Essentially, the title sums up the topic, I wanted a new thread about Military History. It can be anything from the dawn of civilization, and discussion of Hittite War Chariots
to Weapons used by Byzantine Kataphractoi, not the heavy cavalry known as Kilipharnoi, but more like lancers and macemen.
Byzantine Infrantymen, Greek phalanxes, Egyptian Infantry, and Mycenaean infantry, you can learn/discuss about them all.
Of course, the Assyrians took over the Mesopotamian area in around 700 B.C.E, using heavy infantry, chariots, and ranged troopers, like slingers and Archers.
And of course, everyone thinks of Rome as always have steel plated legions, but in fact, Ceasar's Legions that smashed Pompey's and the Gaul hordes.
You'll also note that these infantrymen were from a little earlier period than Caesar's but body armor remains the same, as well as shield design. The horsehair crest would only be reserved for officers. Note the Etruscans in the back. These men were subdued mercenaries, who were too proud to join the Roman army, but still wanted a good fight.
Of course, Western Medieval History is not lacking, we have the Vikings
Note, many of you will probably realize that the Vikings did not have horns on their helmets, that was started by the romanticist French in the 19th centuries. The Danish Vikings had a branch off, where some settled in Northern France in the late 900's. They're known today as Normans.
These Normans are from the South Mediterranean, you can tell because of obvious influences from the Byzantines and Arabs, with the scales and lamellar armor, which was common for both armies. The Normans were very adaptive.
Then there was the Renaissance, where Heavier armor got doped out, firearms became more effective, and trained soldiers, the norm of armies. There were of course the 7 years wars, the French and American revolutions, and then America became a bustling super power.
World War I came, and new machine guns into play. However, WWI ended before all this weaponry could be developed further. Then, World War II came into play. We had the British Lee Enfield Rifles, little updated from WWI, wielded by Britain's Tommies.
The Bren LMG, which could be compared to a heavy assault weapon, it certainly was treated as such by the British Paratroopers, when wanting something heavier than the Sten.
The Sten MKII, a common submachine among Tommy paratroopers.
Their air arsenal for the Atlantic included Sptifres and hawker hurricanes.
The United States was busy engineering new weapons used by gangstars in the '20s, but equally of use to the Americans in WWII.
The Thompson was a beautiful gun, the British loved it especially, and Franklin shipped as many as he could scrape up to the British in the dark days of WW2. US Marines in the Pacific loved it for its full auto mode, and used it as much as the BAR.
So here is the Browning Automatic Rifle, one of my favorites, the Army in the Atlantic used it as a very Light Machine Gun, but the Marines used it like a frickin Assault Rifle.
Classic American design, one of the first self loading rifles, it gave the Americans an edge over the bolt action rifles their enemies were initially using.
Marines loved this one as well, a small submachine gun known as the Grease Gun, it had minimal reocil. The problem with it, and all submachine guns was the relative short range, and .45Calibre of its pistol ammunition.
The Americans in the Pacific, especially Marine and Naval Aviators had an edge in Armor and diving speed, as well as armament, but that was it against the Japanese Zeros.
The American answer was the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat
Later, the Vought Corsair came, as well as the Grumman F6F Hellcat
and the Marine classic, the F4U Corsair
In the Atlantic, German hounds like the Bf109 and the FW190 were beasts
To counter these airhounds, the Americans deployed the classic P-51s in the Atlantic.
On the ground, the Germans deployed the KAR98 (bolt action), MP40 (submachine gun) and the most innovative gun of the war, the Stg. 44 or MP 44.
Moving onto the Korean War, we have the Russian WWII Armories, with the AK-47 added in, being thrown at the N.K.s moving against NATO forces. American WW2 weapons apply, except for the new M2 carbine. It was rather crap, having weak ammunition.
The AKs were in limited amounts, but a lot of Koreans and Russians used 'em.
Vietnam was the next major conflict, introducing the m14, m16, and m60 to US Arsenals.
There's also the Patton Tank, Huey, and Cobra.
Thats a 'Huey Slick', or transport.
And thats a Huey Gunship, deployed by the Army, the Marines' were a bit different.
Huey Cobra, or AH-1G, it was first deployed in 1969. Speaks for itself really.
There's a good ol' Patton, although lighter versions were used, as I believe this one was a bit too heavy for 'nam.
This is the UH-34D, flown by the Marines in Vietnam until the early '70's, it was phased out by the 'phrogs' or H-46 Sea Knights.
These came in around 1964, and were immensely helpful because they helped the marines get in and out and faster.
Well thats all for now, I'm a bit worn out, but I'll be back with more info, pictures and all that good stuff. I hope that's plenty of material to discuss for now. To top it off here's a nice picture of an Army Cobra's turret:
Thats a 6 barreled 20mm Gatling gun, with a grenade launcher.
That's all, and please discuss!
to Weapons used by Byzantine Kataphractoi, not the heavy cavalry known as Kilipharnoi, but more like lancers and macemen. Byzantine Infrantymen, Greek phalanxes, Egyptian Infantry, and Mycenaean infantry, you can learn/discuss about them all.
Of course, the Assyrians took over the Mesopotamian area in around 700 B.C.E, using heavy infantry, chariots, and ranged troopers, like slingers and Archers.
And of course, everyone thinks of Rome as always have steel plated legions, but in fact, Ceasar's Legions that smashed Pompey's and the Gaul hordes.
You'll also note that these infantrymen were from a little earlier period than Caesar's but body armor remains the same, as well as shield design. The horsehair crest would only be reserved for officers. Note the Etruscans in the back. These men were subdued mercenaries, who were too proud to join the Roman army, but still wanted a good fight.
Of course, Western Medieval History is not lacking, we have the Vikings
Note, many of you will probably realize that the Vikings did not have horns on their helmets, that was started by the romanticist French in the 19th centuries. The Danish Vikings had a branch off, where some settled in Northern France in the late 900's. They're known today as Normans.
These Normans are from the South Mediterranean, you can tell because of obvious influences from the Byzantines and Arabs, with the scales and lamellar armor, which was common for both armies. The Normans were very adaptive.
Then there was the Renaissance, where Heavier armor got doped out, firearms became more effective, and trained soldiers, the norm of armies. There were of course the 7 years wars, the French and American revolutions, and then America became a bustling super power.
World War I came, and new machine guns into play. However, WWI ended before all this weaponry could be developed further. Then, World War II came into play. We had the British Lee Enfield Rifles, little updated from WWI, wielded by Britain's Tommies.
The Bren LMG, which could be compared to a heavy assault weapon, it certainly was treated as such by the British Paratroopers, when wanting something heavier than the Sten.
The Sten MKII, a common submachine among Tommy paratroopers.
Their air arsenal for the Atlantic included Sptifres and hawker hurricanes.
The United States was busy engineering new weapons used by gangstars in the '20s, but equally of use to the Americans in WWII.
The Thompson was a beautiful gun, the British loved it especially, and Franklin shipped as many as he could scrape up to the British in the dark days of WW2. US Marines in the Pacific loved it for its full auto mode, and used it as much as the BAR.
So here is the Browning Automatic Rifle, one of my favorites, the Army in the Atlantic used it as a very Light Machine Gun, but the Marines used it like a frickin Assault Rifle.
Classic American design, one of the first self loading rifles, it gave the Americans an edge over the bolt action rifles their enemies were initially using.
Marines loved this one as well, a small submachine gun known as the Grease Gun, it had minimal reocil. The problem with it, and all submachine guns was the relative short range, and .45Calibre of its pistol ammunition.
The Americans in the Pacific, especially Marine and Naval Aviators had an edge in Armor and diving speed, as well as armament, but that was it against the Japanese Zeros.
The American answer was the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat
Later, the Vought Corsair came, as well as the Grumman F6F Hellcat
and the Marine classic, the F4U Corsair
In the Atlantic, German hounds like the Bf109 and the FW190 were beasts
To counter these airhounds, the Americans deployed the classic P-51s in the Atlantic.
On the ground, the Germans deployed the KAR98 (bolt action), MP40 (submachine gun) and the most innovative gun of the war, the Stg. 44 or MP 44.
Moving onto the Korean War, we have the Russian WWII Armories, with the AK-47 added in, being thrown at the N.K.s moving against NATO forces. American WW2 weapons apply, except for the new M2 carbine. It was rather crap, having weak ammunition.
The AKs were in limited amounts, but a lot of Koreans and Russians used 'em.
Vietnam was the next major conflict, introducing the m14, m16, and m60 to US Arsenals.
There's also the Patton Tank, Huey, and Cobra.
Thats a 'Huey Slick', or transport.
And thats a Huey Gunship, deployed by the Army, the Marines' were a bit different.
Huey Cobra, or AH-1G, it was first deployed in 1969. Speaks for itself really.
There's a good ol' Patton, although lighter versions were used, as I believe this one was a bit too heavy for 'nam.
This is the UH-34D, flown by the Marines in Vietnam until the early '70's, it was phased out by the 'phrogs' or H-46 Sea Knights. These came in around 1964, and were immensely helpful because they helped the marines get in and out and faster.
Well thats all for now, I'm a bit worn out, but I'll be back with more info, pictures and all that good stuff. I hope that's plenty of material to discuss for now. To top it off here's a nice picture of an Army Cobra's turret:
Thats a 6 barreled 20mm Gatling gun, with a grenade launcher.
That's all, and please discuss!
Last edited by The_Mac (2007-05-04 20:46:01)
The armanment was 2 23mm cannons, as one massive 37mm cannon. 
