Resumo de Book Of Facts - Reader's Digest

WEAPONS AND WARFARE-I

CANNONS CAST ON THE SPOT

For a thousand years the triple walls of Constantinople presented an impregnable defense against invaders. Each wall was some 9m (30ft) high and about 5m (16ft) thick. But in 1453, in the space of just 55 days, the Turks captured the Byzantine city with the use of some 70 pieces of artillery. Twelve of the bronze cannon used weighed 19 tones each. They were cast on the spot and pulled into position by a team of 140 oxen and 200 men. Each piece was 5m (16ft) long, with a 650mm (26in) caliber and could fire a 360kg (800lb) shot 1.6km (1mile). The maximum rate of fire, however, was extremely slow: a mere seven rounds a day.
None of the original Constantinople cannon survives. But an identical example, cast in the Dardanelles 12 years later and last used in 1807- when it holed the British frigate Active, though it did not sink her- is kept in the Tower of London.

EXPLOSIVE FOR PEACE

Alfred Noble, the Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite (1867) and gelignite (1875), believed that his explosive would bring peace to the world. An ardent pacifist- and founder of the Noble Peace prize- he thought his inventions would form the basis of strong national defence systems and so act as deterrents against warlike countries.

BAREFOOT IN THE STIRRUP

The introduction of the metal stirrup in Europe in the late 8th century or early 9th century AD revolutionized the nature of warfare. Together with the saddle, known in Europe since the 4th century BC, the stirrup gave horsemen greater stability, and allowed them to use their spears underarm, so that they could put their whole weigh behind a thrust without getting pushed off the horse. Before, cavalrymen had been limited to a weaker overarm stabbing technique.
The stirrup was first used by barefooted Hindu warriors in the late 2nd century BC. It took the form of a loop which fitted around the rider?s big toe. In the 4th century AD it was adapted by the Chinese, who fitted it around a booted foot, the form in which it appears today. Military historians have compared the impact on warfare of the stirrup with that of the tank.

HEAVYWEIGHT, LIGHTWEIGHT

A modern fighter pilot wears more layers of clothing than a medieval knight. A knight, whose suit of armour weighed about 27kg (60lb), usually wore two layers of clothing underneath it: a shirt and leggings and a padded doublet. But a fighter pilot may wear as many as five layers; a heavy ?duty cotton or nylon one- piece flying suit, on top of an inflatable rubber G- suit, on top of a fleece- lined jump suit, on top cotton combination underwear. Over all that may come a rubber ?total immersion suit?, with watertight seals at neck, wrists and ankles.
Despite the extra layers, the pilot?s clothing is less that half the weight of the medieval knight?s. Its total weight, including flying helmet and boots, is not about 12kg (26lb).

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