V-2 rockets
Wartime German projectiles
V-2 rockets were the first long-range guided ballistic missiles, developed by Nazi Germany and used against Allied cities in the final years of World War II.
The V stood for Vergeltungswaffe, "vengeance weapon." After the war, captured V-2 technology and scientists formed the foundation of both American and Soviet rocket programs, leading directly to the Space Age.
- space explorationInvestigating the cosmos beyond Earth
- ballistic missileSelf-propelled arcing munition
- guided missileSteerable self-propelled weapon
- war crimesIllegal acts during conflict
- Wernher von BraunGerman-American aerospace engineer
Cold War · space race · World War II · Nazi Germany · buzz bomb · civilian casualties · human suffering · concentration camp · aerodynamics · propaganda · NASA · combustion chamber · London Blitz · aerospace engineering · launch platform · historical memory · military ethics · psychological warfare
- Low Countries WWIIArnhem, Bastogne, Antwerp, Brussels, Battle of the Bulge
- German WarfareOperation Barbarossa, Eastern Front, Western Front, Battle of Stalingrad, Afrika Korps
- WehrmachtWehrmacht, Luftwaffe, Panzer, Waffen-SS, Rommel
V-2 rocketsbows and arrows
Ranged weapons using tension
swords · trebuchets · catapults · cavalry charges · muskets