"best" miltary invention?

Sun Tzu: THE ART OF WAR
Is the single best peice of literature writtin by anyone ever.

Ah yes the Art of War, great book indeed, for a non religious man like myself its the closest thing to a bible, that's why it always stays within arm’s reach.

[edit on 21-4-2006 by WestPoint23]

Sun Tzu is where I got the bit about the shield earlier, well not verbatim. He said in The Art of War :

(courtesy of www.military-quotes.com... )

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

and...

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue...

Modern armies can still learn so much from history, and of course the Swiss.

[edit on 21-4-2006 by WyrdeOne]

no contest, has to be the computer modem, if not how else would all of us be able to come together and chat...

id say artillary is one of the best inventions. kill your enemy from a distance.
from the roman times with there ballistas
then english with there catapults
then to modern times with tanks and howiters and stuff.

My vote has to be radar (no, not the one from M.A.S.H.). Saved the lives of millions during WWII, and has been improved upon ever since. I'd say that even today, an armies tactical abilities would be fatally reduced without it.

Originally posted by PaddyInf
My vote has to be radar (no, not the one from M.A.S.H.). Saved the lives of millions during WWII, and has been improved upon ever since. I'd say that even today, an armies tactical abilities would be fatally reduced without it.

You just beat me to it PaddyInf.

Certainly from the point of view of UK/Europe, if not for Radar we may have been all speaking German and eating Bratwurst now....

I also believe that Encryption was also a vital military invention. For instance the Enigma system almost resulted in the UK being 'starved' out of the war due to the U-Boat blockades. When Enigma was finally cracked, it allowed the Navy to easily locate the sneaky little blighters and blow them back to the Fatherland.

[edit on 22/4/2006 by 5ick8oy]

in my opinion the best...
Aircraft-The B-52 Bomber,AC-130,F-14,F-22
Tank-The Bradley and M-1 A-2 Abrams
Transport Vehicle-The Armored Humvee
Vehicle Weapon Besides A Tanks Main Gun-.50 cal machine gun, Tow Missile Launcher
Ship-The Whole Navy Itself
Helicopter-Chinook,Huey,Apache,Cobra,Blackhawk
guided systems
Weapons-M-16,AK-47,
Other-Radar,The Radio,GPS,Satellites,Nightvision,Infrared technology,laser

Submarine. The silent enemy it was called

The Tank was feared when it first appeared, especially in the Great War.

it was supposed to say laser guided weapon systems, the text got mixed up

Originally posted by 5ick8oy

Certainly from the point of view of UK/Europe, if not for Radar we may have been all speaking German and eating Bratwurst now....

I wouldn't. Have you ever tried to learn German?

Tank- The Russain T-34 and German Tiger mach 1
Plane- The F-14,The Spitfire,B-2
Gun-Ak-47,The Magnum
Ship- The aircraft carrier
General- Rommel, Guderian, Bradley
Fighting unit-SAS
Helicopter- The apache,The sea king

I went away for a day and I come back and the thread has gone nuts. I think the best part is that people aren't looking soley at the weapons of today, or just weapons at all! Thanks for those that have posted so far.

The Pen

This one invention has consigned nations to war...and also to peace

"Never before in history have so many owed so much to so few".
I rest my case.
Air War:
from Propellor driven to jet engine to rocket propelled..

Originally posted by PaddyInf

I wouldn't. Have you ever tried to learn German?

Nice one. I'd not thought of that. I remember failing German at school myself. The word I remember being particularly irritated by was the word for 'tram stop' which as I recall was Strassenbahnhaltestelle......

Originally posted by 5ick8oy

Originally posted by PaddyInf

I wouldn't. Have you ever tried to learn German?

Nice one.

I'd not thought of that. I remember failing German at school myself. The word I remember being particularly irritated by was the word for 'tram stop' which as I recall was Strassenbahnhaltestelle......

Then you didnt see the logic

A street is "Strasse". A train is "Bahn". So a tram, a train whose tracks follow regular roads, is a "Strassenbahn".

"Stop" is translated as "Halt", a noun. So a "Strassenbahnhalt" (literally tram stop) could also designate any kind of stop the tram takes.

In order to specify you also add the "Stelle" (place), and you get the "Strassenbahnhaltestelle". The good thing is that this can only mean exactly one thing, whereas the meaning of "tram stop" can depend on the circumstances

Its Hitler, without him, our military buildup, coldwar, etc would be nothing. Nukes wouldnt be here, and the technology that the US and USSR created.

MREs........they found a way to keep shrimp good for 6 years in the jambalaya.....and this scares me

The best military invention is superglue, 100mph tape(duck tape), 550 cord, and the ammo can. these things can be used for anything, literally.

[edit on 093030p://upTuesday by MDE762]