Weapon

A weapon is any implement used for attack and defence. Man has been constantly developing newer and better weapons ever since he picked up the first rock; from simple clubs and bows and arrows in prehistoric times to machine guns and nuclear bombs in modern times.

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Saint Barbara (d235) of Nicomedia, Turkey, spent her youth on her own in a tower, especially built for her by her father to protect her from the world. She converted to Christianity, against the will of her father and rejected an offer of marriage that she received through him. After attempts to un-convert proved unsuccessful, Barbara's father struck off her head. Immediately he was struck by lightning and his body was consumed. As a result Barbara was made the patron saint of artillery. Her Feast Day is December 4th.

The Macuahuitl was an ancient weapon used by Mesoamerican peoples (Aztecs/Mayans) - The weapon looked similar to a cricket bat but had sides covered in obsidian stone blades. It was described as being sharp enough to decapitate a man.

Greek Fire was an incendiary weapon developed by the Byzantines in the 7th century. Used on both land and sea, it was deployed on ships, and in handheld tubes, operating similar to a flamethrower. Water didn’t extinguish it. The formula of Greek Fire was a jealously guarded secret passed from Emperor to Emperor until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and its precise chemical composition is still unknown.

The first great revolution in warfare came with the invention of gunpowder by the Chinese in the 11th century. At first they used it in fireworks and rockets rather than weapons.

Explosives were first used at the The Battle of Caishi a major naval engagement of the Jin–Song Wars of China that took place on November 26–27, 1161. During the battle, the paddle-wheel warships of the Song fleet, equipped with trebuchets that launched incendiary bombs made of gunpowder and lime, decisively defeated the light ships of the Jin navy.

Ancient Chinese cannon displayed in the Tower of London. Wikipedia

During the Middle Ages in England, there were laws in place that required freemen to own weapons and armor based on their wealth. The exact requirements varied over time and by region, but in general, the laws were intended to ensure that the population was prepared to defend the realm in times of war or other emergencies.

One such law was the Assize of Arms, which was enacted in 1181 during the reign of King Henry II. This law required all freemen who possessed property worth more than 16 marks to be armed with a hauberk (mail shirt), a helmet, a shield, and a lance. Those with less wealth were required to have other types of armor, such as a padded jacket (gambeson) or a leather jerkin, and a sword or other weapon.

Around 1300 guns were invented by the Arabs, with bamboo muzzles reinforced with iron.

The Europeans began using gunpowder to make guns and cannons in the 14th century. The Siege of Algeciras (1342–44) was one of the first European military engagements where gunpowder was used. The siege was undertaken during the reconquest of Spain by the Castillian forces of Alfonso XI. When the Castilians used trebuchets to launch heavy stone balls against Algeciras, the main Moor-held city on the north side of the Bay of Gibraltar, the city’s defenders returned fire using bombards, or early cannon,

British Army officer Henry Shrapnel (June 3, 1761 – March 13, 1842)) invented the explosive shell that gave shrapnel its name in the 1780s. He first demonstrated his invention of what he called "spherical case" ammunition: a hollow cannonball which exploded in the air, spewing out lead shot in 1787. After his invention's success in battle at Fort New Amsterdam, Suriname, on April 30, 1804,  Shrapnel was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Henry Shrapnel's surname is now synonymous with fragmentation from, or caused by, artillery.

Empty fired shrapnel shells at Sanctuary Wood, Belgium By Flickr user amandabhslater

In 1841 during a naval battle between Argentina and Uruguay, the Uruguayan vessel ran out of cannonballs. The captain ordered his men to shove the hard balls of cheese they had onboard into the cannons and to fire those. The cheese tore holes in the Argentine ship's sails and killed two sailors.

TNT was discovered by German chemist Julius Wilbrand in 1863. It was originally used as a yellow dye and its explosive properties were not discovered until 1891. The German armed forces adopted it as a filling for artillery shells in 1902.

The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time, at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey, England in 1867. The first batch of dynamite was made in a factory set up at a desolate site far from houses in Ardeer, Ayrshire, Scotland six years later.

London-based American inventor Hiram Maxim invented the world's first portable fully automatic machine gun, which could shoot many bullets very fast in 1884. Maxim's brutally efficient guns and its successors inflicted horrific casualties. They worked so well - providing continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasted. - that some believed the weapon would end war altogether.

The Vickers was the successor to the Maxim gun

The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the first large scale use of chemical weapons was during World War I. The most frequently used chemicals were tear-inducing irritants rather than fatal or disabling poison. The first killing agent was chlorine gas, which was released by the Germans in the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915.

Tanks were used for the first time by the British at Cambrai in 1917 when they proved their unmistakable value in clearing the battleground for the infantry following behind them.

In 1939 Albert Einstein sent a letter to Franklin D Roosevelt suggesting America start researching the atom bomb with war looking imminent in order to prevent Germany making it first. Roosevelt agreed to set up the project to build the bomb under American theoretical physicist and professor of physics J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The first intercontinental weapon was not a missile, but rather a Japanese balloon. During World War II, the Japanese military devised a plan known as the "Fu-Go" or "Fire Balloon" campaign. The objective was to launch large hydrogen-filled balloons equipped with incendiary devices across the Pacific Ocean to reach the United States.

Between 1944 and 1945, the Japanese launched over 9,000 balloons towards North America, with around 300 reaching their intended targets. The balloons traveled great distances, some as far as the western United States and even reaching as far east as Michigan. While the campaign did not cause significant damage or casualties, it was a unique and innovative attempt by the Japanese military to carry out intercontinental attacks. 

The first test explosion of an atom bomb took place in 1945 when Oppenheimer tested his new weapon deep in the New Mexico desert. The bomb exploded with force equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT. Describing the scene, Oppenheimer said he was not reminded of a line from the Bhagavad-Gita, an ancient Hindu scripture. "I am become death: the destroyer of worlds."

The Japanese city of Hiroshima became the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it on August 6, 1945, near the end of the Second World War.

The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945

For the first time in military history, a civilian population was targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht in 1987.

Nearly all Japanese school staff are trained to use a weapon called the Sasumata. It is a two pronged people catcher based off a medieval weapon of war that is used to immobilize intruders.

While other animals use weapons, in most cases they are attached to the animal (teeth, tusks, claws, etc.). However, chimpanzees are capable of making spears to hunt other primates. They have been seen using the weapons (which were on average about 75 cms) to stab bushbabies sleeping in their nests in tree hollows for meat,

Here is a list of songs with weapons in the title.