evolution on the battlefront: military technology over time by: kenneth a. gavin american institute...
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Evolution on the Battlefront:Military Technology Over Time
By: Kenneth A. GavinAmerican Institute for History Education
Prepared for Jersey City (NJ) GrantSaturday, June 26, 2008
“Either war is obsolete or men are.”
-R. Buckminster Fuller
R. Buckminster Fuller1895-1983
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
-Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein1879-1955
Gunpowder!
Potassium Nitrate (Saltpetre) + Charcoal + Sulfur =
Early Incendiary Devices
Mongol Invasion of Japan in 1281
13th Century Indian Art Showing Firebombs and Hand Cannon
Roger Bacon1219-1294
“We can, with saltpetre and other substances, compose artificially a fire that can be launched over long distances. It is possible with it to destroy a town or an army.”
-Roger Bacon
The First Practical Gun:
The Hand Cannon
AKA: Gonne, Gunne, Canon
Service Life: 13th Century-16th Century
Top: 13th Century Chinese Hand Cannon
Right: 15th Century European Hand Cannon
The Next Step: The Matchlock
Service Life: Mid 14th Century-Late 17th Century
Top: Musketeer Firing Matchlock Musket
Left: Close Up of Matchlock Mechanism
The Next Step: The Wheellock
Service Life: Early 16th Century-Late 17th Century
German Wheellock Pistol and Rifle, c. 1580
Comparison of Matchlock and Wheellock Firing
Mechanisms
Introducing: The Flintlock
Service Life: Late 17th Century-Mid 19th Century
Close Up View Of Flint Lock Firing Mechanism
Loyalist Troops Firing the Legendary British Brown Bess During the American Revolution
“In the days of lace ruffles, perukes, and brocade, Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise
An outspoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes
At Blenheim and Ramillies, fops would confessThey were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess.”
-Rudyard Kipling, Brown Bess, 1911
Two Giant Leaps Forward: The Percussion System and The Minié Ball
Top: Model 1861 Springfield Rifled Musket
Left: Copper Percussion
Caps
Right: .58 caliber Minié
Ball
Civil War Innovations: The Breechloader Revisited and Refined
Top: Model 1859 Sharps Carbine
Bottom: .52 Caliber Sharps Carbine Cartridge
Further Refinement: The Copper Cased Cartridge
Top: 2nd Model Maynard Carbine
Left: .50 Caliber Maynard Cartridge
Right: Opened Maynard Action
More Civil War Innovations: Rapid Fire and Self-Contained Cartridges
Top: Model 1860 Spencer Carbine
Bottom: .52 Caliber Rimfire Spencer Cartridge
The Zenith of Civil War Firepower
Top: Model 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle
Right: The Gatling Gun
Top: The U.S. Model 1873 Army Allin Trapdoor Rifle
Bottom: Detail of Loading Mechanism
Staple Firearm of the Indian Wars
A New Chemical Equation: The Advent of Smokeless Gunpowder
•American and European scientists discover a way to eliminate the clouds of smoke previously emitted as a byproduct of gunpowder
•Sodium Nitrate is the key to the new chemical equation
•There are numerous distinct advantages i.e. concealment and added power
A Short-Lived Service Companion: The Krag-Jørgensen Rifle
Top: Model 1896 Krag-Jørgensen Rifle Manufactured by Springfield Armory
The Infamous Krag Recevier .30-40 Krag Cartridges
Genius Enters the Firearms Design Stage
Peter Paul Mauser
1838-1914
The Mauser Model 1871 Bolt Action Rifle
The Mauser Gewehr 98: Germany’s World War I
Workhorse
Top: M1903 Springfield Rifle
Right: .30-06 Cartridges
The American Take on Paul Mauser’s Design
Bolt Action Rifles from France and Great Britain in World War I
Above: The French Lebel M1886 Rifle
Above: The British Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE)
From the Austro-Hungarian Empire…
Above: The Steyr-Mannlicher M95 Carbine
Above: Loaded 8x56r En Bloc Clip for Steyr M95
…And from the Heart of Mother Russia
Above: Variants of the M1891 Mosin-Nagant Rifle
Above: Loaded 7.62 x 54r Stripper Clip for Mosin-Nagant Rifle
Above: M1895 Nagant Pistol
Above: 7.62 x 38 round for Nagant Pistol
Backbone of the Wehrmacht: Der Karabiner 98k
Above: Der Karabiner 98k; the greatest bolt action rifle ever built
Above: Fully loaded 5-round 7.92 x 57 (8mm) Mauser Stripper Clip
Above: The M1 Garand Rifle, referred to by Gen. George C. Patton as the greatest battle implement ever devised.
Left: John C. Garand presents the prototype rifle in 1936
Right: Fully loaded 8-round .30-06 En Bloc clips for the M1Garand
An Old American Workhorse: The M1 Garand Rifle
Above: Infantry and Paratrooper Variants of the M1 Carbine
Above: .30 Carbine Ammunition for the M1 Carbine
A U.S. Innovation: The M1 Carbine
A Hybrid of Genius and the Last of the Classic Battle Rifles:
The M14
Above: The M14 Rifle
Above: 7.62 NATO Rounds for the M14 Rifle
Epilogue:
“That we remember so little of this earlier world—and understand so little of its people and their ways—bears witness to the evanescence of all historical worlds, including the one that we ourselves inhabit. In that sense, to grasp the story of the great transformation … is above all to understand it as a cautionary tale: one that demonstrates the unpredictability and irony that always attend the pursuit of power, reminding us that even the most complete victories can sow the seeds of reversal and defeat for victors too dazzled by success to remember that they are, in fact, only human.”
-Fred Anderson, A Short History of the French and Indian War: The War That Made America
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