Molotov cocktail

Posted by William Karl Thomas on September 03, 2001

In Reply to: Molotov cocktail posted by bikeT on September 01, 2001

Perhaps you're already aware, but the term came
from World War II when ill-equipped Russians
fought German tanks by throwing gas filled
bottles with flaming rag fuses in them at the
tank treads, hoping to ignite their gas tanks
or the oily residue coating the gears that
drove the treads. These crude but highly
effective weapons were named after Vyacheslav
Mikhailovich Molotov (1890-1986) who was Prime
Minister of Russia from 1930 to 1941 and
continued as Foreign Minister of Russia until
1956.