While the aims and intentions of humans at war have remained essentially the same since the very dawn of civilization, the history of weaponry and tactics has been a process of near-constant adaptation, reinvention, and progression, with the result that battlefield technology has grown increasingly effective, and ever more deadly. INTRODUCTION The development of arms and armaments is central to the story of military history. However, there are various different conventions for the measurement of calibre and displacement. Stephen Woolford MBE Head of Interpretation and Collections Imperial War Museum, DuxfordĬONTRIBUTORS R G Grant Philip Parker Ian Bottomley Charles Phillips Roger Ford Adrian Gilbert Malcolm Claridgeĭiscover more at Weights and measurements given in this book are expressed in their metric and imperial equivalents, wherever the information is available. Karen Watts Senior Curator of Armour and ArtĪDDITIONAL CONSULTANTS Brian Lavery Curator of Naval History National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Trevor Weston Manager of Modern Military Firearms Mark Murray-Flutter Senior Curator of Firearms
Robert C Woosnam-Savage Curator of European Edged Weapons Thom Richardson Keeper of Armour and Oriental Collections Spanning antiquity to the present day, the collections include Royal armours, the arms and armour of the English Civil Wars, weapons from the Board of Ordnance and Ministry of Defence, civilian hunting and sporting pieces, and Oriental arms and armour. ROYAL ARMOURIES Acknowledged as one of the world’s finest museums of arms and armour, Royal Armouries holds in trust for the British nation one of the greatest and most comprehensive collections ever assembled – a treasure of international importance. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-4093-8344-4 Printed and bound in China by Leo Paper Products Ltd No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. DELHI Senior Editor Gareth Jones Editorial Team Hannah Bowen, Hugo Wilkinson, Alison Sturgeon, Steve Setford, Andy Szudek, Satu Fox Senior Art Editors Michael Duffy, Sharon Spencer Design Team Keith Davis, Steve Woosnam-Savage Photographer Gary Ombler Production Editors Ben Marcus, Tony Phipps Production Controller Linda Dare Picture Research Sarah Smithies, Roland Smithies Cover Designer Mark Cavanagh Managing Editor Stephanie Farrow Managing Art Editor Lee Griffiths Cobalt ID The Stables, Wood Farm Deopham Road, Attleborough Norfolk NR17 1AJ Managing Editor Marek Walisiewicz Managing Art Editor Paul Reid Editors Richard Gilbert, Louise Abbott Art Editors Darren Bland, Lloyd Tilbury DK India Managing Editor Saloni Talwar Senior Editors Neha Gupta, Priyanka Naib Editorial Team Surbhi Kapoor, Suneha Dutta Managing Art Editor Romi Chakraborty Senior Designers Govind Mittal, Anis Sayyed Design Team Pankaj Bhatia, Amit Varma, Honlung Zach Senior DTP Designer Harish Aggarwal DTP Designers Vishal Bhatia, Jagtar Singh, Dheeraj Arora CTS Manager Balwant Singh Production Editor Pankaj Sharma Managing Director Aparna Sharma First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Dorling Kindersley Limited 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL Penguin Group (UK) 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 001 – 182907 – Oct/2012 Copyright © 2012 Dorling Kindersley Limited All rights reserved.T H E u lt i m at e v i s u a l G U I D E T O t h e w e a p on s t h at s h a pe d t h e wo r l d T H E u lt i m at e v i s u a l GU I DE TO t h e w e a p on s t h at s h a pe d t h e wor l d