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Land mine: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Land mine
The first land mine ever recorded was not an explosive device but a wooden stake sharpened to a point, buried in the earth to cripple the feet of an advancing army. This ancient concept of victim-operated traps dates back to the Roman Empire, where fortifications were surrounded by goads, lilies, and abatis designed to slow enemies and make them vulnerable to projectiles. Julius Caesar utilized these defenses during the Battle of Alesia to hold off reinforcements for Vercingetorix, proving that the principle of concealed danger remains a constant in warfare. The caltrop, a four-spiked weapon that always lands with one point upward, became a standard tool for disabling soldiers and mounted forces alike, used by the Jin dynasty to slow Genghis Khan and by ninjas in Japan from the fourteenth century onward. These early devices were not designed to kill but to disable, forcing the enemy to take time to scrutinize every step, a tactic that has evolved into the modern land mine's ability to terrorize entire populations.
The Gunpowder Revolution
In the fourteenth century, Chinese military engineers began filling hollow cast iron cannonballs with gunpowder to create the first true explosive land mines. The Huolongjing, a military treatise from this era, described a mine triggered by a bamboo tube filled with compressed gunpowder and lead pellets, sealed with wax and concealed in a trench. When an enemy stepped on hidden boards, a weight would fall, striking steel wheels against flint to ignite the fuses. This mechanism required careful timing and was a precursor to the wheellock musket sketched by Leonardo da Vinci around 1500 AD. By 1573, German engineer Samuel Zimmermann had developed the Fladdermine, or flying mine, which used a flintlock to ignite black powder buried near the surface. These early devices were unreliable due to dampness and the slow-burning nature of flintlocks, yet they laid the groundwork for the pressure-activated explosives that would define modern warfare. The evolution from simple wooden stakes to complex gunpowder triggers marked a shift from disabling to killing, setting the stage for the industrialization of land warfare.
The Industrialization of Death
The development of high explosives in the nineteenth century transformed land mines from unreliable curiosities into standard military equipment. Guncotton, invented by Christian Schonbein in 1846, was four times more powerful than gunpowder, but it was dangerous to manufacture until Frederick Augustus Abel developed a safe method in 1865. By 1863, the German chemical industry had created trinitrotoluene, or TNT, which became the standard explosive for land mines after the First World War due to its stability and resistance to dampness. During the American Civil War, Confederate brigadier general Gabriel J. Rains deployed thousands of torpedoes, which were artillery shells with pressure caps, to slow the advance of Union troops. These mines caused only a few hundred casualties but had a profound effect on morale, leading Union generals to force Confederate prisoners to remove them. The transition from gunpowder to TNT allowed for the mass production of mines, making them a ubiquitous feature of the battlefield and a tool for both defense and offense.
When was the first land mine recorded and what was it made of?
The first land mine recorded was a wooden stake sharpened to a point buried in the earth to cripple the feet of an advancing army. This ancient concept of victim-operated traps dates back to the Roman Empire where fortifications were surrounded by goads, lilies, and abatis designed to slow enemies and make them vulnerable to projectiles.
Who invented the first true explosive land mine and when did it happen?
Chinese military engineers began filling hollow cast iron cannonballs with gunpowder to create the first true explosive land mines in the fourteenth century. The Huolongjing, a military treatise from this era, described a mine triggered by a bamboo tube filled with compressed gunpowder and lead pellets sealed with wax and concealed in a trench.
What year did the German chemical industry create TNT for land mines?
By 1863 the German chemical industry had created trinitrotoluene or TNT which became the standard explosive for land mines after the First World War due to its stability and resistance to dampness. Guncotton invented by Christian Schonbein in 1846 was four times more powerful than gunpowder but it was dangerous to manufacture until Frederick Augustus Abel developed a safe method in 1865.
How many mines did the Germans lay during the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942?
In the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942 the Germans laid half a million mines in two fields five miles deep known as the Devil's gardens which accounted for 20 percent of Allied tank losses. The Germans became the most inventive and systematic users of land mines during the Second World War developing the Schrapnell mine also known as the S-mine which jumped to waist height before exploding to send thousands of steel balls in all directions.
When did the Ottawa Treaty come into force and how many nations have signed it?
The Ottawa Treaty which came into force on the 1st of March 1999 represents a global effort to prohibit the use stockpiling production and transfer of anti-personnel land mines. The treaty has been ratified by over 100 countries and the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor has recorded over 120,000 casualties from mines IEDs and explosive remnants of war from 1999 to 2017.
How many Afghan civilians were killed or injured by landmines since 1989?
Since 1989 nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war averaging around 110 people per month. In 2017 at least 2,793 were killed and 4,431 injured with 87 percent of the casualties being civilians and 47 percent being children under the age of 18.
During the Second World War, the Germans became the most inventive and systematic users of land mines, developing the Schrapnell mine, also known as the S-mine, which jumped to waist height before exploding to send thousands of steel balls in all directions. The Germans also introduced the Schü-mine 42, the most common mine of the war, which had a wooden casing to evade metal detectors and was surrounded by S-mines to kill soldiers attempting to remove them. In the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the Germans laid half a million mines in two fields five miles deep, known as the Devil's gardens, which accounted for 20 percent of Allied tank losses. The Soviets, learning from their war with Finland, manufactured over 67 million mines and laid over a million at the Battle of Kursk to halt the German advance. The war also saw the development of the Polish mine detector by Józef Kosacki, which used metal detection to speed up the locating of mines, and the introduction of non-metallic casings to counter this technology. The scale of mine production and the sophistication of their design reached unprecedented levels, making land mines a central element of modern warfare.
The Cold War and the Smart Mine
The Cold War brought about a new era of land mine technology, with the development of scatterable mines that could be delivered by air, artillery, or helicopters. The United States Operation Doan Brook studied the feasibility of air-delivered mines, leading to the production of over 37 million gravel mines between 1967 and 1968, which were dropped in places like Vietnam without marking or recording their locations. The British designed the Mark 7 anti-tank mine to defeat rollers by detonating a second time, and the Americans developed the Claymore, a directional fragmentation mine that hurls steel balls in a 60-degree arc. The concept of the smart mine emerged, with mechanisms to deactivate or self-destruct after a preset period to reduce civilian casualties, though these self-destruct mechanisms were not always reliable. The Cold War also saw the development of nuclear land mines, such as the Blue Peacock project, which were eventually cancelled due to political and tactical infeasibility. The focus shifted from mass production to precision and self-destruction, reflecting the changing nature of warfare and the growing awareness of the long-term consequences of land mines.
The Human Cost
Since 1989, nearly 44,000 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war, averaging around 110 people per month. In 2017, at least 2,793 were killed and 4,431 injured, with 87 percent of the casualties being civilians and 47 percent being children under the age of 18. The largest numbers of casualties were in Afghanistan, Syria, and Ukraine, where landmines continue to pose a significant threat to civilians long after conflicts have ended. The presence of landmines hampers resettlement, agriculture, and tourism, rendering land impassable and unusable for decades. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, led by Jody Williams, campaigned successfully to prohibit their use, culminating in the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which has been signed by 164 nations. Despite the treaty, countries like China, Russia, and the United States remain non-signatories, and the use of landmines continues to cause suffering and death in conflicts around the world.
The Path to Peace
The Ottawa Treaty, which came into force on the 1st of March 1999, represents a global effort to prohibit the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel land mines. The treaty was the result of the leadership of the Governments of Canada, Norway, South Africa, and Mozambique working with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. The treaty does not include anti-tank mines or cluster bombs, focusing specifically on anti-personnel mines that pose the greatest long-term risk to humans and animals. Signatories agree to destroy existing stocks within four years of signing the treaty, and 64 countries have taken the option to retain land mines for use in training or development of countermeasures. The treaty has been ratified by over 100 countries, and the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor has recorded over 120,000 casualties from mines, IEDs, and explosive remnants of war from 1999 to 2017. The path to peace involves not only the prohibition of land mines but also the development of effective demining techniques and the support of communities affected by the presence of these deadly devices.