The Crossbow has a long and glorious history that is recorded in Asian history. It was actually known
as Keshik or Ekash, which meant a strong bow. It was used by the Turks for a
long time. There are many other civilizations and races that have given to us
their contribution to the development of the Crossbow.
There were various
contributions made by the Arabs to the creation of the Crossbow. They used the
traditional design with one chain hooked in the middle. They used other
materials like wire and sharpened bone to make the shafts. The chain of The crossbow was called Iqbal (Allah's part). The primary thing that made the
Crossbow into an effective weapon is the efficiency of the designs.
The developed CrescentCrossbow which was an Indian weapon was not very successful as it had to be
attached to the horse. The Tatar Empire who was ruled by the Ottomans was the
first civilization to design a lightweight Crossbow. The Russian serfs
successfully experimented with this design and they found out how to create a
crossbow that fired from a short string instead of a long chain.
They named this new type
of weapon as AK (Armorer). It was later the Turkoman troops also came up with
their own version of the Crossbow. This new design had the typical design but
the string of the weapon was much shorter. This gave the weapon more
maneuverability, which gave it more of an advantage when it was mounted on a
horse.
The Chinese, in turn,
used their ingenious designs for the design of the later models of the crossbow. The Chinese also used the usual design of a short chain at the middle
but they also added to it a hook for the string. They also found out that
adding a stock to the design gave the weapon more accuracy.
They also experimented
with other materials but it was iron that was the most suitable material for
the construction of the first Chinese type of archery weapons. The Han Chinese
also experimented with the designs. These were the ones who invented the
U-shaped crossbow.
The French from this
country was the one who came up with the design for the new crossbow. This
weapon had a bridge instead of a loop in the middle of the crossbow. They also
used metal to make the handle and also the complete weapon.
The Arabs later copied
the design for the crossbow. The Europeans followed suit as well. The changes
were gradually made but the basic concept remained the same for all the
weapons. The development of crossbows was based on the inspiration from the
Arab societies and their ingenious and creative minds.
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