boonedocks All American 5550 Posts user info edit post |
Teachers lounge fight!
One guy says the English longbow
Another says the airplane (could he be a bit more vague? I'm thinking about going with "pointy things")
I say the Mongolian horseman
GO! 11/15/2005 6:29:03 PM |
JonHGuth Suspended 39171 Posts user info edit post |
the gun 11/15/2005 6:31:46 PM |
cookiepuss All American 3486 Posts user info edit post |
gunpowder.
ask the aztecs and incas.
who knows where we would be if those civilizations weren't wiped out.
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 6:32 PM. Reason : well, technology...] 11/15/2005 6:32:05 PM |
arghx Deucefest '04 7584 Posts user info edit post |
Spear and its derivations (halberd, pike, etc). They are highly effective in a phalanx formation and were used as anti-cavalry all the way through the English civil war. 11/15/2005 6:32:09 PM |
Luigi All American 9317 Posts user info edit post |
hmmm...cant say just one, but important ones that come to mind are.
-sputnik (ICBMs for that matter) -the musket/gun (duh) -and it may sound silly, but the pike was very influential when it came on the scene in the middle ages 11/15/2005 6:33:05 PM |
abonorio All American 9344 Posts user info edit post |
WOMEN! Ask the Trojans how badly they were fucked over by a woman.
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 6:35 PM. Reason : .] 11/15/2005 6:34:27 PM |
Shaggy All American 17820 Posts user info edit post |
^ [/thread]
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 6:35 PM. Reason : eheh] 11/15/2005 6:34:59 PM |
JonHGuth Suspended 39171 Posts user info edit post |
sputnik? wtf 11/15/2005 6:35:48 PM |
Luigi All American 9317 Posts user info edit post |
it proved that anyone can reach anyone with missles, distance used to be a huge factor in delivering bombs. when sputnik hit, the cold war just lost the "distance factor".
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 6:38 PM. Reason : .] 11/15/2005 6:37:06 PM |
GrumpyGOP yovo yovo bonsoir 18191 Posts user info edit post |
In general, probably the spear. Probably the first effective projectile, predecessor of several important weapons (pikes), the concept it established exists today in every temporary defensive device (barbed wire) and projectile weapon.
All the great powers of Europe were born largely through use of the spear, so all of their subsequent conquests can also be attributed in no small part to that weapon.
If "spear" is too generic and you want something particular, I'd have to go with either the atomic bomb or the AK-47. 11/15/2005 6:37:08 PM |
abonorio All American 9344 Posts user info edit post |
Back the 1200s, the crossbow was considered "against the natural laws of war" much of the same way biological agents and chemical agents are frowned upon by the world as either "unfair" or "too destructive." There was a stigma attached to the crossbow that people who used them were barbarians and couldn't fight a fair fight.
Just throwing that in for debate. I don't think it's the most influential, but certainly one of them. Women, though, is the winner. 11/15/2005 6:39:42 PM |
GrumpyGOP yovo yovo bonsoir 18191 Posts user info edit post |
At the very least, there's no way "English longbow" qualifies. 11/15/2005 6:41:51 PM |
abonorio All American 9344 Posts user info edit post |
If we want to be horribly technical about it, I suppose the winner would have to be the stone. Out of that came arrowheads... then knives and spears and bayonets... on and on and on.
The pointy hard object revolutionized fighting to the point that a billion years later, we still use them. 11/15/2005 6:43:30 PM |
DaveOT All American 11945 Posts user info edit post |
So this is what goes in the teachers' lounge?
What a shame...I always figured there was something interesting behind those doors. 11/15/2005 6:44:16 PM |
TKEshultz All American 7327 Posts user info edit post |
atomic bomb, hands down ... name another weapon that ended a world war by itself, and created one right after 11/15/2005 6:44:21 PM |
abonorio All American 9344 Posts user info edit post |
fire 11/15/2005 6:45:39 PM |
TKEshultz All American 7327 Posts user info edit post |
^one of the most influential inventions obviously ... not as a weapon 11/15/2005 7:01:19 PM |
pryderi Suspended 26647 Posts user info edit post |
Propaganda.
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 7:04 PM. Reason : sp.] 11/15/2005 7:03:50 PM |
Nighthawk All American 19623 Posts user info edit post |
What about Gunpowder? Nobody mentioned that one. The nature of war totally changed due to this. Before battles were mainly a one-on-one affair, though archers could soften up an enemy before a cavalry or infantry charge. But the battle was won and lost for the most part in the hands of infantry or cavalry slashing and killing each other with axes, pikes, swords, and other implements.
Once gunpowder was weaponized, the whole scale of warfare shifted. Now armies could duel at a distance. Cannon could decimate walled cities from a distance far enough back that if the defenders did not have gunpowder, they were powerless to stop them. The current armor was useless against musketball. Ships could now fight at a distance instead of having to board each other. Even greek fire required ships to be at point blank range to be useful.
As for its total power, obviously the A-Bomb is the best. But I really think nothing has totally affected warfare like gunpowder. Without gunpowder, planes could do little more than drop bricks on the enemy and scout positions, ships would still be boarding each other for combat, etc. 11/15/2005 7:19:10 PM |
tracer All American 13876 Posts user info edit post |
i had a professor that argued the most important invention in warfare was the stirrup 11/15/2005 7:24:17 PM |
Protostar All American 3495 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "atomic bomb, hands down ... name another weapon that ended a world war by itself, and created one right after" |
The atomic bomb ended WWII. There wasn't another WW after that, unless you are referring to the Korean War.11/15/2005 7:26:09 PM |
Josh8315 Suspended 26780 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "Most influential weapon in history" |
the physicist11/15/2005 7:28:20 PM |
cookiepuss All American 3486 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "What about Gunpowder? Nobody mentioned that one. " |
"hey, look at me! i've obviously not read this thread!!"11/15/2005 7:29:36 PM |
pryderi Suspended 26647 Posts user info edit post |
^oops he caught it.
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 7:30 PM. Reason : cookiepuss beat me] 11/15/2005 7:30:30 PM |
boonedocks All American 5550 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "So this is what goes in the teachers' lounge?" |
Wet bar, humidor, and no less than 15 plasma screens.
And yes, we were discussing more specific weapons, which is why "the airplane" sucks as a choice. We were trying to narrow him down to like B-17 or B-52, but no.
But the Mongolian horseman still wins. Without Mongol expansion Europe would probably have not been exposed to the Bubonic Plague; we all know how different the world would have been without that.
Funny you should mention gunpowder, because it was the Mongolian horseman who first introduced gunpowder into Europe. China fended off the Mongols with gunpowder, but through this contact the Mongols eventually learned to use it themselves. The Mongols then proceeded to fight the Russians using gunpowder in the 13th Century. From there it spread westward.
Quote : | "i had a professor that argued the most important invention in warfare was the stirrup" |
Guess who's famous for their use of stirrups? That'd be the Mongolian horsemen.
[Edited on November 15, 2005 at 7:40 PM. Reason : .]11/15/2005 7:36:00 PM |
quiet guy Suspended 3020 Posts user info edit post |
the penis mightier 11/15/2005 7:44:12 PM |
Wintermute All American 1171 Posts user info edit post |
Easy.
The printing press. 11/15/2005 7:55:28 PM |
JonHGuth Suspended 39171 Posts user info edit post |
i dont count "mongolian horsemen" as a weapon they use weapons, but are not weapons themselves 11/15/2005 7:57:09 PM |
Luigi All American 9317 Posts user info edit post |
goddam mongorians 11/15/2005 7:59:39 PM |
boonedocks All American 5550 Posts user info edit post |
The mounted archer is just as much a weapons platform as an M1A2. 11/15/2005 8:01:08 PM |
pryderi Suspended 26647 Posts user info edit post |
An idea. 11/15/2005 8:02:45 PM |
boonedocks All American 5550 Posts user info edit post |
Ok, and cutesy answers are automatically wrong. 11/15/2005 8:06:35 PM |
Wtbrowne32 Veteran 414 Posts user info edit post |
Submachine gun by far... it changed the way everyone fought... just look at the differences in WWI and WWII 11/15/2005 8:08:24 PM |
ssjamind All American 30102 Posts user info edit post |
sticks and stones 11/15/2005 8:13:24 PM |
freshmeat All American 1102 Posts user info edit post |
i hope i never encounter sputnik...it's death from above. 11/15/2005 8:23:15 PM |
A Tanzarian drip drip boom 10995 Posts user info edit post |
teh intarweb beats the printing press. I don't know if it counts as a weapon, but the printing press has been and teh intarweb will be among the most influential things of all time. 11/15/2005 8:23:58 PM |
marko Tom Joad 72828 Posts user info edit post |
disease 11/15/2005 8:24:05 PM |
boonedocks All American 5550 Posts user info edit post |
That'd win if it counted
which it may. hmm. 11/15/2005 8:26:01 PM |
30thAnnZ Suspended 31803 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "gunpowder. disease.
ask the aztecs and incas.
who knows where we would be if those civilizations weren't wiped out." |
11/15/2005 8:26:23 PM |
GrumpyGOP yovo yovo bonsoir 18191 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "Submachine gun by far... it changed the way everyone fought... just look at the differences in WWI and WWII" |
Foolishness. Those differences came from tanks and the concept of combined arms, not some pussy-ass SMG that played a role no more significant than that of the Garand.
And gunpowder had very little to do with killing the Aztecs and the Incans. The forces that wiped out those civilizations were small and did not have a large supply of the stuff with them. Far more important for the conquistadors was the horse and metal armor.11/15/2005 8:32:17 PM |
Hurley Suspended 7284 Posts user info edit post |
M14 11/15/2005 8:36:24 PM |
cookiepuss All American 3486 Posts user info edit post |
whoops 11/15/2005 8:38:00 PM |
boonedocks All American 5550 Posts user info edit post |
History rock paper scissors
germs beat guns
guns beat steel
steel beats germs 11/15/2005 8:39:47 PM |
Mr. Joshua Swimfanfan 43948 Posts user info edit post |
love? 11/15/2005 8:49:04 PM |
cyrion All American 27139 Posts user info edit post |
im thrown between whip, brass knuckles, and photon torpedo. 11/15/2005 9:04:59 PM |
Mindstorm All American 15858 Posts user info edit post |
Psychological Warfare.
Some more recent examples would be the rather shortlived Gulf War II, afghanistan, and in rather recent history, Vietnam.
If you make them think that they're losing, or that they're going to lose, you stand a much better chance at winning. 11/15/2005 9:06:51 PM |
davelen21 All American 4119 Posts user info edit post |
probably the submarine 11/15/2005 9:08:38 PM |
EarthDogg All American 3989 Posts user info edit post |
My votes for most effective early weaponry:
Offense: Spears, Calvary, and Deception.
Defense: Walls, Armour and Time 11/15/2005 9:15:33 PM |
GoldenViper All American 16056 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "One guy says the English longbow" |
Oh please. That's about the worse response I can think.
Quote : | "gunpowder.
ask the aztecs and incas." |
Why? Neither of them were defeated by the Spanish because of gunpowder.
I think naming any older weapon is probably barking up the wrong tree. None of them impacted the way wars were fought as much as more modern and technologically advanced weapons have.
If you want to name old weapons, though, I'd start with the spear, shield and bow (especially the composite bow).
Quote : | "Far more important for the conquistadors was the horse and metal armor." |
The horse more than the metal armor (many of the conquistadors - probably most - fought in cotten armor). Guns were very useful, but the crossbow was just as effective against the Amerindians. The canon was the biggest contribution gunpowder made to beating the aztecs and incas. Important but not key.11/15/2005 9:23:59 PM |
Snewf All American 63368 Posts user info edit post |
I'm going to go with propaganda
most influential weapon in the English speaking world:
longbow
most influential weapon in the modern world:
atomic bomb or AK-47 11/15/2005 9:56:10 PM |