Weapons, Warfare and Military Technology

---

---

Last published in 2010, Weapons, Warfare & Military Technology is designed to meet the needs of students seeking information about weaponry, tactics, technology, and models of warfare from ancient times to the present, worldwide. Written with the needs of students and general readers in mind, the articles contained in this set present clear discussions of the topics, explaining any terms or references that may be unclear. The focus on the technical and strategic development of weapons and tactics, more than on a narrative chronological history of events, allows students of history, political science, science and technology alike to gain a broad understanding of the technological and strategic advances made over time and geography. The third volume adds the essential dimension of placing these topics in broad social, cultural, and political contexts.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

• Volume 1: Ancient and Medieval, covers weapons and strategies from ancient times to 1500
• Volume 2: The Modern Era, covers weapons, military technology, and strategies from approximately 1500 to the present
• Volume 3: Warfare: Culture and Concepts provides valuable overviews of the way warfare, weapons, and military history have been expressed socially, politically, and in the arts

NEW CONTENT

This new third edition has been greatly expanded to bring coverage into the twenty-first century, with a particular focus on the latest developments in military technology.   Just some of the new content added to this edition include:

• Small Arms: new entries cover the M-27 IAR, Remington Versamax shotgun, the Ruger LCR and ultra-compact handguns, and Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO), bullets that are guided and can change direction mid-flight.
• Vehicles: new entries cover the P-8 Poseidon sub-hunting attack plane, the F-35 Stealth fighter, the X-47B, strike fighters, Advanced Hypersonic Weapons, and the Ghost stealth pontoon boat. 
• Missiles, Bombs, and Weapons of Mass Destruction: new entries cover the Boeing Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP), China's C-19 ballistic missile system, the marine launched-Tomahawk missile, Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and the U.S. Navy's Laser Weapon System (LaWS).
• Big Picture Developments: new entries cover the Stuxnet virus, cyberweapons, the weaponization of small, commercial drones, the weaponization of social media; decreasing the size of conventional armies, Gray Zone tactics, the rise of non-state actors, AI disruption--unmanned drones, UAVs, and non-lethal "heat rays" for use in crowd control.

Each essay ranges from 1,500 words to 7,000 words. The first two volumes open with overviews of major weapons groups, followed by chronologically arranged sections covering major historical periods and regions of the world and their contributions to military weapons, technologies, and strategies. Volume 3 touches on all sociocultural and political aspects of weapons and warfare, including: Literature; Film; Society; Science; Ethics; and Behind the Battlefield (Theories, Strategies, and Policies). Volume 3 also contains several appendixes, including: War Films; War Literature; Comprehensive Lexicon; List of Military Theorists; Detailed Timeline; List of Web Sites; and Complete Subject Index.

ORGANIZATION AND FORMAT
The essays in this set are organized into three essay types: Weapons overview articles are organized with sections on "Nature and Use" and "Development" of each weapons type. The geographically arranged warfare articles feature sections on "Political Considerations" (where relevant), "Military Achievement," "Weapons, Uniforms, and Armor," "Military Organization," and "Doctrine, Strategy, and Tactics." Geographically focused articles also feature a section on the primary sources from which historians base their observations and evaluate the best sources for understanding the warfare of the period. Culture/concept overviews (new) approach warfare and weaponry from several different perspectives: sociological, geographical, cultural, ritual, political, ethical, religious, tactical, and strategic.

---

View a Full List of History Titles