MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

range of weapons, equipment, structures, and vehicles used specifically for the purpose of fighting. It includes the knowledge required to construct such technology, to employ it in combat, and to repair and replenish it. The technology of war may be divided into five categories. Offensive arms harm the enemy, while defensive weapons ward off offensive blows. Transportation technology moves soldiers and weaponry; communications coordinate the movements of armed forces; and sensors detect forces and guide weaponry. From the earliest times, a critical relationship has existed between military technology, the tactics of its employment, and the psychological factors that bind its users into units. Success in combat, the sine qua non of military organizations and the ultimate purpose of military technology, depends on the ability of the combatant group to coordinate the actions of its members in a tactically effective manner. This coordination is a function of the strength of the forces that bind the unit together, inducing its members to set aside their individual interestseven life itselffor the welfare of the group. These forces, in turn, are directly affected both by tactics and by technology. The influence of technology can be either positive or negative. The experience of the ancient Greek hoplite infantrymen is one example of positive influence. Their arms and armour were most effective for fighting in close formation, which led in turn to marching in step, which further augmented cohesion and made the phalanx a tactically formidable formation. The late medieval knight offers an example of the negative influence of technology. To wield his sword and lance effectively, he and his charger needed considerable space, yet his closed helmet made communication with his fellows extremely difficult. It is not surprising, then, that knights of the late Middle Ages tended to fight as individuals and were often defeated by cohesive units of less well-equipped opponents. This article traces the development of military technology by historical period, from prehistory to the 18th century. For a discussion of modern military technology, see small arm, artillery, rocket and missile system, nuclear weapon, chemical warfare, biological warfare, fortification, tank, naval ship, submarine, military aircraft, warning system, and military communication. A general treatment of the actual waging of war is found in war, with more specific discussions appearing in such articles as strategy, tactics, and logistics. The social sciences of war, such as economics, law, and the theory of its origins, are also covered in that article. For a military history of World Wars I and II, see World War I and World War II. Warfare requires the use of technologies that also have nonmilitary applications. For descriptions of the propulsion systems used in military vehicles, ships, aircraft, and missiles, see energy conversion; for the manufacture of explosives, see explosives. The principles of radar, and its military applications, are covered in radar. For the principles of aircraft flight, see airplane. John F. Guilmartin, Jr. Additional reading Arther Ferrill, The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great (1985), offers a scholarly survey of evidence for prehistoric war. For a glimpse of the vestiges of prehistoric tradition in modern times, see the article Ancient World of a War-Torn Tribe: Willigiman-Wallalua People, Life, 53(13):7391 (Sept. 28, 1962), which contains dramatic photographs of New Guinea tribesmen skirmishing with javelins. James D. Muhly, How Iron Technology Changed the Ancient World and Gave the Philistines a Military Edge, The Biblical Archaeology Review, 8(6):4054 (November/December 1982), analyzes early metalworking techniques and their role in the beginnings of military technology. Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands in the Light of Archaeological Study, 2 vol. (1963; originally published in Hebrew, 1963), applies an operational perspective to the development of military technology and tactics in ancient and early classical time, but some of the author's conclusions need to be modified in light of subsequent archaeological discoveries. P.A.L. Greenhalgh, Early Greek Warfare: Horsemen and Chariots in the Homeric and Archaic Ages (1973), offers a revisionist analysis of the use of horses in war. J.G. Landels, Engineering in the Ancient World (1978), presents a comparative study of human and animal muscle, wind, and falling water as sources of power and has separate chapters on land and sea transport and catapult design. A.M. Snodgrass, Arms and Armour of the Greeks (1967), is a brief but scholarly work on the subject. F.E. Adcock, The Greek and Macedonian Art of War (1957, reprinted 1967); and E.W. Marsden, Greek and Roman Artillery: Historical Development (1969), remain standard treatments. Werner Soedel and Vernard Foley, Ancient Catapults, Scientific American, 240(3):150160 (March 1979), is an illustrated technical analysis. Edward N. Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire From the First Century A.D. to the Third (1976), devotes considerable attention to technical aspects of Rome's military power. J.F.C. Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great (1958, reissued 1981), remains a standard historical treatment of the organization and use of the army; it can be supplemented by the brilliant examination in Donald W. Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army (1978). Brief historical surveys of equipment and dress, based on artistic interpretations of archaeological evidence, are presented in the works from the Men-at-Arms series: Terence Wise, Ancient Armies of the Middle East (1981), and Armies of the Carthaginian Wars, 265146 BC (1982); Nick Sekunda, The Ancient Greeks: Armies of Classical Greece, 5th and 4th Centuries BC (1986), and The Army of Alexander the Great (1984); and Michael Simkins, The Roman Army From Caesar to Trajan, rev. ed. (1984).Michel Bur, The Social Influence of the Motte-and-Bailey Castle, Scientific American, 248(5):132140 (May 1983), describes the early beginnings of the European feudal system of war; and John Beeler, Warfare in Feudal Europe, 7301200 (1971), summarizes the subject. Bernard S. Bachrach, "Animals and Warfare in Early Medieval Europe, in the symposium L'Uomo di fronte al mondo animale nell'alto Medioevo, vol. 1, pp. 707751 (1985), analyzes textual, graphic, and archaeological evidence on the development of the technology of mounted shock action in western Europe; the same author's Merovingian Military Organization, 481751 (1972) examines the social context within which the new technology developed. A.V.B. Norman, The Medieval Soldier (1971); and A.V.B. Norman and Don Pottinger, English Weapons & Warfare, 4491660 (1979, reissued 1985), address weaponry in detail. Charles Ffoulkes, Armour & Weapons (1909, reprinted 1973), remains a classic treatment of the development of personal armour in Europe.V.J. Parry and M.E. Yapp (eds.), War, Technology, and Society in the Middle East (1975), contains a number of essays dealing with various aspects of warfare and military technology during the age of cavalry. David C. Nicolle, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 10501350, 2 vol. (1988), is a comprehensive reference work. Frank A. Kierman, Jr., and John K. Fairbank (eds.), Chinese Ways in Warfare (1974), is a collection of scholarly essays. S.R. Turnbull, The Mongols (1980); and David C. Nicolle, The Armies of Islam, 7th11th Centuries (1982), are two works from the Men-at-Arms series. Ralph Payne-Gallwey, A Summary of the History, Construction, and Effects in Warfare of the Projectile-Throwing Engines of the Ancients with a Treatise on the Structure, Power, and Management of Turkish and Other Oriental Bows of Mediaeval and Later Times (1907, reprinted 1973), though old, contains valuable reports of practical experiments in the reconstruction of mechanical artillery and informed speculation on the capabilities of the composite bow. W.F. Paterson, "The Archers of Islam, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 9(12):6987 (November 1966), offers technical and tactical analysis of medieval archery. Paul E. Klopsteg, Turkish Archery and the Composite Bow: A Review of an Old Chapter in the Chronicles of Archery, and a Modern Interpretation, 3rd enlarged ed. (1987), contains the most complete technical description of composite bow construction, based on an 1847 Ottoman text written during the final revival of Turkish archery. Ralph Payne-Gallwey, The Crossbow, Mediaeval and Modern, Military and Sporting: Its Construction, History & Management, with a Treatise on the Balista and Catapult of the Ancients, and an Appendix on the Catapult, Balista & the Turkish Bow, 2nd ed. (1958, reprinted 1981), remains the basic text on the crossbow; Robert Hardy, Longbow: A Social and Military History (1976, reissued 1986), is a definitive treatment by a famous archer, with appendixes on design and ballistics by technical experts. The above-mentioned Men-at-Arms series includes Douglas Miller, The Landsknechts (1976) and The Swiss at War, 13001500 (1979); David C. Nicolle, Armies of the Ottoman Turks, 13001774 (1983); and S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Armies, 15501615 (1979). Though not primarily concerned with warfare or military technology, Norman Itzkowitz, Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition (1972, reprinted 1980); and Peter Duus, Feudalism in Japan, 2nd ed. (1976), provide the institutional and cultural context for military developments.David Ayalon, Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom: A Challenge to a Mediaeval Society, 2nd ed. (1978), studies a military elite that failed to adapt to gunpowder. Charles Oman, A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, 2nd rev. ed., 2 vol. (1924, reissued 1959), and A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century (1937, reprinted 1979), provide encyclopaedic coverage and analytical treatment. F.L. Taylor, The Art of War in Italy, 14941529 (1921, reprinted 1973), is a useful supplement. Jacob de Gheyn, The Exercise of Armes: A Seventeenth Century Military Manual, new ed., edited by David J. Blackmore (1986; originally published in Dutch, 1607), is one of the earliest published detailed books of musket drill. Philip J. Haythornthwaite, Weapons and Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars (1979), provides comprehensive coverage of the subject. Kenneth Macksey, The Guinness History of Land Warfare (1973; also published as The History of Land Warfare, 1974), is a useful reference source. Christopher Duffy, The Military Experience in the Age of Reason (1987), is a comprehensive treatment of European methods of war. Geoffrey Parker, The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 15671659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (1972), examines human and tactical aspects of the war of the Netherlands, and his The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 15001800 (1988), uses current scholarship in an analysis of the impact of gunpowder on warfare and politics on a global scale.Christopher Duffy, Fire and Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare, 16601860 (1975), and Siege Warfare, vol. 1: The Fortress in the Early Modern World, 14941660, and vol. 2: The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great, 16801789 (197985), treat the development of methods of siege craft and fortification and survey positional warfare. Sbastien Le Prestre de Vauban, A Manual of Siegecraft and Fortification, trans. and ed. by George A. Rothrock (1968; originally published in French, 1740), is the famous text with informative notes, appendixes, and introduction; and Simon Pepper and Nicholas Adams, Firearms & Fortification: Military Architecture and Siege Warfare in Sixteenth-Century Siena (1986), studies the technology and tactics of early modern positional warfare in detail. Peter Young and Wilfrid Emberton, Sieges of the Great Civil War, 16421646 (1978), offers siege narratives of the English Civil War; and Horst De la Croix, Military Considerations in City Planning: Fortifications (1972), surveys urban fortifications from the earliest times to the mid-19th century.For the transition to modern warfare, see William H. McNeill, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society Since A.D.1000 (1982), a broad overview of the political and economic effect of developments in military technology; Hew Strachan, European Armies and the Conduct of War (1983), which summarizes developments from the age of Frederick the Great onward; and Martin Van Creveld, Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present (1989). John F. Guilmartin, Jr.