The Evolution of The Weapons

Hundreds of thousands of years, humans found themselves in a world of an endlessconflicts caused mainly because religious, economical or political reasons. The sence ofwar is indeed a human nature to survive and to grow. Roughly five thousands years beforechrist, humans discovered metals burried underneeth the ground. First thing they did wasto form these elements into weapons and fortify their tribe walls. As the time flies by, theidea of building new weapons out of newly found materials continued and reached up toour modern world. Human history of war has four important stages to be looked closely tounderstand todays situations. But before that, one thing has to be clear. As in everycondition, consuming less energy to produce maximum amount of result is one of the keyelements in human history. It could be confused with laziness but in fact, it is the"efficiency" if we have to put it all in simple terms. This word will be seen as quality in ourupcoming thesis, depending the true stories such as Simo Hayha, who killed more than500 Soviet soldiers by himself in WW2.

First was to discovery of metals such as iron. The weapons of choice back then wereeither bamboo sticks with a sharp edged rock hooked on top of them or primitive woodenbows. They were indeed great weaponsto hunt rather small/defenceless animals. But interms of fighting with humans, the tactics were more about gathering larger number thanthe rivals. After the discovery of metals, they were be able to form those elements intotougher and lethal weapons. Let's suppose one of the two clans crafted weapons out ofiron, out numbered party would most likely to lose the battle whether or not having theadvantage of iron. A simple element would not affect as an advantage without designingnew tactics. The discovery of this element is also opened the door of new battle tactics. Itwas the first time that the humans were tried to suppress the force of quantity with thequality. It was the first thought of using less men to eliminate more. Before that, there werebasic fighting tactics such as split the greater number into smaller and weeker groups. But,in order to be successful in the quantity-quality battle humankind had to wait hundreds ofyears from than.

Second biggest stage was the discovery of the powder. It was ment to entartain peoplewith exploding in the air but deadly side was found quite soon after its first apperance inthe history. An archer in a battle field is an essential part of a great army. They can harmanyone before they even get close to them. The powder could make a soldier moreeffective than a deadly archer other than the opportunity to make cannons to destroyenemies walls. But the evolution of the firearm exprienced different problems to finally beready to chance the history of war. Main problem was the process of reloading. Besidesthe cannons, which were too heavy to lift easly on the battleground, the soldiers with therifles had to stand infront of the line of cannons and provide light fire support to their main assault teams. But, firing and reloading a primitive rifle disabling the advantage of shooting yards away with rather more accuratly than the cannons behind them, was a long procedure to get ready to shoot again. Secondly was the accuracy.

The process of buildinga rifle (or a cannon) was too complicated for the mashines of that era. The barrel was atube which was larger than the projectile, shaped as a ball. This means to lose its pressurein the barrel and throw the projectile less further than it could. To prevent this to happenthey have fitted a sabot made out of fabric. It was indeed increased the range of theprojectile but not improved the accuracy. To build such an accurate weapon, the tools tobuild weapons had to be more advanced. The main role of the powder was to create anequality between quantity and quality. If one of the party had a dominant power of usingfirearms, they could outrun the opposide party. But this advantage were only limited on acertain ratio. The lack of quick reloading procedure, the battles were usually ended with fistto fist fights. Neverthless, it was the bravest step to equlize the two main war facts.

Third stage was the discovery of a black liquid, so called petrol. It was an extraordinary alternative to supply enough energy to operate huge factories. Petrol was much more efficient than the coal and easier to storage. This advantage naturally pawed the way through developing advanced technologies, such as metal birds. It was the golden era of the technology. Back in that time when there were only a couple of humans on the planet Earth, their eyes were always on the sky and questioning what it would like to be flying into that endless black picture with millions of shining diamonds. The petrol didn't only enableus to reach up to the moon but to discover the importance of air dominace in a war. Nothing could stand against any projectile coming from above with massive velocity. It wasthe break point of the world military tactics. The power of bombing high above the groundwas a game changer on the battlefield. Not only the flying mashines but the ground andnaval maschines were also developed. Tanks and greater naval vessels designed and improved significantly. In a world, where the shells were coming from the above, groundand sea, the equality began to glide towards quality rather than quantity for the first time. Itwas now time to build 1 Tiger tank than 10 T-34's. But, even with larger armor plating, enormous 88mm cannon and more powerful engine the Battle of Kunsk showed us the quantity would not let its seat to the quality very easily. Even if we think about the bomber aircraft which operate thanks to jet fuel and deliver a nuke to kill more than 50.000 people in a single blast, should not be in the same segment of petroleum because of its brutality. Dirty bombs will not be detailed in this thesis because of the non-usability due to its aftereffects and global reactions or even operations. The Earth has still some beauty on it, and superiour countries will not let anyone to destroy their fantasy worlds. Who tried to detonate any nuclear bomb, would be discouraged by diplomacy or by force.

Finally the last stage, the computer technology. The concept of solving a problem thousands of times faster than a human and simultaneously calculating input values were now in our pockets waiting for an order to send a message to a friend. The actual capacity of the computers were and are still using in "defence" industry. This complex code reading system could deliver true answer when the question was asked properly. Modern armies inventories were now filled with smart bombs, vehicles thanks to their small chips insidethem to operate. Now it was the time that a soldier press a button and hit the target with98% accuracy. So much advanced technology made a single soldier/pilot eliminate hundreds of men or dozens of hostile vehicles. As an example to the advanced computer technology and the difference they have made, the '73 Easting Battle and '82 Falkland Island Battle are perfect candidates. Their common point is, even if they were outnumbered by their enemies, the technology they had made them to be the victorious party. Finally the quality seem to get in front of the quantity. But does it really work also inTurkey, considering continuous conflicts in and out of its borders? Before discussing the situation Turkey, first we shall underline the importance of the diplomacy. The source of the diplomacy is wisdom, mostly fed by past expriences, and the ability of prediction. The true diplomacy is to talk about the problems laying on the discussion table and try to figure out a peaceful solution, in order to maintain the momentum of development. But, as the most basic requirements are poorly found in many people, the way that diplomacy works today -as well as yesterday- is on a thin line. Leaders could easily break their promisses ,or even rules. The most obvious example isthe Nazi-Germany, which started second world war after started the first one and punished strictly. Diplomacy would not create an effect as the sheer sound of a shell being exploded. The nature of humanbeing is to overcome the past traumas and adapt the currentsituation. By trusting someone just because they signed a piece of paper wouldn't make them obey your orders forever. The domination only comes in two ways.

First is military,and the second is economic. Military option is more risky than the economical pressure.Because it can trigger a rebellion among the people and the risk of a potential conflict isvery high. The economical pressure on the other hand, is a totaly different strategy. People react when they see a foreign soldier in their land without their permission. But controllinga country via its economical dynamics is a stealth way to physically occupaying their land. The main difference between military and economical operations is the parable of theboiled frog.

Unfortunatelly, this strategy mostly mix with diplomacy. But the reality is farmore different then it seems. The economical power is controlling by the loaded people,who obviously in touch with the leaders of the superiour powers. The money effect onworld diplomacy can be seen via strong lobbies in the heart of the diplomacy, the parliaments. The week points of an economical pressure are the factors of speed and adaptation. This can be clearly understood by thinking a rather week but strategically important country. This country is most likely to be in a situation, where a superiour powering its region or even further away pressuring its domestic affairs, which would eventually cause in the long term corrupt leaders in the high-positions. When there are corrupt leaders rather than idealist ones, the economical strength would also be in a position way below the developed countries. This means, in its local markets the need of a greatermanifacturer is urgent. As the needs come before investing in any sectors, the fastest andeasy way is to import manufacturers.

Finally, when the money-owners enter the freshmarkets such as this country's, their chance of profiting from the same product in thiscountry rather than in developed countries. This relation between the market and themoney-owners is often stronger than the promises made in dinner tables. So, the reactionthe superiour power need may be delayed or even never happen in the time period theywant. The lack of adaptation to a different cases and the slow reaction time makeeconomical operations more like a secret weapon of the superiour powers. They never talkabout the existence about them and don't make local people angry about their actions untilthe day they unplug the wire.In a future where humans finally realise the conflicts were the anchor of their selfdevelopment,the significance of true diplomacy would be clearly understood. But lookingback to the todays world, dreams about united humans in a peaceful organism is far frombeing reality.