This thesis is concerned with the design and development of British infantry rifles. The specific weapons considered are the Lee-Metford (LEME) first introduced in 1888; the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) brought into service in 1904; the Experimental Model No. 2 (EM2) briefly designated the Rifle No. 9 MkJ in 195 1; and the Section Small Arms Post 1980 (SA80) issued to troops in 1986. Over the past twenty years academic literature has demonstrated that technological determinism has persistently crept into accounts of technical change. By consistently leaving human agency out of the equation, technology has appeared to evolve autonomously and to have determinate effects. Whilst studies of civilian technologies have shown that this way of seeing has serious flaws, very little has been undertaken to show how the same issues arise in a military context. The approach adopted here explicitly aims to highlight and avoid problems of technological determinism by putting human choice back into the story of British rifle design. This is achieved through the identification of key personalities and social groups who had a perspective on, and an interest in, the development of the various systems. Having identified the key actors, their views on each artefact are explored. What emerges is that different groups see a particular technical solution differently. The arguments about what must be included in, and what is irrelevant to, a design of rifle are as a result exposed for further examination. The eventual weapon that emerges from these debates can be seen as a negotiation among the various parties: an artefact around which various perspectives coalesce. What transpires is a detailed picture of the tactical problems each weapon attempts to resolve. This not only indicates how various groups see the battlefield problem but also describes how these same actors want the infantry to fight. -

Research was conducted to analyse corros ion and tribological failures in The Tank Museum Bovington military tanks . Due to the age of the exhibits corrosion of vital components has become a significant issue, it is vitally important to preserve these artefa cts for future generations and so to do this effectively we need to monitor and reduce this corrosion as far as realistically possible. A case study of the historic military tanks followed by experimental research analyses is presented. Structural degradat ion through corrosion and engine wear has been i dentified and analysed . Materials were processed/manufactured during 2 nd Wor ld War, their composition was unknown. Therefore state - of - the - art characterisation techniques were performed on samples collected fr om the M10, Sherman, Centaur and Tiger 1 to obtain material compositions and to identify nearest standards . A bench mark of material loss due to corrosion so far, has been achieved in the M10, Sherman, Centaur, BT – R 60 and King Tiger t h rough ultrasonic c orrosion mapping . Material loss because of corrosion was high in the Centaur in comparison to the Sherman, M10, BT R – 60 and King Tiger s amples. C orrosion analyses techniques were conducted on samples from three tanks the M10, Sherman and Centaur to investigate corrosion m orphology on the tanks surfaces and corrosion propagation from surface to sub - surface level . During this experimental work various corrosion contaminants, sub - surf ace crack s and defects were identified. Corrosion layer/ residues we re relatively thick (approximately 250 μ m) on the surfaces of the M10, wherea s the phenomenon of corrosion pits was wide spread in the Centaur. C orrosion was influenced by the presence of surface contaminants and sub - surface defects such as slags, sulphide inclusions and corrosive pits. These factors alone and/o r in combination were observed to be a serious issue in limiting vehicles‟ longevity. Study of the environments both inside and outside the museum has been conducted to relate corrosion activity wit hin the conte xt. Based upon the data gathered simulated environmental corrosion tests were conducted to quantify corrosion accumulation under a controlled museum environment suitable for the museum visitors. Some degree of corrosion build - up was observed o n the samples under cont rolled environments. Prohesion test was conducted to evaluate viability of the material s , coating and primer. M aterial ability to resist adverse environmental conditions was negligible. These results are of particular interest for t he vehicles which are exposed in uncontrolled environment. Exposure of the primer an d coating to prohesion test showed, that the primer was able to resist failures during the entire test duration . However breakdown of th e coating was observed during the te st . Wear analyses of the o riginal piston which was designed before/during the 2 nd World War showed enhanced material composition and tribological pro perties than the new replacement piston . F ailures in the replacement piston and cylinder - liner could be att ributed to inadequate material selection and design. A sustainable model to extend longevity and to retard structural aging of the military tanks in The Tank Museum has been proposed.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study of medieval armour, with the goal of determining the precise techniques used by medieval armourers in the practice of their craft. The corpus for this research is from the collection of the Royal Armouries, as well as a selection of objects from other museums, with a focus on German and Italian armour between 1400 and 1500. The thesis makes use of a new methodology by which the armour itself is used as a primary source, in essence a text, using the interpretation of tool marks left on its surfaces. Although metallurgical studies have been undertaken on armour, the marks have not been systematically studied in the past and provide a means by which the techniques of the medieval armourer may be identified. The thesis also makes use of inventories, artwork, and experimental hammerwork to more accurately understand the workshop environment. Inventories show the variety of tools required in the workshop, as well as what would have been available to an armourer. Artwork showing armourers engaged in their craft is used to interpret some patterns of tool marks as well as identification of certain tools and techniques. The experimental work undertaken was used to recreate particular types of marks and patterns, demonstrating the relation between tools, processes, and the shapes of armour. The research demonstrates that it is possible, using this method, to reconstruct the ways that armourers worked, something that has been largely conjectural previously. This approach to armour studies has not been attempted before and has allowed for several specific questions to be answered. These include finding differences in working techniques of armourers from different regions, the ability to determine if certain unmarked objects were made by the same armourer, changing methods of construction, and whether a piece is a fake or authentic.

This thesis investigates the military equipment of the south Italic peoples known to the Romans as Samnites, Campanians, Lucanians and Apulians during the 5th to 3rd centuries BC. According to the ancient sources this period was characterised by two distinct phases of military conflict. The first phase was from the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 4th century when south Italic peoples seized control of Greek and Etruscan urban centres along the coast. The second phase was from the middle of the 4th to the early 3rd century when Roman involvement in the region resulted in a series of wars. Archaeological evidence shows that within this historical context a number of developments and innovations occurred in the south Italic panoply. Greek ideas and influences were adopted and integrated into native Italic forms of armour that suited local needs and tastes. It is also evident that south Italic arms and armour had a significant influence on the Romans. South Italic military equipment, however, has long been treated as an ancillary chapter to the better-documented Greek and Roman armies and never as a subject of investigation in its own right. This is surprising since such a large quantity of evidence exists from warrior burials, which consists of not only the arms and armour but of depictions of this equipment in tomb and vase-paintings. This thesis seeks to bring together a large corpus of material and information for the first time and investigate not only tactical and technical aspects but also less obvious meanings. These include questions of identity, cultural significance and the role of this equipment in a larger continuum of development and evolution.

This thesis examines one man-made disaster, resulting from the plethora of UneXploded Ordnance (UXO) in Laos, to clarify the performance of post-conflict humanitarian aid and development until 2012. This is achieved through case study field work in Laos. The time period studied is from 1954, the beginning of the political background to the war in Laos, through to the work carried out by the national agency UXO Lao in the field to 2012. The academic disciplines driving this research are War, Conflict and Security Studies, including Post-Conflict Studies, plus aspects of International Relations and Disaster Management. It is not a Law thesis although of necessity it touches on aspects of International Law and particularly the subsequent Protocol V to the 1980 Treaty on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CMC). In nine years from 1964-1973 the U.S.A. dropped 260 million cluster bomb submunitions on Laos. It is estimated that 30 percent of the cluster munitions failed to detonate. It is not known exactly where they were dropped and rivers and rain cause them to move. The effect of UXO in the most affected provinces has made them unsuitable for expansion in tourism and agriculture. Analysis of responses to this situation shows that efforts to educate people about the dangers of UXO have often been ineffective and victim assistance is lacking, although now covered by the CMC. The U.S.A. bombing, remained shrouded in official secrecy, and Laos's Communist status precluded overt aid. Laos was therefore a forgotten war but one which has profound implications for warfare and subsequent peace-building. Clearance remained a low priority, in part because it was a low priority for the Lao Government which was not much interested in the welfare of the rural communities affected. The National Regulatory Authority (NRA), the agency within the Laotian government responsible for UXO and EOD requires in FY 2013 $30 million, for UXO clearance with substantial additional increases over the next ten years. The U.S.A. is now committed diplomatically and financially to assist Laos in its bomb removal effort, after President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Determination in 2009 declaring that Laos was no longer a Marxist-Leninist Country and thus facilitating U.S.A. and other international aid. New technology may finally unlock the solution to this 50-year old problem. The distribution of GPS to farmers would enable them to report locations of any UXO they found, for immediate attention, greatly increasing the speed and effectiveness of response.

Roman military equipment has traditionally been studied from a typological perspective based on a linear concept of change. Whilst Roman alloys have been analysed scientifically and general studies on them have been published, analysis of military equipment has been scarce and mostly secluded as part of excavation reports of individual sites. Scientific analysis though, can provide independent ways of studying military equipment. It can answer questions about production and distribution of the raw materials and finished objects and is capable of informing on reasons for technological choices (the intention of obtaining determinate colours, for example), and identification of military units. A total of 216 copper-alloy military objects from the British sites of South Cadbury Castle, Ham Hill, Usk, Carlisle, Chester and Kingsholm, and the German site of Kalkriese were selected for obtaining metallurgical characterisation: chemical analysis at major, minor and trace element level and microstructural analysis to obtain fabrication history and identifying any plating. The analytical techniques employed were atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), optical microscopy and multivariate statistics methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), discriminant analysis (DA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The aim of the project was to characterise the chemical and physical make-up of Roman military copper-alloy metalwork from the 1st century AD, with especial interest in the immediate post-conquest period. The results of the analysis show a difference between the Roman military equipment from British sites and the equipment from Kalkriese, based on trace element patterns. This difference can be explained by a large input of material into Britain that had been made in the years before AD43 in preparation for the conquest. Contrary to recent scholarship, and based on compositional and microstructural evidence, some lorica segmentata brass fittings seem to have been centrally produced. Primary brass and specific gunmetal compositions seem to be associated with the military and probably chosen primarily for their appearance and resemblance to gold, rather than for their mechanical properties. The possibility of mechanised production of brass is explored based on the brass ingot from Sheepen.

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