This vintage book contains a treatise on a variety of ancient projective weapons, with a special focus on ancient and mediaeval Catapults and Balistas. With fascinating historical information and complete descriptions of the various weapons discussed, this volume will appeal to those with an interest in historical ballistic weaponry and would make for a worthy addition to collections of related literature. Contents include: "The history of the Crossbow, with notes Comparative on the Longbow and Handgun", "The Construction and Management of Crossbows: Mediaeval", "The Construction and Management of Crossbows--(continued): Modern", "A Treatise on the Siege Engines used in Ancient and Mediaeval Times for Discharging Great Stones and Arrows", et cetera. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Latest volume of original articles on all aspects of warfare in the middle ages. The broad topic of medieval warfare is here explored across the full chronological range of the Middle Ages, using a wide variety of approaches, including literary, prosopographical, technological, and narrative-based analysis. Akey feature of the journal is its commitment to fostering debate on the most significant issues in medieval military history; that tradition is continued here with Bernard Bachrach's argument against the idea that early medieval military structures and practices were sharply different from Late Antique ones. Individual battles, the Hattin campaign of 1187 and Byzantine war against Bulgaria in 1254-1256, are the focus of two other chapters; an article by Richard Kaeuper (based on his De Re Militari special lecture at the International Congress of Medieval Studies) emphasizes the value of chansons de geste and other "romance" material for understanding the mentalité of the martial lay aristocracy of medieval Christendom; and there are further articles on the factors that motivated gentlemen to fight, in both open warfare, and individual combat. Weapons of warfare are not neglected, with chapters casting lighton the development of the crossbow and the trebuchet. CONTRIBUTORS: BERNARD S. BACHRACH, MICHAEL EHRLICH, MICHAEL BASISTA, NICHOLAS S. KANELLOPOULOS, JOANNE K. LEKEA, RICHARD W. KAEUPER, MARK DUPUY, MALCOLM MERCER, STEVEN C. HUGHES

This vintage book contains a detailed treatise on the crossbow, being a historical account of its development and evolution throughout the centuries. The crossbow was a revolutionary advancement in ballistic weaponry which was arguably the forerunner to hand-held guns. This volume explores its history and discusses how its design and development varied from country to country. Contents include: "The Slurbow", "The Sixteenth-century Sporting Crossbow", "The Cranequin, and How it was Applied to Bend the Steel Bow of a Crossbow", "The Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Spanish Sporting Crossbow, with a Steel Bow of Moderate Strength which was Bent by a Cranequin", et cetera. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with an introductory essay on History of Archery by Horace A. Ford.

The Gunpowder Epic is one of three planned publications on military technology within Dr Needham's immense undertaking. The discovery of gunpowder in China by the 9th century AD was followed by its rapid applications. It is now clear that the whole development from bombs and grenades to the invention of the metal-barrel hand gun took place in the Chinese culture area before Europeans had any knowledge of the mixture itself. Uses in civil engineering and mechanical engineering were equally important, before the knowledge of gunpowder spread to Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Dr Needham's new work continues to demonstrate the major importance of Chinese science and technology to world history and maintains the tradition of one of the great scholarly works of the twentieth century.

Chinese military history has emerged as one of the most promising and radical fields of Chinese studies. China's rapidly increasing military power make understanding the place of war in Chinese culture, as well as the role of the military, and Chinese strategic thought, vital to dealing with this possible threat. The recent flourishing of scholarship in this area has begun to allow an equivalent comparison with western and world military history, leading to a new understanding of war as a historical and cultural phenomenon, as well as revising earlier analyses of the significance of war in Chinese history. Assembled in this volume is a selection of articles that present earlier approaches to Chinese military history as well as the most recent trends in research. The introductory essay provides an overview of the field of Chinese military history and its significance in the study of China, as well as pointing out encouraging new developments in recent scholarship.

Long before they took to the sea and air, warring factions engaged in land-based conflicts that involved close-range combat with rudimentary defenses and weapons. As civilizations have advanced, so too have their military strategies, tactics, and weaponry. Eventually this led to the development of sophisticated land fortifications, arms, artillery, and missile systems in use today by ground troops. This insightful volume examines the evolution of warfare on land around the world, as well as the impact of new technologies on the nature of war.

The essays brought together in this volume examine the conduct of war by the Angevin kings of England during the long thirteenth century (1189-1307). Drawing upon a wide range of unpublished administrative records that have been largely ignored by previous scholarship, David S. Bachrach offers new insights into the military technology of the period, including the types of artillery and missile weapons produced by the royal government. The studies in this volume also highlight the administrative sophistication of the Angevin kings in military affairs, showing how they produced and maintained huge arsenals, mobilized vast quantities of supplies for their armies in the field, and provided for the pastoral care of their men. Bachrach also challenges the knight-centric focus of much of the scholarship on this period, demonstrating that the militarization of the English population penetrated to men in the lower social and economic strata, who volunteered in large numbers for military service, and even made careers as professional soldiers. (CS1088).

In August 955 a battle took place that effectively ended the incursions of steppe nomads into Western Europe. The forces of Otto the Great annihilated a huge army of Hungarian mounted archers in an encounter that is generally known as the battle of Lechfeld, a broad plain near Augsburg in southern Germany. Since even after a defeat these elusive warriors surely could have fled back to the Carpathian Basin to rebuild their strength and resume their raids, the total annihilation of the Hungarian army is mysterious. This book provides the first satisfactory explanation for the decisive nature of Otto's victory. Based on a detailed analysis of all contemporary, and often contradictory, sources, Bowlus provides a step-by-step reconstruction of the battle. This is preceded by chapters analysing the administrative and military reforms in tenth-century Germany, and the strengths and weaknesses of nomadic styles of warfare, in particular their archery, and setting out the historical context in which the battle occurred. A pioneering aspect of his research is the introduction of environmental factors, not only the limits they imposed on the expansion of the nomadic way of life into Europe, but also the impact the local environment had on the outcome of the battle.

In this book, historians of technology bring their special expertise to probing the influence of the military on technological development over a broad range of history and in a variety of cases.