Apart from the rifle, what other invention of the 20th century has revolutionised warfare ?

Question

Personally the Attack Helicopter.

Okay lets not include Nukes beacuse no one has ever used them against soldiers, Hiroshima and Nagasaki where population centres with minimal military value.

Shane L - The rifle i meant was the modern Semi Automatic rifle Circa, 1940 onwards.

Answer 1

the atom bomb

Answer 2

I know its been mentioned before but clearly rifles have been around for centuries, and given that the majority of the second world war was fought by soldiers using bolt action rifles (German, British, Russian, Italian and Japanese forces) maybe its not been that decisive.

I would hazard that the most significant invention was actually the jet engine because that has now enabled wars to be fought pretty much from a distance through using satellites, predator drones, fast jets, and smart bombs....all of them dependant in some way on a jet or pulse engine.

Hence now armies are much smaller, casualties are much less, and the country with the best air force usually holds sway.

Answer 3

There are two correct answers

1 Tank. It brought to an end the static warfare of WWI and brought the imfamaous Blitzkrieg strategy of the Germans to the fore. The Tank essentially allowed relatively small groups of infantry to travel along side it and take and hold positions that would later be reinforced by larger numbers.

2 The fighter bomber. This was the basic countermeasure to the tank. Armed with rockets the fighter bomber in WW2 was essential in for taking out armoured support to allow for ground supieriority. This was developed further with jet fighters and the guided rockets that they were armed with. Lets face it the plane it the tank of 21st Century. It is fast, sometimes invisible to radar and can deliver huge payloads over long distances. What army can survive without such a weapon?

Answer 4

This is not an answer but a correction, the rifle dates long
before the 20th. century. Now for the answer, spy satellites
are by far the most single revolutionary invention, or should
I say development, in the 20th century. It allows you to set
up strategy, avoid killing or destroying harmless targets, and
in general to deploy troops and equipment in an intelligent
manner. The end of it all means lives and lots of money
saved apart from being a deterrent to possible offenders.

Answer 5

I'd say other than more advanced weaponry (and if your look at the basic actions of our rifles, pistols, machine guns, they really haven't altered all that much since WWII, the action of the M9 is directly lifted from the German P-38) would have to be the internal combustion engine (which lets tanks, trucks, ships go since those designs had been designed since Da Vinci's time), advanced communications (I was able to call/e-mail home while in Iraq), and a better understanding of medical care (quicker return time, better survivability)

Answer 6

Your wrong on both counts about the nukes Hiroshima was the headquarters of a Japanese army the 6th I think. Nagasaki was a naval base and shipyard. My list of inventions are as follows, RADAR,SONAR,guided missiles and bombs,Night vision,airplanes and helicopters,KEVLAR,GPS,spy satellites,WMD's,napalm,white phosphorus, Hollow charge warheads, plastic explosives,MASH units,Inoculations and penicillin, LASER range finders. TV and computers, Proximity round,Armored vehicles, Trucks,Nuclear reactors, Aircraft carrier,Depleted uranium round, Chobham armor, Jet engine, Steam turbine, Diesel engine that should be enough for now.

Answer 7

Chemical Warfare

Answer 8

It would have to be aircraft, since the use of them in the First World War, for bombing and surveillance, to the expansion of their uses in the Second World War, the scale of battles to the devastation wrought by aircraft by bombing alone, the wiping out of entire cities, Dresden in Germany a point in question. To their use in modern warfare, most of the raids in the first Gulf War were by aircraft, pinpoint bombing of strategic sites... Modern warfare would not be able to be waged on such a wide area if it were not for planes.

Answer 9

artillery, body armor, combat medic, helicopter and other aircraft, gunboat, aircraft carriers, MRE, parachutes, Utility Uniforms, tactical strategy, night vision, sattelite imagery, tanks......etc. Theres been a lot of inventions that revolutionized warfare since the beginnings. Dont really know what youre getting at.

Answer 10

The rifle goes back to the 1700's .
20th century gave birth to a huge change in warfare .
The GREATEST CHANGE was in MEDICAL CARE for the wounded and sick . These advances flowed into the civilian world, saving millions of lives worldwide .

Answer 11

The rifle wasn't invented in the 20th century. I am pretty sure it came about in the 1800s.

In the 20th century, it would certainly be the advent of Air Power, in all it's forms. Every conflict since WWI has had air power as one of the crucial factors in determining victory.