Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Evolution of Weaponry

Today modern people have wars and battles so easily; It's the 21st century and we go to war using jets, guns, and other lethal modern weaponry. In fact, we're so engrossed in the technology of today's battles, we kind of forgot what it was like when we DIDN'T have today's awesome arsenal of butt-whooping weapons. So for today, let's take a trip back in time, traveling to, well, more "ancient" times when guns and many other modern battalion-battering beasts didn't exist yet.

ANCIENT GREECE (800 BC-6TH CENTURY AD)
Right now I'm in the middle of a battle (hold on, got to hide... OK, I'm in the bushes. That's better... Oh yeah, let's continue) of some opposing Greek armadas (hold on, let me bend in for a closer look), where I can see thousands of Hoplites (the other word for "Greek soldiers") armed with a spear in one hand and a shield in the other (alright, let's move on to the defending Greek side).

On the defending side, I see a whole army of Greek archers (they look just like the Hoplites but armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows instead of a shield and a spear) carefully aiming and shooting arrows all over the oncoming army. I also see a few towers used by the invaders to climb up the defenders' walls (these towers are also outfitted with a battering ram, a bronze tool used for ramming (that's how it got its name in the first place) walls and other enemy defenses. Let's move on to the next age before I get stabbed by a spear or attacked by an arrow or something.

MIDDLE AGES/MEDIEVAL PERIOD (5TH-15TH CENTURY)
Finally, away from the spears and the arrows, uh, hold on OH MY GOD SOMEONE JUST SHOT A CROSSBOW BOLT AT ME! (Fortunately it missed, and now I'm safely hidden in cover, away from those medieval crossbow psychos. Anyway, let's continue with the post). OK, safely hidden from those nutty knights. It looks like they're in chain mail and they're on horseback (just an FYI, the horses use armor as well). Well, this is interesting...instead of the same old weaponry for every soldier, I'm noticing a bit of "originality" here; some the soldiers don't use the old uniform lances and pole-arms. Some are wielding maces, swords, and many other different types of weapons.

On the defending side, I see something related to the Greek age: They also use a type of castle wall to evade the invaders from well, invading (this has apparently turned into some kind of warfare trend: High fortified walls) and placing some turrets (both machines and men) on some castle towers (let's lean in for a closer look at the defenses). I see that both the fortifiers and the offenders are using siege-craft such as trebuchets, ballistas and many other types of catapults for invading and protecting (OK, now excuse me while I travel back in time to the 21st century. My time machine is getting wasted by some knights, and it is running out of power and if I don't go back, I might be stuck here until I die).

THE PRESENT (2013)
Well, that was exciting! Going back in time, examining different wars of the ages, it's going to be hard to adapt to the present times, and I won't be able to go back in time again until I repair my time machine, which could take either days, weeks, or even MONTHS! (it depends on the damage: a ballista just misfired and its bolt has impaled the machine's energy core. I just got back in time back in time (get it? back in time; I'm travelling back in time, just in the nick of time! Ha!). After I take this thing to Radio Shack, I guess we'll have to wait until it gets back in top condition before I start time traveling again. Until then, peace out and see you (I mean, READ my POST) until my time machine gets fixed!

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