘Em – The Last of the Great Bayonet Charges
“There have been handful of occasions during the Second World War and in the decades that followed in which leaders in various situations would call out the words: ‘Fix bayonets!’” IT WAS D-DAY plus five (June 11, 1944) when Robert…
Barbed Wire War – How One Farmer’s Innovation Changed The Battlefield
“One expert estimated that by 1918, at least a million miles of the stuff had been strung throughout Flanders alone – enough to circle the earth 40 times.” PERHAPS NOTHING IS MORE emblematic of warfare…
The Sten — Meet the $10 Submachine Gun That Helped the Allies Win WW2
“Nearly 5 million Stens were manufactured before the end of 1945.” WITH A NAZI invasion of the United Kingdom all but certain in the summer of 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously vowed that Britons would fight the…
The Brief (and Bizarre) History of Flying Aircraft Carriers
“Planners foresaw even more massive airships equipped with top-mounted runway surfaces and cavernous hangars hidden within the hulls. Whole squadrons could be stored inside the airships and moved back and forth to the landing deck…
