25 Most Significant Inventions In Human History

If there’s one aspect of human activity that has become very sophisticated, it’s warfare. For centuries humans fought one another with heavy melee weapons, and long-range weapons was limited mostly to arrows and catapults, both of which were dependent on natural resources (and in the former case wind speed), which limited their effectiveness.

The use of gunpowder and its immediate descendent the cannon, was easily one of the most significant changes in the course of history. Gunpowder, which used explosive force that wasn’t dependent on the strength of its user, made plate armor all but useless, and cannons were the death knell for the giant stone castles that dotted almost every landscape in the world.

Guns also did away with the need of a large-scale army where power was determined exclusively by the number of soldiers. Instead, each man could kill multiple with a single weapon and, as guns became more sophisticated, one man could kill an entire army. One cannot deny the incredible shift in war tactics that took place once military experts realized that a single gun was more powerful than any knight on horseback.

Whereas once a soldier needed to be ridiculously strong to carry armor and wield a massive weapon, these days those requirements are much lower, and almost anyone can become a great soldier...as long as they can aim properly.