Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:03 am Post subject: The BS list of weapons that changed the world
Alright, I was watching the discovery channel, all stoked for this show "
Weapons that changed the world" thinking of all the weapons that would be on there, then when it comes on, it was the worst list I have ever seen. I mean come on, how does an Apache helicopter get on that list or an armored infantry carrier. they need to redo it or something, It was just that bad.
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:57 am Post subject: Re: The BS list of weapons that changed the world
What was the list, King Tiger?.
I mean, given the discovery channels previous Amero-centric boostering, they will have the Sherman, as the "world changing" tank, when really the world changed when the BRITISH made Little Willy, the Sherman was just the world still shaking itself down into its new configuration.
We have to tip our hats yanky-land-wards for Little Boy of course, but every other world-changing-weapon was made somewhere OFF the US shores, initially, maybe the refinements of some ( Half? most?) of them were polished into full gloss somewhere around 'n' about Chicago, but the world changed in 1718 when James Puckle made his "Defense gun" , . . . . in LONDON, not when Gatling brought to birth the first of the following refinements to the concept.
Not having watched the programme, and with only the spur of your round discontent with it, I hazard to guess that they entirely left out the Crossbow?.
I reckon they ought to ask Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters, to compile a list, and some EXAMPLES too.
1. spear
2. swords
3. shield or hoplon
4. catapult
5. bow and later cross-bow
6. greek-fire
7. moral and virtue
.....
guys history channel is a populistic not scientific TV programme.. nice to watch but never take the info u get there for granted... nice sceptisism there King-Tiger i like that
geez my list is way off your list dude. heres mine, and the reason why their in it.
10.M4 sherman tank (first mass produced tank)
9.AK-47 (first universally used assault rifle)
8.Gatling gun (first "perfected" machine gun)
7.MG42 (first machine gun to shoot over 1000 rpm)
6.British Mark 1 heavy tank (first tank used in combat)
5.B-52 (the longest used bomber plane)
4.Tiger tank (first Actual Heavy Tank)
3.M1 Garand (first "perfected" semiauto rifle)
2.F-17 Nighthawk (first sealth aircraft)
1.The Atomic Bomb (the only bomb to cause mass destruction)
G'day all, an interesting list of weapons that supposedly "Changed the world", but they're all from the latter part of the 20th century. Going back through history, there are many other weapons that changed the world. My list would include:-
1) The Roman Pilum, the unique heavy javelin used by the Roman legions. One reason why the Roman army was so effective for so long. Remember Reg from Life of Brian? "All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?" Hehe I love that movie.
2) The English longbow, just ask the French how bad it was, same reason as the Pilum. Plus it took a lifetime to perfect it's use. The advantage that the musket and the crossbow had was that any idiot could be quickly trained to use them, but the longbow took years of practise for it to be used effectively.
3) The bayonet, which allowed the musket to eventually confirm it's superiority over the longbow and the crossbow. Added to this is the British inventing the bayonet charge, thanks to General Wolfe.
4) "Greek" fire, the napalm used by the Byzantine empire, which made them the dominant force in the region for over 1000 years.
5) The katana "Samurai" sword, the best sword ever made, even better than Toledo steel and Scottish Claymores.
6) The "Dreadnought" battleship, back then everybody have to have them, they were more than a status symbol.
7) The submarine, debatable on whether it was the Confederate navy's "CSS Hunley" or the US navy's "USS Holland" as the first true combat submarine. But they dramatically changed naval warfare and are still an influence today.
The aircraft carrier and how it has changed naval warfare and the ability for "Force Projection". The Royal navy's "HMS Ark Royal" was supposedly the first. Not many countries have them now as they are deemed to be too vulnerable and expensive.
9) The atomic bomb, like the Dreadnought, everybody had to have them. Ironically they helped to prevent wars too.
10) and lastly... The Improvised Explosive Device or IED or "Homemade bomb". The preferred weapon of the terrorist/freedom fighter. How many people from around the world have they killed over the last 100 years? How many wars and peace negotiations have they influenced?
1. The sling/spear. probably the first effective thrown weapons ever made.
2. The roman short sword, Made for effective use at close combat
3. Greek fire- as stated above
4. The trubuche (sp?) -the ultimate catapult
5. The musket- as stated above
6. The canon- marked the end of 'mechanical" projectile weapons and the start of 'chemical" ones if ya know what i mean,same as the musket
7. The Radio -changed the entire nature of warfare.
8. The Tank -again changed the nature of warfare
9.Combat aircraft
10.Aircraft carriers
My list is not so much specific weapons, but more about weapon types that changed warfare forever..anyhooo.
Don't quote me on it Tiger but I believe the KV-1 was first real "heavy tank"
well i noticed it and went and did some research. what i actually found out is that the Char 2C heavy tank is the "first" heavy tank. here is a pic of it.
ok heres mine without weapons..
1 the Roman spear formation
2 the English square formation
3 the English use of skirmisher
4 the German blitzgrieg (multi tasking/ specialist units)
5 the Japanese flanking manouver
6 the Russian human wave manouver
7 the American massed firepower tactic
8 the Australian use of cunning (send in the kiwis first )
1) The Roman Pilum, yes, very good choice, God4saken. I think their use of it counts as the first "Shock tactics" as a matter of fact. The disciplined advance, then the entire front cast their spears on order, drew gladis and into them!. Comes down again to the unheard of at that time, level of discipline the Romans exersized over their troops. And we know that their "inviciblity" changed the world.
Then you have the English longbow, but I think between these, you ought to have the
2) Scorpion of Saracuse, for one thing, it was the result of the worlds first international arms fair the tyrant of Saracuse having offered a golden fortune to anyone that turned up offering a military superweapon. And for another thing, it was simply a turning point in the worlds history.
Now we have the
3) Longbow. Again, it changed the world, let tiny England take up far too many of the worlds headlines "Shock Victory for Henry the fifths rag-tag army!"
4) "Greek" fire, the napalm used by the Byzantine empire, which made them the dominant force in the region for over 1000 years. (ok, I agree again, certainly revolutionised naval warfare, won such an important battle as Battle of Syllaeum, which stopped the Arabs invading Europe for 30 years. So, world changing)
I think some PARTICUALR sword, can't really deserve to be considered "World changing" because a sword is a sword is a sword, unless it is Excalibar, that is. So i think we have
5) Cannon. Changed everything. Forts became reduced to delaying positions, not impregnable, massed armies suddenly WERE stopable, navies became moving batteries rather than floating transports.
6) The "Dreadnought" battleship, back then everybody have to have them, they were more than a status symbol.
(sure, I accept this. In the days of the Wooden Wall, you could mount a fairly effective navy with small vessels, by chosing not to engage the opponents first class "Line-of-battle" ships, because they couldn't do much damage to a swift frigate, while the frigate remained able to interdict trade. Once the battleshps came along, if you DIDn't have their match, then you didn't have ports any more.)
And then i agree with the rest of your list, except i think you need PLANES, before you can have a ship to carry them. So I added planes.
7) The submarine, debatable on whether it was the Confederate navy's "CSS Hunley" or the US navy's "USS Holland" as the first true combat submarine. But they dramatically changed naval warfare and are still an influence today.
The aircraft carrier ( and planes to fly off them ) and how it has changed naval warfare and the ability for "Force Projection". The Royal navy's "HMS Ark Royal" was supposedly the first. Not many countries have them now as they are deemed to be too vulnerable and expensive.
9) The atomic bomb, like the Dreadnought, everybody had to have them. Ironically they helped to prevent wars too.
10) and lastly... The Improvised Explosive Device or IED or "Homemade bomb". The preferred weapon of the terrorist/freedom fighter. How many people from around the world have they killed over the last 100 years? How many wars and peace negotiations have they influenced?
no one's mentioned the crossbow, the weapon that gave some inbred yoink fresh from the pigpen the ability to nail an armoured nobleman and unlike the longbow it didn't need years of training
There's also the compound bow, the weapon that gave power to Atilla and Ghengis's hordes. Saw a doco recently where they claimed that 1 from every 200 europeans carry the blood line back to Ghenis himself (what a man). Surely that gives the compound bow a pretty high ranking? Sure changed the face (or a least the genetic makeup) of Europe and Europeans
Maybe you mean the recurve bow Southern Land... compound bow wasnt devolped till the 1960s.. if Gengis and his hoards where using the compound bow, his realitives would still be ruling the earth.
what about hannibals elephants?
they surely crushed some roman arse and Alexanders Phalanxes Sarissa 6m long pike that helped creating one hell of an empire
I would add rifle and canon rifling in the list,...changed the nature of war overnight :
- wooden ships became almost obsolete
-ranges increased
-accuracy increased (the bloodbath that was the American Civil War is a testament to this, old tactic with new weapons)
and the machine gun, again, look at WWI
...maybe, maybe not...
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The aircraft carrier and how it has changed naval warfare and the ability for "Force Projection". The Royal navy's "HMS Ark Royal" was supposedly the first. Not many countries have them now as they are deemed to be too vulnerable and expensive.
