In the immortal words of Ulysses S. Grant and decades later, Ron Pearlman in the Fallout games, War… war never changes.
That my be true, war distilled means death; lots and lots of death. No one wages war without the intent to kill others, and it’s usually on a massive scale. It seems that we just can’t help ourselves. After all, we’ve been doing this for thousands of years now. Perhaps we’ve just gotten too good at it to quit.
When you’re hung like a horse…
The Art of War
Now, though the nature of war may have changed little over the last few thousand years, the equipment has changed dramatically. Gone are the refined steel swords of a bygone era… they’ve been replaced by precision rifles and increasingly sophisticated missiles, drones, and even hackers.
If you’ve ever wanted to see soldiers’ kit through the ages, this is as clear a guide as I’ve ever found. Starting in 1066 and working our way towards the present…
I’ll tell you one thing: we’ve clearly started carrying more crap through the ages. The kit was relatively simple back in the day, and with each new generation I notice more and more gear. In some ways, I really don’t envy the soldier of 2014.
In any case, I hope you found this as interesting as I did. The entire collection was photographed by Thom Atkinson. If you’re interested in seeing more of his work, you’ll find it on his official website.
