The weapons of war have dramatically changed throughout the ages. From the club to the machine gun weapons have been upgraded with the most advanced technology man has: their minds. War has been around since man first evolved.
It has been one of "mans chief activities for thousands of years "(Meltzer 1). War may have occurred because of food, land, and women. These were the main things man thought to be important to have in order to be a superior tribe. The search for adequate food became very important causing the creation of the club, spear, and the knife.
The Stone Age brought a wide range of primitive weapons to life. For instance," the wooden club was the first true weapon made during the Old Stone Age" (2). Although a rather affective weapon, the club had its flaws. One was that in order for it to work, you had to be close up to your opponent. This was a major disadvantage to man if he were facing some kind of game animal such as a wooly mammoth. To gain a greater striking advantage, the spear was made for throwing, and the bow was made for shooting arrows.
"The earliest spears were wooden shafts that were sharpened by fire" (2). Arrows were made in a similar way except they were smaller. These new weapons made it easier for Stone Age people to hunt animals, as well as against other humans in battle over land. Bows were made out of a flexible piece of wood with some kind of string attached on each end, which was used as the strength of the shot. Bows were developed in many styles. The common bow was about half the size of a man; however the medieval long bows were the same size if not bigger than a man. Long bows needed about one hundred pounds of force to pull back the arrow. They were rather affective for long range attacks. One other style of bow was the crossbow. The crossbow was a "small, very stiff bow set crosswise at the end of a stock" (4). When the trigger was released, the crossbow mechanism released a heavy bolt arrow with tremendous force.