Secret weapons that seemed so incredible they defied belief. There were warnings about giant rockets that could travel into space and rain down on their targets hundreds of miles away. There were rumours about electronic beams that could guide bombers to their targets in darkness or in bad weather. There was even talk about guided bombs … Secrets of War s1e11: Secret Weapons of the Third Reich, History 1998
What Winston Churchill called the Wizard War. ibid.
German weapons development was also greatly hindered by the absence of any central organisation capable of supervising the various projects. ibid.
German designers created remote-control weapons that could not be jammed. ibid.
Eventually Von Braun created a masterpiece: the world’s first ballistic missile. ibid.
The German Navy also created its share of secret weapons. ibid.
Warring nations used guns as their principle means to project power. Secrets of War s1e24: Super Guns
Five Big Berthas were eventually built and continued to rain destruction down on the allies until the end of 1917. ibid.
Atomic bombs would dramatically influence the design of the next generation of super-guns. ibid.
Energy and beam weapons are slowly becoming a reality. ibid.
Why do people in the US think that if we have bigger weapons and more weapons it’s going to make us safer from terrorists? Jody Williams
Since the end of the Cold War we’ve sold more military weapons than the rest of the world combined. Lawrence Korb, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Reagan administration
America was heading for a new confrontation with its allies yesterday after it emerged that the Bush Administration will refuse to accept an arms control deal to enforce a ban on biological weapons. The Times 2001
Weapons are like money. No-one knows the meaning of enough. Martin Amis
Spare us all word of the weapons, their force and range,
The long numbers that rocket the mind. Richard Wilbur, Advise to a Prophet, 1961
I must fight with my weapons. Not his. Not selfishness and brutality and shame and resentment. John Fowles, The Collector
The danger is becoming greater. As the arsenals of the superpowers grow in size and sophistication and as other governments – perhaps even, in the future, dozens of governments – acquire these weapons, it may be only a matter of time before madness, desperation, greed or miscalculation lets loose the terrible force. Jimmy Carter, cited Watchtower August 1981
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices ... to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill ... and suspicion can destroy ... and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is ... that these things cannot be confined...to the Twilight Zone. Rod Sterling, The Twilight Zone, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
The First War, the Great War, was supposed to be the war to end all wars. But along its battlelines ancient tactics collided with new and powerful weapons. The first weapons of mass destruction. WWI: The First Modern War s1e1: Armoured Beasts, 2014
The trade in illegal weapons, however, began under a different president. At the end of 1991, Ukraine’s then President, Leonid Kravchuk, decreed the establishment of a commercial department at the Defence Ministry, whose main aim was to turn the vast store of Soviet weapons inherited by Ukraine into cash. Misha Glenny, McMafia
It was states and groups from Africa who sent the greatest number of envoys to Ukraine to broker arms shipments from Odessa. ibid.
Remember that stockpile of Russian weapons? And indeed the estimated two to three factories that produce weapons unmonitored? ibid.
Somewhere around the world in unknown hands are seventy-four hugely accurate missiles that can bring down a 747. Each one is worth $50,000. ibid.
With his considerable financial clout, Bout bought up Mafeking airport just south of the Boswana border, lock, stock and barrel, installing mechanics and administrators there and even paying the salaries of immigration officers. This was a key hub in the dispatch of weapons to other southern African countries, from where the planes would return with a payload of minerals and even commodities like rare fish and gladioli (for sale in the United Arab Emirates). ibid.
It was the perfect trade circle. Weapons manufactured mainly in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union ... would be flown into the conflict areas of Africa. Russian pilots were especially welcome as they often knew the terrain well from the Cold War period. The weapons were traded for diamonds ... The only people who lost out were the dead and maimed Angolans. ibid.
I found missile research utterly demoralizing. Partly it was because I was hoping I would soon be joining MI5. But I was not alone in realizing that the missile system was unlikely ever to be built. It was a folly, a monument to British self-delusion. In any case this kind of science was ultimately negative. Why spend a life developing a weapon you hope and pray will never be used? Peter Wright, Spycatcher p26
Ancient superweapons as mighty as today’s … Archimedes’ Claw … A group of men could grab and tip enemy ships … Just the first of Archimedes’ many game-changing inventions … A death ray … long debated … by harnessing the power of the sun. Ancient Impossible s1e3: Ultimate Weapons, History 2014
Could Archimedes’ cannon have had the power needed for such destruction simply using steam? ibid.
Egypt: This floating superweapon appears to have carried more people than a modern aircraft carrier. ibid.
These were no ordinary warships – they were the Iron-Clads. Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Colour s1e2: Weapons of War, History 2015
Modifications to weapons already in use – innovations that would make them more accurate and much more deadly., ibid.
The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy. Friedrich Nietzsche
Where are Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction? Dan Rather, CBS News
If the war was not about weapons of mass destruction, what is it really about? CNN News, Ben Wederman reporting
We know for a fact that there are weapons there. Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary
They have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about. Ari Fleischer
You’ve heard the president say repeatedly that he has chemical and biological weapons. Ari Fleischer
Weapons of mass destruction was a fantasy. We had accounted for the production equipment, we had accounted for the spare parts, we had accounted for the missiles, and yet when I briefed the CIA they rejected it. Scott Ritter, ex UN weapons inspector
We know they have weapons of mass destruction. We know they have active programs. There isn’t any debate about it. Donald Rumsfeld
We know where they are. They’re in the area round Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. Donald Rumsfeld, 30th March 2003, ABC’s This Week
The United States knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Donald Rumsfeld
I don’t know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons. Donald Rumsfeld
And we believe he has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons. Dick Cheney
There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. Dick Cheney
He [Saddam Hussein] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours. Colin Powell, February 2001
cf.
Everybody knows that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell