European weapons and armour

"The invasion of Italy by France in 1494 sowed the dragon's teeth of all successive European wars, and accelerated the pressures to devise ever more effective armaments and methods of warfare.".

"This account of the story of arms over the period covers in detail the development of the handgun and the pike, the use and style of staff-weapons, mace and axe and war-hammer, dagger and dirk and bayonet.

Armour is shown attaining its full Renaissance splendour then suffering its later decline; the history of the sword, Ewart Oakeshott's special interest, is followed to the late eighteenth century when it ceased to be part of everyday wear: cause or effect, the far-reaching effects of the Industrial Revolution on military armaments had begun."--BOOK JACKET.