Steel!!

The development of new weapons seems to follow a sort of 'arms race,' each advancement seeking an advantage on the battlefield. The weapons we have researched illustrate this process. Some, you will find, also illuminate modern considerations in this process with the advent of nuclear weapons.

The Machine Gun
The machine gun is an advanced gun because it shoots thousands of bullets in a second. This was useful when it was created because at the time people didn't have multishot guns and when someone was reloading their weapon, they could get killed. This gun has a quick reloading cycle, it shoots numerous amounts of bullets in little time. As for the pistol it shoots slow, reloads really slow and only shoot 1 bullet every 2 min. if your in a fight and your using a machine gun and 100 people rushing upon you it is easy to take them down in just a few seconds, whereas while reloading your pistol, someone can come up and kill you. The first model was made by the Chinese, then James Puckle invented the first multishot gun in 1718 and Hiram Maxim followed in 1881 with the "real" machine gun. When Vickers Limited bought the Maxim company outright, they improved the gun to be water cooled to prevent overheation for the British army in 1896. This gun was used in WW1 and WW2 because at the time people did not have a familiarity with weapons as advanced as this one or any multishot guns. In WW2 the Germans fought against France, who used pistols, while the Germans used the machine gun. The Germans knew France was going to launch an attack, so they prepared one-hundred Maxim machine guns. The defense was so great and the French were defeated. Simply hold the machine gun, cock the safety button, then aim at your target. When you pull the trigger don't let go and fire it until you used up all the bullets in your machine gun. Then you safely press the cog on the machine gun where the bullets were held, clip in another pack of bullets then your ready to fire. Different machine guns vary in many ways, but all machine guns require a feed system to load the chamber, cartridges that can be fed by a belt into the chamber, and a system that allows the machine gun to recoil its bullets. The machine gun is made out of steel and cogs made out of plastic. Our research is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_gun. and http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/machineguns.htm Image from [|www.remembering.org.uk/ puckle_t_snap.jpg]
 * ABOUT THE GUN:**
 * INSIDE THE GUN:**
 * SOURCES:**

**The Neutron Bomb!!**
← Neutron Bomb ←Robert McNamara ←Samuel T. Cohen

Samuel T Cohen, the inventor of the Neutron Bomb created the bomb, with only one goal, and that was to end the Vietnam War faster, that was happening at the time. Neutron Bombs, were basically the best weapon at the time. They let the users gain advantages upon others. These bombs helped them to target small areas, which would allow them to kill less of their own people. These neutron bombs were made in the late 1950s. They were made in 1958, by Samuel T. Cohen. One of the main reasons to make this bomb was because they wanted to be able to target a smaller area. He declared that using his bomb, it would end the war faster and yet save lots of American lives at the same time.

Samuel T Cohen thought that it was the BEST way to kill Viet Cong, who was hiding in the jungle and rice paddies. At this time, it was an advantage because if the United States just launched the Nuclear Bomb on Vietnam, they would have killed so many lives, including those also belonging to the United States. See, on the other hand, if they used the Neutron bomb, they would be able to just target a small area, and maybe not kill the American lives. The neutron bomb on targets a range of a few hundred yards. Using this bomb, you can just target a few hundred yards away from those lives that you DON’T want to kill.

There are 3 different models of this bomb, W66, W70, W79. The W70 was more of a tactical warhead. The W66 on the other hand was used to shoot down incoming warheads, for a shorter range. They are extremely effective with armor. They can penetrate heavy metal. The bomb itself is actually not made of any heavy metal, it is made of nickel. The reason why this bomb is made of nickel is because the bomb itself is extremely reactive to heavy metal. Nickel, on the other hand, is not a source of heavy metal.

The Neutron bomb was actually never used before. The reason why it wasn’t used was because Secretary of Defense McNamara stated that he did not want any nuclear weapons to be used at the time. McNamara didn’t want this to turn into a nuclear war, that’s why he said that he didn’t want to launch the neutron bomb, even though it really was the best weapon to use.

There's no real story, because no one used it before. ↓ Eira Lines Elaine Chu: (can't get the bombs interior picture on) Developed the concept in 1958 by Samuel Cohen, John. F. Kenndy carried it out for testing..and was authorized in 1963. you bomb people with it, they target a small area, the explosion is not as big but has a great deal of after effects. If they dropped the bomb, there would be a little explosion..somewhere around the size of few hundred yards, but the gama radiation goes far beyond that. It immediately kills the people in the area where the small explosion happens, outside the small explosion it would be a lot of radiation. So basically you kill less people with the explosion, and more killing done by radiation.

No one dropped the bomb, sure it might be better then atomic bombs but in the eyes of reporters, it'll still be the same. If it kills, then it's bad. Bombs like this would harm the enemy in a smaller size, which means it'll not have them on the idea of surrender, it might back fire, and cause the war to get worse.

__Sources__ http://www.astahost.com/info.php/neutron-bomb_t4552.html http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/neutronbomb.htm

The atomic bomb, Fatman and Littleboy

This weapon was developed in a timeline and by many people In 1938, Otto Hahan and Fritz Strassmann's tried to beat Germany, leading the development of an atomic weapon. This made the U.S. launch the Manhattan Project.

1939-1941: World War II started September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. By 1941, the Germans were leading the race for the atomic bomb. They had a heavy-water plant, high-grade uranium compounds, a nearly complete cyclotron, capable scientists and engineers, and the greatest chemical engineering industry in the world.

1941-1945 Factors including internal struggles, a major scientific error, and the devastation of total war compromised any successful research toward a German atom bomb. Unlike the American program, the Germans never had a clear mission under continuously unified leadership.

1942 At the University of Chicago reactor, Enrico Fermi oversaw the first controlled energy release from the nucleus of the atom.

1945 After intense effort, the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., began to produce bomb-grade U-235, which was shipped to Los Alamos, N.M. U-235 was used in the Little Boy bomb and plutonium was used in the Fat Man bomb produced at Los Alamos. It was then first used on August 9, in the same year.

Just like the story in Gun Germs and Steel, the spanish people had the weapons that the Inca’s didn’t so that made the Spanish people won the war. When US had the bombs, the other countries mostly don’t have the technology yet. So the US most likely will win and it’s because their enemies didn’t seen those specific bombs before, that made US win the war.

The bomb was used as a bomb to attack. There are different ways to set it, either dropping it or just simply activating it. It was more developed and better than previous weapons because it has much more damage than any other weapon, but the damage it causes so big it is sometimes considered inhumane.

To make an atomic bomb, you first have to extract enriched uranium 235. It’s very hard to separate from its similar isotopes. first a magnetic separation is performed, then, to further separate them, a gas centrifuge is used. After the hard separation job is done, all you have to do is design the shell.

In order for the Little Boy bomb to function, it used the gun method, the term obviously derived from the same method used in present days guns. This method would require the shooting of a hollow uranium-235 bullet into a solid target spike, also made of the same substance as the bullet. This would create a nuclear chain reaction and a massive explosion. Also, to ensure that the bomb would not detonate until reached its destination, a time was put in. After, the job was passed on to the barometric stage, which ensured that the bomb was far away from the airplane when it exploded.

For the Fat Man bomb, the same gun method wasn’t used. Instead, the explosion starts when a Polonium-210 initiator gets crushed by an implosion, creating free neutrons. The Plutonium-239 & Plutonium-40 pit receives these neutrons and the chain reaction starts. The Uranium “tamper” surrounding the Plutonium pit bounces the neutrons back into the pit to speed things up. And, of course, surrounding all this are the slow and fast explosives.

Source: http://americanhistory.about.com/library/timelines/bltimelinemanhat.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy

__//**Muskets and Hand Cannon By Daniel Lin and Ray Huang**//__ Hand cannon

__//**When were Muskets invented?**//__ Muskets: were invented in the 14 century by the chinese ( they made use of their gun powder as a weapon) It was widely used in the 16 century by the Europeans and the world in the 1690s until 1866 when it was retired from the infantry.

Hand Cannon: Was invented in the late 13 century by the chinese and egyptians, and was used at least to the 1520s.

__//**How were these weapons better in the 15-16 century?**//__ Muskets were better than other weapons in that century because although those weapons were not really accurate and the reloading time was slow, its powerful than arrows and swords because it can shoot far and its powerful.

Hand cannons were not accurate and must depend on the wind direction in order to use it because the wind might change the direction of the cannon which probably will cause collateral damage. Its stronger than other weapons in that age because hand cannons were able to shoot a bunch of cannons containing large amount of gun powders, causing big explosions. Also, hand cannons were very easy to use. Even can be used by a poorly trained soldier. Also, Hand cannons can even be used to hit enemies that are heavily armored if they manage to hit them. Also, they are cheap to produce, and easy to carry.

__//**How to use these weapons?**//__ How muskets were used: first, ( upon command) they reload, taking out a cartridge ( basically a small lead ball wrapped in paper with some chemicals to help make the lead ball more effective) then the soldier will then put the cartridge inside the musket from the gun barrel ( tip) and then pour in gun powder, then they use the ram rod to ram down the cartridge, afterwards they aim and fire. Tactics: they usually line up in columns of 3 or 2, then later the first row will shoot, then knee down to reload, then the second roll will shoot, then knee down, and so will the other rows.

Hand cannons: they stick inside the cannon, aim it, light the cannon via a burning coal or something via a touch hole and shoot it. ( some other bigger ones were used with a wooden stock to hold it)

__//**What were they made of?**//__

Muskets were made in steel for the barrel, and wood or sometimes steel to make its outer shell.

Hand cannons were basically a weapon that was made in metal, and the hole drilled on the top of the barrel.

Muskets worked by a system called the match lock mechanism, by which the fuse inside the gun is connected to the trigger of the gun, then when the trigger is pulled, it ignites the gunpowder to fire out the lead ball ( sort of like how a lighter will work)

__**//Who were the FIRST one to use these weaponry?//**__ The Chinese were the first one to use muskets as a primary weapon it was then spread into Europe, India and the world via trade.

Hand cannons were first used in China. It spread into the world via trading. The Europeans heavily relied on it because of its cheap to produce, and very easy to use.

__//**How did these weapons gave advantage to the people who use them?**//__ Hand cannons were very effective in ambushes and can cause large amount of damages to vehicles and to a group of people. So people using hand cannon can use tactics like guerilla war fare. If the tactics can be used effectively, with the power of hand cannon can help easily defeat enemies.

Muskets are lighter, and easier to carry around. They can also put on bayonets which is very efficient in close combat situation. This weapon allowed them to be powerful fighters because muskets can shoot out lead balls, which were more powerful than arrows.

__//**Who invented them first?**//__ both weapons were invented by the chinese.

__**//Why these weapons were considered as “ State of the Art” weapons at that time?//**__ This is a weapon that is considered “ the state of art” weaponry because it can fire out gunpowders at a distance, which basically has a power of a sword combined with an arrow because muskets and hand cannons can have a power equivalent to a sword, which it can fire out powerful bullets to efficiently kill the enemy without having to have close contact with your enemy.

__**//How does these weapons helped the people who used it and contributes to the rise of civilization?//**__

These weapons helped the chinese to temporary win the Europeans over the arms race because while the Europeans and others were still using swords and arrows, the chinese were using gunpowders, which were far more powerful than swords and arrows. Especially the hand cannon, which can cause huge amount of damages to the enemies’ infantry because its highly explosive, and can easily kill a group of enemy. If these weapons were used correctly, it can easily help the users to take over a country who is still using arrows and swords because they can easily kill off the enemy without having a close combat situation, which help contributes to the rise of that civilization because this weaponry can help them easily take over another country, which can help them expand their empire and acquire resources that they are lacking easily, and also can easily dominant an empire.

References: http://uk.geocities.com/w.morffew@btinternet.com/ageofmusket/ Resources:http://www.nps.gov/archive/pete/mahan/rifledmusket.html http://www.houseofmuskets.com/house_of_muskets_history.htm [|http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/regency/weapons.html]

http://www.cannon-mania.com/history.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonne ( where I start my research, and backed up with other sources) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musket ( backed up with other researches)

(CLICK ON THE LINKS TO SEE THE PICTURES. sorry for the inconvenience) http://world.guns.ru/handguns/mauser_c96_draw.jpg This is the internal picture of a C96 Mauser

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/mauser_c96_9par.jpg This was the C96 model used in World War one

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/mauser_c96_712.jpg This is the model with the detachable 20 round magazine.


 * C96 Mausers**

These guns were distinguished by their big magazine, the removable shoulder stock, and the shaped handle (hence the name “broomhandle” as one of the C96 models name). The detachable shoulder stock was made in order to increase the effective range to about 150~200 meters, at 440 meters per second speed. Despite the fact this gun would be considered unreasonable now, due to the lack of accuracy, in its time the gun was very easy to use, and acceptably accurate, with less time to reload.

Development of the C96 Mauser gun originally began in 1894 (some websites say the first model came out in 1896), by the Mauser Company in Germany, hence the name. It was first used as a military weapon in the Boer war in South Africa (1899-1902), and then used in the following World Wars both one and two. It was also a very successful gun according to the market of guns during the 1920s and 1930s, purchased in large numbers by countries like Soviet Russia and China. These guns were also cloned supposedly by the Spanish and Chinese, this could support the claim that they were easy to produce in large quantities and popular in its time. If they could produce these guns in large amounts within a limited amount of time, this could give their producers the time to train more inexperienced soldiers to use a gun like this.

An interesting fact is that these guns were also common to hunters who's large animal predators were little in the area. The wide range of these guns made it easier to keep distance under cover while having better aim, a high percentage of actually shooting down the animal.

Judging from the unique structure of the gun, and what was mentioned repeatedly throughout our research, I would think they were made mainly because of their magazine. The C96 last modification in 1931-1932 (Broomhandle) stood out for its detachable magazine, which enabled the gun to contain more bullets per round. It was also as you know, a semi-automatic gun, which is used without having to reload the gun powder and light the fire again after every shot. Comparing the C96 712 to the previous C96 and why they had the newest edition, is obviously because the previous ones did not reach the Germans’ needs. They needed a gun, which would require a very short time to reload, could increase the accuracy of hitting the enemy by having more bullets in its magazine. It was also an easy gun to handle, which was vital in order for many soldiers to handle it without great difficulty and for them to produce the same product quickly and accurately.

I can not give you hard fact that these guns were the reason the Germans were able to win so many battles and perform impressively in World War one, or protect their own country from neighboring colonization. But i can tell you that with these guns and the advantages they brought, they sure did help the Germans, whether it was in the marketing aspect or military use.

resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_C96 http://www.gunsworld.com/mauser/c96_us.html http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg90-e.htm

FN FAL

FN FAL is a rifle invented in 1947, it was designed by Fabrique Nationale. and it’s developed by Belgian Nationale company (Germany)

FN FAL was such a good gun because it could be used as semi auto or selective fire, semi auto is basically self-loading, it means that you don’t have to reload (pull the cocking lever) after each time you fired a shot, which gives you more time to aim.

And it also holds more bullet then the rifles before 20-30 magazine capacity, gives you more chances to successfully shot the enemy.

It can use as a machine gun or rifle, because it can shoot 650-700 rounds per minute, and it’s also accurate because the bullet’s shape is not a lead balls anymore, it’s longer, and when it shoots, the bullet goes spiral, it makes it more stable while it flies. also the bullet was thinner then the lead ball before(caliber: 7.62mmx51mm) it’s such a good gun, thats why it was the most famous widespread military/police rifle in the world, and it was used by 70+ countries, manufactured in at least 10 countries.

images: http://selousscouts.tripod.com/2fn_fal2.jpg

**Tanks!**
This weapon was invented in the summer of 1915. It was first used on the field during battle of Filers-Courcelette on 15,September 1916. The Mark I tank was used to breakthrough the german ternch system and penetratethe enemy lines and cause chaos, and clearing the path for infantry. It was invulnerable to machine gun fire, making it able to cross the area between trenches. It was moble and carried heavy firepower on it, the tank was also had a shock value against enemy troops. The Mark I tank was prodoceed in Lancaster, England.

Germany fielded very few tanks during World War I, with the A7V being the only type produced in Germany before the end of the war, and of which only 15 were built.[6] The first tank versus tank action took place on 24 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs. German forces initially lacked countermeasures, though they did (accidentally) discover solid anti-tank shot, and introduced wider trenches to limit the British tanks' mobility. However, changing battlefield conditions and continued unreliability forced Allied tanks to evolve throughout the war, producing models such as the very long Mark V*, which could navigate large obstacles, especially wide trenches, more easily than their predecessors. Initial results with tanks were mixed; significant reliability problems caused considerable attrition in combat, with up to one third breaking down due to mechanical problems unrelated to enemy fire, and their speeds were very slow, with the 13.4 km/h attained by the Whippet considered fast.[6] Deployment in 'penny packets' also lessened their nonetheless formidable tactical value and impact.[1] The spear-thrust type blitzkrieg-tactics were only to be developed fully in WWII, and while the tank would eventually make trench warfare obsolete, World War I came to an end before this fully came to pass. During World War I two major types of tanks had evolved: the 'male', with large calibre guns, and the 'female', which only had machine guns. The 'female' was mainly designed as an anti-infantry platform to defend the 'male'.[1] After World War I ended, the 'female' was largely replaced by machine gun carriers (such as the Bren carrier), and later by armoured personnel carriers. "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank"

[|http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/British_Mark_IV_Tadpole_thttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/British_Mark_IV_] [|Tadpole_tank.jpgank.jpg]

The AK47((Avtomat Kalashnikova - 47, Kalashniko )is a automatic assault rifle. It is the most well known assault rife and most used around the world . Known for its incredible firepower simplicity of action and the ability to withstand the worst of conditions. THe AK-47 was first created by Mikhail Kalashnikova in 1947. AK-47s are still made in over 100 countries and there in still in action in many armies. There are over 90 million AK-47 made in the last 50 years.

Caliber 7.62x39 mm Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt with 2 lugs Overall length: 870 mm Barrel length: 415 mm Weight, with empty magazine: AK 4,3 kg; AKM 3,14 kg Magazine capacity 30 rounds (40 rounds box magazines and 75 rounds drums from RPK also may be used) Cyclic rate of fire 600 rounds per minute Maximum effective range: about 400 meters

Why it was Better? The AK was considered the best gun of the second world war. Why? The answer is very simple. Compared to the other auto loading rifles at the time the ak-47 was had comparative range, compact, powerful and the user had the choice of selective fire. The AK-47 fulfilled every aspect in the soviets criteria for guns Reliability, simplicity of operation, maintenance and the Suitability of mass production which was its best advantage over other guns.

How do you use it? Load magazine Unlock the Trigger Cock the trigger Pull the trigger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AK-47_type_II_Part_DM-ST-89-01131.jpg