Of course the main objects of war are offense and defense, the destruction of the opponent and the protection of one’s self. This first fighting was a hand-to-hand struggle which gave way to fighting at a distance as spears and arrows were invented. Shields and armor were then invented to ward off these missiles. Cities were surrounded with walls to hold off the enemy. Then came the Roman war “engines,” catapults and battering rams, to destroy the walls and towers which would enable the besiegers to fight on an equal level and in personal contact with the besieged. Although a battle might start with long-distance fighting it was always a hand-to-hand encounter that clinched the victory. Even to-day, although we have our big guns which fight at ranges of five to twenty miles, it is the rifle or bayonet which wins or loses the battle. INVENTION OF GUNPOWDER The introduction of gunpowder from China in the fifteenth century did not immediately revolutionize warfare. It was used only in cannon or mortars for hurling large stones at city walls. The range of those cannon was so limited and the time it took to load and fire them was so great that they were of little use on an open battlefield. A cannon, although a comparatively powerful offensive weapon, was helpless against attack and was only suitable for use in forts or behind breastworks. Later when its range was increased and it came to be used on the battlefield it had to be protected from capture by men supplied with small arms. This defect of the cannon also applied to the use of the hand gun. Its range was small and consequently the blunderbuss type was invented to spread the charge of shot as much as possible so as to tear a wide gap in the enemy’s line and prevent it from closing in upon the operator of the gun. But the loading and firing of these early firearms was extremely slow and the battle-ax and even the arrow and the crossbow were much more effective weapons. So unreliable were the muskets of our Revolutionary War that in battle more dependence was placed upon the bayonet than the firearm. THE SPINNING BULLET Three important improvements were necessary to make the small gun a really effective weapon. First was the invention of a reliable means of igniting the powder; second the rifling of the barrel so that the bullet would not tumble but would hold a true course, and finally the invention of a cartridge and a rifle that could be loaded from the breech. These improvements were not completely effected until the time of the Civil War. Since then there have been further marked improvements: The power of cartridges has been increased; the bullets have been given a stream-line form so as to increase the range of the rifle and its power of penetration; the rifle has been equipped with a magazine for carrying a number of cartridges; and a simple mechanism has been provided for discharging empty shells and inserting fresh cartridges in a minimum of time.