The most ancient swords in the world. Unusual and little-known weapons of antiquity (23 photos). Tear gas from ancient China
Any weapon is made for a specific purpose: some are defensive, some are offensive. And there is one that was made specifically in order to deliver as much suffering as possible to the enemy. It is about such a unique weapon of antiquity that will be discussed in this collection.
Khopesh
Khopesh is a type of cold weapon of Ancient Egypt with a sickle-shaped blade. In form and function, it is something between a sword and an axe. Khopesh quite successfully combines the features of both of these weapons - with this weapon you can chop, cut, stab. The first mention of it appears in the New Kingdom, the last - about 1300 BC. e. Most often, the khopesh worked like an ax; in practice, it is impossible to stop its blow with just one blade - it breaks through. When experimenting on a 10 mm thick plywood shield without a binding, a training khopesh with a blade thickness of 4 to 8 mm and a weight of 1.8 kg pierced it through without any problems. Blows with the back of the blade easily pierced the helmet.
Kakute
A fighting ring or kakute is a non-lethal type of Japanese weapon that consists of a small hoop around the finger and riveted / welded spikes (usually from one to three). A warrior usually wore one or two rings - one on the middle or index finger, and the other on the thumb. Most often, the rings were worn with spikes inside and were used in cases where it was necessary to capture and hold a person, but not kill him or cause deep damage. However, if the kakute were turned with spikes outward, they turned into jagged brass knuckles. The purpose of the kakute was to subdue the enemy, not to kill him. These battle rings were especially popular among kunoichi - female ninjas. They used poison-coated kakute for quick, fatal attacks.
Shuangou
Shuangou is a sword with a hook-shaped tip, a pommel in the form of a dagger-point and a sickle guard. As a result, a warrior armed with such strange weapons was able to fight at different distances, both close and at a distance from the enemy at the distance of the tip of the sword. The front part of the blade, the concave part of the "guard", the pommel of the handle and the outer side of the hook were sharpened. Sometimes the inner side of the hook was not sharpened, which made it possible to grip this part of the weapon and strike, like with an ax, with the same “month-shaped guard”. All this variety of blades made it possible to combine techniques, both at a long distance and up close. With a dagger handle, you can beat with reverse movements, with a sickle - a guard, not only cut the enemy, but also beat like a brass knuckles. The toe - the hook of the sword made it possible not only to hit with chopping or cutting movements, but also to cling to the enemy, grab limbs, hook, pinch and block the weapon, or even pull it out. It was possible to hook the shuangou with hooks, and thus suddenly increase the attack distance.
Zhua
Another Chinese weapon. The iron "hand" of the zhua was a long stick, at the end of which a copy of a human hand with huge claws was attached, which easily tore off pieces of flesh from the body of opponents. The sheer weight of the zhua (about 9 kg) was enough to kill the enemy, but with claws, everything looked even more creepy. If the zhua was used by an experienced warrior, he could pull the soldiers off their horses. But the main goal of the zhua was to snatch the shields from the hands of opponents, leaving them defenseless against deadly claws.
Skissor
In fact - a metal armlet, which ends with a semicircular tip. Served for protection, successful blocking of enemy blows, as well as for inflicting one's own blows. Scissor wounds were not fatal, but very unpleasant, leading to profuse bleeding. The skissor was light and had a length of 45 cm. Roman gladiators were the first to use the skissor, and if you look at the images of these battles, you can definitely distinguish the skissor from most warriors.
scythed chariot
It was an advanced war chariot with horizontal blades about 1 meter long on each side of the wheel. The Greek military leader Xenophon, a participant in the battle of Kunaksa, tells about them like this: “They were thin braids, expanded at an angle from the axis, and also under the driver’s seat, turned to the ground.” This weapon was used mainly for a frontal attack on the enemy's formation. The effect here was calculated not only on the physical elimination of the enemy, but also on the psychological moment that demoralizes the enemy. The main task of the scythed chariots was the destruction of infantry battle formations. During the fifth century before the advent of our era, the Persians were constantly at war with the Greeks. It was the Greeks who had heavily armed infantry, which was difficult for the Persian horsemen to overcome. But these chariots literally instilled fear in opponents. Archers raced on chariots, who struck the enemy with well-aimed arrows.
Archery is quite popular these days. Hunting with a bow, sports shooting - these are truly male entertainments. It is very important to choose the right arrows for the bow in order to become a real master in this activity.
Greek fire
A combustible mixture used for military purposes during the Middle Ages. It was first used by the Byzantines in naval battles. The installation with Greek fire was a copper pipe - a siphon, through which a liquid mixture erupted with a roar. Compressed air, or bellows like blacksmith's bellows, was used as the buoyant force. Presumably, the maximum range of the siphons was 25-30 m, so initially Greek fire was used only in the fleet, where it posed a terrible threat to the slow and clumsy wooden ships of that time. In addition, according to contemporaries, the Greek fire could not be put out by anything, since it continued to burn even on the surface of the water.
Morgenstern
Literally from German - "morning star". Melee weapons of shock-crushing action in the form of a metal ball equipped with spikes. It was used as a pommel of clubs or flails. Such a pommel greatly increased the weight of the weapon - the morningstar itself weighed more than 1.2 kg, which had a strong moral impact on the enemy, frightening him with his appearance.
Kusarigama
Kusarigama consists of a sickle kama, to which a shock weight is attached with a chain. The length of the sickle handle can reach 60 cm, and the length of the sickle blade can be up to 20 cm. The sickle blade is perpendicular to the handle, it is sharpened from the inside, concave side and ends with a point. The chain is attached to the other end of the handle, or to the butt of the sickle. Its length is about 2.5 m or less. The technique of working with this weapon made it possible to strike the enemy with a weight, or confuse him with a chain, and then attack with a sickle. In addition, it was possible to throw the sickle itself at the enemy, and then return it with a chain. Thus, kusarigama was used in the defense of fortresses.
Macuahutl
Aztec, resembling a sword. Its length, as a rule, reached 90-120 cm. Sharpened pieces of volcanic glass (obsidian) were attached along the wooden blade. The wounds from the use of this weapon were horrendous due to the combination of a sharp edge (enough to decapitate an opponent) and barbs that tore at flesh. The last mention of makuahutla dates back to 1884.
Yawara
It is a wooden cylinder, 10 - 15 centimeters long and about 3 centimeters in diameter. Yawara is clasped with fingers, and its ends protrude on both sides of the fist. It serves to weight and enhance the impact. Allows you to strike with the ends of the ends, mainly in the centers of the nerve bundles, tendons and ligaments.
Yawara is a Japanese weapon that has two versions of the appearance. According to one of them, the Japanese brass knuckles are like a symbol of faith, which was an attribute of Buddhist monks - vijra. This is a small shaft, reminiscent of the image of lightning, which the monks used not only for ritual purposes, but also as a weapon, since they needed to have it. The second version is the most plausible. An ordinary pestle, which was used for crushing cereals or seasonings in a mortar, became the prototype of the Javara.
Nunchaku
It represents sticks or metal tubes about 30 cm long connected to each other with a chain or rope. Flails used to thresh rice became the prototype of home-made weapons.
In Japan, threshing flails were considered a tool and did not pose a danger to enemy soldiers, so they were not seized from the peasants.
Sai
This is a stiletto-type piercing bladed melee weapon, outwardly similar to a trident with a short shaft (maximum one and a half palm width) and an elongated middle prong. The traditional weapon of the inhabitants of Okinawan (Japan) and is one of the main weapons of Kobudo. The lateral teeth form a kind of guard and can also play a striking role due to sharpening.
Unusual weapons of antiquityIt is believed that a fork for carrying bales of rice straw or a tool for loosening the soil became the prototype of the weapon.
Kusarigama
Kusarigama (kusarikama) is a traditional Japanese weapon consisting of a sickle (kama) and a chain (kusari) that connects it to a shock weight (fundo). The place of attachment of the chain to the sickle varies from the end of its handle to the base of the kama blade.
Unusual weapons of antiquity Kusarigama is considered to be a medieval invention of the ninja, the prototype of which was an ordinary agricultural sickle, with which the peasants harvested, and the soldiers cut their way through high grass and other vegetation during campaigns. It is believed that the appearance of the kusarigama was due to the need to disguise weapons as unsuspicious objects, in this case an agricultural implement.
Odachi
Odachi ("big sword") is one of the types of long Japanese swords. To be called an odachi, a sword must have a blade length of at least 3 shaku (90.9 cm), however, as with many other Japanese sword terms, there is no precise definition of odachi length. Usually odachi are swords with blades 1.6 - 1.8 meters.
Unusual weapons of antiquity Odachi completely fell into disuse as a weapon after the Osaka-Natsuno-Jin War The Bakufu government passed a law according to which it was forbidden to have a sword of more than a certain length. After the law went into effect, many odachi were cut to fit the established norms. This is one of the reasons why odachi are so rare.
Naginata
Known in Japan at least since the 11th century. Then this weapon meant a long blade from 0.6 to 2.0 m long, mounted on a handle 1.2-1.5 m long. In the upper third, the blade slightly expanded and bent, but the handle itself had no curvature at all or it was barely scheduled. They worked with the naginata at that time in wide movements, holding one hand almost at the very edge. The shaft of the naginata had an oval section, and the blade with one-sided sharpening, like the blade of the Japanese yari spear, was usually worn in a sheath or case.
Unusual weapons of antiquity Later, by the XIV-XV centuries, the naginata blade was somewhat shortened and acquired a modern form. Now the classic naginata has a shaft 180 cm long, on which a blade 30-70 cm long is attached (60 cm is considered standard). The blade is separated from the shaft by an annular guard, and sometimes also by metal crossbars - straight or bent upwards. Such crossbars (jap. hadome) were also used on spears to parry enemy blows. The blade of the naginata resembles the blade of an ordinary samurai sword, sometimes it was it that was planted on such a shaft, but usually the blade of the naginata is heavier and more curved.
Qatar
Indian weapons gave its owner the claws of a wolverine, the blade lacking only the strength and cutting ability of adamant. At first glance, the katar is one blade, but when the lever on the handle is pressed, this blade splits into three - one in the middle and two on the sides.
Unusual weapons of antiquityThree blades not only make the weapon effective, but also intimidate the enemy. The shape of the handle makes it easy to block blows. But it is also important that the triple blade can cut through any Asian armor.
Urumi
A long (usually about 1.5 m) strip of extremely flexible steel attached to a wooden handle.
Unusual weapons of antiquityThe excellent flexibility of the blade made it possible to wear the urumi discreetly under clothing, wrapping it around the body.
Tekkokagi
A device in the form of claws attached to the outer side (tekkokagi) or the inner side (tekagi, shuko) of the palm of the hand. They were one of the favorite tools, but, to a greater extent, weapons in the arsenal of the ninja.
Unusual weapons of antiquity Usually these "claws" were used in pairs, in both hands. With their help, one could not only quickly climb a tree or a wall, hang from a ceiling beam, or turn a mud wall, but also resist a warrior with a sword or other long weapon with high efficiency.
Chakram
The Indian throwing weapon "chakra" may well serve as a clear illustration of the saying "everything ingenious is simple." The chakra is a flat metal ring honed along the outer edge. The diameter of the ring on surviving specimens varies from 120 to 300 mm or more, the width is from 10 to 40 mm, and the thickness is from 1 to 3.5 mm.
Unusual weapons of antiquity One of the methods of throwing chakram was to unwind the ring on the index finger, and then throw the weapon at the enemy with a sharp movement of the wrist.
Skissor
the weapon was used in gladiator fights in the Roman Empire. The metal cavity at the base of the scissor covered the gladiator's hand, which made it possible to easily block blows, as well as inflict their own. The skissor was made of solid steel and was 45 cm long. It was surprisingly light, which made it possible to strike quickly.
Kpinga
A throwing knife used by experienced warriors of the Azanda tribe. They lived in Nubia, a region of Africa that includes northern Sudan and southern Egypt. This knife was up to 55.88 cm long and had 3 blades with a base in the center. The blade closest to the hilt was shaped like a male genitalia and represented the male power of its owner.
Unusual weapons of antiquity The very design of kpinga blades increased the chances of hitting the enemy as hard as possible on contact. When the owner of the knife got married, he presented the kping as a gift to the family of his future wife.
The history of humanity's military craft is as addictive as Game of Thrones, only much, much more brutal. Time and time again the wisdom of the ages is used to figure out how to effectively hit, maim, shoot and kill enemies. And, damn it, how good we are in this craft! However, the guys in the history books were no less resourceful than we are. In war as in war.
In 214 BC. e. The Roman Republic laid siege to the Sicilian city of Syracuse in an attempt to gain strategic control of the island. General Marc Claudius Marcellus led a fleet of 60 quinqueremes - Roman warships - through the Strait of Messina and hit in the forehead, while the second part of the army advanced on land. But as the noose tightened around the city, the mighty Roman army faced an unexpected adversary: Archimedes.
But whatever the Romans threw at him, Archimedes was always three steps ahead. The ballistas on the outer walls routed the advancing cavalry. At sea, the Claw of Archimedes and smashed them into a rain of debris and screaming slaves. The siege dragged on for two years in an epic battle of military might and scientific wit.
During this siege, it is believed that Archimedes developed a weapon so destructive that it was capable of burning ships to ashes at a distance of 150 meters. And all it took was a few drops of water. The device was deceptively simple: a copper pipe was heated on coals, and inside it was a hollow clay projectile.
When the pipe was warm enough, some water was injected into the pipe under the projectile. The water instantly evaporated, pushing the projectile towards the advancing ships. On impact, the clay rocket exploded, spraying flammable chemicals onto the wooden ships.
Even today, Archimedes' steam gun remains a matter of fierce controversy. The MythBusters said no, but the MIT team was able to build a working - and highly effective - model using the gun's original description.
They calculated that their 0.45-kilogram metal bullet was fired with twice the kinetic energy of an M2 .50 machine gun. If the projectile had not been fired directly into a wall of mud, it could have traveled a distance of 1,200 meters. And all this for half a glass of water.
Vortex Catapult
Catapults are fairly old machines of war, and like modern guns, there were many types of catapults for different purposes. Although movies usually show siege ballistas and powerful catapults used by Greek and Roman troops, China has made a small catapult capable of hitting important targets with extreme accuracy: the xuanfeng, or vortex catapult.
Like a sniper rifle, the vortex catapult operated in a one-shot, one-death fashion. It was small enough to be moved quickly across the battlefield, and an entire catapult could be transported at its base until someone could see the target. This gave the whirlwind catapult a strategic advantage over the heavier catapults and trebuchets, which, although they caused great destruction with a single shot, required time and effort to maneuver.
In addition to deadly accuracy, the Chinese built vortex catapults with two slings and two holders, resulting in a projectile bag located exactly in the center. No other culture has done this.
rocket cats
No one had ever heard of rocket cats before 2014. Nobody but Franz Helm, the man who invented them. Somewhere in 1530 AD. e. a master of artillery from Cologne in Germany wrote a military manual for the conduct of a siege. Gunpowder was just beginning to have an impact on the fighting, and thanks to this, the book became popular. Helm's manual included descriptions of all kinds of bombs imaginable and unimaginable, colorfully illustrated and darkly amazing.
He then added a section advising besieging armies to find the cat. Any cat, he said, will come from the city you are trying to conquer. Attach a bomb to him. In theory, the cat will return to his house and then burn down the entire city. Pigeons are fine too.
Was it or not, it's not for us to decide, but most likely not. According to Mitch Fraas, the University of Pennsylvania scholar who had the pleasure of first translating this siege text, there is no historical evidence that anyone ever tried to implement Helm's proposal. In this scheme, the most likely outcome will be your burnt out camp.
Three bow archballista
Invented and perfected during the heyday of the Greek and Roman empires, the ballista was essentially a giant crossbow mounted on a cart. But its arc did not bend like a conventional crossbow. Instead, solid beams of wood were installed between the twisted coils of rope. When the lever was wound up, the ends of the arc rotated in the opposite direction and twisted the ropes, creating tension.
It was a very powerful weapon, but one bow was not enough for the Chinese. They wanted three. The multi-bow archballista was gradual, started from the Tang Dynasty, with the crossbow, which used two bows for added power. Records from that period show that this bow could shoot an iron bolt out to 1,100 meters, three times as far as other siege crossbows could.
But two hundred years later, the invasion of the Mongol yoke inspired the Chinese to add another arc to the arcballista. At the very beginning of the Song Dynasty, they rolled out "sanchong chuanji nu" - "a small bed with three bows."
There are few details about this arkballista. It is believed that the Mongol horde, frightened by these powerful defensive machines, hired Chinese engineers to create their own three-bow monsters. Ultimately, the course of the war was turned in favor of the Mongols and led to the emergence of the Yuan dynasty.
Cannon shields
Already in the 16th century, when the concept of firearms was relatively new, people began to understand that if you combine something with a cannon, it will be twice as cool. King Henry VIII was particularly interested in this idea. In addition to the traveling staff, which was combined with a flail and three pistols, his arsenal included 46 cannon shields, as in the picture above.
These shields were essentially wooden discs with a cannon that passed through the center, although they differed in places. Some were studded with iron on the front, others had a metal grill over the cannon for aiming, but all of them were mostly considered more as decorative curiosities, not of much historical interest.
Most of them went to scattered museums, where they gathered dust on stands along with other strange works of the Middle Ages. Recently, the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK examined examples of such shields and found that they may have been more common than most historians initially thought. Therefore, they decided to collect the maximum number of such shields and carefully study them.
It turned out that some of these cannon shields had powder burns, that is, they were used. Some were designed to block the side of a ship, where they were apparently used as an additional protective layer and line of anti-personnel fire. In the end, it probably made more sense to keep the gun and shield separate, so this strange weapon faded into obscurity.
Chinese flamethrower
Like the early prototypes of firearms, the Chinese proto-cannons were a huge arsenal, the individual copies of which are hard to imagine. With no idea what gunpowder weapons should look like, Chinese inventors concocted on their tabula rasa the strangest weapons the world had ever seen.
Fire lances, the first incarnation, appeared sometime in the 10th century. These were spears attached to bamboo tubes that could shoot fire and shrapnel several meters away. Some fired lead pellets, others fired poisonous gas, others fired arrows.
They soon made way for pure fire tubes, as the troops abandoned spears in favor of cheap disposable bamboo cannons that fired only once but could be mass-produced and fired one after the other. The trunks were often combined, resulting in an almost endless stream of death.
From the depths of this creative chaos, a pipe sprinkling fire was born. Historians call this weapon a flamethrower, but this description is not entirely correct. Using a low nitrate form of gunpowder, such weapons could produce continuous bursts of flame for five minutes.
But what made it deadly was the addition of arsenic oxide to the mixture. Toxic smoke caused vomiting and convulsions. In addition, the barrel was often stuffed with razor-sharp pieces of porcelain. The result was an instant rupture accompanied by a bath of poisonous fire. If the enemy of the Chinese did not die on the spot, his insides gradually stopped working due to exposure to arsenic. He eventually lapsed into a coma and died.
Whip gun
On March 17, 1834, Joshua Shaw received a patent for the only thing that could make Raiders of the Lost Ark even better: a riding whip with a gun hidden in the handle of the whip. What made it especially useful - and dangerous at the same time - was the way it was fired.
Instead of using a hammer like most guns, the pistol had a button on the side of the grip that could be pressed with the thumb. This allowed the person to hold the whip normally and have access to the trigger of the pistol. Usually the trigger was flush with the handle, but when cocked it stuck out and insisted on immediate firing.
At least one of these pistol-whips was actually made, although there is no evidence that they were mass-produced. To a greater extent, this is a curiosity, not a weapon. Its main disadvantage was that the gun could only be fired once, but then again, sometimes one shot is all you need.
China fiercely defended its gunpowder weapons during the 14th and 15th centuries. He made the most explosive advance in military technology since the bow and arrow and had no plans to give it up without a fight. China has imposed a severe embargo on gunpowder experts in Korea, leaving Korean engineers to deal with the seemingly endless onslaught of Japanese invaders on their own.
At the turn of the 16th century, however, Korea made significant progress in the development of gunpowder and built its own machines that could compete with Chinese flamethrowers. The Korean secret weapon was the hwacha, a multi-rocket launcher capable of launching over 100 missiles in a single salvo. The larger versions used by the monarch could launch under 200. These things were a significant threat to the samurai, capable of laying down layers of tightly packed samurai with every salvo.
Hwacha ammunition was called singijon and was an exploding arrow. Singijon fuses were adjusted depending on the distance to the opponent, so that they exploded on impact. When the Japanese invasion began in full force in 1592, Korea already had hundreds of fire wagons.
Perhaps the biggest test of the strength of the hwacha was the Battle of Hengchu in 1593. When Japan launched a hilltop attack of 30,000 troops towards Hengchu Fortress, the fortress had barely 3,000 soldiers, citizens, and battle monks standing in its defense. The chances of defense were extremely low, and in confidence the Japanese forces advanced, not knowing that the fortress had one trick up its sleeve: 40 hwachas mounted on the outer walls.
The Japanese samurai attempted to climb the hill nine times, constantly encountering a rain of hellfire. Over 10,000 Japanese died before they decided to abandon the siege, marking the first major Korean victory over a Japanese invasion.
Ax gun
Almost every culture has at least one version of the blade weapon. Not only does it look cool, but it also offers flexibility on the battlefield. The bayonets used during the Crimean War and the American Civil War are the most famous modern examples, but the trend dates back to the first Chinese fire lances in the 10th century.
Nevertheless, no one brought it to such a level as Germany. Among the well-preserved examples of German ax guns, which are kept in the historical museum of Dresden, there are specimens dating from the mid-late 1500s.
Some could be used as an ax and a gun at the same time, while others became firearms only when the blade attachment was removed. They were apparently developed for cavalry, which explains the extended handles, otherwise they would have been pistols.
Hell burners
It was 1584, the sixth long winter of the Eighty Years' War, and Federiga Giambelli could sense vengeance in the air. Years ago, he offered his services as a weapons designer at the Spanish court, but he was ridiculed. In anger, he moved to Antwerp, where he finally found an opportunity to avenge the offended Italian ego.
Celebrating the victory over the Ottomans, Spain sent the Duke of Parma to lay siege to Antwerp, which had become the center of the Dutch separatists. The duke hoped to strangle the city by blockading ships across the Scheldt River.
Antwerp responded by sending burning ships - literally ships on fire - to blockade. Laughingly, the Spanish army pushed them back with their lances until the ships were burned and scattered in the river. However, wanting to take revenge on the Spaniards, Giambelli asked the city council to give him 60 ships, promising to break the blockade. The city gave him only two.
Not despairing, Giambelli began to make his weapons masterpiece. He cut the hold from each ship, built a cement chamber inside with walls 1.5 meters thick, and loaded 3,000 kilograms of gunpowder. He covered it with a marble roof and stuffed every ship to the brim with "every dangerous missile imaginable."
Finally, he built a clock mechanism that was supposed to ignite the entire load at a predetermined time. These two ships became the world's first remotely detonated time bombs, "hell burners".
As night fell on 5 April, Giambelli sent 32 burning ships ahead of his infernal burners to distract the Spanish. The duke called his men from the blockade to push the ships away. But one of the important ships sank too deep and far from the blockade and sank gently when its igniter misfired. When the burning ships went out, the second important ship easily touched the line of the Spanish ships and seemed to be firmly settled in the water. Some of the Spanish soldiers started laughing.
And then the second ship exploded, killing 1000 people and making a 60-meter hole in the blockade. Cement blocks the size of tombstones rained down from the sky. Importantly, the explosion opened up an artery to replenish the city's supplies.
The shocked Dutch did not even move to try to get the supplies that were placed downriver. A few months later they surrendered to the Spanish. Giambelli did his best. His war with Spain was over, and she remembered his name well.
Sourced from listverse.com
Dream up and imagine the wars of the future: there are no tanks and machine guns, and the opponents fire at each other from electromagnetic guns with projectiles that can reach the opposite side of the Earth in a few minutes. Some of these plans have already been implemented, so future generations will not be bored. But the most dangerous weapon in the world probably has not even been invented yet.
1. Tsar bomb
The Soviet Union blew up the most powerful thermonuclear charge at a test site located on Novaya Zemlya, and only a year and a half later, N. Khrushchev “pleased” the world with the news that the USSR had a hydrogen bomb with a capacity of 100 megatons.
The political purpose of the tests was to show America its military power, since it was able to create a hydrogen bomb 4 times smaller than the power. The test was aerial - the "tsar bomb" (then it was called "Kuzkin's mother" in Khrushchev's language) exploded at an altitude of 4.2 km.
The explosion mushroom rose into the stratosphere (67 kilometers), having a diameter of 9.2 kilometers. Three times the shock wave of the explosion circled the globe, another 40 minutes after it the ionized atmosphere spoiled the quality of radio communications for hundreds of kilometers around. The heat from the explosion directly below the epicenter was so strong that it turned even stones into ashes. Fortunately, this gigantic explosion was quite "clean", since 97% of the energy was released due to thermonuclear fusion, and, unlike nuclear decay, it almost does not pollute the territory with radiation.
2. Castle Bravo
It was the American answer to the “kuzkin mother”, but much more “thin” - some miserable 15 megatons. But if you think about it, this figure should impress. With the help of such a bomb, it would be quite possible to destroy a large metropolis. Structurally, it was a two-stage ammunition consisting of a thermonuclear charge (solid lithium deuteride) and a uranium shell.
The explosion was carried out on Bikini Atoll, and a total of 10,000 people watched it: from a special bunker 32 km from the explosion site, from ships and aircraft. The strength of the explosion exceeded the calculated one by 2.5 times due to the underestimation of the fact that one of the lithium isotopes, which were considered ballast, also participated in the reaction. The explosion was ground-based (the charge was in a special bunker) and left behind a giant funnel, but the main thing is that it was incredibly “dirty” - it contaminated a large space with radiation. Many local residents, Japanese sailors and even the American military themselves suffered from it.
3. Atomic bomb
This type of weapon started a new chapter in military affairs. As you know, the Americans were the first to create an atomic bomb, who on July 16, 1945 conducted its first test in the desert in New Mexico. It was a single-stage plutonium device called the Gadget. Not satisfied with the first successful test, the US military hastened almost immediately to test it in a real war.
We can say that the tests in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were successful - both cities were destroyed, thousands of people died. But the world was horrified by the power of the new weapon and the one who owned it. That use of nuclear weapons on real targets, fortunately, turned out to be the only one. In 1950, the USSR got its own atomic bomb, as a result of which an equilibrium was created in the world based on inevitable retribution and mutual nuclear destruction in the event of a “hot war” unleashing.
Having acquired such a powerful weapon, the two countries had to resolve the issues of its prompt delivery to the target. As a result, strategic bombers, ballistic missiles and submarines were developed. Since the air defense system began to outperform aviation, preference was given to missiles, which are now the main delivery vehicle for nuclear charges.
4. Topol-M
This modern missile system is the best delivery vehicle in the Russian army. Its 3-stage missiles are invulnerable to any modern type of air defense. A missile designed to carry nuclear charges is ready to hit a target 11,000 km away. The Russian army has about 100 such complexes. The development of Topol-M began back in the USSR, and its first tests took place in 1994, with only one of 16 launches ending in failure. Although the system is already on alert, it continues to be improved, in particular, the head of the rocket.
5. Chemical weapons
The first mass use of chemical weapons in combat conditions occurred near the Belgian city of Ypres in April 1915. Then the Germans launched clouds of chlorine at the enemy from cylinders previously installed on the front line. Then 5,000 died and 15,000 Frenchmen, who were not ready for such a turn, were seriously poisoned. Then the armies of all countries indulged in the use of mustard gas, phosgene and bromine, far from always getting the expected result.
The Japanese in the next world war repeatedly used chemical weapons in the fighting in China. For example, when they bombed the city of Woqu, they dropped a thousand chemical shells on it, and another 2,500 bombs were thrown on Dingxiang. The Japanese used chemical weapons until the end of the war. According to rough estimates, about 50,000 soldiers and civilians died from the use of chemical weapons.
The next large-scale use of chemical weapons was distinguished by the Americans in Vietnam, who in the 60s sprayed 72 million liters of defoliants over its jungles, with the help of which they sought to destroy the vegetation in the thick of which the Vietnamese guerrillas, who so annoyed the Yankees, hid. These mixtures contained dioxin, which had a cumulative effect, as a result, people developed diseases of the blood and internal organs, and genetic mutations occurred. Almost 5 million Vietnamese suffered from chemical attacks by the Americans, and the number of victims continued to grow after the end of the war.
The last time chemical weapons were used in Syria was in 2013, with the conflicting parties blaming each other for this. As you can see, the ban on chemical weapons by the Hague and Geneva conventions does not stop the military much. Although Russia destroyed 80% of the stocks of chemical weapons it inherited from the USSR.
6. Laser weapons
This is more of a hypothetical weapon under development. So, in 2010, the Americans reported a successful test of a laser gun off the coast of California - a 32 MW device was able to shoot down 4 drones at a distance of over 3 km. If successful, such a weapon will be able to destroy targets hundreds of kilometers apart from space in a matter of seconds.
7. Bioweapon
By antiquity, biological weapons are ready to compete with cold ones. So, one and a half thousand years BC. e. The Hittites struck the enemies with a plague. Understanding the power of biological weapons, many armies, leaving the fortresses, left infected corpses there. The Japanese during World War II, in addition to chemical weapons, did not disdain biological weapons.
The causative agent of anthrax is one of the most dangerous for humans. This bacterium lives for a long time in the ground. In 2001, letters with white powder began to arrive in the American Parliament, and immediately there was a fuss that these were anthrax spores. 22 people were infected, 5 of whom died. Most often, infection can occur through skin lesions, but it is also possible to become infected by swallowing or inhaling bacillus spores.
Now both genetic and entomological weapons have been equated with biological weapons. The second is associated with the use of insects that suck blood or otherwise attack a person, and the first is able to selectively act on groups of people with a certain genetic feature. In modern biological munitions, strains of various pathogens are usually used - in this way, an increase in mortality among people exposed to it can be achieved. Preference is given to strains that are not transmitted between people, so that an attack on a specific target does not turn into a large-scale epidemic.
The German Union for Technical Inspection annually issues reports on the defectiveness of various brands of machines. Any brand that enters the technical inspection is checked at least ...
8. MLRS "Smerch"
The ancestor of this formidable weapon was the famous Katyusha, which was used with great success against the German army. After the atomic bomb, this, according to experts, is the most terrible weapon. It takes only 3 minutes to prepare a 12-barreled Smerch for battle, and a volley is fired in 38 seconds. This system effectively destroys modern tanks and other armored vehicles. Rocket projectiles can be launched from a remote control or directly from the cab of a car. "Smerch" can be successfully used in extreme heat and in severe cold, at any time of the day.
This weapon is not selective - it destroys armored vehicles and personnel over a large area. Russia exports this type of weapons to 13 states, including the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, India, Peru, and Kuwait. The machine with the installation is not too expensive for its efficiency - about 12.5 million dollars. But the work of one such installation is capable of stopping the advance of an enemy division.
9. Neutron bomb
American Samuel Cohen invented the neutron bomb as a variant of a nuclear weapon with minimal destructive power, but a maximum of radiation that kills all life. The shock wave here accounts for only 10-20% of the energy released during the explosion (in an atomic explosion, half of the explosion energy is spent on destruction).
After the development of the neutron bomb, the Americans put it into service with their army, but after a while they abandoned this option. The action of the neutron bomb turned out to be ineffective, since the released neutrons are actively absorbed by the atmosphere, and the effect of their action is local. Moreover, neutron charges had a minimum power - only 5-6 kilotons. But much more useful were neutron charges in missile defense systems. A neutron anti-missile that explodes near an enemy aircraft or missile creates a powerful neutron flux that disables all electronics and control of the target.
Another direction of development of this idea was neutron guns, which are a generator capable of creating a directed neutron flux (actually an accelerator). The more powerful the generator, the more powerful neutron flux it can provide. The armies of the United States, Russia and France now have similar weapons.
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10. Intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20 "Voevoda"
This is also a Soviet model of strategic weapons. NATO representatives nicknamed this missile "Satan" for its exceptional destructive power. For the same reason, she got into the ubiquitous Guinness Book of Records. This ballistic missile can hit objects at a distance of 11,000 kilometers. Its multiple reentry vehicles are capable of bypassing a missile defense system, which makes the RS-20 even scarier.
In the centuries-old struggle, the military organization of the Slavs took shape, their military art arose and developed, which influenced the condition of the troops of neighboring peoples and states. Emperor Mauritius, for example, recommended that the Byzantine army widely use the methods of warfare used by the Slavs ...
Russian warriors wielded these weapons well and, under the command of brave military leaders, more than once won victories over the enemy.
For 800 years, the Slavic tribes, in the struggle with the numerous peoples of Europe and Asia and with the powerful Roman Empire - Western and Eastern, and then with the Khazar Khaganate and the Franks, defended their independence and united.
A flail is a short strapped whip with an iron ball suspended at the end. Sometimes spikes were attached to the ball. Terrible blows were delivered with a flail. With minimal effort, the effect was stunning. By the way, the word "stun" used to mean "strongly hit the enemy's skull"
The head of the shestoper consisted of metal plates - "feathers" (hence its name). Shestoper, widespread mainly in the XV-XVII centuries, could serve as a sign of the power of military leaders, while remaining at the same time a serious weapon.
Both the mace and the mace originate from a club - a massive club with a thickened end, usually bound with iron or studded with large iron nails - which was also in service with Russian soldiers for a long time.
A very common chopping weapon in the ancient Russian army was an ax, which was used by princes, princely combatants, and militias, both on foot and on horseback. However, there was also a difference: the footmen more often used large axes, while the horsemen used axes, that is, short axes.
Both of them had an ax put on a wooden ax handle with a metal tip. The back flat part of the ax was called the butt, and the hatchet was called the butt. The blades of the axes were trapezoidal in shape.
A large wide ax was called a berdysh. Its blade - a piece of iron - was long and mounted on a long ax handle, which at the lower end had an iron fitting, or ink. Berdysh were used only by foot soldiers. In the 16th century, berdyshs were widely used in the archery army.
Later, halberds appeared in the Russian army - modified axes of various shapes, ending in a spear. The blade was mounted on a long shaft (axe) and often decorated with gilding or embossing.
A kind of metal hammer, pointed from the side of the butt, was called chasing or klevets. The coinage was mounted on an ax handle with a tip. There were coins with a screwed-out, hidden dagger. The coin served not only as a weapon, it was a distinctive accessory of military leaders.
Stabbing weapons - spears and horns - in the armament of the ancient Russian troops were no less important than the sword. Spears and horns often decided the success of the battle, as was the case in the battle of 1378 on the Vozha River in Ryazan land, where the Moscow cavalry regiments overturned the Mongol army with a simultaneous blow “on spears” from three sides and defeated it.
The tips of the spears were perfectly adapted to pierce armor. To do this, they were made narrow, massive and elongated, usually tetrahedral.
Tips, diamond-shaped, bay or wide wedge-shaped, could be used against the enemy, in places not protected by armor. A two-meter spear with such a tip inflicted dangerous lacerations and caused the rapid death of the enemy or his horse.
The spear consisted of a shaft and a blade with a special sleeve that was mounted on the shaft. In Ancient Russia, the poles were called oskepische (hunting) or ratovishche (combat). They were made of oak, birch or maple, sometimes using metal.
The blade (the tip of the spear) was called the pen, and its sleeve was called the ink. It was more often all-steel, however, welding technologies from iron and steel strips, as well as all-iron, were also used.
Rogatins had a tip in the form of a bay leaf 5-6.5 centimeters wide and up to 60 centimeters long. To make it easier for the warrior to hold the weapon, two or three metal knots were attached to the shaft of the horn.
A kind of horn was an owl (owl), which had a curved strip with one blade, slightly curved at the end, which was mounted on a long shaft.
In the Novgorod First Chronicle, it is recorded how a defeated army "... ran into the forest, throwing weapons, and shields, and owls, and everything on its own."
Sulitz was a throwing spear with a light and thin shaft up to 1.5 meters long. The tips of the sulits are petiolate and socketed.
Ancient Russian warriors defended themselves against cold and throwing weapons with the help of shields. Even the words "shield" and "protection" have the same root. Shields have been used since ancient times until the spread of firearms.
At first, it was shields that served as the only means of protection in battle, chain mail and helmets appeared later. The earliest written evidence of Slavic shields was found in Byzantine manuscripts of the 6th century.
According to the definition of the degenerate Romans: "Each man is armed with two small spears, and some of them with shields, strong but difficult to bear."
An original feature of the construction of heavy shields of this period was sometimes embrasures made in their upper part - windows for viewing. In the early Middle Ages, the militias often did not have helmets, so they preferred to hide behind a “head-on” shield.
According to legend, the berserkers gnawed at their shields in a battle frenzy. Reports of such a custom are most likely fiction. But it is not difficult to guess what exactly formed its basis.
In the Middle Ages, strong warriors preferred not to encase their shield with iron from above. The ax would still not break from hitting a steel strip, but it could get stuck in a tree. It is clear that the ax catcher shield had to be very durable and heavy. And its upper edge looked "gnawed".
Another original side of the relationship between the berserkers and their shields was that the “warriors in bear skins” often had no other weapons. The berserker could fight with only one shield, striking with its edges or simply knocking enemies to the ground. This style of fighting was already known in Rome.
The earliest finds of shield elements date back to the 10th century. Of course, only metal parts survived - umbons (an iron hemisphere in the center of the shield, which served to repel a blow) and fetters (fasteners along the edge of the shield) - but they managed to restore the appearance of the shield as a whole.
According to the reconstructions of archaeologists, the shields of the 8th - 10th centuries had a round shape. Later, almond-shaped shields appeared, and from the 13th century triangular shields were also known.
The Old Russian round shield is of Scandinavian origin. This makes it possible to use materials from Scandinavian burial grounds, for example, the Swedish burial ground Birka, for the reconstruction of the Old Russian shield. Only there the remains of 68 shields were found. They had a round shape and a diameter of up to 95 cm. In three samples, it was possible to determine the type of wood of the shield field - these are maple, fir and yew.
They also established the breed for some wooden handles - these are juniper, alder, poplar. In some cases, metal handles made of iron with bronze linings were found. A similar overlay was found on our territory - in Staraya Ladoga, now it is kept in a private collection. Also, among the remains of both ancient Russian and Scandinavian shields, rings and staples for belt fastening the shield on the shoulder were found.
Helmets (or helmets) are a type of combat headgear. In Russia, the first helmets appeared in the 9th - 10th centuries. At this time, they became widespread in Western Asia and in Kievan Rus, but in Western Europe they were rare.
The helmets that appeared later in Western Europe were lower and tailored around the head, in contrast to the conical helmets of ancient Russian warriors. By the way, the conical shape gave great advantages, since the high conical tip did not make it possible to deliver a direct blow, which is important in areas of horse-saber combat.
Helmet "Norman type"
Helmets found in burials of the 9th-10th centuries. have several types. So one of the helmets from the Gnezdovsky barrows (Smolensk region) was hemispherical in shape, tightened on the sides and along the crest (from the forehead to the back of the head) with iron strips. Another helmet from the same burials had a typical Asian shape - from four riveted triangular parts. The seams were covered with iron strips. There was a pommel and a lower rim.
The conical shape of the helmet came to us from Asia and is called the "Norman type". But soon it was supplanted by the "Chernigov type". It is more spherical - has a spheroconic shape. Above there are finials with bushings for plumes. In the middle they are reinforced with spiked overlays.
Helmet "Chernigov type"
According to ancient Russian concepts, the actual combat attire, without a helmet, was called armor; later, this word began to be called all the protective equipment of a warrior. Kolchuga for a long time belonged to the undisputed superiority. It was used throughout the X-XVII centuries.
In addition to chain mail in Russia, it was adopted, but until the 13th century, protective clothing made of plates did not prevail. Plate armor existed in Russia from the 9th to the 15th century, scaly armor from the 11th to the 17th century. The latter type of armor was particularly elastic. In the XIII century, a number of such details that enhance the protection of the body, such as greaves, knee pads, chest plaques (Mirror), and handcuffs, are distributed.
To strengthen chain mail or armor in the 16th-17th centuries, additional armor was used in Russia, which was worn over the armor. These armors were called mirrors. They consisted in most cases of four large plates - front, back and two side.
Plates, the weight of which rarely exceeded 2 kilograms, were interconnected and fastened on the shoulders and sides with belts with buckles (shoulder pads and armlets).
The mirror, polished and polished to a mirror shine (hence the name of the armor), often covered with gilding, decorated with engraving and chasing, in the 17th century most often had a purely decorative character.
In the 16th century in Russia, ringed armor and chest armor made of rings and plates connected together, arranged like fish scales, became widespread. Such armor was called bakhterets.
The bakhterets was assembled from oblong plates located in vertical rows, connected by rings on the short sides. Side and shoulder cuts were connected with belts and buckles. A chain mail hem was added to the bakhterets, and sometimes a collar and sleeves.
The average weight of such armor reached 10-12 kilograms. At the same time, the shield, having lost its combat value, became a ceremonial and ceremonial item. This also applied to the tarch - a shield, the pommel of which was a metal hand with a blade. Such a shield was used in the defense of fortresses, but was extremely rare.
Bakhterets and shield-tarch with a metal "hand"
In the 9th-10th centuries, helmets were made from several metal plates, connected by rivets. After assembly, the helmet was decorated with silver, gold and iron plates with ornaments, inscriptions or images.
In those days, a smoothly curved, elongated helmet with a rod at the top was common. Western Europe did not know helmets of this form at all, but they were widespread both in Western Asia and in Russia.
In the 11th-13th centuries, domed and sphero-conical helmets were common in Russia. At the top, the helmets often ended in a sleeve, which was sometimes equipped with a flag - a yalovets. In the early times, helmets were made from several (two or four) parts riveted together. There were helmets and from one piece of metal.
The need to strengthen the protective properties of the helmet led to the emergence of steep-sided domed helmets with a nose or mask-mask (visor). The warrior's neck was covered with an aventail mesh made of the same rings as chain mail. It was attached to the helmet from behind and from the sides. The helmets of noble warriors were trimmed with silver, and sometimes they were completely gilded.
The earliest appearance in Russia of headbands with a circular chain mail aventail attached to the crown of the helmet, and in front of a steel half mask laced to the lower edge, can be assumed no later than the 10th century.
At the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, in connection with the general European trend towards heavier defensive armor, helmets appeared in Russia, equipped with a mask-mask that protected the warrior's face from both chopping and stabbing blows. Masks-masks were equipped with slits for the eyes and nasal openings and covered the face either half (half-mask) or entirely.
A helmet with a face was put on a balaclava and worn with an aventail. Masks-masks, in addition to their direct purpose - to protect the face of a warrior, were also supposed to frighten the enemy with their appearance. Instead of a straight sword, a saber appeared - a curved sword. The saber is very convenient for the conning tower. In skillful hands, a saber is a terrible weapon.
Around 1380, firearms appeared in Russia. However, the traditional edged melee and ranged weapons retained their importance. Pikes, horns, maces, flails, six-toppers, helmets, shells, round shields were in service for 200 years with virtually no significant changes, and even with the advent of firearms.
Since the XII century, a gradual weighting of the weapons of both the horseman and the infantryman begins. A massive long saber, a heavy sword with a long crosshair and sometimes a one-and-a-half handle appear. The strengthening of protective weapons is evidenced by the widespread use of ramming with a spear in the 12th century.
The weighting of the equipment was not significant, because it would make the Russian warrior clumsy and turn him into a sure target for the steppe nomad.
The number of troops of the Old Russian state reached a significant figure. According to the chronicler Leo Deacon, an army of 88 thousand people participated in Oleg's campaign against Byzantium, and Svyatoslav had 60 thousand people in the campaign against Bulgaria. Sources call the voivod and the thousandth as the commanding staff of the army of Russ. The army had a certain organization associated with the arrangement of Russian cities.
The city put up a "thousand", divided into hundreds and tens (along the "ends" and streets). The "thousand" was commanded by the thousandth elected by the veche, later the prince appointed the thousandth. "Hundreds" and "tens" were commanded by elected sots and tenths. The cities fielded infantry, which at that time was the main branch of the army and was divided into archers and spearmen. The core of the army was the princely squads.
In the 10th century, the term "regiment" was first used as the name of a separately operating army. In the "Tale of Bygone Years" for 1093, regiments are military detachments brought to the battlefield by individual princes.
The numerical strength of the regiment was not determined, or, in other words, the regiment was not a specific unit of organizational division, although in battle, when placing troops in battle order, the division of troops into regiments mattered.
Gradually developed a system of penalties and rewards. According to later data, gold hryvnias (neck bands) were issued for military distinctions and merit.
Golden hryvnia and golden plates-upholstery of a wooden bowl with the image of a fish