Equipment

Military equipment takes many forms, some designed for warfare, some adopted from civilian items, and some was built with a peaceful purpose in mind.

Early weapons such as the spear and bow were adoptions of hunting equipment. As warfare progressed and became more organised, shields and armour started to appear, their quality dependent on the natural resources and the wealth of their bearer. The domestication of the horse enabled men to move further and faster, but it was some time before horses were strong enough to make the chariot obsolete.

The Bronze Age saw the early Mediterranean civilisations develop metal swords and armour, and these were improved as metal technologies moved mankind into the iron age. A late Roman Legionnaire with armour, shield, sword and pilum symbolises the pinnacle of the ancient warrior.

The Dark Ages in western Europe saw little improvement in arms and armour, although the Byzantine Empire continued to develop their weapons. The great nomad tribes confirmed the primacy of the mounted soldier over the man on foot, a situation that would, with a few exceptions, last for many centuries.

Feudal Europe saw developments in arms and armour, for those that could afford them. The wealthy knight would go into battle with a full set of armour, lance and side arms and on numerous occasions was able to inflict defeats on poorly armed levies. The English longbow did something to restore the primacy of footmen, and the crossbow was considered so un-chivalrous that it was banned by the Pope.

With the arrival of gunpowder, new weapons were developed. Initially crude, large caliber guns and mortars, individually crafted and munitioned, were as much a hazard to their owners as the enemy. Weapon manufacture improved and standardised firearms and they became more widely available. This cost and need for standardisation however, meant that nation states started to organise armies for their defence, rather than relying on the feudal levy system.

Horse and musket dominated the battlefields of Europe and the colonies. Strategy and tactics evolved to gain the most from these forces. Pike men were replaced as the bayonet became more common, and the last pieces of armour were phased out as their ability to stop bullets and shot diminished.

Ships became bigger, faster and more heavily armed, although fundamentally they remained wooden sailing ships. The Royal Navy dominated the high seas and laid the foundations for the British Empire.

The industrial revolution improved upon the weapons of war with breach loading artillery and rifles, the first machine guns and the first ironclad ships. Tactics were slow to evolve to utilise these new weapons, although the telegraph and the railway did play an important part in the American Civil War.

The 20th Century saw the arrival of the aeroplane. Initially used to replace observation balloons for scouting and artillery observation, they soon evolved into the fighters and bombers of the First World War. To break the deadlock of trench warfare, the British developed the tank, a weapon system that would revolutionise the battlefield of the 20th Century.

At sea, the supremacy of the big gun battleship was threatened initially by the torpedo, the mine and the submarine. Between the World Wars, the Aircraft Carrier was developed, but it was not until the Battle of Midway that it replaced the Battle ship as the primary naval weapon.

World War two saw developments in jet and rocket technology and finally the development of the Nuclear Bomb, the ultimate deterrent. Rocket technology and the computer age combined to put the first pieces of military equipment into space in the form of the communications and later the spy satellite.