Abstract
Weapons research is conducted at particular times and places, under certain circumstances and conditions. I have expressed this by saying that weapons research takes place in some context. There have been instances of individuals conducting weapons research simply out of interest —Hiram Maxim the inventor of the first effective machine gun , fits the mould of someone who just liked inventing things—but in the vast majority of cases it is conducted in response to something external, something outside the research facility. In order to show that weapons research done in one context often has effects in quite different contexts, I give a number of examples in this chapter. The first series of these is intended to provide reasons to accept the evolution view of technology, which implies that weapons research has indirect as well as direct effects, because one innovation can lead to others down the line. I begin with the idea of the context of weapons research and offer a characterisation that is informed by matters that we have discussed in earlier chapters.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Maxim is on record as saying that when firing a gun at age 26 and feeling the recoil, he wondered if this ‘work’ could be used to fire another round and so produce an ‘automatic’ weapon. Many subsequent generations of automatic weapons have used this principle, see Forge (2012: 67–71).
- 2.
This is a characteristic of all forms of research—later work is informed by earlier work, one achievement leads to another. For more on this, see Basalla (1988).
- 3.
The reader may be excused from wading through this chapter, in that case.
- 4.
One might see these, to use the language of Thomas Kuhn, as akin to new paradigms in science.
- 5.
The combination of a smoothbore barrel and round shot, be it fired from a musket or a cannon, renders the weapons inherently inaccurate owing to the uncontrollable spin imparted to the projectile as it leaves the barrel. Unless by good fortunate the ball is spinning along the axis of the barrel, it will be deflected in the direction of the spin.: for an explanation with reference to the physics, see Forge (2012, Footnote 5, Chap. 4). Kenneth Chase, whose work I shall refer to in the next paragraph, points out that a skilled archer could fire arrows much quicker than a musketeer, had a much better chance of hitting a target, and could do so at longer range. To read why the musket nevertheless prevailed, see Chase (2003: 73–74).
- 6.
For instance, Peter van Collen, a leading Belgium gunsmith, was brought to England by Henry VIII to set up gun shops to increase the supply and stockpile of weapons available to the English armies. These were established around the Tower of London where the royal arsenal was located, and Henry encouraged English gunsmiths to set up there as well. DOI http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/barrel-making-early-barrel-making-in.html.
- 7.
This lesson was not learned by Pickett’s division at Gettysburg in 1863. Robert E. Lee ordered the division to charge the Union forces on Cemetery Hill. At a range of about half a kilometer the Union troops opened fire and killed over half the men, using Minié bullets.
- 8.
For more still, see Forge (2012: 62–67).
- 9.
This statement should be qualified, in view of some confusion and myth surrounding this iconic weapon. It is certainly more accurate to say, at the later stages of development, Kalashnikov was only part of the team that perfected the design. Such historical details are, of course, important, but what became of the gun after its invention and how this supports the proposition about the lack of control of weapons designers, whoever they are, and the unpredictability of future uses is even more so. In what follows I give the ‘standard version’ of the story. Of course, the story of a ‘simple’ soldier from the Great Patriotic War designing a gun to help defend the Motherland accorded well with Marxist-Leninist ideology—material need bringing forth the technical means to satisfy that need by the proletariat—and is also a good story.
- 10.
We have here another illustration of the idea that there are generations of weapons, that weapons come in lineages. Not only have there been different models of the AK, but there have been submachine guns based on the design. See Shilin and Cutshaw (2000) for details.
- 11.
- 12.
The story is that leading German small arms designers, Schmiesser, who invented the MP40, and Walter wanted to make an assault rifle and the High Command also wanted one, but Hitler liked machine guns and sub-machine guns . Hence they disguised their first assault rifle by calling it the MP43. It was such a success that Hitler himself coined the name “sturmgewehr”. Schmiesser was captured by the Soviets and send to Izhevsk, the city in the Urals that was the design, development and manufacturing centre for Soviet small arms, and he was there when the final stages of the AK-47 development. It would be strange indeed if he had not been involved.
- 13.
The muzzle velocity of the Sg44 bullet was 650 metres per second versus 776 metres per second for the Mauser, quite enough to damage its victim.
- 14.
The spread of the AK is an instance of the diffusion of technology in which the way the technology is used is by group B, who take up the technology, is considerably different from the way it is employed in the ‘home country’. It was never intended, or expected, to be used by child soldiers in Africa and South America. This again illustrates the unpredictability of weapons research: the way in which weapons technology diffuses is uncertain.
- 15.
Or, more strongly given the Nazis’ intentions, the Russian peoples were in a struggle for life or death.
- 16.
- 17.
The Vietnam War was an example of so-called asymmetric warfare, where one side is much more technologically advanced that the other.
- 18.
I think it is easier to keep the ‘levels of strategy ’ separated, and use Luttwak’s nomenclature here. Bronfield refers to Active Defense as the US military doctrine in Europe, Bronfield (2007: 483).
- 19.
Descriptions of these systems can be found in Department of the Army (2008).
- 20.
Major Paquin of the US Armored Corps examined the question as to whether the US used Airland Battle in the first Gulf War and concludes that it did, see Paquin (1999). A revision of US doctrine after the war led to what was called Full Spectrum Operations, which included Active Defense as one element and made explicit the prevision for offensive operations, see Benson (2012).
References
Basalla, G. 1988. The Evolution of Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Benson, B. 2012. The Evolution of US Army Doctrine for Success in the 21st Century, Military Review. March-April, 2–12
Bishop, C. 2006. General editor. The Encyclopaedia of Weapons. San Diego: Thunder Bay Press.
Bronfield, S. 2007. Fighting Outnumbered: The Impact of the Yom Kippur War on the US Army. Journal of Military History 71 (2): 464–498.
Chase, K. 2003. Firearms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chivers, C. 2010. The Gun. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Department of the Army. 2008. US Army Weapons Systems. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
FM 100-5. 1976. http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll9/id/42.
Ford, R. 2005. The World’s Great Machine Guns. Leicester: Silverdale Books.
Forge, J. 2012. Designed to Kill: The Case Against Weapons Research. Dordrecht: Springer.
Grant, N. 2015. Mauser Military Rifles. Oxford: Osprey.
Kahaner, L. 2007. AK-47. New Jersey: Wiley.
Lee, W. 2016. Waging War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacLean, F. 1999. The Field Men: The SS Officers Who Led the Einsatzcommandos. Atglen Pa: Schiffer Military History.
McNeill, W. 1982. The Pursuit of Power. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Paquin, R. 1999. Desert Storm: Doctrinal AirLand Battle Success or ‘The American Way of War’?. School of Advanced Military Studies: Levenworth: Kansas.
Prosch, G. 1976. “Israeli Defence of the Golan”. Military Review 59, October.
Shilin, V., and C. Cutshaw. 2000. Legend and Reality of the AK. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Forge, J. (2019). The Changing Contexts of Weapons Research. In: The Morality of Weapons Research . SpringerBriefs in Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16860-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16860-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16859-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16860-5
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)