Infantry in the Middle Ages heavy toll on the English invaders of their lands. Adapted by the English, the longbow was nevertheless a difficult weapon to master, requiring long years of use and practice. Even bow construction was extended, sometimes taking as much as four years for seasoned staves to be prepared and shaped for final deployment. A skilled longbowman could shoot 12 arrows a minute, a rate of fire superior to competing weapons like the crossbow or early gunpowder weapons. The nearest competitor to the longbow was the much more expensive crossbow or Arbalest, used often by urban militias and mercenary forces. It required
Thermonuclear weapon reactions to occur during the detonation of a nuclear weapon. Discovering the properties of this radioactive material would allow the Soviet Union to develop a more powerful weapon that requires less fuel. Following Fuchs's return, experts from the Soviet Union spent a great deal of time researching his findings for themselves. Even though the Soviets did obtain some original ideas, the findings of this research served to confirm Fuchs's notes from the American lectures on the matter. After his return to England in mid-1946, Fuchs was not again in touch with Soviet intelligence until September 1947, when his controller confirmed