The Development of Mine Warfare: A Most Murderous and Barbarous Conduct (War, Technology, And History)

In 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) coordinated the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction . As of mid-2005, 145 states had signed the agreement. The ICBL's efforts were in large part a response to the careless use of landmines in the previous fifty years. The history of mine use in warfare, however, goes back much further than the World Wars of the 20th century and includes both land and sea use. This first comprehensive study traces the technical, tactical, and ethical developments of mine warfare, from ancient times to the present. Beginning with mine warfare's roots in ancient Assyria and China, Youngblood takes the reader through the centuries of debate about how these hidden weapons should be used. A look at 19th-century developments explores the intertwined development of land and sea mines and the inventors behind them, including Robert Fulton, Samuel Colt, and Immanuel Nobel, father of Alfred Nobel. Subsequent chapters examine the use of mines in the American Civil War, the Russo-Japanese War, both World Wars, and the battlefields of the Cold War, and chart key battles and technical innovations, such as the development of air-delivered munitions. Finally, the author addresses the ethical concerns raised by the careless mining, namely the impact on civilians and the difficulties of de-mining, and the treaties that regulate landmine use. Contents......Page 6 Series Foreword......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1. The Origins of Mine Warfare......Page 18 2. The Age of Invention: From America to Russia......Page 30 3. The American Civil War......Page 54 4. The Sea Mine Comes of Age......Page 80 5. The Great War......Page 100 6. World War II......Page 126 7. Mine Warfare Since 1945......Page 160 Appendix A: Hague Convention 1907......Page 192 Appendix B: Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines......Page 198 Notes......Page 216 Selected Bibliography......Page 248 Index......Page 264 Bogen giver en udviklingsbeskrivelse af sø- og landminer fra de tidligste tider og til i dag. Hovedvægten lægges dog på perioden fra midt i 1800-tallet, idet Danmarks brug af søminer i begge de to slesvigske krige er forholdsvis detaljeret omtalt. Den første verdenskrigs mineerfaringer, også i de danske stræder, nævnes kortfattet. Indholdet dækker både tekniske og operative aspekter omkring minekrigsførelsen og herunder minevåbnet indflydelse på udfaldet af de forskellige kampagner. Bogen følger op med de etiske problemer og overvejelser især spredningen af landminer giver Beginning with the roots of mine usage in ancient China and Assyria, the author explores the technological advances in land mine development, emphasizing from the 18th to the 20th centuries, as well as the age old debate on the uses of such weapons. Land, as well as sea mine usage are described in different wars