istoryworld
Weapons timeline
The principle of the bow and arrow is developed, with yew or elm for the bow and points of flint on the arrows
The treasures found in the royal cemetery at Ur include a depiction of soldiers in copper helmets, armed with battleaxes
In Mesopotamia the new weapon is a light chariot, drawn by two horses
The composite bow, accurate to 200 yards, is used by warriors in Asia fighting from chariots and on horseback
The Phoenicians develop the war galley, with a sharp battering ram in the bow
The Assyrian army makes good use of the new technology by which iron can be hardened into steel suitable for weapons
The Macedonians develop the catapult as a siege engine for the armies of Philip II and Alexander the Great
The Roman siege technique is improved by the 'tortoise' which protects the attacking force
The Chinese develop the crossbow, many centuries before its use in Europe
A Muslim fleet attacking Constantinople is deterred by the first known use of the Byzantine secret recipe for 'Greek fire'
A Chinese manual on warfare includes the earliest known description of gunpowder
Pope Innocent III and the second Lateran council outlaw the crossbow as a weapon causing unacceptable devastation
The longbow, a weapon of great use to English armies, is probably first developed in Wales
The English longbow, in one of its early appearances, proves too much for the Scots at Falkirk
The earliest surviving illustration of a cannon is drawn in this year (in a manuscript now in Oxford)
Portable guns are introduced not long after artillery, being mentioned in several European texts of the second half of the fourteenth century
The matchlock, ignited from a smouldering length of rope, becomes the standard form of musket
The French bring two small cannon on to the battlefield at Formigny, where they have a significant effect in achieving the French victory
The Turks terrify Constantinople by lobbing vast stones at the city from a 19-ton bombard of cast iron
A flintlock designed in France (possibly by Marin Le Bourgeoys) becomes the standard firing mechanism for muskets
Sébastien de Vauban's socket bayonet is introduced in the French army
General Gage sends a detachment of British troops to seize weapons held by American Patriots at Concord
A Scottish clergyman, Alexander Forsyth, invents the percussion cap to help in his pursuit of wildfowl
The self-contained metal cartridge, with a percussion cap in its base, is patented by a Paris gunsmith named Houiller
