Firepower : how weapons shaped warfare / Paul Lockhart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lockhart, Paul, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Firepower--Europe--History.

Firepower.

Military weapons--Europe--History.

Military weapons.

Firepower--United States--History.

Military weapons--United States--History.

History.

Europe.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 624 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Basic Books, 2021.

Summary:

"The history of warfare cannot be fully understood without considering the technology of killing. In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of military technology from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era -- five-hundred-year-long "age of firepower" during which the evolution of weaponry transformed the conduct of warfare in the West. Weapons technology had always influenced warfare. But the introduction of gunpowder weapons at the close of the Middle Ages made military technology the largest single factor shaping warfare's tactics, strategy, and logistics. Over the five centuries leading up to World War II, the art of war revolved around the ever-more-effective delivery of firepower, and the driving force of weapons development was the compulsion to make that possible. But for centuries, even as it became more effective, military weaponry remained simple and affordable enough that nearly any state could afford to equip a respectable army; weapons could be used and used again until they physically wore out. That all changed, very suddenly, around 1870. Widespread industrialization and rapid advances in metallurgy and chemistry meant that by the start of World War I, only a handful of great powers could afford to manufacture their own weapons. Revolutions in military technology, in short, triggered a revolution in the structure of power in the West, significantly reducing the number of nations that could act assertively in international politics -- and reducing the others to a condition of permanent subordination. Going beyond the battlefield to consider the profound political and social contexts of armed conflict, Firepower ultimately reveals how the evolution of weapons technology, and the uses to which it has been put, have together transformed human history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: BOOK I THE GUNPOWDER REVOLUTION, 1300

1800

ch. 1 The Bombard and the Fortress

ch. 2 The Ship-Killing Ship

ch. 3 Pike and Shot

ch. 4 Musket, Bayonet, and Field Gun

ch. 5 The Military Revolution

BOOK II THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS, 1800

1870

ch. 6 War and Technology in the Age of Revolutions

ch. 7 The Rifle and the Bullet

ch. 8 Shot and Shell

ch. 9 Ironclad

BOOK III THE REVOLUTION IN FIREPOWER, 1870

1918

ch. 10 The Great Arms Race and the Great War

ch. 11 The Rifle and the Bullet Revisited

ch. 12 Full Auto

ch. 13 High Explosive

ch. 14 Dreadnought and U-Boat

ch. 15 The Emerging Technologies: Air and Armor

BOOK IV THE TWILIGHT OF FIREPOWER, 1918

1845

ch. 16 The Lessons of the Great War

ch. 17 Portable Firepower

ch. 18 The Big Guns

ch. 19 Airpower

ch. 20 The Twilight of the Battleship.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781541672963

1541672968

OCLC:

1237354149