27 replies to this topic

[narboza22]

I saw a tv show that listed 10 weapons that most changed the world. As a guideline, they had to be made after WW2. I disagreed with some of the list, and I want to know what you think. Here's my list:

10) AH-64D Apache Longbow - most devastating aircraft to armored vehicles ever
9 ) Smart bombs - changed the way bombing worked
8) Night Vision/Thermal sensors - made war a 24/7 deal
7) Tomahawk Cruise Missile - allowed well protected targets to be attacked from far away without human risk
6) Ohio & Typhoon Class nuclear submarines - made nuclear first strikes obsolete
5) Stinger Missile - gave infantry to ability to counter aircraft in a highly mobile fashion
4) RPG-7 - AT weapons anyone can use
3) AK-47 - so easy kids can and do use them.
2) F-117 Nighthawk - rendered SAM sites useless
1) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier - projects power better than nuclear weapons because of its use in conventional warfare

Edited by narboza22, 11 April 2007 - 09:51 PM.

[lefthand]

Pre-WW2

1) Smallpox laced blankets

Made inhabiting the "New World" possible with little native resistence for European settlers.

[Nemoricus]

I personally believe that the Nimitz aircraft carrier has no place on that list.

Aircraft carriers in general? Sure.

Wait, just after WW2? Then, maybe.

[Tom]

So you wouldn't consider the Atom bomb as the top number 1 weapon for changing the world considering its significance in human evolution, balance of power and MAD.

[narboza22]

I said after WW2. If it was before it, then you would have the sword, then bows and arrows, then armor....

[Jeeves]

If you're looking at all history, you'd have the club first. The simplest instrument for hitting is a vast improvement over nothing. Then the axe.
The axe was a revolution everywhere it first appeared, from caves to Egypt, it made tribes and empires powerful. Next would be the spear.
The use of the throwing spear is what made the Mayan empire, it gave them aerial superiority over all their enemies, so created and forfilled the same role as aircraft and later missiles. It similarly empowered other cultures, and gave way to all other missile weapons.
Cavalry probably comes next. Once you have different weapons you can define tactics and strategies, and mobility plays a major role in this. I'd place tactics hand in hand with cavalry, for both their use as an offensive or harrassing force, and the ability to more quickly get orders down the line. Cavalry made empires such as Rome, and later Egypt, as well as redefining european warfare.
All other weapons are in some way decendant of those, so their influence in warfare is just an occurence in a cycle. A Blue-Steel standoff missile in the undercarriage of a Vulcan is better than an assaegi, but they both give aerial superiority and act as a deterant.

[Rawlo]

by weapon I assumed you ment the tech used to create the weapon:

so it would be something more like

Targetting laser
DU
Night vision
Anti Radar Geometry wtc
ram jet
Smart Bombs
Metel Storm System (though I'm not sure if thats in active use)

etc

[Ash]

ICBM. 'Nuff said.

[CodeCat]

Humanity.

[Calamity_Jones]

Sarcasm

[MCV]

No weapon 'cept the ICBM has changed the World of War, as war today is fought just like WWII.

Chronologically: (Newest-Oldest)

1) ICBM ("Infinite" range Nuke)
2) A-Bomb (A weapon so powerful conventional weapons could not be used against it.)
3) Tank (Trench war obsolete)
4) Aircraft Carrier (Battleship mostly obsolete, longer range naval warfare)
5) Air Plane (Introduces another dimension of warfare; 2,5D to 3D)
6) Machine Gun (Introduced trench war)
7) High accuracy rifle (Made Line formations obsolete)
8) Musket (Melèe weapons mostly obsolete)

Can't think of more.

Edited by MCV, 14 April 2007 - 07:25 PM.

[Athgar]

After the musket it has to be the pike, as it rendered cavalry useless, and could be given to any farmer with limited or no training.

[olli]

erm...emotions can be thought of as a "weapon"
the key to all conflicts.
Anger, greed, jelousy, revenge. that is a weapon in itself because if man did not have emotions, i personally think that there would be no wars. ever, because no body has a need to start a war.

i personally think that the wepaon that has revolutionised warfare is recently the use of robots. eliminates the risk of human casualites. they can be sied to disarm bombs, as spys and then can even fire weapons. i saw it on a program. any one played origional generals ZH hour? the guardian drone (the small thing with a machine gun) is actually a real wepaon in the US army. i think its still being protoyped bit it is based on a real model. it runs on crawler tracks,has a LSW machine gun attached on it, various other wepaon and cameras and things and is about 5 ft high

Edited by olli, 15 April 2007 - 08:45 PM.

[MSpencer]

1. Nuclear Weapons (Not ICBM because effective nuclear strikes were essentially assured even before them)
2. Horse (Naturally. Cavalry was the Queen of Battle for the majority of human history, and was almost solely responsible for the success of the Mongols.)
3. Machine gun
4. Tank (Not during WWI, but when the Germans learned how to use them. Tanks were wholly ineffective until the Wehrmacht doctrines of Guderian, Manstein, etc. started coming into effect in 1938/9.)
5. Radar (Not so effective at first when it was introduced, but today, radar is one of the most effective tools on the battlefield)
6. Modern assault rifles
7. Aircraft (Most effective from 1943 on, except for the Germans who enjoyed some effectiveness from 1939 on)
8. Artillery (This is a no brainer, but I would say that this really only became a deciding force in the late 1800s when strategic planners began really considering the effectiveness of artillery as a combat weapon instead of a siege weapon. The Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, and the Crimean War saw the use of artillery as a weapon of battle, but it wasn't until World War I that it really came into fruition as a weapon for all sorts of combat actions. Prior to the 19th century, artillery was almost wholly siege based.)
9. Aircraft carrier
10. HMS Dreadnought (The only specific one that I care to mention, only because its construction signaled a new era in naval warfare)

[Jeeves]

I thought Guderian did his theorey in the late 30's, so the Germans did know how to use tanks in WWII
By the end of WWI they knew how to use them and had by far some of the best designs, it was just too late to manufacture and impliment. Likewise, the Entente had plans for a normandy landing, battle-of-britain style bombings of Germany (partially achieved), and blitzkreig tactics drawn up on paper for 1919, they were just cancelled by the armistice. And none of that would have happened if the effectiveness of tanks under the right conditions hadn't been demonstrated at Cambrai.
Likewise, aeroplanes became pretty damn effective by 1916...

[Verrückt]

My list would be:

1. Stg-44 First assault rifle, no more bolt action bs

2. Nuclear Bomb, ended massive world wars. ( If we are to have another i wouldnt expect it to last too long )

3. RPG, makes killing armour easy and cheap ( well for your terrorist (or what ever you want to call them) that is ).

[OmegaBolt]

I don't see Nuclear warheads being that great... I mean sure they can wipe a small country off the map but no one is prepared to use them unless there is nothing to loose because all that will happen is someone will fire one back...

[MSpencer]

I thought Guderian did his theorey in the late 30's, so the Germans did know how to use tanks in WWII
By the end of WWI they knew how to use them and had by far some of the best designs, it was just too late to manufacture and impliment. Likewise, the Entente had plans for a normandy landing, battle-of-britain style bombings of Germany (partially achieved), and blitzkreig tactics drawn up on paper for 1919, they were just cancelled by the armistice. And none of that would have happened if the effectiveness of tanks under the right conditions hadn't been demonstrated at Cambrai.
Likewise, aeroplanes became pretty damn effective by 1916...

Typo.
And based on the British and French use of tanks in early WWII, I highly doubt they ever conceived of mobility warfare in such a way. Cambrai was one of the only reasons mobility warfare really got thought of when it did, otherwise it's probable that mobility warfare wouldn't have been conceived of until much later.
As much as I like to give the British and French credit despite the 1940 disaster, blitzkrieg was a solely German thing, and mobility warfare started as a German concept and quickly became a global thing.
Also, airplanes were never really deployed to great effect in the Great War. Certainly, they were good for reconnaisance, and sure, they were fitted with bombs around 1917/18, but they never really had a decisive effect on anything until September 1939. You can't even compare the effectiveness of airplanes in 1918 and 1939. In 1918, they were used almost exclusively for reconnaisance and counter-reconnaisance, but in 1939, airplanes had become a fully fledged military arm with force projection power and featured prominently throughout all of World War 2.

[Jeeves]

By WWII the plans had morphed back to infantry/cavalry rather than mixed offences with workhorses because of economy, rather than prior lack of experience. After the war economies where shattered and the millitaries went through a disarmerment phase. New tanks were deemed essential, but because of the lack of funding development ended up in a two-pronged approach. First of these was the supertanks, such as the T35 and Vickers International. They were big, bad, and too expensive to be purchased. So lighter tanks were made, although the desire for heavies hadn't been dismissed, Vickers and others discovered its easier to sell a 6tonner than a 60. The Germans were developing workhorses, with an unwavering respect to the values of mobility and comunication. This allowed for mixed fast offensives, whilst the allied nations of France and the UK backed back to the classical cavalry and infantry roles of mid 1917, rather than the late-war pre-blitz tactics. The Germans had been initially dismissive of tanks, opting for AT weapons as a better investment, but it must be handed to them to have learnt more about their use than the people using them.
The 1919 plan called for round the clock bombing of Germany with RAF flying HP1500s, HP0400's at night, and American Vickers Vimy's at day.
A typical HP1500 bomb load being about 4,000 lbs is equivilant of a the later Wellington, whilst the day bombers would cary 2,000 lb loads, with raids composed of an excess of 2-300 bombers at a time.
Whilst not on the scale of the Allied bombing of Germany in the latter part of WW2, this would have been equivalent to say the London Blitz of 1940/41 or raids such as that on Coventry.

[Gaffel]

I say for number 1 is Nuclear bomb.
It can destroy the whole earth.
The nukebomb on japan had only 15-20 Kiloton.
These day it have high number of Megatons.