Essay Example: Evolution Of Weapons

What is the first thing that comes to mind when the word “weapon” is said: Maybe guns, or violence, or swords and bows may come to mind, we think of things that are only used to fight other human beings, but that is not what weapons are just used for. Weapons started off as a revolutionary thing that could get groups of humans mass amounts of game. It would also be used for warfare. Weapons would evolve into many different types and uses, and base weapons like spears and bows are still used to this day. Old weapons are the basis for how weapons work today. The way these tools have changed our lives is intriguing; and how they started to how they are now is what has made the human race adapt, and fight more efficiently.

Humanity started with Adam and Eve’s big family. Their kids would create many groups of people that needed food. Of course, humans started foraging for food and somebody would think of the idea to eat other living things. Fire was the very first weapon, as it was used to kill small animals and kill the microbes on it. Rocks would be used to bludgeon animals, and groups of humans were able to eat and procreate. Sharp rocks could get the job done and kill many small animals, but it requires a lot of chasing. Humanity started to expand, and this way of hunting wasn't providing enough food, even when gathering natural crops, nuts and berries. This would spark some creativity and new inventions of weapons, as they needed new methods fast. With that, A spear, or carved stick was invented. It could be thrown, making it a lot easier to hit faster animals, meanwhile they could stab with it to finish it off. This would allow humans to have massive surpluses of food, extend the variety of meats they could eat, and allow the human population to grow. These spears also made it much easier to kill other humans, and the very same descendents from Adam and Eve would adopt behaviors like Cain and Abel. And these would improve with stones being tied on them; and a tool to throw them easier, the Atlatl. Because of the idea of the spear, humans got crafty and made all sorts of other similar weapons, one being the bow and arrow. Humans made this by making string from leg tendon, gut and rawhide; all the while adding the idea of a spear but much smaller. This also would allow early humans to kill animals from 210-19,000 feet! With spears and bows came much better defense, since humans could kill an animal far away or stab it up close with their spear. And something similar to the Atlatl, came something called the sling. The sling would launch a rock from a pouch, with 2-4 strings or leather cords to a handle, or it would just be slung by hand. These rocks could fly up to 1,300 feet, and some of the rocks had holes in them and would be filled with poison. With bows and arrows, spears and ever expanding groups of people, war could start to happen. This would change humanity majorly, it would make random murdering sprees turn into organized fighting with spears and bows and arrows and posoined slings. Groups of people could have more territory and grow more into population, which caused some people inside these groups to kill each other with these weapons with swift ease.

Weapons would not only get better and better with time, but would be used to fight at maximum efficiency. Weapons would evolve into fighting machines, in which Ancient and Medieval age warriors would be able to fight and siege at ease. First, came the sword. The sword was a newer weapon, since it was invented around the time of metallurgy. Sword men combined with spear mean were deadly combinations, along with spear men riding horses, called cavalry. Sword men were great at fighting, while spear men helped defend against cavalry. This would cause much more intricate and bloodier wars. This would start to install things like PTSD into soldiers and fear into citizens. And with these revolutionary war tactics came shields. Shields made hoplites in Sparta and knights in Britain even more deadly. Injecting more fear into families, that their dads or husbands may not make it back home. But, shields making war deadlier sparked militarist geniuses to make foolproof strategies like the phalanx to use shields to its full potential. This would bring more wins in war, and would bring confidence to empires like Rome, but would scare nations who didn’t use it. These weapons would be the basis for Medieval times, when new weapons and military systems would come into play. Siege weapons were a staple to medieval times, things like the ballista would come from the bow, the trebuchet came from the sling and the catapult was an idea of its own. These really installed fear into kingdoms as a whole. One catapult can destroy city walls and leave the entire town vulnerable to attack, entire armies of people would have at least a few catapults and ballista, as they were like our modern day tanks. These siege weapons could decimate city walls and castles, and the armies could come to finish off the survivors and then pillage the cities. Siege weapons had a big impact on people’s mental health, as it left people paranoid about their city being attacked. Those whose cities did get attacked, people were scared for their lives and their families. The sling would be adapted into another siege weapon, known as the trebuchet. It could wreck city walls and buildings, but would have to be much closer. The trebuchet had more power than the catapult. This would add more reasons to be scared. Siege weapons showed the scientific and practical thinking of human smarts, and this would spark deadlier inventions.

Many modern weapons today came from the smart minds of people who added onto ideas of classic weaponry. Once explosives were discovered, new and devastating weapons would be created. The cannon is a good example of this, as it takes the projectile physics of a slingshot. Instead of elastic force launching a round stone, cannons used explosive force to launch a much bigger stone. Cannons could also wreck walls like a catapult or ballista could, but at a much quicker rate and deadlier rate. Cannons would spark the idea of smaller ones, known as guns. Guns at first took the same idea as cannons, but at a much smaller level. Gunpowder makes explosive force which would launch a round stone or metal ball. But modern guns uses the idea of bows and crossbows. Modern guns take more inspiration from crossbows, as the arrows are much shorter on crossbows, called bolts. The gun would later shoot a projectile that would be a lot more aerodynamic, and cut through the air like an arrow or bolt. Weapons like the gun would be a lot more dangerous, and would be used more for hands on fighting, instead of siege use. Guns would be held by crew in navies for defense, meanwhile they would man the cannons as offense. Spears would be prominent, as some guns would develop their own forms of bayonet. This could be used for defense, if a rifleman needed to kill a british soldier or some pirate in a hurry. Tanks are examples of modern day weapons being based from old weapons, as many siege weapons and cavalry concepts are put in the tank. Siege weapons, like the catapult, and early designs of the tank were also very similar. The Da Vinci tank used the same framework and used similar wheels, as they were pushed to be moved. Tanks would use the armor from Ballista’s sides and wrap it around the tank, and they would have multiple people to run them like old siege weapons. The tank would use cannons, and would shoot rocks or iron balls out of those cannons. .Some weapons have evolved into almost entirely different weapons, an example could be the crossbow. The crossbow now has variants that run off of gas, can shoot 5 bolts in less than 30 seconds, and shoot a bolt from 40-500 yards. Old crossbows could shoot only about max 300 yards, and could only shoot about 3-4 in 30 seconds. The modern crossbow would come from the idea of the original crossbow, but with a few changes. The original crossbow used elastic force to launch a smaller form of the arrow, called a bolt. Now, our crossbows use elastic force, and air force to launch bolts, we have scopes, and we can shoot farther and faster.

To fully conclude, weapons get the rap that they are only used for war and fighting, but they weren't always that way. Weapons started off as a way to feed human beings, revolutionary items that helped humanity grow. It would be used for warfare later on, and it would evolve into many different types and uses. Base weapons like bows and spears are still used today, and old weapons are the basis for modern weapons. It is pretty cool to see how weapons have changed our lives.