The dum-dum bullet : a lethal history, 1850-1950 / Maartje Abbenhuis

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abbenhuis, Maartje, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bullets--History--19th century.

Bullets.

Bullets--History--20th century.

Cartridges--History--19th century.

Cartridges.

Cartridges--History--20th century.

Firearms--Law and legislation.

Firearms.

Military weapons--History--19th century.

Military weapons.

Military weapons--History--20th century.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026

Summary:

"In this innovative and accessible history of small arms and gun violence, Maartje Abbenhuis reveals how the invention of ready-to-use rifle cartridges in the industrial era revolutionised gun violence on and off the battlefield and made death accessible to all. The most famous of these expanding bullets, which flooded the market from the 1850s onward, was the dum-dum bullet. This bullet fundamentally altered perceptions of who might use a gun and when. The book examines why, of all military inventions, this bullet was regulated by international law, and traces the changing landscape of public responses to its use and abuse through the many wars and instances of state violence during the first half of the twentieth century. It shows that the legal framing of this 'barbarous' ammunition helped to entrench public expectations around its unacceptability, yet also hid a world of actual violence that employed the same technology repeatedly"-- Cambridge Core

Contents:

The dum-dum bullet in history

Angels of death : the violence of Minié bullets in the 1850s and 1860s

A question of life itself : exploding projectiles and the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868

Unseen death : “man-stopping” bullets and everyday violence before 1890

Bullets that do not kill : explaining the dum-dum “hysteria” of the 1890s

For every atrocity, a dum-dum, 1900-1950

Epilogue : the dum-dum bullet’s enduring fascination

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed May 20, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Abbenhuis, Maartje Dum-dum bullet

ISBN:

9781009712927

1009712926

OCLC:

1585502172

Publisher Number:

CIPO000365860

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license