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你從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽說(shuō)過(guò)的十種古代武器(上)
發(fā)起人:eging4  回復(fù)數(shù):1  瀏覽數(shù):4899  最后更新:2022/9/29 0:33:07 by nihaota

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2016/11/18 22:02:37
eging4





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你從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽說(shuō)過(guò)的十種古代武器(上)
The history of human warfare is as storied as Game of Thrones and even more incestuously brutal.



人類戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)史的故事性就跟《權(quán)力的游戲》一樣精彩,甚至更血腥。

Time and again, the wisdom of the ages has been put to figuring out how to efficiently stab, maim, shoot, and in all other ways kill our enemies, and damn, are we good at it.

祖祖輩輩流傳下來(lái)的智慧只為找出刺傷、致殘、射殺的最佳角度以及其他各種能置敵人于死地的手段。哦這該死的技能,我們還挺擅長(zhǎng)的其實(shí)~

But that's nothing new. In fact, those old guys in your history textbooks were just as imaginative as we are today at pounding foes into the dust. Forget Shakespeare. This is war.

然而殺人無(wú)新式。其實(shí),歷史課本里的那些老家伙跟我們一樣,在如何撕碎敵人方面也是奇招百出。歷史不是莎士比亞筆下的風(fēng)花雪月,這是戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。


10.Greek Steam Cannon



10.希臘蒸汽大炮

In 214 BC, the Roman Republic laid siege to the Sicilian city of Syracuse in a bid to gain strategic control of the island.

公元前214年,羅馬共和國(guó)圍攻錫拉庫(kù)扎的西西里市,妄圖得到該市的戰(zhàn)略控制權(quán)。

General Marcus Claudius Marcellus led a naval fleet of 60 quinqueremes—Roman battleships—across the Strait of Messina in a frontal charge while his second-in-command attacked from the land.

馬庫(kù)斯·克勞迪亞斯·馬塞洛將軍帶領(lǐng)著一只由60只五段帆船組成的海軍艦隊(duì)——羅馬戰(zhàn)船——越過(guò)墨西拿海峽正面進(jìn)攻西西里市,而他的副司令則從陸地入手。

But as the noose tightened around the city, the mighty Roman army found itself repelled by an unlikely adversary: Archimedes.

水陸兩軍逐漸收緊包圍圈,然而強(qiáng)大的羅馬軍團(tuán)發(fā)現(xiàn)他們敗給了自己絲毫不放在眼里的阿基米德。

For everything the Romans threw at him, Archimedes was always three steps ahead. Ballistae on the outer walls tore through the advancing cavalry.

無(wú)論羅馬軍團(tuán)如何行動(dòng),阿基米德總能先其三步。城墻上的投石機(jī)撕裂了前進(jìn)的軍隊(duì)。

Seaward, the Claw of Archimedes lifted whole ships out of the water and shattered them in a shower of splinters and screaming slaves.

海邊,阿基米德之爪將戰(zhàn)艦整只吊起然后撞向海面,殘木碎板滿天飛濺,奴隸的慘叫更是不絕于耳。

For two years, the siege dragged on, an epic battle of military might versus scientific wit.

圍殲就這么拖了兩年,這場(chǎng)史詩(shī)般的軍事斗爭(zhēng)所用的計(jì)謀可與當(dāng)今科學(xué)智慧媲美。




During this siege, Archimedes was said to have devised a weapon so devastating that it was able to burn ships to cinder from 150 meters (500 ft) away. All it took was a few drops of water.



據(jù)說(shuō),阿基米德在這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中發(fā)明了一種威力超強(qiáng)的武器,僅用幾滴水就能把150米(500英尺)外的船只化為灰燼。

The device was deceptively simple: a copper tube heated over coals with a hollow clay projectile dropped down the barrel.

裝置看似非常簡(jiǎn)單:在煤上加熱的銅質(zhì)炮管發(fā)射出空心泥制發(fā)射彈。

When the pipe got hot enough, a tiny bit of water was injected into the tube below the projectile.

當(dāng)銅管達(dá)到一定溫度時(shí),往發(fā)射器底下的銅管注入少量水。

The water instantly vaporized, blasting the projectile toward advancing ships. On impact, the clay missile exploded, spraying burning chemicals onto the wooden ships.

水立馬蒸發(fā),產(chǎn)生的蒸汽壓力便將"子彈"射向敵軍。泥制炮彈在沖擊力的作用下炸裂,包含其中的易燃化學(xué)物質(zhì)隨即灑滿整只木船。

Even today, Archimedes's steam cannon is a matter of intense speculation.

直到今天,人們對(duì)阿基米德的蒸汽大炮依然猜測(cè)不斷。

Mythbusters gave it a bust, but a team at MIT was able to build a working—and highly effective—model using the original description of the cannon.

"流言終結(jié)者"們盡潑冷水,但麻省理工學(xué)院的一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)根據(jù)阿基米德蒸汽大炮的原始特征描述,成功仿造出了一個(gè)實(shí)際操作性非常強(qiáng)的模型。

They calculated that their .45-kilogram (1 lb) metal shell was launched with 1.8 times the kinetic energy of an M2 machine gun firing a .50-caliber round.

根據(jù)他們的計(jì)算,45千克(1磅)的金屬炮彈的動(dòng)能是勃朗寧M2重機(jī)槍的1.8倍。

If they hadn't shot it directly into a wall of dirt, they guessed that it would have had a range of 1,200 meters (4,000 ft). And they only used half a cup of water.

若非將炮彈發(fā)射到泥墻上,科學(xué)家們猜測(cè)它的射程能達(dá)到1200米(4000英尺)。而這僅是半杯水的作用。


9.Whirlwind Catapult



9.旋風(fēng)炮

Catapults are the age-old war machines, and like modern rifles, there was a different kind for every purpose.

石弩是一種有歷史的武器,和現(xiàn)代來(lái)福槍一樣,它也有不同種類,用途不一。

While films have shown us the wall punchers and beast machines used by Greek and Roman armies, the Chinese devised a smaller version that could strike important targets with pinpoint accuracy: the xuanfeng, or whirlwind catapult.

我們?cè)陔娪爸锌催^(guò)許多希臘和羅馬的軍隊(duì)武器:擊墻機(jī)和野獸機(jī)器,而中國(guó)卻發(fā)明了體積更小、命中率更高的版本:旋風(fēng)炮。

Like a sniper rifle, the whirlwind catapult was a one-shot, one-kill form of attack.

跟狙擊步槍一樣,旋風(fēng)炮也是一發(fā)一彈。




They were small enough to be quickly moved around a battlefield, and the entire catapult could be swiveled on its base while someone sighted out a target.



它體積小,便于在戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上快速挪移。一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)目標(biāo),整個(gè)彈射器可以圍著基座旋轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)射。

This gave them a strategic advantage over heavier catapults and trebuchets which, while much more destructive with a single shot, took time and manpower to maneuver into position.

與笨重的大型投石機(jī)或石弩相比,旋風(fēng)炮占盡優(yōu)勢(shì)。盡管前者威力更大,但操作起來(lái)要耗費(fèi)相當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)間和人力。

To add to their deadly accuracy, the Chinese built these whirlwind catapults with two sling ropes and two release pins, keeping the sling pouch perfectly centered in the middle. No other cultures were known to do that.

為了提高命中率,中國(guó)的旋風(fēng)炮各有兩條吊索和兩個(gè)活動(dòng)插銷,使彈袋完美地固定在中間。還沒(méi)有任何國(guó)家能做到這一點(diǎn)。


8.Rocket Cats



8.火箭貓

Nobody had ever heard of rocket cats before 2014. Nobody, that is, except for Franz Helm, the man who invented them.

2014年以前,沒(méi)人聽說(shuō)過(guò)《火箭貓》。當(dāng)然,除了作者弗蘭茲·赫爾姆。

Sometime around AD 1530, the artillery master from Cologne, Germany, was putting together a military guide to siege warfare. Gunpowder was just beginning to have an impact on warfare, which made the book popular.

大約是公元1530年,這位來(lái)自德國(guó)科隆的火炮大師開始投入攻城戰(zhàn)的軍事指揮中。當(dāng)時(shí),由于火藥對(duì)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的作用逐漸顯現(xiàn),該書也流行起來(lái)。

Helm's manual contained descriptions of nearly every kind of bomb imaginable, all of it colorfully illustrated and grimly outlandish.

赫爾姆的手冊(cè)中描述了幾乎所有人們能想象到的炸彈種類,插圖配得色彩鮮艷卻讓人感覺(jué)陰森詭異。

Then he added a section advising siege armies to find a cat. Any cat will do, he said, as long as it came from the city you were trying to vanquish.

隨后他增加了一個(gè)章節(jié),建議攻城部隊(duì)找一只貓。他說(shuō),任何貓都可以,只要是從目標(biāo)城跑出來(lái)的。




Then tie a bomb to it. In theory, the cat would scamper back to its home and subsequently burn down the entire city. Pigeons were fair game, too.



抓住它,然后綁上炸彈。理論上,貓會(huì)受驚跑回家,這樣就能燒毀整個(gè)城市。鴿子也可作此用途。

Whether or not these things actually happened is a question that people are still trying to answer, but the answer is "probably not."

當(dāng)然,人們對(duì)證實(shí)這些武器是否曾真實(shí)用于攻城這一問(wèn)題始終熱情不減,但答案很可能是否定的。

According to Mitch Fraas, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who had the pleasure of being the first person to translate the text, there isn't any historical evidence that anybody actually tried to do what Helm suggested.

賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)的研究員米奇·弗拉斯這位有幸成為該文本翻譯的第一人表示,沒(méi)有任何歷史證據(jù)說(shuō)明有任何人曾按照赫爾姆建議的去做。

The most likely result of such a scheme, he said, would be setting fire to your own camp.

他說(shuō)該計(jì)謀極有可能會(huì)燒毀己方的營(yíng)地。

2022/9/29 0:33:08
nihaota





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