The Arms and Armour of Arabia in the 18Th-19th and 20th Centuries

In the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Arab nomads who inhabited a great stretch of the Near East from Aleppo in northern Syria to the southern shores of the Arabian peninsula continued a way of life virtually unchanged from the time of the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. Wars and raids were carried out by tribesmen armed like their ancestors with sword, mace and lance. Firearms came slowly to the Bedouin, and multishot weapons were very rare until the end of the nineteenth century.This book examines surviving weapons, identifying new centres of manufacture and questions the origin of 'Damascus' swords. Arms exported to the Near East from India, Iran, the Caucasus and Europe are discussed. So too are tribal customs relating to warfare, weapons and their usage with eye witnesses' accounts.