Origin stories, whether they be film-related or something with real-world application, are invaluable. By tracking where something originated, one becomes informed about all things pertaining to it. Political systems, serial killers, firearms; know their etymology and you leapfrog to how they ended up the way they currently are. Usher in the gun.
According to historical records, the first firearm was called a fire lance which appeared in China. The weapon consisted of a bamboo tube of gunpowder tied to a spear. Over the years, advancements were made to the mechanism by adding materials like shrapnel and small iron pellets to it.
Eventually, bamboo was replaced by metal, and projectiles that better fit the barrel size replaced shrapnel. In essence, this was the first bullet recorded in history. Hence, the basic features of a gun were established: a barrel made of metal, gunpowder, and a projectile. The exact date is not known but most agree this occurred sometime in the late 1200’s.
The advantages of such a contraption were extensive and paved the way toward true guns as we know them today.
THE SPREAD OF GUNPOWDER
A common theory is that gunpowder and cannons arrived in Europe via the Silk Road through the Middle East. Regardless of the exact date, the introduction of gunpowder in Europe changed all things war.
The Chinese invented gunpowder; Europeans took it and ran. By the early 1500s, the musket was a mainstay during battle and led to the eventual demise of armor due to its ability to penetrate. Even those in Asia adopted the musket because of its effectiveness over any other weapon seen in battle up until then.
Eventually, the musket paved the way for the classic gun – marked by its vast improvement in many areas including range, practicality, and efficacy. Specifically, the classic gun no longer needed the assistance of a wooden plug to load which made it far more powerful than its predecessors.
A good analogy is tennis equipment. Though muskets were a better option than showing up on the battlefield without one, they were still wooden racquets in comparison to the classic gun, or in this case the graphite racquet.
All things being equal, take two tennis players and equip one with a wooden racquet and the other with graphite. Who comes out as the victor? The same thing goes when comparing a musket with a classic gun from the late 1400s. Muskets would be far inferior to the classic guns of that era.
GAMECHANGER – MACHINE GUNS
The 1800s saw significant improvements in the design of firearms and ushered in modern guns. By modern guns we mean rifles and machine guns respectively.
Though the former did exist prior to this period, they were limited in number until the 19th Century. Before then, firearms were crafted by individual gunsmiths; each pistol and musket was a unique work, no different than a timeless piece of art crafted by an artist. At this point, guns had flintlock trigger systems – a flint-striking ignition mechanism. They were flawed and limited to certain conditions for optimal efficacy.
It was the invention of the percussion cap that reshaped everything. Percussion caps suddenly allowed guns to shoot reliably regardless of the weather. Hence, advancements in technology and mass production made firearms less elusive to the common man.
This was similar to the automobile in America. Once scarce and available to a select few, large-scale production-line manufacturing suddenly made both the gun and car easier to get one’s hands on.
TIMELINE TO AUTOMATIC WEAPONS
Swords led to gunpowder, and gunpowder paved the way for proto-guns, eventually evolving into muskets and rifles. Again, track the beginning of something and you better grasp its current state. Muskets were good in their time but their many shortcomings, particularly their unreliability in wet conditions, screamed for improvements.
Usher in the first automatic weapon invented by Hyram Stevens Maxim in 1884; the Maxim Gun, a true needle mover. The Maxim gun was lightweight and could be operated by one man thanks to its collapsible tripod. It was remarkably transportable and downright lethal. It struck fear into the heart of armies facing it down. This is why so many European powers took notice and purchased it, thus ushering in the age of the Machine Gun.
Note: Muskets had a range of fewer than 160 feet whereas magazine-fed rifles had the ability to land a bullseye more than 2000 feet away.
THE FUTURE
The military-industrial complex is continually reinventing itself. As we wade through this century, we’re ushering in a new type of war machine; the UCAV DRONE [Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle]. Former President Barack Obama knows all about them; he decimated thousands of innocent people during his Presidency using them.
The UCAV Drone is the ultimate killing machine. It inflicts mass casualties without the loss of life on the aggressor’s side. Worldwide, there are a variety of these drones and we are only beginning to witness their capabilities.
These weapons are usually under real-time human control and are alarmingly accurate. It matters little how well-trained an army is when unmanned war machines descend from the skies raining down lethal missiles and the like. The Drone is the future.
ARTIFICIAL ARMY
Advancements in weapons from the days of ancient China to the present day are mind-boggling. The notion of an army eradicating a rival without setting foot on a battleground seemed unthinkable as recently as seventy years ago.
A new era of warfare is on the horizon, where soldiers are replaced by programmable machines. AI is here, and it’s here to stay. It will have a say in how wars are shaped and fought. It will evolve and think for itself, eventually turning on humans like countless Hollywood films have depicted. The future is dystopian. Social credit scores, forced inoculations, 15-minute cities, EVs with limited range, and transhumanism; all were scoffed at and deemed conspiracy rhetoric not too far back, yet here we are.
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