"Ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, thanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon -- so long as there is no answer to it -- gives claws to the weak."
So here's the thing about what George Orwell was talking about: firearms HAVE been countered. For just over a hundred years now, armoured vehicles, aerial flight, and rocketry has been the answer to firearms and George Orwell knew that. He wasn't talking about what you're talking about. In fact, his point was exactly what the age you romanticise is well and truly over: muskets and rifles aren't the important weapon anymore.
