Download E-books Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression PDF

By Robert L. O'Connell

The looks of the crossbow at the ecu conflict box in A.D. 1100 because the weapon of selection for taking pictures down knights threatened the established order of medieval chivalric scuffling with strategies. via 1139 the Church had intervened, outlawing using the crossbow between Christians. With this edict, palms regulate used to be born.
As Robert L. O'Connell unearths during this vividly written historical past of guns in Western tradition, that first test at an palms keep an eye on degree characterizes the advanced and infrequently paradoxical dating among males and fingers in the course of the centuries. In a sweeping narrative that levels from prehistoric occasions to the nuclear age, O'Connell demonstrates how social and financial stipulations make certain the categories of guns and the strategies utilized in battle and the way, in flip, strategies in guns know-how usually undercut social values. He describes, for example, how the discovery of the gun required a redefinition of braveness from competitive ferocity to calmness below hearth; and the way the computer gun in global struggle I so overthrew conventional notions of wrestle that Lord Kitchener exclaimed, "This isn't really war!" The expertise unleashed through the nice warfare substantially altered our perceptions of ourselves, as those new guns made human traits virtually beside the point in strive against. With the discovery of the atomic bomb, humanity itself turned subservient to the guns it had produced.
Of palms and Men brilliantly integrates the evolution of politics, guns, procedure, and strategies right into a coherent narrative, one spiced with remarkable photos of guys in strive against and penetrating insights into why males visit struggle.