What are your top 10 weapons in History?

[Scarecrow]

Well here is the Top 10 from space.com.

I will present mine later, but lets see yours.

Should be interesting to hear what all of you think.

[nicephoras]

Any list that doesn't include the Kalashnikov isn't worth the internets page its posted on. Seriously, how can you leave off the most successful weapon in history? I mean, really, the M-1 Abrams number one? Is that a joke?

[Scarecrow]

Any list that doesn't include the Kalashnikov isn't worth the internets page its posted on. Seriously, how can you leave off the most successful weapon in history? I mean, really, the M-1 Abrams number one? Is that a joke?

I agree. The AK-47 is the preeminent weapon of all time. It is #1 without any doubt.

The RPG is also in the top 3.

10. Zero
9. USS Missouri
8. Spitfire
7. USS Abraham Lincoln
6. .50 cal
5. UCAV
4. Mig-21
3. RPG
2. F-15
1. AK-47

I am trying to keep it to specific weapons and not platforms.

[PhillyQuakesFan]

Not sure what you mean by "zero"??

I'm not gonna even try to come up with a complete top 10 right now, but I'd say the longbow would have to be on there.

[spejic]

It's tougher to create a list for all time than just one for the 20th century (as was done on the Discovery Channel recently with a list that I agreed with 90%). But, yes, this list stunk. The Gunbus was the first fighter, but it was a short-used technological dead-end - they should have chosen a single seater puller-prop aircraft with fixed forward firing guns, the model used for all such aircraft in the future. And I don't buy the crossbow, either. The less said about the first choice the better.

I'll also make a list tomorrow.

[Belgian guy]

If we're talking of all time, shouldn't the bow and arrow win, seeing as it was the first truely powerful and accurate ranged weapon?

[Ismitje]

I'm not knowledgeable to have a top ten, but I offer for consideration in no particular order:

1) war horse
2) broadsword
3) long bow
4) repeating rifle
5) catapult

[yasik19]

According to my good friend David, it's a sling.

[Scarecrow]

If we're talking of all time, shouldn't the bow and arrow win, seeing as it was the first truely powerful and accurate ranged weapon?

Yes the Bow and Arrow is certainly one that I should have put up there in mine. I admit that I think more of modern times when I compiled my list.

The Zero is the Japanese Mitsubishi Zero

[spejic]

Here's my list. I'll do what Scarecrow did and keep it as specific as possible:

10) Asian Composite bow - The dominant weapon for much of the world for something like 2000 years. When the Romans first ran up against it, it drastically and permanently changed their tactics.

9) Maxim gun - Brought a big change to how soldiers fight. Trench warfare existed before the machine gun, but the machine gun (and wire) made standard march attacks costly and ineffective. In response, brought about "infiltration" tactics - how all soldiers fight now - and the idea of close cooperation between indirect artillery and foot soldiers.

8) Lebel Model 1886 rifle - An excellent rifle created to take advantage of the French invention of smokeless powder. Now you can actually have soldiers shoot more than twice and still be able to see their targets. Ended massed troop formations and colorful uniforms and made soldiers skirmishers (and some snipers). Some were still in use at the start of WWII.

7) Swedish field cannon (17th century) - Cannon were around for a while, but they were cumbersome siege machines. The British were some of the first to make the cannon mobile (using inventions such as the limber, gun carriages, and trunnions), but they were unable to keep up with the highly mobile troops of the time. Gustavus Adolphus' approach favoring light cannon that could be pulled by two horses and keep up with marching troops was revolutionary. The "queen of the battlefield" was born.

6) Renault FT-17 - The first modern tank with a turret on top and the engine in back. Built by the thousands, and was dominant in the French and American parts of the WWI front lines. The Germans so feared the mass production of this particular tank that it helped bring about their final push and their final realization of failure even though the Western Front was still all in Allied territory. Was still the main French light tank at the start of WWII.

5) Whitehead torpedo - The first self-powered torpedo, and so successful that Whitehead made a factory and started arming the world with this weapon. Suddenly you didn't need massive guns to take on capital ships - you just needed these cheap giant killers. Brought about the birth of the torpedo boat which evolved into the submarine and the torpedo boat destroyer (later just "destroyer"), which became the preeminent ship design after being armed with torpedoes themselves. The same basic principles of the Whitehead was used by most torpedoes of WWI and WWII.

4) Swiss Pike - The sharpened stick was probably the first manufactured weapon, and never stopped being used. But in the 14th century, it was born again by the Swiss. In the Battle of Grandson it did what longbows, crossbows, and cannon could not - put an end to the era of the knight. Its use was instantly emulated all over Europe. Even the arquebus and musket did not stop the massed pike as a defensive weapon - they just mixed the two together for mutual protection in the universally used tactic of "pike and shot" which dominated until 1700. Eventually they gave each musketeer their own pike with the invention of the bayonet, but the style of thinking brought about by the Swiss pike didn't end until WWI.

3) Sturmgewehr 44 - The Maxim gun created a split in the infantry - those that shot (those with the machine gun) and those that didn't (usually everyone else). The assault rifle gave every soldier massive power and the ability to use it in a wide array of situations. Once the Germans began issuing the Sturmgewehr 44, all other small arms were obsolete. Until everyone else started copying the Sturmgewehr 44.

2) Panzerfaust - The shaped charge is a way of forming an explosive so that its force is magnified and directed in one direction and was first used by the Germans in the form of an anti-fortress mine called the "hohlladung". Suddenly you didn't need massive explosives or speed to defeat armor - the lighter shaped charge could do it regardless of speed. The Panzerfaust was a hand-held rocket propelled grenade using a shaped charge warhead that could punch through the armor of just about any tank and was super cheap and easy to use. Hundreds of thousands were built and thousands of Russian tanks became flaming wrecks. The modern derivatives of this weapon, such as the Russian RPG-7 and RPG-29, are now arguably the most important infantry weapon in the field today.

1) Mark 53 fuse - The American proximity fuse brought about crushing changes to naval combat in the Pacific and land combat in Europe during WWII. Imagine shooting at aircraft attacking your ship and actually being able to shoot them down! It effectively nullified the kamikaze tactic and turned any conventional attack equally suicidal. And in Europe it magnified the effectiveness of anti-personnel artillery ten-fold. Before, most shells would explode when they hit the ground, sending most of the force into the dirt or harmlessly into the air. With the proximity fuse, it would explode just before it hit the ground, sending most of its force down into the victims below. It served an important part in stopping the Battle of the Bulge, shredding German troops caught in the open. Just about anything explosive now has a proximity fuse.

[teamdragon]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned her.
http://images.askmen.com/galleries/actress/natalie-portman/pictures/natalie-portman-picture-6.jpg

[DoctorD]

The Abrams tank? Idiotic. If you have to pick a post-WWI tank, the T-34 is a better choice.

No one has mentioned these two yet.

1) The Chariot - first increase in the momentum of the attack

2) The Stirrup - yet another increase in the momentum of the attack

[JayDelight729]

Shouldn't the A-Bomb be #1 on this list.

It's only been used a couple of times, but the fear for the use of this weapon has been at the forefront of all major confrontations since it was first used 60 years ago.

[Scarecrow]

The nice thing about this thread and any list is that there are no wrong answers. I am interested to hear what others think of when listing there top 10 weapons in history.

The T-34 was a great tank, the Sherman was good for the job we needed it to do. The Germans made great tanks, but couldn't mass produce them enough to make a difference.

The V-2 was a weapon that advanced modern warfare by showing how ballistic missiles could be utilized in a combat situation. The Messerschmidt jets also should be listed.

[spejic]

No one has mentioned these two yet.

1) The Chariot - first increase in the momentum of the attack

2) The Stirrup - yet another increase in the momentum of the attackBoth good, but what can you do? There's only 10 slots. What do you take out? Kind of depends on what your definition of "weapon" is as well.

[teamdragon]

I don't know much about this, but it soundes like the ultimate weapon. Does anyone know how credible the claims made in this vid are?

LFttsnRHzVE

[Scarecrow]

I don't know much about this, but it soundes like the ultimate weapon. Does anyone know how credible the claims made in this vid are?

LFttsnRHzVE

We are looking for the Top 10 weapons in history, not silly pictures or videos. Do you have a list?

[firstshirt]

no order, just off the top of my head:
Guns/rifles:
Gattling gun
Mauser Gewehr 98
BAR
AK47
M1 Garrand

aircraft:
C130 spectre
b-52
P-51
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Heuy
Cobra
b-17

Artillery/tanks:
Trebuche
M1
Sherman
Tiger tank
T34

[teamdragon]

Do you have a list?

In random order,

1) Natalie Portman,
2) HAARP, if the claims made in that video are close,
3) the nuclear bomb,
4) the naval cannon,
5) the machine gun,
6) the tank,
7) the AK-47,
8) the Qin crossbow,
9) the Mongol horse,
10) the submarine.

[YankHibee]

I'd have to work Greek Fire and the atlatl in there somewhere.