The Top 10 Greatest Army Inventions
There are many lists ranking various army inventions ranging from the ancient warfare of antiquity to modern mechanized warfare. However, stating a single invention as the best or "top" over others is impossible as every new invention was critical to its time period. Important military inventions are vast and range from spears and longbows to armored tanks and eventually to the ultimate weapon, the atomic bomb.
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Greek Fire
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Greek fire, the predecessor to napalm, was created in the seventh century and used by the Byzantine army and navy. At the time of its invention it was referred to as liquid fire. The exact recipe behind Greek fire has been lost to history, however, there are some speculations that the fire bomb contained petroleum, resin, pitch and sulfur among other ingredients. In battle, Greek fire was flung toward to enemies and burst into flame on impact and could not be extinguished by water.
Sarissa
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The sarissa, a piked lance measuring around 20 feet in length, was invented for use by the Macedonian army around 3000 BC. The sarissa was a crucial asset for the Macedonian Phalanx whose strength came from their tight "block" formation. The sarissa made it very difficult for opposing armies to penetrate the wall of pikes which led to the phalanx's reputation of being invincible.
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Longbow
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The longbow was officially incorporated into the English Army during the mid-thirteenth century during a time when mounted knights held the advantage on the battlefield. With the coming of the longbow, the structure of the medieval battlefield changed as armored knights could be felled by a single arrow shot at a distance from up to 200 yards.
Stirrup
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Many historians consider the stirrup to have greatly effected medieval battle by giving more fighting power to the mounted cavalry. Foot stirrups stabilize the rider, giving them a mount to base their weight on and thus put more force and concentration into their lance or sword. While cavalry before the invention of the stirrup were by no means useless, their stability was greatly increased by the invention.
Gunpowder
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The Chinese created gunpowder during the first century but it was not used in military weapons until the eleventh century. Without gunpowder, it would not have been possible to invent the cannon and guns. Gun and powerful projectile weaponry marked the virtual end of the sword and lance as the primary weapons on the battlefield.
Tank
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The armored tank is one of the greatest inventions in modern warfare and set the stage for the mechanized warfare first seen during the first and second World Wars. The tank allowed for armored transport while simultaneously functioning as artillery.
Chemical Weapons
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Though ancient armies used chemical and biological warfare, it wasn't until the modern creation of mustard gas, tear gas and other chemical weapons that the tactic became widely used. Beginning with the First World War, chemical warfare became a norm on the battlefield to cause smoke cloud, confusion and injury.
Machine Guns
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The machine gun was invented in the late nineteenth century but is ultimately connected to its use during the First World War when it was known as the queen of the battlefield. The machine gun is a mounted and fully automatic machine that allows for a rapid continuous stream of fire. The invention of the machine gun ultimately led to the coming of trench warfare as defense in the line of fire of is virtually impossible.
Helicopter Gunship
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Army helicopter use as transportation, evacuation and as a source of artillery was not used until the U.S. war in Vietnam. Armored helicopters were crucial for vertical landing and take off in the dense jungles of Vietnam and proved to be the most effective technical aspect of the war. Nearly all wars since the Vietnam War have relied heavily on the use of armored helicopters.
Nuclear Bomb
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To label any device created solely for mass destruction of humans as "greatest" is subjective and insensitive. What the creation of the nuclear atomic bomb did for the military was ultimately to render the army as useless. In its essence, the nuclear bomb replaces any need for a military and is in of itself the deciding factor of war. Though nuclear weapons have only been used once in history, in 1945 by the U.S. against the Japanese, their invention altered the definition of warfare.
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