Medieval Weapons

21324496328_desert.jpgIf you are an author of fiction or are in the process of thinking to pen some kind of fantasy then there is an eighty percent chance that you are going to have medieval weapons in your fictitious world. The contemporary reader can act quite savvy when it comes to reading about weapons or armor, therefore if you are penning even fiction make certain that your writing is accurate and should make sense when it comes to weapons. This is often the main and the basic part of the story. In the current article I am going to try to explain a few important points regarding medieval weapons, and how you can get them right. Plus I will also help you give some insight into some very popular kinds of weapons.
The medieval time period that had prevailed in the European countries had been very largely responsible for shaping the key modern developments that had proven vital to their countrys identity and has also influenced the modern world.

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Medieval Weapons

If you are a fiction writer or are considering writing fantasy sometime in the near future then you will probably write something or the other regarding the medieval weapons in your fictitious world. The contemporary fiction readers are much savvy, hence when it concerns the weapons and the armor the details regarding them should not only be hundred percent accurate but they should also make sense to them when it comes to the weapons. The weaponry is mostly the main part of the story. Medieval Swords

The medieval swords owe most of their development to the Roman Spatha that had been a long sword which was not much effective versus the armor (at that time there used to be very little armor). The Medieval swords had been developed over the passage of time in connection with armor and also in regards to the latest fighting techniques that had involved slashing. Medieval Armor

When one thinks of samurai, the image that comes to mind is almost certainly one of a warrior dressed in the unique armor known as O-Yoroi. This armor combined elements of plate and lacquerred lamellar, and was typically made of a combination of leather and iron. The boxy armor weighed close to sixty-five Medieval Armor Clothing

The wearing of chain mail and body armor has been an effective means of protection in combat and war for centuries.All fields be it art or literature or even music they all benefited greatly owing to the pivotal changes that had taken place in almost all the cultures across the continent. In the same manner there had been several changes and adjustments in the designs of the weaponry that had been customary at that point of time. There had been some short and sharp Romanesque daggers that had emerged into sleeker ones, but overall still maintained their overall slender appealing shape. Further whats more not only was the quality of all the weapons maintained but it was heightened if possible. This aided much in making the weapons more lightweight and as a result it was swifter for the user and much more lethal for the opponent.
Overall all these changes had been quite a few but none of them adversely affected the popularity of any particular sword, but in fact if possible it actually helped in transforming them into the most modern and the latest weaponry as far as the hand held weaponry was concerned.
All in all our fascination still continues with the weaponry and has also seen an increase with the passage of time.
Even in the modern times here are several people out there who are still in search for the twentieth-century weapons and also some defense mechanisms from the same time period such as the likes of machine guns, gas masks, the hand grenades and also tanks to name a few.
But yes it is much simpler to get hold of all the aforementioned items from far and distant centuries thanks to the internet. This means that all the old weapons from the far off centuries have today become highly collectible items and extremely valuable for that matter.

Five Ways by Which Terrorists Acquire Their Weapons

11324497251_shinai.jpgNow clearly, for any terrorist operation, you require weapons of all kinds. Terrorists do receive a lot of funding from various sources. That is why you see that many terrorist attacks do happen. Their funding helps them to acquire weapons through various ways and some of them include

1. Smuggling

Smuggling of weapons remains one of the biggest sources of weapons of terrorists. Through various illegal channels weapons are transported to terrorists. Weapons may be smuggled from the arsenals of countries where security may not be very tight. There could be many sources and many channels to smuggle weapons. Sympathizers of terrorist ideologies within many armed forces may aid the smuggling of weapons as well. Corruption has a big role to play when it comes to smuggling. Bribing officials to turn a blind eye while weapons, sometimes which are smuggled through in large quantities indeed abets terrorism. 

2. Stealing
Stealing weapons has been a new way by which terrorists acquire weapons. Organizations like the LTTE in SriLanka used to steal weapons in order for them to sustain their terrorist operations. One of their biggest robberies remain the looting of a ship bound for SriLanka from Tanzania. This particular ship contained 35,000 artillery shells that were meant for the SriLankan armed forces in order to quell this threat caused by the LTTE. The LTTE looted it on the high seas and stole all the shells on board. The LTTE used these shells on the SriLankan Army. How ironic when you think of the fact that the SriLankan government had paid for all those artillery shells.
3. Arms Dealers

International arms dealers are in a way an offset of smuggling. International arms dealers use smuggling as a means to supply weapons to terrorists. Weapon manufacturers do not generally supply weapons to non-state actors, especially those which have terrorist links. International arms dealers however do not have such a moral high-ground and supply to anybody that has the money to purchase arms. Arms dealers make huge supplies of weapons to terrorists through various means including smuggling.

4. Private Military Companies
Nobody ever thinks that Private military companies can be ferrying weapons for dangerous terrorists. Private military companies are also called Private Security Companies. Known examples include Blackwater USA (which has now been renamed to Xe Services), DynCorp, Executive Outcomes etc. Private Military Companies like any private industry is profit oriented and they do lack any moral code of conduct while operating. Reports have shown that terrorists have employed Private Military Companies to transport weapons to them and have also bought weapons directly from the Private Military Companies. Thus we see the role of the Private Military Companies in the supplying of weapons to terrorists.
5. Left over weapons from disbanded regimes

Weapons possessed by the terrorists are likely to be weapons which were in the possession of terrorists long back. When old regimes were defeated, its vast arsenals may have been sacked before it completely fell and these weapons may be used by terrorists. For example, when Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was put to an end, its arsenals were sacked by various terrorist elements and that is why Iraq has an insurgency problem to date.

Thus we see, terrorists have various ways of acquiring weapons and all these provide a very dangerous mix which aids and abets terrorism.