NationStates Jolt Archive

What is the best historical (prehistory-1900) weapon ever?

I personally like the crossbow, or possibly the Martini-Henry rifle. No made up weapons please.

(This would be a poll if I could put in about 300 options; however, the maximum is ten.)

What is the best historical (prehistory-1900) weapon ever?

I personally like the crossbow, or possibly the Martini-Henry rifle. No made up weapons please.

(This would be a poll if I could put in about 300 options; however, the maximum is ten.)

The Gatlin Gun, or the rifled gun barrel.

Oooo yeah. The Gatling guns rock.

The Navy Colt, manufatured in 1851

The Winchester Repeating Rifle (more durable than the Henry), or possibly the Hotchkiss Gun (Light artillery piece that fired encased shells instead of cannonballs).

Best for what? Obviously when some mention a revolver and some a light artillery piece a slight adjustment of the question would be in order.

I'd probably go with the Lee Enfield Mk I Carbine. The Mauser Gewehr 98 is too darn long at 1.2 meters. In very close quarters, perhaps a Webley Mk IV Service Revolver -- with just six shots, I wouldn't be too happy with a .38 Spl with era ammunition.

And for everyone who respond with non-firearms: I guess you just love dying.

I think that the repeating crossbow was quite possibly the best weapon ever created simply because it was highly powerful, very accurate, quite cheap to make, just as the normal crossbow was, but had none of the drawbacks of the normal crossbow. It didn't need to be reloaded after every shot. Some were made to hold up to 10 bolts per time. you could always put some explosives on the bolt to do splash damage or you could catch the bolt on fire.

But I actually like something French!

"Canone de 75 Mle 1897" aka
The 1897 French 75mm - Best light artillery of all time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canone_de_75_mle_1897

some pictures:
http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Mademoiselle_75/Mademoiselle_75_01.htm

Famously, it could have "6 in the air and 1 in the chamber".

I think that the repeating crossbow was quite possibly the best weapon ever created simply because it was highly powerful, very accurate, quite cheap to make, just as the normal crossbow was, but had none of the drawbacks of the normal crossbow. It didn't need to be reloaded after every shot. Some were made to hold up to 10 bolts per time. you could always put some explosives on the bolt to do splash damage or you could catch the bolt on fire.More powerful than being hit by a deforming .30 caliber rifle round (http://www.firearmstactical.com/images/Wound%20Profiles/308%20Winchester.jpg)? How does it fare on range, accuracy and rate of fire with a good bolt-action rifle? What 19th century explosives do you suggest we put on the bolts and what kind of detonator do you suggest we use?

I think the best representation of how effective a weapon is can be attributed to how infrequently it is used. So in my opinion the "best" weapon ever invented is clearly the nuclear missile. But that's a very boring and predictable answer so I'm going to go for the landmine, as it was probably the first weapon to challenge our humanity and give us tough emotional decisions in battlefield situations since it was designed specifically to maim rather than kill.

Not a nice answer, but hey... war isn't. :sniper: :mp5: :gundge:

More powerful than being hit by a deforming .30 caliber rifle round (http://www.firearmstactical.com/images/Wound%20Profiles/308%20Winchester.jpg)? How does it fare on range, accuracy and rate of fire with a good bolt-action rifle? What 19th century explosives do you suggest we put on the bolts and what kind of detonator do you suggest we use?
Agreed. firearms are a far superior choice over any bows and arrows and the like.

Maxim guns, or Gatling guns. The early machine guns rock. :mp5:

definitely a winchester, they have been the " always promising gun" for all wars

I think that the repeating crossbow was quite possibly the best weapon ever created simply because it was highly powerful, very accurate, quite cheap to make, just as the normal crossbow was, but had none of the drawbacks of the normal crossbow. It didn't need to be reloaded after every shot. Some were made to hold up to 10 bolts per time. you could always put some explosives on the bolt to do splash damage or you could catch the bolt on fire.

Powerful... If you're talking about the chu-ko-nu, it... Had a range of about 40 yard at MOST. A high quality crossbow could shoot 300 yards. Accurate? Yeah right. YOu needed to walk the quarrels up to someone, like with a badly made machinegun. A good crossbowman could kill someone at 200 yards. Also, "explosives," especially self detonating ones, were not available while these chu-ko-nus were being made (from c. 300 b.c.e.-c. 1850)

So in my opinion the "best" weapon ever invented is clearly the nuclear missile.That would absolutely have been my answer as well, but this thread is explicitly about weapons invented before or during the year 1900 CE. Let's keep it that way, so I can ridicule people who mention bows and melee weapons.

A trebuchet loaded with plague victims, or a close second, a trebuchet loaded with gallons of Greek Fire.

But I actually like something French!

"Canone de 75 Mle 1897" aka
The 1897 French 75mm - Best light artillery of all time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canone_de_75_mle_1897

some pictures:
http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Mademoiselle_75/Mademoiselle_75_01.htm

Famously, it could have "6 in the air and 1 in the chamber".
AND WOW, i didnt know all those frenchies had that type of firepower. :) :rolleyes:

My personal favorite is the 454. Casull Revolver. Crazy powerful and Hella cool looking.

RPG's are also quite effective.

I'm going to say the Lee Enfield rifle the British used in WWI & WWII 10 round clip capacity excellent range and damage.

I also want to say the MG42 and the MP44 which was the first proper rapid firing assault rifle (I think).

the gladius

My personal favorite is the 454. Casull Revolver. Crazy powerful and Hella cool looking.

RPG's are also quite effective.Again, reading the first post provides optimal results. The .454 Casull caliber was designed in 1957 and is as such out of the equation (and isn't even that powerful by today's standards, when we've got revolvers like this (http://popularmechanics.com/outdoors/firearms/2003/9/top_gun/), the only limit being the recoil-absorbing capabilities of the human wrist), and the same goes for RPGs which are slightly older, but still very much a 20th century invention.

I think that the repeating crossbow was quite possibly the best weapon ever created simply because it was highly powerful, very accurate, quite cheap to make, just as the normal crossbow was, but had none of the drawbacks of the normal crossbow. It didn't need to be reloaded after every shot. Some were made to hold up to 10 bolts per time. you could always put some explosives on the bolt to do splash damage or you could catch the bolt on fire.
Someone's been playing too much Age of Empires 2

Hmm. If not the trebuchet (really ancient), then if we're pre-1900, I'll take one Dahlgren rifled cannon, and one Napoleon (smoothbore cannon loaded with shot).

I would say Colt Python .357Mag revolver, but that's post-1900.. or the 1911 and its kin.

But pre-1900, i'm going to say:

Greek Fire

A trebuchet loaded with plague victims, or a close second, a trebuchet loaded with gallons of Greek Fire.
am i wrong or do we not know how to make greek fire anymore

smallpox laced blankets.

Agreed. firearms are a far superior choice over any bows and arrows and the like.
If only I'd read the whole thing properly...

I'm going to for the trusty 'large chunk of flint over the head' in that case.

Mines

An elegant design still effective today.

Contact mines
The earliest mines were usually of this type. They are still used today as they are extremely cheap compared to any other anti-ship weapon and still very effective both as a terror weapon and to sink enemy ships. Contact mines have to be very close to the enemy before they detonate, which limits the damage.

Early mines had mechanical mechanisms to detonate them, but these were superseded in the 1870s by the Hertz Horn, which was found to work reliably even after the mine had been in the sea for several years. The mine's upper half is studded with hollow lead protruberances, each containing a glass vial filled with sulphuric acid. When a ship's hull crushes the metal horn, it cracks the vial inside it, allowing the acid to run down a tube and into a lead-acid battery which until then contains no acid electrolyte. This energizes the battery, which detonates the explosive.

The best weapon? The human mind. :)

I'll go with the winchester repeating.

I agree with human mind, and trebuchet. Quickly followed by alchohol. Nothing is more dangerous than a drunk with sharp pointy (or exploding) objects.

Up until the invention of the sniper rifle, nothing could beat a British Longbow for accuracy at long ranges.

A time machine. Duh, go back in time and destroy the fabric of time and space.

Firearms tend to be effective, but as technological items they require fairly regular maintenance to keep their effectiveness or even prevent fatal mishaps to their users.

The best weapon would be a sling. Not a sling shot. A sling. Like what David took down Goliath with.

1) Ammunition is never a problem with slings. You can pick up rocks or like the Incas used to, use clay for ammunition. Wet clay was perfect for stunning game or live opponents and as for hard baked clay bullets, Spanish accounts tell of how they've shattered Damascus steel swords and even bones of conquistadors that wore breastplates.

2) Maintenance is much less intense than with a firearm. A poorly treated sling won't blow up in your face literally.

3) Slings work much better in poor climates than some firearms tended to.

4) Slings are much more concealable than firearms in theory.


The Martini-Henry rifle was an interesting mention though. While a powerful and simplistic weapon for its period, researchers discovered that it was not designed for prolongued periods of firing. A NOVA special covering the infamous Zulu-British fight found out that constant rifle shots overheated and deformed the barrel of a Martini-Henry, which resulted in decreased accuracy among other problems.

Trebuchet. With plague-ridden horse carcass of course!

EDiT> Doh. Someone got there first :D

The Mace! the ones with the spikes particularily!

Best weapon eh?
I'd have to say the best weapon, speaking strictly from an impact standpoint, would be the Sumerian Socket Axe.
A battle axe with a small, piercing blade with a heavy head. It was specificly designed sometime around 3400 BCE (that's 5400 years ago) to pierce the armor used by the Elamite troops in the Sumero-Elamite wars (Earliest recorded wars in history).
It was the first armor piercing weapon, a type of weapon that is still very very common on the battlefeild.

Up until the invention of the sniper rifle, nothing could beat a British Longbow for accuracy at long ranges.Define "sniper rifle". Late 19th century standard military issue rifles were certainly orders of magnitude more accurate than any bow at any range.

Eh...as far as class goes (as in, you can brag about being able to use it effectively), I'd say a longbow. Effectiveness under ideal conditions, a repeating rifle seems pretty solid. Overall, I think a fairly strong case was made for the sling.

AND WOW, i didnt know all those frenchies had that type of firepower. :) :rolleyes:

?? I thought it was best weapon, not best hand held weapon?