What do you think?
Rate this book
Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor
For 4,000 years weapons, and the warriors who used them,have acted as the cutting edge of history, using ax, spear, bow, sword, gun, and cannon to determine the rise of kingdoms and the fall of empires. From the stone axes of the earliest warfare to the heavy artillery of today''s modern armies,this awe-inspiring book portrays for the first time the entire spectrum of weaponry. Illustrations explain key features and working mechanisms of important weapons Beautifully photographed and richly cataloged-often in actual size Details weapons that changed the face of warfare, from the sword to the Gatling gun.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Richard Holmes
117 books85 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 10, 2019
Replacing another review that still has the old comments: Well, sometimes when you get bored, you go looking through your husband’s books—no! I’m kidding. This curiosity was fueled by a show we both love called Forged in Fire. A lot of the weapons they make are in here and this is a good gen overview of a lot of guns, though they are not what I came for; and some archery too. Archery 🏹 ❤️
Also from a family of collectors. I like to know my history of course, and I love to watch the art of bladed weapons being made, especially since this is a hobby and they aren’t used on people in war, etc.
I don’t use my archery to hunt. I was taught to, but I don’t. Same with guns. Many ppl in my family are serious about their guns. I just enjoy the accuracy of archery and of making blades. Imagine if I could make an axe that would cut wood?
Btw .. I’ll try to make this subtle .. my family is just fine the way they are so if anyone dares to contradict that in here I will verbally kick your butt so hard. No lectures. No anti-gun talk, none of it, and I MEAN IT! This is not the place for
your opinion.
Also from a family of collectors. I like to know my history of course, and I love to watch the art of bladed weapons being made, especially since this is a hobby and they aren’t used on people in war, etc.
I don’t use my archery to hunt. I was taught to, but I don’t. Same with guns. Many ppl in my family are serious about their guns. I just enjoy the accuracy of archery and of making blades. Imagine if I could make an axe that would cut wood?
Btw .. I’ll try to make this subtle .. my family is just fine the way they are so if anyone dares to contradict that in here I will verbally kick your butt so hard. No lectures. No anti-gun talk, none of it, and I MEAN IT! This is not the place for
your opinion.
July 31, 2011
Excellent visually, but a bit disappointing on the text side. Some of the history was interesting, but it was presented in a rather insipid manner at times. Also, the entire book was very disjointed. While it progressed overall in a past to present timeline, some of the tidbits were just thrown in without any relation to what preceded it. The ending was very abrupt as well, there was no closing or paragraph with any sense of finality.
May 18, 2013
Great chronological-graphic history of weapon evolution...
July 11, 2012
Beautifully detailed photographs and explanations of a huge variety of weapons, ancient and modern. My only problem is that the book is entirely too Western focused. For example, there is one page on Aztec weapons, one page on all North American Indian weapons (mostly post-European contact) and nothing at all on Mayan, Incan, or any other pre-Colombian American civilization. Additionally, while there are some pages on Medieval and Modern Chinese and Japanese swords and guns, but there is nothing whatsoever on ancient Chinese or Japanese weapons (For example, I would have loved to have seen some photographs of an ancient Chinese chariot or dagger-axe.) Still, the detail of what is here does go a long way towards making up for many of these faults--in particular the detailed diagrams and photographs of the firing mechanisms of early firearms, which are impeccable.
November 3, 2024
This is not so much a book for reading as for browsing. It is beautifully illustrated with pictures of weapons from many periods and cultures, which occupy most of the pages. The accompanying text is typically brief but useful. It is like having a museum-quality armory on your e-reader. Having browsed this on and off for a few months, I feel like I have spent enough time with it to rate and review it: 4.5 stars.
October 6, 2015
Another excellent book by DK, Weapon pretty much amounts to a giant museum. There are tons of weapons in this book, organized by time period and category, with more comprehensive sections on the more prolific weapons of history.
There are also specialized sections dealing with the weapons of different types of soldiers, be they hoplites or SEALs. The book is easy to read, not too in-depth, however, and there a few inaccuracies regarding things like the caliber of different firearms. But in, all a great book.
There are also specialized sections dealing with the weapons of different types of soldiers, be they hoplites or SEALs. The book is easy to read, not too in-depth, however, and there a few inaccuracies regarding things like the caliber of different firearms. But in, all a great book.
July 11, 2015
Weapon is a wonderful resource, combining informative text with beautiful photos. The book charts the full history of weapons and armour and, as a writer, I find it a wonderful first point of call when I am checking for historical accuracy of weapons used in my stories.
A wonderful library addition to anyone interested in history, and in combat history in particular.
A wonderful library addition to anyone interested in history, and in combat history in particular.
February 6, 2012
The pictures accompanied it are great, but could do with a little bit more detail.
Currently it read like picture book with detailed description.
Like it a lot though. It really helped with my jobs.
Currently it read like picture book with detailed description.
Like it a lot though. It really helped with my jobs.
January 2, 2014
This book really is cool, if weapons and warfare from any era interest you this book is for you. It shows how modern day assault rifles evolved from the atlatl of ancient times and how the weapons of ancient times effect how wars are fought, and how they effect us.
February 1, 2016
4.75/5
I'd like to have seen some more armors, especially newer ones since the book doesn't feature anything post 1900 other than a few helmets, but other than hat it is a fantastic and well illustrated guide for anyone interested in (pre)historic warfare.
I'd like to have seen some more armors, especially newer ones since the book doesn't feature anything post 1900 other than a few helmets, but other than hat it is a fantastic and well illustrated guide for anyone interested in (pre)historic warfare.
August 23, 2016
A handy guide for writing historical tales that involve battles. I've used it for assessing what sort of weapons would be available for a specific time period, and evaluating my weapon choices for an imaginary tribe.
March 30, 2008
Great reference to learn of the varied styles of arms and armor that have been used throughout history.
December 1, 2014
Very comprehensive on firearms, rather thin on melee weapons and armor. Besides that, a beautifuly photographed reference for everyone interested in weaponry through the ages.
September 28, 2022
While its certainly a fun book to look at I feel like it has two major flaws; it doesn't explain the differences between weapons or how they evolve besides the basics like "longer and shorter blades are used differently" and "cutting and thrusting weapons have specific designs." There's no exploring the physics, mechanics or evolutionary demands that made some weapons relevant and some obsolete. There are also some cultural blind spots that prepare this work; I can understand limiting the number of modern firearms since many serve similar functions and may look very similar, but some cultures have very little representation. Aside from stand alone missing weapons (Egyptian Kopesh, Afghan Jezzail, Falchion, etc.) there are entire cultures that are either glossed over or underrepresented. South East Asia is solely shown through Indian arms, missing the diverse weapons of the Phillipines, Indonesia, Thailand, etc., while China seems to only have a few examples of swords and maces. Also, Eastern Europe gets almost no mention before Napoleon; skipping the Hussars and Cossacks make it look like sabers just magically appeared in Europe.
May 18, 2019
Not bad, it just felt rushed. It is supposed to be a history of arms and armor but in 350 pages of actual text (not index or acknowledgments) less than 100 pages are spent on the anything pre 1500 CE which weights the whole book strongly towards the more modern. Obviously a lot of the modern weaponry is focused on guns, which seem to be the author's expertise or at least interest. Also armor is always just one or two pages at the end of each chapter, or a little inclusion when talking about specific types of soldiers.
So overall a good read if you want a very rough outline of the development of weaponry and are specifically interested in the evolution of firearms, but if you are looking for a more in depth look at the middle ages or earlier I suggest you look elsewhere.
So overall a good read if you want a very rough outline of the development of weaponry and are specifically interested in the evolution of firearms, but if you are looking for a more in depth look at the middle ages or earlier I suggest you look elsewhere.
Read
May 25, 2021This book was easy to read because there are few words and many photos. And you go through each page fairly quickly while you still remember what you read and saw on the page. It was easy also because it's pretty interesting to glide through the book. So this book was pretty easy for me to read as it mostly pictures and easy to sail through.
November 20, 2021
A pretty quality reference book. Excellent photography on all the weapons and the blurbs are often interesting to both the weapon pictured (often pointing out older weapons that survived were ceremonial in nature for instance) while also giving good detail on the more standard use and deployment of weapons and armor. Overall it's pretty quality if you are looking for a book on the subject.
January 28, 2024
Humans have always had a history of fighting, making knives and armor since ancient times.
Swords and Guns are beautiful to look at as works of art.
The carvings are especially beautiful up until the 1700s.
However, the purpose of creating a weapon is to attack someone.
Considering this, weapons should be eliminated from this world.
Swords and Guns are beautiful to look at as works of art.
The carvings are especially beautiful up until the 1700s.
However, the purpose of creating a weapon is to attack someone.
Considering this, weapons should be eliminated from this world.
August 2, 2017
Fun book to go through.
October 29, 2018
A interesting book for people find of history of guns and military equipment. Humanity was very inventive when it needed tools to kill.
April 14, 2019
It's great. If I had had this book 15 years ago I would have LOVED it.
August 25, 2019
Nice book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2020
A beautiful repository of high quality pictures and concise information on killing and anti-killing implements since ancient history up to modern times. Totally worth it.
November 3, 2020
An excellent reference for anyone who writes medieval battles. Great visuals and backgrounds on all types of weapons.
Want to read
March 28, 2024E
November 26, 2015
At 350 pages, this is a very thorough book. It begins with flint knives and stone axes, and ends with grenade launchers and man-portable anti-tank weapons. In between is just about everything else you can imagine. The text can be rather dry a lot of the time, but the large, full-color photos make up for that. I especially liked the older stuff that is all decorated and engraved. Weapons that were more works of art than tools of war. It was also interesting to see the lesser known stuff, like Oceanian clubs and staffs, and African edged weapons. A book that worked much better on the visual side, but still a lot of cool stuff in there.
July 24, 2011
A beautiful visual guide for anyone who has an interest in military history. Loads of information and attractive glossy pictures. Well put together. Very interesting to flip through.
October 18, 2012
I skipped the gun sections due to disinterest. Organizing by both time period and geography was a nice touch that showcased regional differences well.
April 25, 2017
Large fantastically illustrated hardcover which includes full page, full color photography. Overall a quality beginner's introduction to the better known world history of arms.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews