Molotov Cocktail

The Molotov cocktail is an improvised incendiary weapon consisting of a breakable glass bottle filled with a flammable liquid such as petrol, sealed and fitted with a cloth wick or rag that is lit immediately before the bottle is thrown, so that it shatters and ignites its contents on impact. The name was coined by Finnish forces during the Winter War of 1939 to 1940 against the Soviet Union, mocking Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who had claimed Soviet bombing raids over Finland were humanitarian food deliveries; the Finns used the weapon with considerable success against Soviet tanks, exploiting weak points in armor where the ignited fuel could disable engines or blind vision ports. Requiring no specialized manufacturing and only readily available materials, the Molotov cocktail has remained a common improvised weapon of urban and guerrilla combat, and of civil unrest and street protest, in conflicts around the world in the decades since.