The Tori katana combines truly elegant furniture and a powder-steel folded blade with the functionality of our Performance Series. The Tori features a Flying Crane themed Tsuba and Fuchi/Kashira while the Menuki are Kabuto or Japanese helmets. The high quality brown leather Tsuka-ito is wrapped over black Same. The Saya is wrapped at the mouth with black-lacquered rattan and then finished in a textured brown. The Tori is available in three folded steel cutting blade profiles and three Iaito blade lengths.
Competitive Cutting / Lighter Weight The XL Light blades feature the same geometry as those of the XL but incorporate deeply cut grooves (bo-hi) to reduce the weight of the blade while retaining most of it�s strength and cutting ability. This weight reduction makes for a quicker sword, well adapted for multiple cuts in lighter targets.
The Tori katana combines truly elegant furniture and a powder-steel folded blade with the functionality of our Performance Series. The Tori features a �Flying Crane� themed Tsuba and Fuchi/Kashira while the Menuki are Kabuto or Japanese helmets. The high quality brown leather Tsuka-ito is wrapped over black Same. The Saya is wrapped at the mouth with black-lacquered rattan and then finished in a textured brown. The Tori is available in three folded steel cutting blade profiles and three Iaito blade lengths.
Heavy Competitive Cutting Designed strictly for competitive cutting, our XL Katana blades incorporate the geometry, strength, weight and profile needed for successful cuts on substantial targets. Featuring differential heat treatment and a narrow edge angle, these wide blades will reward good technique with clean cuts and excellent durability. Key Features:
The Practical Pro Elite Katana has an extended tsuka and a thicker and longer (29�) Performance Series blade with a finer polish when compared to others in the Practical series. The blade is forged in high-carbon steel and differentially hardened using the traditional claying method. The rayskin-covered tsuka is wrapped with cotton ito and is double-pegged for safety. The saya is finished in a deep black lacquer with a black Japanese cotton sageo. The fittings (koshirae) are finished in antiqued black iron. The katana feature a round Kuruma tsuba, which represents the �Wheel of Dharma,� symbolizing the Buddhist concept of the Noble Eightfold Path. Key Features: * 1065 High-Carbon Blade * Fine Polish * Quality fittings Specifications: Blade length: 29� Handle length: 14� Overall length: 44� Weight: 2lb 13oz Point of Balance: 4" Width at Guard: 1.40" Width at Tip: 1.05" Thickness at Guard: .30" Thickness at Tip: .20" Sori: 3/4" Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.
Price: 499.99
"The Oni are mythical creatures from Japanese folklore similar to western demons or trolls. In modern culture they are beginning to move away from this menacing connotation into the role of guardian or protector, similar in character to gargoyles. Their power and ferocity, however, have not diminished. There is a Japanese saying which translates to Oni with an iron club, or to be of an invincible nature, a fitting association with the 29� L6/Bainite blade on which our Oni Katana is built. The blade features the geometry of our Performance Series for outstanding cutting ability. The 14� tsuka is wrapped in black ray skin and silk ito while the Koshirae feature Oni in various classical styles. A unique combination of folklore and functionality.
Bainite is a structure of high-carbon steel that combines great strength with excellent flexibility and shock absorption characteristics. It has been known as an exemplary Katana blade component for a number of years but its use has been restricted to a few top-class master smiths, due to the difficulties involved in performing the exacting heat treatment procedures necessary for the production of a Bainite blade body in combination with the very hard Martensite Yakiba (edge section) required for Katana blades.
Hanwei has now mastered this difficult process, using billets of L-6 tool steel (a very tough high-carbon low-alloy steel) as a starting point. Blades are forged and shaped in the normal way, then carefully heat treated to achieve the required Bainite and Martensite structures before final polishing.
Made by Hanwei. Used for practice sessions by fencers worldwide, the Sport Fencing Foil (SHFCFL02) is ideal for the recreational fencer. Featuring a blade of tempered high-carbon steel, forged under strict quality control standards, the foil is built to international standards. Handles are molded rubber, with aluminum guards and steel pommels, weighted for exact balance. A spare blade (OHFCFL01) is also available. MEASUREMENTS: OVERALL LENGTH: 42 3/8 inches WEIGHT: 8oz
Price: 86.99
Used for practice sessions by fencers worldwide, the Sport Fencing Sabre (SHSAFL02) is ideal for the recreational fencer. Featuring a blade of tempered high-carbon steel, forged under strict quality control standards, the sabre is built to international standards. Handles are molded rubber, with aluminum guards and steel pommels, weighted for exact balance. A spare blade (OHSAFL01) is also available. Specifications: Overall length: 40 3/4� Weight: 8oz Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.
Price: 95.99
Slingking Water Balloon Slingshot Shoots Water Ballons up to 75 Yards. Slingkings exclusive balloon filler allows you to fill balloons with or without a faucet. Slingking water balloon launcher kits contain everything needed for hours of fun!
Price: 26.99
This is an actual sprinkler system head which has been converted into a key hider. Blends so well into your yard or garden that no one would ever think that you had a spare key hidden inside. You will never have to worry about being locked out again and only you and your family members will know the secret location where the key is hidden. The sprinkler head measures 4 inches x 2 inches x 2 inches. The secret compartment measures 3 inches x 1 1/2 inches x 1 1/2 inches. Please note that this item is not a functional sprinkler head. Packaged on color insert card that is hangable.
Price: 6.99
Splatmatic Magnum Splat Paintball Shooter requires no batteries or C02. Shoots flying color .50 caliber, non-toxic, biodegradable, water-soluble paintballs. If you want twice the fun of the Pistol Splat, go for the Magnum Splat! The unique dual-feed system, the Magnum Splat holds two times the ammo for two times the fun. Youll have non-stop action while the other guys will be reloading again and again!
Includes:
Eyewear
Wipe clean target
20-Pack .50 caliber Flying Colors Paintballs
Flying Colors paintballs are water soluble and non-toxic.
Silver 3 1/4" medium size throwing stars. Each throwing star has 4 points and weighs 1.3 oz. The throwing star has a two etched dragons facing eachother in the center of the throwing star.
Price: 24.99
A stun baton is a self defense device which disrupts the message the brain sends to the voluntary muscles. Simply touching an attacker with a stun baton for three to five seconds will deliver a high voltage shock causing loss of balance and muscle control, confusion, and disorientation bringing him to his knees and making him incapable of further aggressive activity. Full recovery takes about five to ten minutes and there is no permanent harm. It measures 18 inches long so it will keep you at a safe distance from your attacker. You can defend yourself by hitting with the baton or touching an attacker with its end. If the attacker attempted to grab the baton he would also get shocked because the top half of the shaft is also "hot". At 500,000 volts this is the highest voltage stun baton available. Designed without a safety switch for quick use. Requires two 9 volt batteries. Note: Please use Energizer batteries as others are usually too large for battery compartment.
Price: 49.99
This collection of Civil War era Sabres represents some of the most popular and iconic swords used during the conflict. Most feature leather wrapped handles with high quality guards cast in brass. Several of the carbon steel blades are etched with �C.S.A� or �U.S.� designations and steel scabbards are included. A must for any Civil War enthusiast. Specifications: Overall length: 42� Weight: 2lb 14oz Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.
Price: 104.99
This collection of Civil War era Sabres represents some of the most popular and iconic swords used during the conflict. Most feature leather wrapped handles with high quality guards cast in brass. Several of the carbon steel blades are etched with �C.S.A� or �U.S.� designations and steel scabbards are included. A must for any Civil War enthusiast. Specifications: Overall length: 39� Weight: 2lb 9oz Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.
Price: 104.99
The Cutlass (SN610) is a standard naval pattern, though it has become a firm favorite of the re-enactors of a piratical nature. The brass basket is distinctive and balances the 24 �� blade well. A leather scabbard and belt frog are included. Specifications: Overall length: 36 1/4� Weight: 2lbs 6oz Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.
Price: 124.99
The Confederate Cavalry Officer�s Sword (SNA15) replicates the model carried by Confederate General Joseph Shelby. The initials CS are cast into the handguard, with C.S.A.etched into the tempered carbon steel blade. The black-finished steel scabbard has brass fittings. MEASUREMENTS: OVERALL LENGTH: 38 1/2 WEIGHT: 2lbs 11oz
Price: 104.99
The Civil War Trooper�s Sword (SNA17) is typical of swords issued to troops on both sides of the conflict. This economy sword features a fullered carbon steel blade, wooden grip with a spiral wire wrap and a steel scabbard. Specifications: Overall length: 40� Weight: 2lbs 10oz Specs will vary slightly from piece to piece.
Price: 99.99
War is the reciprocal and violent application
of force between hostile political entities aimed at
bringing about a desired political end-state via armed
conflict. In his seminal work,
On War,
Carl Von Clausewitz calls war the "continuation of
political intercourse, carried on with other means."[1]
War is an interaction in which two or more militaries
have a “struggle of wills”.[2]
When qualified as a
civil war, it is a dispute inherent to a given
society, and its nature is in the conflict over modes of
governance rather than
sovereignty. War is not considered to be the same as
mere
occupation,
murder or
genocide because of the reciprocal nature of the
violent struggle, and the
organized nature of the units involved.
War is also a cultural entity, and its practice is
not linked to any single type of political organisation
or society. Rather, as discussed by
John Keegan in his “History Of Warfare”, war is a
universal phenomenon whose form and scope is defined by
the society that wages it.
[3]
The conduct of war extends along a continuum, from the
almost universal
tribal warfare that began well before recorded human
history, to wars between
city states,
nations, or
empires. A group of combatants and their support is
called an
army on land, a
navy at sea, and
air force in the air. Wars may be prosecuted
simultaneously in one or more different
theatres. Within each theatre, there may be one or
more consecutive
military campaigns. A military campaign includes not
only fighting but also intelligence, troop movements,
supplies,
propaganda, and other components. Continuous
conflict is traditionally called a
battle, although this terminology is not always fed
to conflicts involving aircraft, missiles or bombs
alone, in the absence of ground troops or naval forces.
War is not limited to the
human species, as
ants engage in massive intra-species conflicts which
might be termed warfare. It is theorized that other
species also engage in similar behavior, although this
is not well documented.
[4][5][6]
Some believe war has always been with us; others
stress the lack of clear evidence that war is not in our
prehistoric past, and the fact that many peaceful,
non-military societies have and still do exist.
Originally, war likely consisted of small-scale raiding.
Since the rise of the state some 5000 years ago,
military activity has occurred over much of the globe.
The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of
technological advances led to modern warfare.
Since the close of the
Vietnam War, the ideas expounded by the Prussian
military theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) have
come to thoroughly permeate American military writing,
doctrinal, theoretical, and historical. His book
On War, first published (as
Vom Kriege) in 1832, was adopted as a key
text at the Naval War College in 1976, the Air War
College in 1978, the Army War College in 1981. It has
always been central at the U.S. Army's School for
Advanced Military Studies at Leavenworth (founded in
1983). The U.S. Marine Corps's brilliant little
philosophical field manual
FMFM 1: Warfighting (1989) is essentially a
distillation of On War, and the newer Marine
Corps Doctrinal Publications (MCDPs,
c.1997) are equally reflective of Clausewitz's basic
concepts.*1
This is not the first time Clausewitz has been in
fashion. Indeed, On War has been the bible of
many thoughtful soldiers ever since Field Marshal
Helmuth von Moltke attributed to its guidance his
stunning victories in the wars of German unification
(1864, 1866, 1870-71). Nor is it the first time that
individual American soldiers and military
thinkers have been attracted by his ideas: George
Patton, Albert Wedemeyer, and—especially—Dwight
Eisenhower were intensely interested in what he had to
say.
It is, however, the first time that the American
armed forces as institutions have turned to
Clausewitz. While the philosopher had insisted that war
was "simply the expression of politics by other means,"
the traditional attitude of American soldiers had been
that "politics and strategy are radically and
fundamentally things apart. Strategy begins where
politics end. All that soldiers ask is that once the
policy is settled, strategy and command shall be
regarded as being in a sphere apart from politics."*2
The sudden acceptability of Clausewitz in the wake of
Vietnam is not difficult to account for, for among the
major military theorists only Clausewitz seriously
struggled with the sort of dilemma that American
military leaders faced in the aftermath of their defeat.
Clearly, in what had come to be called in scathing terms
a "political war," the political and military components
of the American war effort had come unstuck. It ran
against the grain of America's military men to criticize
elected civilian leaders, but it was just as difficult
to take the blame upon themselves. Clausewitz's analysis
could not have been more relevant:
The more powerful and inspiring the motives for
war,... the more closely will the military aims and
the political objects of war coincide, and the more
military and less political will war appear to be.
On the other hand, the less intense the motives, the
less will the military element's natural tendency to
violence coincide with political directives. As a
result, war will be driven further from its natural
course, the political object will be more and more
at variance with the aim of ideal war, and the
conflict will seem increasingly political in
character.*3
When people talk, as they often do, about
harmful political influence on the management of
war, they are not really saying what they mean.
Their quarrel should be with the policy itself, not
with its influence.
Vom Kriege (IPA: [fɔm
ˈkʁiːgə]) is a book on
war and
military strategy by
Prussian general
Carl von Clausewitz, written mostly after the
Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and
published posthumously by his wife in 1832. It has been
translated into
English several times as On War. On
War is actually an unfinished work; Clausewitz had
set about revising his accumulated manuscripts in 1827,
but did not live to finish the task. His wife eventually
compiled all the work and the final two chapters
Clausewitz never finished.
On War is one of the first books on modern
military strategy. This is mainly due to Clausewitz'
integration of politics and social and economic issues
as some of the most important factors in deciding the
outcomes of a war. It is one of the most important
treatises on strategy ever written, and is prescribed at
various
military academies to this day.
Carl von Clausewitz was a
Prussian officer among those baffled by how the
armies of the
French Revolution and
Napoleon had changed the nature of war through their
ability to motivate the populace and thus unleash war on
a greater scale than had previously been the case in
Europe. Clausewitz was well educated and had a strong
interest in art, science, and education, but he was a
professional soldier who spent a considerable part of
his life fighting against Napoleon. There is no doubt
that the insights he gained from his experiences,
combined with a solid grasp of European history,
provided much of the raw material for the book. On
War represents the compilation of his most cogent
observations.
Note: Clausewitz states that Napoleon's tactics were
not revolutionary at all and that Napoleonic Warfare did
not change anything greatly in military history. The
technology of weaponry for the most part remained
static, and new strategies weren't developed, but rather
Napoleon refurbished old ones, mixing them into one
grand strategy.
The book contains a wealth of historical examples
used to illustrate its various concepts.
Frederick II of Prussia (the Great) figures
prominently for having made very efficient use of the
limited forces at his disposal.
Napoleon also is a central figure.
Among many strands of thought, three stand out as
essential to Clausewitz' concept:
War must never be seen as a purpose to itself,
but as a means of physically forcing one's will on
an opponent ("War is not merely a political act, but
also a real political instrument, a continuation of
political commerce, a carrying out of the same by
other means."[1]).
The military objectives in war that support
one's political objectives fall into two broad
types: "war to achieve limited aims" and war to
"disarm” the enemy: “to render [him] politically
helpless or militarily impotent."
The course of war will tend to favor the party
employing more force and resources (a notion
extended by Germany's leaders in World War One into
"total war"—the pursuit of complete military victory
regardless of the political consequences).
Military strategy is a
national defence policy implemented by
military organisations to pursue desired
strategic goals.[1]
Derived from the
Greek
strategos, strategy when it appeared in use
during the 18th century[2],
was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the
general"[3],
'the art of arrangement' of troops.[4]
Military strategy deals with the planning and conduct of
campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and
the
deception of the
enemy. The father of modern strategic study,
Carl von Clausewitz, defined military strategy as
"the employment of battles to gain the end of war."
Liddell Hart's definition put less emphasis on
battles, defining strategy as "the art of distributing
and applying military means to fulfil the ends of
policy" Hence, both gave the pre-eminence to political
aims over military goals, ensuring
civilian control of the military.
"You must not fight too often with one enemy,
or you will teach him all your art of war." –
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military strategy is the plan and execution of
the contest between very large groups of armed
adversaries. It involves each opponent's diplomatic,
informational, military, and economic resources wielded
against the other's resources to gain supremacy or
reduce the opponent's will to fight. It is a principle
tool to secure the
national interest. A contemporary military strategy
is developed via
military science.
[5]
It is as old as
society itself. It is a subdiscipline of
warfare and of
foreign policy. In comparison,
grand strategy is that strategy of the largest of
organizations which are currently the
nation state,
confederation, or international
alliances. Military strategy has its origins before
the
Battle of the Ten Kings and will endure through the
space age. It is larger in perspective than
military tactics which is the disposition and
maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield.[6]
Military strategy in the 19th century was still
viewed as one of a trivium of "arts" or "sciences" that
govern the conduct of warfare; the others being
tactics, the execution of plans and manœuvering of
forces in battle, and
logistics, the maintenance of an army. The view had
prevailed since the Roman times, and the borderline
between strategy and tactics at this time was blurred,
and sometimes categorization of a decision is a matter
of almost personal opinion.
Carnot, during the
French Revolutionary Wars thought it simply involved
concentration of troops.[7]
The Battle of Siffin, illustration from a
19th century manuscript by
Muhammad Rafi Bazil.
Strategy and
tactics are closely related and exist on the same
continuum.
