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Fifty Things That Changed the Course of History
Fifty Weapons That Changed the Course of History
A beautifully presented guide to 50 weapons and their historical impact on civilization.
"Fifty Weapons that Changed the Course of History" is a fascinating guide to the arms and armaments that have had the greatest impact on the development of human civilization. Like the other titles in this series, the book organizes the weapons into brief illustrated chapters. Concise narratives describe the weapons, the "who, where, when, why and how" of their introduction and uses, and explain their influence in one or more of four categories -- Social, Political, Tactical, and Technological.
The stories span human history, from our hunter-gatherer ancestors who devised the spear and the wheel, which brought about the war chariot, to gunpowder, which democratized warfare and has been the basis for almost every weapon used in war from that point on.
Entries The longbow, which led an outnumbered English army to a famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 The Soviet T-34, the most effective and influential (in terms of design) tank to feature in World War II The Tomahawk cruise missile, which revolutionized tactics in modern warfare The Gatling Gun, the first rapid-repeating gun, which turned the tide in the Americans' favor during the Spanish-American War.
The saga of human civilization has been formed and scarred by conflict. Defining episodes of violence -- sometimes long and simmering, at other times sudden and cataclysmic -- have produced new forms of weaponry. Some of these have been decisive, such as the terrifying war elephants deployed by Hannibal at the battle of Cannae in 216 B.C. Others have become iconic in our culture. Chief among these is the easily copied AK-47, at first the symbol of communism and now of terrorism, and the most widely found firearm in the world. Some weapons have been definitive in their simplicity, such as the bayonet; in other cases, such as the Tomahawk cruise missile, the sheer complexity is dazzling.
"Fifty Weapons That Changed the Course of History" tells the story of the last 3,500 years through the arms and armaments that have shaped it. This is the story of the weapons that formed our world, and is sure to attract a wide readership.
"Fifty Weapons that Changed the Course of History" is a fascinating guide to the arms and armaments that have had the greatest impact on the development of human civilization. Like the other titles in this series, the book organizes the weapons into brief illustrated chapters. Concise narratives describe the weapons, the "who, where, when, why and how" of their introduction and uses, and explain their influence in one or more of four categories -- Social, Political, Tactical, and Technological.
The stories span human history, from our hunter-gatherer ancestors who devised the spear and the wheel, which brought about the war chariot, to gunpowder, which democratized warfare and has been the basis for almost every weapon used in war from that point on.
Entries The longbow, which led an outnumbered English army to a famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 The Soviet T-34, the most effective and influential (in terms of design) tank to feature in World War II The Tomahawk cruise missile, which revolutionized tactics in modern warfare The Gatling Gun, the first rapid-repeating gun, which turned the tide in the Americans' favor during the Spanish-American War.
The saga of human civilization has been formed and scarred by conflict. Defining episodes of violence -- sometimes long and simmering, at other times sudden and cataclysmic -- have produced new forms of weaponry. Some of these have been decisive, such as the terrifying war elephants deployed by Hannibal at the battle of Cannae in 216 B.C. Others have become iconic in our culture. Chief among these is the easily copied AK-47, at first the symbol of communism and now of terrorism, and the most widely found firearm in the world. Some weapons have been definitive in their simplicity, such as the bayonet; in other cases, such as the Tomahawk cruise missile, the sheer complexity is dazzling.
"Fifty Weapons That Changed the Course of History" tells the story of the last 3,500 years through the arms and armaments that have shaped it. This is the story of the weapons that formed our world, and is sure to attract a wide readership.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2014
2 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Joel Levy
138 books62 followersJoel Levy is a writer and journalist specializing in science and history. He is the author of over a dozen books, including The Little Book of Conspiracies and Scientific Feuds: From Galileo to the Human Genome Project.
Phobiapedia
is his first book for children.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 25, 2023
Super good for someone who like history and guns
July 10, 2017
- Moderately interesting
- Questionably-sourced at times, authoritatively at others
- The author has significant knowledge of Byzantium (plus in my book)
- Seems like a pretty easy book to write
- Interesting facts and sections (such as the details of matchlock guns, including the notion that matchlocks (like crossbows) gave common poor soldiers the ability to devastate rich nobles)
-Seems pretty fair in terms of weapons selected -- not too shabby -- nothin' fancy.
- I enjoyed the chapters on ancient, medieval and early-modern weapons more than those on modern weapons, apart from the M16 chapter, which finally clarified some elements of the M16's history for me.
- I would probably buy a used copy to keep for reference purposes
True Rating: 3.2 Stars
Here's a passage I really liked (quoting a quote):
"A paratrooper getting his first taste of war during the race to occupy the Old City of Jerusalem gives a vivid description of the experience of firing -- and killing with -- an Uzi. Coming face to face with a giant Jordanian soldier, he recalled:
We looked at each other for half a second and I knew that it was up to me, personally, to kill him, there was no one else there. The whole thing must have lasted less than a second, but it's printed in my mind like a slow-motion movie. I fired from the hip and I can still see how the bullets splashed against the wall about a meter to his left. I moved my Uzi, slowly, slowly, it seemed, until I hit him in the body. He slipped to his knees, then he raised his head, with his face terrible, twisted in pain and hate, yes, such hate. I fired again and somehow got him in the head ... I found I had fired my whole magazine at him."pg 172
March 26, 2019
Nice, quick little book. Good for an over view but not always as in depth as I would have liked. Probably because there are 50 weapons which restricts how much detail you can include.
April 16, 2019
Very interesting reading if you are a history buff that enjoys information on weapons.
September 1, 2020
Read this book for research purposes. Contains some very useful information.
September 25, 2023
A great book, while only 3-4 pages per weapon, enough detailed history is given, along with a clear picture and some broken down into coded segments.
June 1, 2015
This was a skim read for me. Nuggets of useful info, but I found it pretty depressing at times - here's a collection of death machines, that only gets worse as history advances.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews