"The History of Weapons," By ZDF Studios, Ep. 4

Episode 4 of "The History of Weapons"
Produced by ZDF Studios
*Continued from Episode 3




 Episode 4: Weapons for All

                                                              

                                                         Automatic Kalashnikov, or "AK-47"
                                        https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nemo5576

   This episode covers the weapons that were taken up by the average foot soldier pressed into service by a lord, to protect their village or lands and resistance fighters, or what call now with a bit of malice: we now call "insurgents." The crossbow is first on this list. Famously denounced by the Pope as a weapon so devious that he forbade Christians from using them, (unless of course you were using them against Muslims or Pagans) it was originally designed by the ancient Chinese in the 7th century BCE. Used heavily in Emperor Qin's Wars of Unification in what we now know as "China," it made deadly warriors out of untrained peasantry much like the English Longbow did nearly 2,000 years later. As seen in the now world famous terracotta warriors that were made to serve the same emperor in death, they show the first known usage of standardized, interchangeable parts. This means damaged weapons could be repaired by utilizing the parts from another damaged weapon, or they could have parts already made ahead of time for if or when they failed. They could be swapped out much faster than building an entirely new weapon. Another innovation seen was the multi-shot "magazine." A gravity fed hopper was loaded with bolts, and with each operation of the handle (think Winchester rifle) a new bolt would drop into place, the cocking motion retrieving the line, notching it and releasing it to fire. Truly one of  the first rapid fire weapons to be placed in a single warrior's hands. Here again, very minimal instruction was needed to make a multi-shot killer out of a farm hand. Depending upon the angle of it being fired, a crossbow could fire many hundreds of yards and still have enough kinetic force left to pierce even the best multi- sheeted paper/linen/light metal armor of the time.

  Then onto the pike. The most used weapon of the common foot soldier for millenia. From the ancient Greeks and their Phalanx, all the way up to the "early modern period," when squared formations of pikemen would protect the musketeers from charging cavalry; the pike was as simple to make as it was easy to wield. They kept the enemy out of arm's reach to keep hand to hand weapons from be employed easily by the enemy. A group of pikemen could halt heavy cavalry, forming an impenetrable wall of spears. They could also be used to steamroll lighty equipped troops, and much like the Roman gladius and shield wall. The length of the pikes made the job of killing less personal, and therefore easier on one's conscious to perform. 

 Finally, this episode finishes with the Automatic Kalashnikov, or more commonly; the "AK-47."  Still THE weapon of choice of freedom fighters, insurgents and professional militaries alike, they're cheap to produce, easy to operate and because of built-in loose tolerances, they are incredibly dependable and nearly indestructible. While not very accurate at medium to long range, the high caliber and rate of fire makes it a truly dreadful weapon; again, in the hands of basically anyone capable of picking one up. Entire books have been writing on the importance of this weapon, and with an estimated 100 million copies or true manufacture produced to date, it's not likely going away any time soon. It's often cited to be the most common small machine gun ever produced.