Out of the Woodwork Productions
I am firmly of the opinion that one cannot really understand the military history of an era-the way the battles and campaigns played out-unless you have some sort of basic understanding of the equipment and technology used on the battlefield-the material culture of war. The references cited below are useful for understanding the evolution of military material culture, the nature of the military equipment in use during a particular period, and/or as resources for looking up information on specific pieces of military equipment.
http://www.myarmoury.com/about.html
This is a site about the collecting of modern reproductions of antique arms and armor. Has some very useful historical articles and illustrations of various types of weapons.
http://www.accesswave.ca/~phowell/phyguide/guide-equip-polearms.html
Information about various types of pole arms. Not comprehensive, but a good place to start.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/Weapon-List/Blade-List.htm
A good source of information on various types of hand-held bladed weapons.
http://www.netsword.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000797.html
Useful essay on the development and effectiveness of knightly armor.
http://netsword.com/
NetSword is an Internet discussion group for medieval and renaissance swords, daggers and associated weapons of war. In this series of forums we discuss modern replicas of historical swords along with many other types of weapons and their related fighting techniques. There is discussion of all types of historical swords, and the artifacts and events surrounding weapons and warfare from medieval and renaissance times.
http://forums.swordforum.com/
Sword Forum International. Discusses primarily swords of all types, with some discursion into various related topics.
http://www.myarmoury.com/home.html
myArmoury.com is designed as a resource for arms and armour collectors. There is a great deal of very valuable information about medieval, renaissance, and early modern weapons and equipment on this site.
http://www.capnmac.com/archery/maille/TOC.htm
A study of the effects of various weapons on mail
http://www.shaolin-society.co.uk/weapons/weapon.php
Information on various types of hand-held non-gunpowder weapons, Asian (emphasis on martial arts style weapons) and European.
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~dispater/handgonnes.htm
A broad overview of early hand-held firearms up to about 1500. Not definitive, and with some inaccuracies, but useful overall.
http://xenophon-mil.org/rushistory/medievalarmor/partii.htm
Information on various items of Russian medieval armor and weapons.
http://www.medievaltymes.com/courtyard/armour_terminology.htm
http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-AA/arms_m.htm
http://www.richard111.com/weaponry__military.htm
Valuable glossaries of terms relating to armor, chivalry, knighthood, and other medieval and renaissance military matters.
http://web.mit.edu/21h.416/www/militarytechnology/armor.html
A brief but informative essay on plate and mail armor.
http://themiddleground.blogspot.com/2005/10/body-armor-part-iii-contours-weight.html
Another brief but informative essay on armor.
http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_spot_quilted.html
A useful essay on quilted armor.
http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/sling/index.html
This article is entitled "The Sling in Medieval Europe", but is more a history of the military sling in general. Interesting and useful.
Blair, Claude. European and American Arms. New York: Bonanza Books, 1962. This is an interesting book for reference purposes. There is a relatively brief (80 pages) of text providing the general historical development of various types of weapons from the Middle Ages through about the mid-19th century. Chapters in the text include ones on the making of firearms and the decoration of weapons. After this comes photographs of 600 + medieval and 16th century weapons and firearms up through the percussion cap era, notes on the photographs, and then a variety of (for all practical purposes) illustrated appendixes on various matters pertaining to weapons. A very informative volume.
Blair, Claude, and Tarassuk, Leonid, ed. The Complete Encyclopedia of Arms and Weapons. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982. ISBN: 0-671-42257-X. This is an extremely well written, well illustrated, very detailed encyclopedia from ancient times to today. In the preface, the publisher states that "The encyclopedia concentrates on individual weapons and styles of armor, with particular emphasis on their component parts. Under the main headings, which are integrated into the book in alphabetical order-the principal developments in both arms and armor are traced from their origins through to the present day." The volume contains both color and black-and-white illustrations of very high quality. While Stone's Glossary (see below, this section) has information on a lot of material that this book doesn't, this encyclopedia does a better job of giving the reader the "big picture". A very useful reference.
The Diagram Group. Weapons: An International Encyclopedia from 5000 B.C. to 2000 A.D. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. ISBN: 0-312-03950-6 (pbk); 0-312-03951-4 (hbk). This volume is a guide to the weapons of war, organized by broad general type of weapon ("Arming the Hand"; "Hand-thrown Missiles"; "Bombs and Self-Propelled Missiles", etc.) The majority of the copious illustrations are drawings showing the weapons and the details of their operation. While it doesn't have the detailed information provided by Blair and Tarrasuk (see above), or the obscure information in Stone's work (see below), it is in many ways a handier reference, especially for the person who is not knowledgeable about a particular aspect of military material culture. Useful particularly for someone who wants to compare and contrast various styles for a particular type of weapon. Highly recommended.
Kelly, Jack. Gunpowder, Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. New York: Basic Books, 2004. The author has written a history of the development of gunpowder from its inception in China to its introduction in the West about 1300 to the supplanting of gunpowder as a military propellant and a general explosive by organic high explosives toward the end of the 19th century. The story is engagingly told in this book. Nine of the books thirteen chapters deal with pre-1750 developments because the most significant technological and social transformations relating to gunpowder occurred in Europe from the late Middle Ages to the military revolution of the seventeenth century. This is a popular history; not thematically sophisticated but it is very comprehensive in its coverage. Information taken from a review by Seymour J. Mauskopf in History: Reviews of New Books, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Fall 2004), pp. 40. I've read this volume and agree with the reviewer. Many of the technical issues relating to the early development of gunpowder are dealt with in a much more readily understandable fashion in this volume than in Bert Hall's Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe, although, in all fairness to Hall, I'm pretty sure Kelly's prose is a much simplified condensation of what he picked up from Hall. Hall does a much better job of putting gunpowder in the context of Renaissance warfare, IMHO.
Stone, George Cameron. A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and In All Times. New York: Jack Brussell, 1961 (originally published 1934). This is a very good old standard and is, in essence, a massive alphabetical dictionary of old/exotic/obscure military material. It is antiquarian in nature-there is very little on "modern" types of weapons and equipment, and it is not written for the popular press. It is well illustrated, and many of the more significant entries have illustrations of a number of different examples of the item being discussed. Due to the nature of the printing processes of the era in which this volume originally came out, the photographs-all black and white--are not as clear and sharp as they might be, but this does not interfere significantly with the utility of the work. I originally got my copy of this book in 1966, but it has been reprinted more than once since then. Written in a very different era and time, but a valuable reference nevertheless. Recommended when you need to look up that obscure military term from long ago.
Toy, Sidney. A History of Fortification from 3000BC to AD 1700. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1955. This is a well done, well illustrated history of fortifications throughout the world. At the time it was written, in its scope and general excellence it was one of the best studies of permanent fortifications in the English language. Information taken from a review by BG Donald Armstrong, USA, (Ret.) in Military Affairs, Summer 1956 (Vol 20, No. 2), pp. 110. Was apparently republished by Pen and Sword in 2006.
Tunis, Edwin. Weapons: A Pictorial History. New York: World Publishing, 1972 (originally published 1954). ISBN: 0-529-03702-5. There are later additions in print. This book is, essentially, basic European military material culture for those who don't know much of anything about it. It is a nicely illustrated kid's book, and an extremely good one at that. I read it back in elementary school, and it was one of the things that got me interested in military history. The text is written simply and in a straightforward manner, and the illustrations-all line drawings-are clear and plentiful. If you are just starting to get interested in military history and military equipment in particular, this is a good book to start with.
Wilkinson, Frederick. Arms and Armor. Knowledge Through Color Series. New York: Bantam Books, 1973 (originally published 1971).
Wilkinson, Frederick. Guns. Knowledge Through Color Series. New York: Bantam Books, 1972 (originally published 1971).
These two books are basic guides to their subject matter, providing an evolutionary history. Arms and Armor deals primarily with armor and non-firearms type weapons, with most of the book being taken up with the period up to the middle of the 17th century. Guns examines the development of firearms up to the end of the 19th century, with very little treatment of artillery or of "modern" weapons. These are simple, uncomplicated texts with good illustrations of the weapons and armor discussed. Very useful publications for those who want the basics on these subjects.