Early Thermal Weapons - "Fire and Sword"

"Fire and Sword"

The destruction of enemy possessions and territory was a fundamental strategy of war, serving the dual purpose of punishment and deprivation of resources. Until the 5th century BC, the Greeks had little expertise in siege warfare and relied on a strategy of devastation to draw the enemy out; they destroyed crops, trees and houses. Centuries later, the Byzantines recommended this strategy, even though they had developed siege technology.

Fire was the easiest way of harrying and destroying territories, and could be done easily and quickly by small forces. It was a strategy put to good use by the Scots during the Wars of Independence; they repeatedly launched raids into northern England, burning much of the countryside until the whole region was transformed. King Edward II of England pursued one raiding party in 1327 by following the lights of burning villages.

The tactics were replicated by England during the Hundred Years' War; fire became their chief weapon as they laid waste to the French countryside during lightning raids called chevauchées, in a form of economic warfare. One estimate records the destruction of over 2000 villages and castles during one raid in 1339.

As well as causing the destruction of lands, foods and belongings, fire could also be used to divert manpower. 13th century Mongol armies regularly sent out small detachments from their main forces to start grass fires and fire settlements as diversions.

Devastation by fire was not only used as an offensive tactic; some countries and armies employed 'scorched earth' policies on their own land to deprive invading armies of all food and forage. Robert I of Scotland reacted to the English invasion of 1322 by launching punitive and diversionary chevauchées into north-west England, then retreating to Culross, burning as he went the Scottish lands which lay in the path of the English army. The English ran out of food and had to abandon the campaign. Kitchener employed scorched earth tactics to subdue Boer forces in South Africa when three years of warfare had resulted in a stalemate.

Such acts of aggression were not limited to wars against territorial enemies, but could form part of the strategies of conquest, subjugation and punishment of rebellion. Alexander the Great suppressed a revolt in Thebes, Greece in 335 BC, after which he ordered the city to be torched and laid waste. Alexander ordered (or allowed) a similar arson at Persepolis in 330 BC. It was a policy which was repeated throughout the period. Following his conquest of England in the 11th century, William I of England asserted his control of Northumbria by destructive campaigns throughout the region: "He ordered that crops and herds, tools and food should be burned to ashes. More than 100,000 people perished of hunger", reported Orderic Vitalis, a contemporary chronicler. It was a scene repeated the following century, during the anarchy of Stephen of England's reign. Civil war erupted between Stephen's supporters and those of the Empress Matilda, a rival claimant for the throne. The Gesta Stephani tells of the deeds of one of Stephen's supporters, Philip of Gloucester, by describing how he "raged in all directions with fire and sword, violence and plunder", reducing territory to "bare fields and dreadful desert".