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Article: Remote combat engagement.
- Article from:
- Military Thought
- Article date:
- April 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 East View Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Long-distance confrontation came into being, as an element of warfare, practically at the same time as war did. In ancient times, as soon as projectile weapons--arrows and bow, crossbow, sling, javelin, and machines (catapults, ballistae)--were invented, the Greek phalanx and the Roman legion sought, before closing in for hand-to-hand fighting, to inflict a defeat on the enemy from a distance. This influenced their tactics. Archers, crossbowmen, and slingers were positioned in a combat formation so as to be the first to use their weapons. As firearms appeared and improved in the Middle Ages and later, the long-range confrontation became further developed and assumed new ...