The Story of Weapons and Tactics

The Story of Weapons and Tactics examines the significant patterns of change in warfare over thousands of year, showing how they led naturally to the Panzer divisions of WW2. It starts from the siege of Troy in order to make clear the military meaning of the siege of Stalingrad. This is a highly readable text that should offer the reader some insight into military development even into our modern times.

Publishing Note

First published in 1943. This ebook edition includes an 1855 article on Ancient Artillery.

Excerpt

The essence of the thing I have been trying to do in this book is not statement of a pattern of war; it is statement of a pattern of change in war. I have not been trying to establish the thesis that this, that, or the other is the essential feature of modern tactics; I have been trying to establish that modern tactics are changing, as modern weapons are changing, more rapidly than ever before; but that the lines on which they are changing parallel the lines of past change and should be to some extent predictable. And it is only if we can predict, foresee, the lines along which war is changing that we shall be able to establish a ‘doctrine’ of warfare, an integrated system of choice and design of weapons and retraining for new tactics, which will not merely rival the methods of our enemies, but will go beyond them, and be superior to them.

About the Author

Thomas Henry Wintringham (1898-1949) served in the R.F.C. and R.A.F. in France, 1916-1918; commanded the British International Brigade near Madrid, Feb. 1937; helped found the Osterley Park Training School for Home Guard, 1940; authored several books; acted as Military Correspondent for several publications.