Editing Weapon (section)

==== Early modern ====
The European [[Renaissance]] marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in western warfare. [[Gun]]s and [[rocket (weapon)|rockets]] were introduced to the battlefield.

[[Firearm]]s are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they release energy from combustible [[propellant]]s, such as [[gunpowder]], rather than from a counterweight or spring. This energy is released very rapidly and can be replicated without much effort by the user. Therefore, even early firearms such as the [[arquebus]] were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. Firearms became increasingly important and effective during the 16th–19th centuries, with progressive improvements in [[Lock (firearm)|ignition mechanisms]] followed by revolutionary changes in [[ammunition]] handling and propellant. During the [[American Civil War]], new applications of firearms, including the [[machine gun]] and [[ironclad warship]], emerged that would still be recognizable and useful military weapons today, particularly in [[limited war|limited conflicts]]. In the 19th century, [[warship]] propulsion changed from [[sail]] power to [[fossil fuel]]-powered [[steam engine]]s.

[[File:Prussian bayonet clean.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|The [[bayonet]] is used as both a [[knife]] and, when attached to the front of a rifle, a [[polearm]].]]
Since the mid-18th century North American French-Indian war through the beginning of the 20th century, human-powered weapons were reduced from the primary weaponry of the battlefield to yielding gunpowder-based weaponry. Sometimes referred to as the "Age of Rifles",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hind|first=Edward|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IK1gAAAAcAAJ|title=My Magazine. Being a Series of Poems, Tales, Sketches, Essays, Orations, Etc|publisher=J. and H. Clarke|year=1860|location=Nottingham|pages=263}}</ref> this period was characterized by the development of firearms for infantry and cannons for support, as well as the beginnings of mechanized weapons such as the [[machine gun]]. Artillery pieces such as [[howitzer]]s were able to destroy masonry fortresses and other fortifications, and this single invention caused a [[revolution in military affairs]], establishing tactics and doctrine that are still in use today.