New Year, New Posts?

Sorry about this actual extended leave of absence. Both Gavin and I will be coming, and hoping to average about a post a week, making two posts, probably on the weekend, as we're free then. Also, this is just another account of mine, so anything written by NicholasA or Nick Augustine is me. I will be using the Nick Augustine account more, as it posts to Google+ and here. Glad to be back.

Thanks for reading,

Augie

People of the Internet, I have returned! (As if a little over a week was a hiatus)

That's perhaps what MacArthur would've said, had he been born about 90 years later, and was a cyber warrior. Yeah, a bad joke. Get used to them. That's usually my shtick. But, enough about that, what happened to all the posts? We were getting like two a day man, what the hell? Well, the answer is simple. School. I could list all my little problems that are associated that, but, that's beside the point. The point is that the wheels are turning again, so, the content stream will be coming back. The next thing to cover will The Sacks of Rome by me, and equipment and weapons by Lopes. Oh, also, the poll that was up has now closed, so, pending further changes to what we want to, we're hitting the seas for our next big content package. Hope to see you not only there, but as we travel back to Rome in the 400's and 500's AD!

Thanks for reading,
Augie

Roman engineering at work.

     Hello again everyone! So our beloved friend Augie discussed the events and battles of the Punic wars, this war is important in history because it began the start of the expansion of the Roman empire outside of the Mediterranean. But let's talk about some of the weapons and technology that helped win these magnificent battles.

  The Corvus (as pictured above) was vital for the Romans during the First Punic War, Rome were not as skilled of seafarers as the Carthaginians so they developed the handy Corvus. The Corvus was used as a walkway for Roman soldiers during a naval battle. The roman ship would pull alongside the enemy ship and drop the Corvus, and prongs on the underside would punch through the decks of the opposing ship for a good grip. Then the Romans would run across and engage in hand to hand combat to defeat the enemy. As easy and simple it may sound, the Corvus had some drawbacks. If the seas were rough it would make using the Corvus impractical and could damage the host ship. Also another issue was that the Corvus was bulky and any shipped armed with a Corvus sacrificed maneuverability. Shortly after the First Punic War the Corvus was replaced with newer and better ways of boarding a ship.

     Another fantastic invention which I personally happen to love is the Ballista!

This beauty was an example of early forms of artillery. The Ballista was originally a Greek designed weapon but when Rome absorbed the Greek city states, they in turn learned about torsion mechanics and well, the Ballista was born. The ballista design varied in size and name but the design principle remained the same. designs such as the Scorpio were used as a "sniper weapon" to pick off troops, where as the Ballista was more of a siege weapon. However apparently the Ballista was still used to pick off troops. Making it versatile like a Howitzer would be in the modern world! Well that's all for now and Coming up soon will be an "about me" post from the both of us. -lopes

The new guy, and some really cool stuff!

     

Hello everyone! I'm the other bonkers guy that is co hosting this blog! I am super excited to spread my wealth of information on military technology and learn from you guys in the comment section. So, now the fun part. Lets start with the first real warship, the Trireme! by basic definition the Trireme is a galley with three banks of oars used in combat as early as 525 BC and unfortunately these big majestic ships (sarcasm) were phased out with the advent of sailing ships. The Trireme was powered by 3 rows or banks of oars, with 3 or more people to an oar (usually prisoners). These unlucky men had to get the Trireme up to a considerable speed and would ram an enemy ship! Then fighting would occur until the ships separated and if the attacking trireme was lucky enough the enemy ship would take on too much water and sink. Naval warfare continued this way for quite some time until forms of artillery and cannons made ramming impractical. But, let us never forget the first real successful warship.

A Nut like me

So, anyone who had visited my 2 day old blog yesterday, you may notice the contributor list has... doubled! That's right, I found someone as bonkers as me to help write content for this blog. Mr. Lopes will be writing more about equipment and vehicles, rather than the history. But, he has no parameters to follow, so, he may pop a history article or two in there! I hope you're as excited as I am that the JTF now has two writers!

-Augie