A Molotov cocktail, also known as a petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, bottle bomb, poor man’s grenade.Due to the relative ease of production, Molotov cocktails have been used by criminals, protesters, rioters,urban guerrillas, terrorists, irregular soldiers, or even regular soldiers short on equivalent military-issue weapons.They are primarily intended to ignite rather than completely destroy targets, and are often used just as much to causechaos as to actually do damage, sometimes being used as weapons during riots and mass protest.
The name “Molotov cocktail” was coined by the Finns during the Winter War, called Molotovin koktaili in Finnish.The name was a pejorative reference to Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who was one of the architectsof the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed in late August 1939.