The Illustrated Dictionary Of Modern Weapons

An authoritative historical guide to the world of military, antique and law-enforcement firearms, photographed throughout.

Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor is an epic 4,000-year illustrated story of weaponry. From stone axes to heavy machine-guns, swords to sniper rifles, discover the innovative design, range, lethal function and brutal history of arms and armor, and meet the warriors who wielded them. Weapon includes all the important arms from the ages, covering edged weapons, clubs, projectiles and firearms from ancient Egyptian axes, through bows and spears of traditional societies in Africa, Oceania and the Americas, to the machine-guns and missiles of modern infantry forces. Key weapons from every era are presented in sharp detail and the mechanisms that operate them are displayed and explained. Top fighting forces, from the Greek hoplite to the Navy Seal are profiled, and the weapons they have wielded and the tactics and fighting methods they've used are revealed.

This comprehensive encyclopedia is both an expert reference work and stunning visual directory, explaining the development of arms, and showing the individual specifications of modern weapons.

Contains more than 140 essays that provide information about weaponry, tactics, and models of warfare since ancient times and examine the way they have been expressed socially, politically, and artistically; and includes research tools, time lines, maps, and illustrations.

After the end of the Cold War, there was a decade or so of military spending cuts, but since the new millennium, budgets have grown and new weapons technology is reaching the front line. The title allows the reader to compare the key weapons of modern armies side by side. It includes air, sea and land weapons, both vehicles and small arms, in a spread-by-spread format for ease of use.