ABSTRACT
Four of the wars have had a great impact on the development of anti-personnel weapons: the two World Wars, the Korean War and the Second Indo-China War. World War I provided an opportunity to compare the optimism of some generals with the pessimism of I. S. Bloch, and to test the laws of war against the conduct of 'total war' between great industrial powers. The development of anti-personnel weapons during the inter-war period must be seen in the light of the political aftermath and the tactical lessons of World War I. While the inter-war years saw considerable development of tanks and aircraft, and of the munitions pertaining to them, most armed forces kept the infantry weapons of World War I. The pressures of war accelerated the development of existing anti-personnel weapons, especially in the field of automatic infantry weapons. Combat aircraft and their weapons were increasingly used in World War II.
