These included goads, foot-long pieces of wood with iron hooks on their ends lilia (lilies, so named after their appearance), which were pits in which sharpened logs were arranged in a five-point pattern and abatis, fallen trees with sharpened branches facing outwards. Some fortifications in the Roman Empire were surrounded by a series of hazards buried in the ground. Subsequently, high explosives were developed and used in land mines. Mines using gunpowder as the explosive were used from the Ming dynasty to the American Civil War. The history of land mines can be divided into three main phases: In the ancient world, buried spikes provided many of the same functions as modern mines. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, which are designed to disable tanks or other vehicles and anti-personnel mines, which are designed to injure or kill people. Explosive remnants of war (ERW) include UXOs and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO), devices that were never used and were left behind after a conflict. If bomblets do not explode, they are referred to as unexploded ordnance (UXO), along with unexploded artillery shells and other explosive devices that were not manually placed (that is, mines and booby traps are not UXOs). The use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of cluster munitions is prohibited by the international CCM treaty. Another type of remotely delivered explosive is the cluster munition, a device that releases several sub munitions ("bomblets") over a large area. Remotely delivered mines are dropped from aircraft or carried by devices such as artillery shells or rockets. Other types of IED are remotely activated, so are not considered mines. They may incorporate military stores, but are normally devised from non-military components." Some meet the definition of mines or booby traps and are also referred to as "improvised", "artisanal" or "locally manufactured" mines. Overlapping both categories is the improvised explosive device (IED), which is "a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating explosive material, destructive, lethal, noxious, incendiary, pyrotechnic materials or chemicals designed to destroy, disfigure, distract or harass. Also, booby traps can be non-explosive devices such as punji sticks. Normally, mines are mass-produced and placed in groups, while booby traps are improvised and deployed one at a time. Such actions might include opening a door or picking up an object. Similar in function is the booby-trap, which the protocol defines as "any device or material which is designed, constructed or adapted to kill or injure and which functions unexpectedly when a person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object or performs an apparently safe act". In the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (also known as the " Ottawa Treaty") and the " Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices", a mine is defined as a "munition designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or vehicle". 3.1 Firing mechanisms and initiating actions. 2.3.1 Between the American Civil War and the First World War.To date, 164 nations have signed the treaty, but these do not include China, the Russian Federation, or the United States. With pressure from a number of campaign groups organised through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a global movement to prohibit their use led to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Treaty. Approximately 80% of land mine casualties are civilians, with children as the most affected age group. Seventy-eight countries are contaminated with land mines and 15,000–20,000 people are killed every year while many more are injured. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. The use of land mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used. Swedish FFV 028 anti-tank-mines of the German Bundeswehr (inert versions)Ī land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it.
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