Instruments of war : weapons and technologies that have changed history

Club and mace -- Ax -- Sling -- Spears and other pole arms -- Pilum -- Throwing sticks or throwing clubs -- Picks and war hammers -- Dagger (knife) -- Sword -- Lance -- Bow and arrow -- Blowgun -- Shields -- Helmet -- Body armor -- Chariot -- Galley -- Trireme -- Corvus -- Greek fire -- Mechanical artillery -- Spring-powered artillery engines -- Torsion-powered artillery engines -- Counterweight-powered artillery engines -- Saddle -- Stirrup -- Viking longboat -- Caltrop -- Gunpowder -- Land mines and mining -- Longbow -- Crossbow -- Harquebus -- Matchlock -- Wheel lock -- Snaplock (snaphance) -- Pistols, early types -- Land artillery, early gunpowder types -- Leather gun -- Fuzes -- Petard -- Pike -- Carrack -- Galleon -- Naval artillery, early types -- Gunner's quadrant -- Turtle ships -- Frigate -- Ship of the line -- Mortars, early -- Bomb vessels -- Howitzer -- Shell -- Shrapnel (spherical case shot) -- Carcass -- Case shot (canister or canister shot) -- Grapeshot -- Flintlock -- Air gun -- Rifle (muzzle-loader) -- Blunderbuss -- Bayonet -- Turtle submarine -- Sea mines -- Balloons -- Popham's signal system -- Steam warship -- Percussion cap -- Rockets, early types -- Carronade -- Shell gun -- Railroads -- Telegraph -- Telephone -- Ironclad warships -- Warrior, HMS -- Naval gun turret -- Monitor, USS -- Minie ball -- Revolver -- Napoleon gun -- Parrott guns -- Dahlgren guns -- Breech-loading rifle -- Dreyse needle gun -- Cartridge -- Dynamite -- Gatling gun -- Mitrailleuse -- Lebel rifle -- Mauser Gewehr 98 rifle -- Mauser C96 pistol -- Maxim gun -- Steel armor, naval -- Armor-piercing projectiles -- Quick-firing naval gun -- Torpedo -- Torpedo boats -- Destroyer -- Dynamite gun -- Smokeless gunpowder -- Trinitrotoluene -- Bicycle -- Breech-loading field artillery -- French 75mm gun -- Breech-loading heavy guns at sea -- Dumdum bullet -- Hollow or shaped charge -- Browning (Colt) .45 semiautomatic pistol -- Lewis gun -- Browning Automatic Rifle -- MP18 submachine gun -- Barbed wire -- Sandbags -- Camouflage -- Pillbox -- Hand grenades -- Rifle grenade -- Stokes mortar -- Big Bertha mortar -- Paris gun -- Poison gas -- Livens projector -- Flamethrowers -- Motor transport -- Armored car -- Tanks, early -- Antitank rifle -- Antimaterial rifle -- Wright brothers' Military Flyer -- Aircraft, World War I -- Fokker E.I Eindecker fighter aircraft -- Interrupter gear -- De Havilland DH 2 fighter aircraft -- Nieuport 17 fighter aircraft -- Sopwith F.1 Camel fighter aircraft -- Sikorsky Ilya Mourometz heavy bomber -- Gotha G IV bomber -- Handley Page O/100 and O/400 bombers -- Zeppelins -- Director fire control and new range finding at sea -- Dreadnought, HMS -- Invincible-class battle cruisers -- Furious, HMS -- Argus, HMS -- Submarine development to 1914 -- Depth charge -- Hydrophone -- Radio -- Antiaircraft artillery -- Browning M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun -- Molotov cocktail -- Biological weapons -- German 88mm gun -- M-2A1/M-101A1 105mm howitzer -- Long Lance torpedo -- Thompson M1A1 submachine gun -- MP40 submachine gun -- Sten gun -- M1 Garand rifle -- MG42 machine gun -- Mortars, post-World War I --

T-34 Soviet medium tank

M4 Sherman medium tank

PzKpfw V Panther medium tank

PzKpfw Tiger and King Tiger

Self-propelled guns and artillery

Birch gun

Jeep

Truck, 2.5-ton

Landing craft

DUKW amphibian truck

Mulberry

PLUTO

Destroyer escort

Yamato-class battleships, Japanese

Iowa-class battleships, U.S. Navy

Essex-class aircraft carriers

Escort aircraft carriers

Liberty ships

Snorkel

Sonar

Leigh light

Radar

A6M Reisen (Zero) Japanese fighter aircraft

Bf 109 German fighter

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka German dive-bomber

Hawker Hurricane British fighter

Supermarine Spitfire British fighter

North American P-51 Mustang U.S. Army Air Forces fighter

Grumman F6F Hellcat U.S. Navy fighter

Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik Soviet ground-attack aircraft

Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger U.S. torpedo bomber

Avro Lancaster heavy bomber

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber

Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber

Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber

Gliders

Jet and rocket aircraft of World War II

Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft

Helicopters

Sikorsky R-4 helicopter

Incendiary bombs

Napalm

Proximity fuze

Panzerfaust

Bazooka

Katyusha rocket

V-1 buzz bomb

V-2 guided missile

Kamikazes

Penicillin

Enigma machine

Atomic bomb

Hydrogen bomb

Neutron bomb

AK47 Kalashnikov assault rifle

Recoilless rifles

Armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Surface-to-air missiles

Nautilus, U.S. Navy submarine

Punji stake

M16 rifle

M79 grenade launcher

M18A1 claymore mine

M61 Vulcan 20mm auto cannon

M134 (GAU-2B) minigun

Ship-to-ship missiles

RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher

Antitank guided missiles

Flechette ammunition

Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Republic F-105 Thunderchief

Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter

Bell AH-1 Cobra and AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters

Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter

FIM-92 Stinger

AIM-9 Sidewinder missile

Satellites

Intercontinental ballistic missiles

MX missile system

Cruise missiles

Polaris missile

Precision-guided munitions

Cluster bomb/munition

M48 and M60 U.S. main battle tanks

T-54/T-55 Soviet main battle tank

M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams main battle tank

Merkava Israeli main battle tank

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter

Hughes (McDonnell Douglas/Boeing) AH-64 Apache helicopter

Hawker-Siddeley/McDonnell Douglas Sea Harrier

Night-vision devices

Aegis

Mk 15 Phalanx

Hovercraft

Nimitz-class U.S. Navy aircraft carriers

Ohio-class U.S. Navy submarines

Laser

Stealth technology

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

Global positioning system

Unmanned aerial vehicles

Panzerhaubitze 2000 German self-propelled howitzer

Thermobaric bomb

Improvised explosive devices.