Smoke and Incendiary Weapons

Volume 1 - Issue 3

Benjamín Ruiz Loyola*

Received:June 03, 2019   Published:June 18, 2019

DOI: 10.32474/LOJPCR.2019.01.000115

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Abstract

The incendiary weapons were among the first that were used beside the considered personal weapons: clubs, stones, stone knives. When the human being began to dominate the fire, he managed to develop ways to use it for his benefit, both in peaceful actions (such as changing food by roasting or cooking the clay to produce pots, figurines and adobe for construction) and in other types of aggressive applications, developing methods to burn the possessions of the enemies. Of course, fire management also allowed the knowledge of the smoke, which was then used for at least two purposes: taking advantage of its toxic properties to dislodge strategic positions (or force the animals sheltered in caves to go out and be at the mercy of the hunters) or to raise screens that hid some aggressive movements to indiscreet eyes. It has been said that the first incendiary agent used for war purposes was the so-called “Greek fire”, which was applied from the seventh century until the end of the Middle Ages. Its importance was supreme for the Byzantine Empire, helping to repel the attacks directed against Constantinople by the Arabs and the Russians between the years 671 to 678 of our era, but it was also of vital importance to repel attacks of the crusaders in the XII century. Although it is considered the direct predecessor of NAPALM, it may not be real that it was the first weapon of this class.

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