History of military technology
77 inventions by year: what each evolved from and what it led to.
How the inventions are connected
- Spear → Fire lance → Hand cannon → Musket → Rifle → Assault rifle
- Armoured car → Tank → Armoured personnel carrier → Infantry fighting vehicle
- Matchlock → Wheellock → Flintlock → Percussion cap
- Chain mail → Plate armour → Armour
| Year | Invention | What it is | Evolved from | Led to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400000 BC | Spear | A shaft with a sharp point. | Harpoon, Fire lance | |
| 70000 BC | Bow and arrow | A projectile weapon: an elastic bow stores the energy of the draw. | Crossbow, Darts | |
| 30000 BC | Spear-thrower | A lever that extends the arm when throwing a spear. | ||
| 21000 BC | Boomerang | A curved throwing weapon; the returning kind owes its flight to aerodynamics. | ||
| 10000 BC | Sling | A projectile weapon on a strap. | ||
| 3000 BC | Shield | A hand-held means of protection. | ||
| 2500 BC | Helmet | Head protection. | ||
| 1700 BC | Sword | A bladed weapon. | ||
| 900 BC | Battering ram | A log for breaking down gates. | ||
| 900 BC | Siege tower | A tower on wheels for storming walls. | ||
| 500 BC | Trigger | A lever mechanism that releases stored energy. | ||
| 500 BC | Crossbow | A bow on a stock with a trigger mechanism. | Bow and arrow | |
| 400 BC | Catapult | A throwing machine that stores energy in elastic parts. | Trebuchet | |
| 300 BC | Chain mail | Armour made of interlinked rings. | Plate armour | |
| 400 | Trebuchet | A counterweight throwing machine. | Catapult | |
| 672 | Greek fire Callinicus of Heliopolis | The incendiary mixture of the Byzantine fleet. | ||
| 950 | Fire lance | A tube of gunpowder on a spear — the ancestor of firearms. | Spear | Hand cannon |
| 1000 | Grenade | A hand-thrown explosive projectile. | ||
| 1277 | Landmine | An explosive device. | ||
| 1288 | Hand cannon | An early hand-held gunpowder gun. | Fire lance | Cannon, Musket |
| 1326 | Cannon | A firearm artillery piece. | Hand cannon | |
| 1400 | Plate armour | Armour made of steel plates. | Chain mail | Armour |
| 1400 | Gunpowder mill | Producing gunpowder. | ||
| 1411 | Matchlock | A lock that ignites the powder with a smouldering match. | Wheellock | |
| 1498 | Rifling | Helical grooves that spin the bullet. | ||
| 1500 | Wheellock | A lock that strikes a spark with a spinning wheel. | Matchlock | Flintlock |
| 1521 | Musket | A muzzle-loading gun. | Hand cannon | Rifle |
| 1610 | Flintlock | Igniting the powder with a spark from a flint. | Wheellock | Percussion cap |
| 1620 | Submarine | A vessel that can dive; the first was Drebbel’s. | Nuclear submarine | |
| 1650 | Bayonet | A blade fixed to a barrel. | ||
| 1690 | Howitzer | A gun for high-angle fire. | Mortar (weapon) | |
| 1812 | Cartridge Jean Samuel Pauly | Bullet, charge and primer in one case (Pauly, 1812; widespread from the mid-19th century). | ||
| 1820 | Percussion cap | A small cap with a shock-sensitive compound. | Flintlock | |
| 1836 | Revolver | Colt’s cylinder gun. | ||
| 1841 | Rifle | A rifled gun with a bolt. | Musket | Assault rifle |
| 1841 | Bolt action | The action of the Dreyse and Mosin rifles. | ||
| 1854 | Periscope | A system of mirrors for observing from cover. | ||
| 1859 | Ironclad | An armoured steam warship (Gloire). | Aircraft carrier | |
| 1866 | Torpedo | A self-propelled underwater projectile (Whitehead). | ||
| 1884 | Machine gun | Maxim’s automatic weapon. | ||
| 1885 | Gas operation | The energy of powder gases reloads the weapon. | ||
| 1891 | Mosin rifle | The three-line rifle. | ||
| 1892 | Destroyer | A fast warship. | ||
| 1897 | Recoil mechanism | A hydro-pneumatic recoil brake (the French 75 mm gun). | ||
| 1902 | Armoured car | A car with armour and weapons. | Car | Tank |
| 1904 | Mortar (weapon) | A gun for high-angle fire (Gobyato). | Howitzer | |
| 1905 | Minesweeper | A ship for clearing mines. | ||
| 1914 | Anti-aircraft gun | A gun for firing at aircraft. | ||
| 1914 | Military radio | Field radio communication. | ||
| 1915 | Gas mask | Respiratory protection with a charcoal filter (Zelinsky). | Respirator | |
| 1916 | Tank | An armoured tracked combat vehicle; the first in battle was the British Mark I. | Holt tracked tractor, Armoured car | Armoured personnel carrier |
| 1916 | Armour | Steel or composite plates that protect the crew. | Plate armour | |
| 1916 | Tank gun | A tank’s main gun in a rotating turret. | ||
| 1917 | Cipher machine | Rotor machines (Hebern, Fialka). | ||
| 1918 | Enigma | A rotor cipher machine. | ||
| 1918 | Aircraft carrier | A ship that serves as an airfield. | Ironclad | |
| 1918 | Armoured personnel carrier | An armoured vehicle for infantry. | Tank | Infantry fighting vehicle |
| 1929 | Thermal camera | An image in infrared light. | ||
| 1930 | Torsion bar suspension | Suspension in which a twisting bar is the spring; common on tanks. | ||
| 1939 | Night-vision device | Amplifying faint light or thermal imaging. | ||
| 1941 | Military jeep | A light four-wheel-drive vehicle (Willys MB, GAZ-67). | SUV | |
| 1941 | Multiple rocket launcher | The Katyusha BM-13. | ||
| 1942 | Amphibious vehicle | A floating car (DUKW). | Truck | |
| 1942 | Sonobuoy | A dropped buoy with a hydrophone. | ||
| 1944 | Guided missile | A missile with a guidance system. | Rocket | |
| 1944 | Jet fighter | A combat aircraft with a turbojet (Me 262). | ||
| 1945 | Nuclear weapon | A weapon based on a fission chain reaction or fusion. | ||
| 1947 | Assault rifle | Kalashnikov’s AK-47. | Rifle | |
| 1954 | Nuclear submarine | A submarine with a nuclear power plant (Nautilus). | Submarine | |
| 1956 | Infrared seeker | Homing on the heat of a target. | ||
| 1957 | Intercontinental ballistic missile | The R-7 was the first ICBM. | ||
| 1966 | Infantry fighting vehicle | The BMP-1. | Armoured personnel carrier | |
| 1970 | Body armour | Body protection made of aramid fabrics and plates. | ||
| 1970 | Composite armour | Multi-layer armour (Chobham). | ||
| 1977 | Stealth technology | Reducing visibility to radar. | ||
| 1982 | Reactive armour | Explosive blocks on armour. | ||
| 1995 | Military drone | A combat or reconnaissance UAV. |