Top ten weapons in history

I just read a bit about the top ten weapons in history:

http://www.space.com/technology/top10_weapons_history.html

They are:

10.  Atlatl

9.   Vickers Gunbus

8.   Gunpowder

7.   Crossbow

6.   Maxim gun

5.   U-boats

4.   Radar

3.   Nuclear bomb

2.   ICBMs

1.   M1 Abrams tank

Not a bad list, although the placement of the M1 above nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles might be questionable.  And the atlatl was developed long before “history”.  And gunpowder is not strictly a weapon, but a recipe from which a weapon, among other things, may be made.

I want to offer my own here.  My top ten weapons since man’s emergence as habilis.:

10.   The held stick/rock.   Using an object as an offensive, defensive or food gathering weapon is unheard of outside of the Great Apes.

9.     The thrown stick/rock.  Even more rare.

8.     The compound tool.  A rock tied to a stick.  A bow and arrow. An atlatl.

7.     Animal husbandry.  Cavalry allowed for speed and field knowledge (scouts)

6.     The stirrup.  Allows the full weight of horse and rider to be thrown into battle.

5.     Crossbow.  Initially outlawed by “civilized nations” for it’s barbarous efficiency, quickly made de rigeur for the same reason.

4.     Guns, muskets, cannons.  This revolutionary advance made castles and, eventually, feudalism obsolete.

3.     Mechanized warfare.  Tanks, armored personnel carriers, riflery, machine guns, NBC weapons.

2.     Prolonged, sustained, controlled flight.  (not technically a weapon, as I alluded to above, but the first use of this technology was WWI, immediately upon it’s invention.  Without PSC flight, no WWI, as we know it.)

1.     Atomic/nuclear weaponry.  The bane of and director of history since before 1940.

Tags: history, list, military, weapons