The Changes of Military Combat

By Cyle Naderer
Over the years, their have been many battle and many wars fought over money, land, resources, power, and forms of government. Many wars were once fought with basic shields, swords, and knifes, but times have changed and the ways war is fought have changed drastically. There have been many changes in the weapons used in war, the rules of war, and the reasons countries go to war. A war was once defined as two countries armed with shields, swords, and knives fighting one another head to head. Over the years many new weapons and tools were created for fighting and killing enemy soldiers. The first projectile weapons used were spears and bow and arrows. The spear was usually made by carving branches or tree trunks into a finely sharpened point at one end and smoothing the other end or carving a design, making a grip to hold it by and throw at the enemies.(1) the spear was originally used for hunting since at least 400,000 years ago. During the stone age the spear was used as both a close melee weapon, and a projectile weapon. Experts such as Craig Stanford believe this weapon is the ancestor to military weapons such as the lance, the pilum, the halberd, the neginata, the glaive, the bill, and the pike (2). The bow and arrow was the most common used projectile type of weapon used in the past, but it was not the first projectile weapon. The bow and arrow was modeled after the sling. The first historical evidence of a bow and arrow estimates that it was created around 8,000 B.C.(3). The bow has two carved limbs attached to one string which pulls the bow and gives it

power, the maximum draw wight, amount of force needed to pull the bow, was determined on the strength of the archer shooting the bow. On the other hand, the draw length was determined by the size of the archer pulling the bow back and releasing it. The next combat improvement along with the bow and arrow would the a muzzle load type weapon called the musket, also known as the hand cannon. The first historical evidence of the musket would be in 1260 in the Battle of Ain Jalut (4). The musket was a simple weapon composed of a metal tube closed on one end with a torch hole drilled into the side of it. Gun powder and ammunition were placed in the hole and a match, or short piece of burning rope, were inserted into the hole, which caused the powder to explode and the ammunition fo fire out. Since there were many misfires and accidental discharges with the way it was fired, the musket was reinvented and a match lock mechanism was added to the musket. The matchlock placed the match in a clamp on the end of a lever, when a trigger was pulled the lever would rotate and the match came in contact with the touch hole, firing the weapon (5). Within a few hundred years, the musket was made from wootz steel, which made it possible to fire stones and rocks if a soldier ran out of ammunition. (4) the musket lost its status as the dominant weapon in the mid15th century when the rifle was created. The origin of rifle use is believed to have started in the 15th century in Europe. The rifle was created and thought to be an upgrade from the musket, but alternatively the rifle left black

smoke from the gun powder, making the increased accuracy, range, and fire rate almost useless. Since the rifle often obscured the battle field, the rifle was limited to only sharp shooters in war, and non-military uses such as hunting (6). In the 19th century, rifles were generally single shot, breech reloading, and designed for aim and discretionary fire by individual soldiers.(6) in the early part of the 19th century, soldiers were trained to shoot accurately over long distances with high powered cartridges. Individual shots were unlikely to hit a target or get a kill, but a platoon firing repeatedly could produce a beaten ground effect similar to light artillery or machine gun fire.(7) until the early 20th century, many rifles were extremely long, the Martini-Henry was six feet in length with a fixed bayonet attached to the barrel. A demand for more compact weapons for cavalrymen led to the carbine, or shortened rifle (8). The results from world war one led to the German military experts to conclude that long ranged aimed fire was almost useless at typical battle ranges of 300 meters(8). As weapons became smaller, lighter, and more reliable, semiautomatic rifles and stronger assault rifles were become mass produced faster. With more and more combat taking place at closer or shorter ranges there became a decrease in rifle use. However a new fighting style and new type of gun was created, the sniper rifle. During the second world war, it became accepted that most infantry engagements occurred at distances around 300 meters, but the sharpshooters, now referred to as snipers, were trained to

engage in targets up to 500 meters. (9) many military experts state that their have not been many rifle design changes or upgrades, and some sniper rifles can be traced back to their ancestry of over a century. Along with weapon advancements in wars over the years, new and improved fighting vehicles have been created and used in the battles. The first historical record of use of a vehicle in war would be dated back in 399 B.C. with use of the catapult. The ballista was a catapult that was most similar to a cross bow and was designed to work through torsion. Ballistas are known for their high degree of accuracy, but also the lack of fire power and mobility. Because of a low mobility, most ballistas were constructed on the battle grounds following orders from a commanding officer (10). The spingald was designed much like the ballista, in that it was effectively a crossbow powered by tension. The springlad had a compact design meaning it could be used in areas such as a castle or a tower. (10). The catapults mostly used giant rocks or arrows forged from tree limbs, but they also used burning objects to incinerate castles and cities. The catapults would also hurl diseased and decaying carcasses or putrid garbage, doing so was one of the first records of biological warfare.(11) An improvement after the catapult would be the cannon. The first documented use of gun powder on a battle field took place on January 28, 1132 when Song General Han Shizhong used

huochong, a tube like substance that fired projectiles out of one end when gun powder was lit, to capture a city in Fujian.(12) The first known cannon, dated back in 1282, was round in Mongelheld Manchuria (13). By the 16th century, cannons were made in great vicariates of length sand diameters, but the general rule was, the longer the barrel, the more range it had. Some cannons at that time had barrels extending over ten feet and weighed more than ten tons. By the middle of the 16th century, King Henry II of France opted for six sizes of cannons used, but other countries used more; the Spanish used twelve sizes and the English used sixteen sizes.(12) after the cannon, the next major advancement in war was the tank. During WWI a demand for strongly armored self propelled weapons and vehicles was created which lead to the development of the tank. The tank was originally designed as a special weapon with a great purpose. The tank was used to cross the killing zone, also referred to as no-mans land, and break into enemy trenches. The armored tank was intended to be able to survive artillery bombardments and machine gun fire, and pass through barbed fences, in doing so the tank would be able to allow a country to win the stalemate of trench warfare. (13) Another vehicle that was used in war would be the air plane. Airplanes were first used to only make maps of the enemy territory when they were first brought into war. The artillery spotting from the aircrafts led to increased accuracy and a longer range of targets able to be hit that the men firing the artillery could not locate. Because there was no radio on air crafts at the

time, it was hard to communicate to the ground, so often the pilots would signal by using morse code to the ground through a wire attached to the plane. The ground forces could not send a message back, so they would lay white cloth on the ground to send a signal to the pilots(14). Patrol teams attempted to keep in contact with air forces by leaving messages on the ground, and the pilots would try to drop messages and supplies to the ground forces. Though aircrafts needed to know ground reinforcement locations for communications, the ground forces were reluctant to give away their positions because they were often mistook for enemy forces. Soon air crafts were arming themselves with mounted machine guns, bombs, and rockets in order to attack ground troops as well as other aircrafts. Planes continued to advance in weapons and armor, and in modern technology there are stealth bombers and even aircrafts that can be controlled by a simple remota control. Along with weapons and vehicles use in the wars changing, the rules of war have also changed from the beginning. When the first wars were fought there were certain standards that must have been followed during battle. The earliest known documented rules are found in the Hebrew Bible, for example, the pass Deuterony 20:19-20 limits the amount of acceptable collateral and environmental damage: When though shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down to employ them in the siege: only

the trees which though knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt not build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. (15) in the early seventh century, Abu Kakr was instruct his Muslim army and laid down the following rules concerning warfare: Stop, O people that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battle field. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a women, nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those that are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemies flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone(16) The rules of war were simple in the past, the soldiers would march one by one and wait for commanding officers to give orders. The soldiers before would only take shots at an enemy and fight in a civilized manor. Today on the other hand, soldiers on both sides of the fight will burn buildings, kill animals, kill the elderly, and shoot at innocent civilians. For example, the current war in Iraq has had hundreds of innocent civilian fatalities due to car bombings and military fire. There have been several instances when countries would capture a soldier or a military commander and hold them hostage or torture them in order to find out enemy plans or strategies, or even to cause motivation for a new war to begin. Other instances were designed only to harm innocent people or cripple a countries economy. The September eleventh terrorist

attack on the world trade center in America was planned by Osama Ben Ladin and killed hundreds of innocent bystanders. Another instance in which unnecessary forces and extremes took place would be Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombed the port. Millions of dollars of damages were made to military equipment, and over 2,000 lives were lost. Instead of declaring war against the Japanese to retaliate in a civil wartime manor, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan. The two bombs killed over 200,000 people, almost all of them were civilians. Japan was a crippled country after the bombings and it took several years to rebuild the areas bombed, and effects of the biochemical weapons used were passed down through many generations. Many rules of war have changed, and they are still changing in current battles an wars. Before the soldiers would only fight one by one, but now the soldiers fight using guerrilla warfare, spreading out and hiding in numerous spaces, to fight and win battles. Many soldiers will even dress like the enemy and learn their culture and either give their country Intel on the enemy, or they will fight and hide behind enemy forces with another special unit. In other cases however, some soldiers will completely level buildings and whole cities in order to find a person of importance or just to show that they have power.

In modern times there have even been assassination attempts on presidents or military leaders. For example, before Osama Ben Ladin was killed by United States forces, along with one of his sons, he had recorded a video, but not released it, about him stating he was planning to murder the current united states president Barrock Hussein Obama. Another change other than equipment and rules of war changing, the reasons countries go to war have also changed over the centuries. Before, countries would declare war against another country for freedom, land, or money. However, today wars are fought for freedom, land, money, resources, title, retaliations, changes in government, and for honor. Many battles, such as the American Revolution against the British have been for independency or freedom. Many other wars however, like the Spanish American war have been over land. Today there are many theories of why countries still go to war, including the Marxist theories, which state that all modern wars are caused by competition fo resources and markets between great powers. Part of the theory states that war will only disappear once a world revolution, over throwing free markets and class systems, has occurred(17) a Germain Communist, Rosa Lexumbourg theorized that imperialism was the result of capitalist countries needing new markets(17). There are many more theories of why countries go to war, the main reasons of why countries still go war and engage in combat remain; money, land, and power. Many countries

will invade others for natural resources, like oil, lumber, and coal. A country will also go to war in order to expand their land to make a more powerful and threatening nation so other countries or forces will not try to invade them and take the resources it possesses. The rules of war have drastically changed and more civilians are being affected more that the actual soldiers that are fighting the war. The civilians are the most effected because the battle field often takes place on civilized or rural areas. The areas the battles are fought on are often lands and living areas of innocent civilians. Another reason why the civilians are effected more is because the war will cripple the economy. Often whole cities and areas are destroyed, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Usually the country affected does not have enough resources to pay for the damages dealt and will raise taxes on the civilians, or the area will stay abandoned and will never be paid for and the civilians will remain homeless and in a state of poverty. Many changes have occurred with war strategies and war itself in general. Long ago there were rules for war and they were strictly followed. Today war is classified more of a state of chaos instead of an era of support and patriotism. The rules have drastically changed and more civilians are getting more of the damage than the soldiers to fight for their country. The weapons have also changed in war, there used to only be basic swords and shields, but today there are rifles, machine guns, tanks, planes, and stealth bombers used. The weapons are becoming more and more deadly and destructive than they were in the past. The reasons for war have also

changed drastically, but have also stayed the same. Although they are generally the same reasons, the countries are less tolerant of another and will generally fight for any given reason in modern times.