From the Bronze Age to armored vehicles
Weapons catalogue & comparison
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55 conflicts · 149 unique items. This is a growing selection, not a complete list of weapons from every war. You can compare items from different conflicts; filtering does not clear your selection.
Comparison (7)
Unknown does not mean zero. A dash is not a score. Effective weapon range, maximum range and vehicle operating range are separate measurements. There is no universal winner or invented firepower score; variants, loads and test conditions make many figures difficult to compare directly.
Colour coding
- ▲Better than its counterpart
- ▼Worse than its counterpart
- –Equal or not comparable
Per feature, only between items of the same kind and only where higher is clearly better. Mass, crew and length stay neutral.
| Specification |  Photo: Katolophyromai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Dory (hoplite spear) |  Photo: Phokion · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Xiphos |  Photo: Unknown · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Composite bow (regional variants) |  Photo: Tungsten · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Trireme |  Photo: Unknown · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons Kopis |  Photo: 秦朝人 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Chinese trigger-action crossbow |  Photo: Klearchos Kapoutsis from Wrocław, Poland · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Battering ram |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Swords, spears & melee weapons | Swords, spears & melee weapons | Bows, crossbows & ranged weapons | Warships | Swords, spears & melee weapons | Bows, crossbows & ranged weapons | Siege engines |
| Evidence status | Historically described model/type | Historically described model/type | Historically described model/type | Historically described model/type | Historically described model/type | Historically described model/type | Historically described model/type |
| In service | 700 BCE – 300 BCE | 700 BCE – 300 BCE | 1500 BCE – 1700 | 700 BCE – 300 BCE | 500 BCE – 100 BCE | 400 BCE – 280 | 1000 BCE – 1500 |
| Mechanism / armament / material | Wood and iron/bronze | Iron | Hand bow | Not established | Iron | Crossbow | Battering ram |
| Mass / displacement | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Crew | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Length | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Main armament calibre | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Front armor (not an equivalent protection rating) | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Vehicle top speed | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Effective weapon range | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Maximum projectile range | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Vehicle operating range (not weapon range) | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Rate of fire (context-dependent) | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Magazine / loading capacity | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable | Unknown / not applicable |
| Context | A Greek thrusting spear; dimensions were not uniform across all city-states. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. | A double-edged Greek short sword. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. | A family of bows made from wood, horn and sinew. The examples linked here were not one identical bow across all periods. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. | A warship propelled by oars on three levels; design and crew varied. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. | A type of cutting sword with a forward-curving blade. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. | A crossbow with a mechanical trigger, known from Chinese archaeology and texts. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. | A siege device used to strike gates and walls mechanically. Catalogue selection; service dates are given by year and models may vary. Missing figures have not been established. This is not a complete inventory of every participating army. |
| Sources / further verification | Achtergrond en varianten: Dory (hoplietenspeer) | Achtergrond en varianten: Xiphos | Achtergrond en varianten: Composietboog (regionale varianten) | Achtergrond en varianten: Trireem | Achtergrond en varianten: Kopis | Achtergrond en varianten: Chinese trekkerkruisboog | Achtergrond en varianten: Stormram |
149 unique items found · 7 selected
Second World War – Eastern Front
1941 – 1945 · 27 catalogue items
A German anti-aircraft gun that was also feared as an anti-tank gun. The Condor Legion already used it against ground targets in the Spanish Civil War; a tank gun derived from it armed the Tiger I, among others.
🧪 Prototype1 built
Design: Oleg Antonov (1940–1942)
A T-60 light tank with detachable biplane wings and a tail, to be towed as a glider behind a bomber to partisans or airborne troops. On its only flight, in September 1942, the tow aircraft could barely cope with the weight; the tank did land safely. The project was abandoned.
A Soviet heavy tank with a 122 mm gun, intended against Tigers and fortified positions; a spearhead of the advance on Berlin.
A German standard bolt-action rifle.
A Soviet truck-mounted rocket launcher that fired sixteen 132 mm rockets in quick succession. German soldiers called the howl of the rockets 'Stalin's organ'.
🔧 Limited production
Design: Rheinmetall (1943–1944)
A curved barrel attachment for the StG 44, for firing around corners from cover or from inside a tank. The 30-degree version went into limited production; the 90-degree one never got past trials. Bullets often broke up in the bend and a barrel lasted only a few hundred rounds.
A Soviet heavy tank whose thick armour withstood most German anti-tank guns in 1941. Later versions became heavier and slower; figures vary by production year.
📐 Paper design onlyNever built
Design: Krupp, after a proposal by Edward Grote (1942)
A design for a thousand-tonne 'land cruiser': 35 metres long, with a naval gun turret mounting two 28 cm guns. Hitler approved the idea in 1942, but armaments minister Speer cancelled it in early 1943. None was ever built; bridges and roads could not have carried it anyway.
A German pistol with a distinctive toggle-lock action. The 9×19 mm Parabellum cartridge developed for it is still the world's most widely used pistol cartridge.
A water-cooled machine-gun family; calibre and mount varied by country.
The most-produced fighter aircraft in history (34,248 built); it first saw action with the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Figures are for the G-6; top speed is measured at sea level.
A German general-purpose machine gun.
A German general-purpose machine gun with a high cyclic rate of fire; there is no universal combat-performance score.
An improvised incendiary weapon: a breakable bottle filled with flammable liquid and fitted with a fuse. First used in the Spanish Civil War; during the Winter War of 1939 the Finns gave it its mocking name, after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.
A German submachine gun designed by Heinrich Vollmer, with a folding stock for vehicle crews and paratroopers. The Allies mistakenly called it the 'Schmeisser'.
A German tank with a 75 mm gun; performance varied by model.
The workhorse of German armoured divisions, upgraded with a longer 75 mm gun.
🧪 Prototype2 built
Design: Ferdinand Porsche; built by Krupp and Alkett (1942–1944)
The heaviest tank ever built: 188 tonnes. Two prototypes were completed, one of them with a turret. They never saw action; the Red Army assembled a single vehicle from the wrecks, which stands in the Kubinka museum.
A Soviet submachine gun; drum and box magazines were used.
🔧 Limited production2 built
Design: Krupp (1934–1941)
The largest gun ever fired in war: 80 cm calibre, 1,350 tonnes, shells of up to more than seven tonnes. Built to break the Maginot Line, but first used in 1942 at the siege of Sevastopol, where it fired 48 rounds. Thousands of people were needed to assemble and operate it. Two guns were completed: Gustav and Dora.
The first successful assault rifle: an intermediate cartridge made automatic fire controllable. It influenced post-war weapons such as the AK-47.
A German assault gun without a rotating turret: low, cheaper than a tank and the most-produced fully tracked German armoured fighting vehicle of the war.
A Soviet medium tank with sloped armour; straightforward to manufacture in very large numbers.
A heavy German tank armed with the 8.8 cm KwK 36; heavily armoured but complex and expensive.
A German heavy tank of almost 70 tonnes with the long 8.8 cm KwK 43 gun and up to 185 mm of armour. Powerful but mechanically fragile; because of Allied bombing only 492 were built.
🔧 Limited production310 built
Design: C.G. Haenel and AEG/Leitz (1944)
An active infrared night sight for the StG 44: a searchlight with an infrared filter and an image converter on the weapon, powered by a battery pack of more than thirteen kilograms carried on the back. A few hundred sets were delivered in the last months of the war; the men who carried them were called 'Nachtjäger'.
Trojan War (legendary tradition)
1200 BCE – 1190 BCE · 3 catalogue items
An archaeologically attested weapon type. Its association with the Trojan tradition does not prove its use in any particular war.
A broad archaeological weapon type, not an established model from the Trojan War.
Legendary; existence and specifications are unproven
A wooden horse from the epic tradition; its existence, dimensions and military performance have not been proven.
Greco-Persian Wars
499 BCE – 449 BCE · 4 catalogue items
A family of bows made from wood, horn and sinew. The examples linked here were not one identical bow across all periods.
A Greek thrusting spear; dimensions were not uniform across all city-states.
A warship propelled by oars on three levels; design and crew varied.
A double-edged Greek short sword.
Campaigns of Alexander the Great
334 BCE – 323 BCE · 3 catalogue items
A family of bows made from wood, horn and sinew. The examples linked here were not one identical bow across all periods.
A type of cutting sword with a forward-curving blade.
A long Macedonian phalanx pike.
Second Punic War
218 BCE – 201 BCE · 3 catalogue items
Slingers from the Balearic Islands fought as mercenaries for Carthage and Rome. According to chroniclers, Hannibal had around two thousand of them in the vanguard of his army in Italy.
A Roman short sword; designs developed over several centuries.
A heavy Roman throwing spear with several construction variants.
Gallic Wars
58 BCE – 50 BCE · 4 catalogue items
A Roman short sword; designs developed over several centuries.
A heavy Roman throwing spear with several construction variants.
A torsion-powered projectile weapon; size and range varied by design.
A small Roman torsion-powered arrow weapon, mentioned by Caesar in connection with the siege of Avaricum. Dimensions and range vary by reconstruction.
Late Han and Three Kingdoms
184 – 280 · 3 catalogue items
A crossbow with a mechanical trigger, known from Chinese archaeology and texts.
A straight, double-edged sword; the catalogue groups variants.
A Chinese crossbow with a magazine that combined spanning, loading and shooting in one motion. The type already existed in the Warring States period but bears the name of Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms. Short range, high rate of fire.
Early Islamic conquests
632 – 750 · 3 catalogue items
A family of bows made from wood, horn and sinew. The examples linked here were not one identical bow across all periods.
Regional spear types, not a single standard model used throughout an army.
A Byzantine incendiary weapon sprayed from ships through siphons, including against Arab sieges of Constantinople. Its composition was a state secret and remains unknown.
Norman Conquest of England
1066 – 1071 · 4 catalogue items
A medieval sword family with numerous local forms.
A long two-handed battle axe of the Viking Age. On the Bayeux Tapestry it is carried almost exclusively by the heavily armoured Anglo-Saxon housecarls at Hastings (1066).
Regional spear types, not a single standard model used throughout an army.
A group of simple wooden bows, not one standardised model.
First Crusade
1096 – 1099 · 4 catalogue items
A medieval sword family with numerous local forms.
A siege device used to strike gates and walls mechanically.
A family of bows made from wood, horn and sinew. The examples linked here were not one identical bow across all periods.
A crossbow family with wooden, composite or steel bows.
Mongol conquests
1206 – 1279 · 4 catalogue items
A typological group, not an unchanged model spanning six centuries.
A counterweight-powered siege engine; its performance depended on its construction.
A composite bow used by mounted and foot archers; there are no uniform modern specifications.
A trebuchet powered by a pulling crew; it is not the same as a counterweight trebuchet.
Hundred Years’ War
1337 – 1453 · 6 catalogue items
A medieval sword family with numerous local forms.
A counterweight-powered siege engine; its performance depended on its construction.
A long hand bow; effective range depended greatly on the bow, arrow and target.
A long European sword, often designed to allow use with both hands.
Early heavy gunpowder artillery, with substantial variation in calibre.
A crossbow family with wooden, composite or steel bows.
Ottoman conquest of Constantinople
1453 – 1453 · 3 catalogue items
A family of bows made from wood, horn and sinew. The examples linked here were not one identical bow across all periods.
An Ottoman sabre with several blade forms.
Heavy siege artillery used at Constantinople. It is not equated with the surviving Dardanelles Gun of 1464.
Ottoman expansion: Mohács and Vienna
1526 – 1533 · 4 catalogue items
An Ottoman sabre with several blade forms.
A matchlock firearm; rate of fire, calibre and mass varied by model.
A typological selection, with no uniform calibre or weight.
A great two-handed sword at least 1.4 metres long, the hallmark weapon of the German Landsknechte from the time of Emperor Maximilian I.
Great Turkish War
1683 – 1699 · 4 catalogue items
A typological group, not an unchanged model spanning six centuries.
A flintlock ignition system; specifications varied by army and model.
An Ottoman sabre with several blade forms.
Cast siege artillery, a general category without uniform performance.
Sengoku and the unification of Japan
1467 – 1615 · 4 catalogue items
A Japanese sword; it was not the only, or necessarily the principal, battlefield weapon.
A matchlock firearm; rate of fire, calibre and mass varied by model.
A family of Japanese matchlock firearms.
A Japanese spear with a range of lengths and points.
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
1519 – 1521 · 3 catalogue items
An early shoulder firearm, not a modern standardised rifle.
A wooden striking weapon set with obsidian blades.
A group of Spanish thrusting and cutting swords; not every conquistador carried a standardised rapier.
Eighty Years’ War
1568 – 1648 · 5 catalogue items
A polearm combining an axe blade, a spike and a hook. It was the main weapon of the early Swiss armies in the 14th and early 15th centuries and was still used by infantry until the mid-17th century; the Swiss Guard still carries it ceremonially.
A long thrusting spear used by close-order infantry formations.
A matchlock firearm; rate of fire, calibre and mass varied by model.
Cast siege artillery, a general category without uniform performance.
A great two-handed sword at least 1.4 metres long, the hallmark weapon of the German Landsknechte from the time of Emperor Maximilian I.
Thirty Years’ War
1618 – 1648 · 4 catalogue items
A polearm combining an axe blade, a spike and a hook. It was the main weapon of the early Swiss armies in the 14th and early 15th centuries and was still used by infantry until the mid-17th century; the Swiss Guard still carries it ceremonially.
A long thrusting spear used by close-order infantry formations.
A matchlock firearm; rate of fire, calibre and mass varied by model.
Cast siege artillery, a general category without uniform performance.
Seven Years’ War
1756 – 1763 · 4 catalogue items
A family of British Land Pattern muskets, approximately .75 inch in calibre; models varied.
A typological group, not an unchanged model spanning six centuries.
French service muskets of several models.
A flintlock ignition system; specifications varied by army and model.
American Revolutionary War
1775 – 1783 · 5 catalogue items
A family of British Land Pattern muskets, approximately .75 inch in calibre; models varied.
French service muskets of several models.
A flintlock ignition system; specifications varied by army and model.
A British 104-gun ship of the line, Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Fully manned she carried 850 men; the ship still lies in Portsmouth.
Cast siege artillery, a general category without uniform performance.
Napoleonic Wars
1803 – 1815 · 8 catalogue items
A British flintlock rifle used by, among others, rifle units.
A family of British Land Pattern muskets, approximately .75 inch in calibre; models varied.
A typological group, not an unchanged model spanning six centuries.
A French flintlock musket and its modified versions from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods.
A French smoothbore field gun; 12 pounds is the historical projectile weight, not a metric mass measurement.
A British 104-gun ship of the line, Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Fully manned she carried 850 men; the ship still lies in Portsmouth.
Sailing-era naval artillery; performance varied by calibre and charge.
A sailing warship; armament, speed and displacement were not uniform.
Anglo-Zulu War
1879 – 1879 · 3 catalogue items
A hand-operated multi-barrel weapon; calibres and models varied.
A short Zulu thrusting spear.
A British single-shot breech-loading rifle.
German unification: Second Schleswig War
1864 – 1864 · 3 catalogue items
A Prussian single-shot breech-loading rifle.
A group of Krupp guns; specific models varied by campaign.
An Austrian percussion rifle; export variants existed.
German unification: Austro-Prussian War
1866 – 1866 · 3 catalogue items
A Prussian single-shot breech-loading rifle.
A group of Krupp guns; specific models varied by campaign.
An Austrian percussion rifle; export variants existed.
German unification: Franco-Prussian War
1870 – 1871 · 4 catalogue items
A French single-shot bolt-action rifle using a paper cartridge.
A Prussian single-shot breech-loading rifle.
A group of Krupp guns; specific models varied by campaign.
A hand-operated volley or rapid-fire weapon with multiple barrels; not an automatic machine gun.
American Civil War
1861 – 1865 · 9 catalogue items
A typological group, not an unchanged model spanning six centuries.
A British percussion rifle, also imported in large numbers during the American Civil War.
A hand-operated multi-barrel weapon; calibres and models varied.
A hand-cranked Confederate submarine. On 17 February 1864 she sank USS Housatonic with a spar torpedo – the first time a submarine sank a warship – but was then lost with her entire crew.
An Austrian percussion rifle; export variants existed.
An American smoothbore field gun, not the same system as the Gribeauval.
A repeating firearm with a tubular magazine in the stock.
An American rifled percussion rifle.
An armoured Union warship with a revolving gun turret. Her fight with CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads in March 1862 was the first duel between ironclads and ended in a stalemate; at the end of 1862 she sank in a storm.
Russo-Japanese War
1904 – 1905 · 4 catalogue items
A Japanese bolt-action rifle from the Meiji period.
A water-cooled machine-gun family; calibre and mount varied by country.
A Japanese pre-dreadnought battleship and flagship at Tsushima.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.
First World War
1914 – 1918 · 20 catalogue items
A German 42 cm siege howitzer by Krupp. In August 1914 the two still-experimental guns destroyed the forts of Liège and Namur.
A light automatic rifle by John Browning, introduced in France in 1918; the support weapon of the American rifle squad until the Korean War.
A French 75 mm field gun with a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism.
A semi-automatic pistol by John Browning in .45 ACP; the standard sidearm of the US Army for more than seventy years.
A German triplane, famous as the aircraft of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Highly manoeuvrable but not fast; only 320 were built.
A German bolt-action rifle.
A British battleship with an all-big-gun main armament and steam turbines. It made all earlier battleships obsolete at a stroke and gave its name to a type of ship.
A British dreadnought battleship and fleet flagship at Jutland.
A British bolt-action rifle family; models and dimensions varied.
A light machine gun with a top-mounted magazine.
A German pistol with a distinctive toggle-lock action. The 9×19 mm Parabellum cartridge developed for it is still the world's most widely used pistol cartridge.
A British tank with male and female armament variants.
A British tank used at, among other engagements, Cambrai.
A water-cooled machine-gun family; calibre and mount varied by country.
A British fragmentation hand grenade; mass and fuze varied by model.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.
A German long-range gun that shelled Paris in 1918 from about 120 km away. Its shells climbed to around 40 km; 250 people were killed, but the weapon had little military effect.
A French light tank and the first production tank to carry its armament in a fully rotating turret – the layout of almost every later tank. After 1918 it was used by many countries and in many conflicts.
A British single-seat fighter from 1917: tricky to fly but highly manoeuvrable, and one of the most successful Allied fighters of the war. It was still used in the Russian Civil War after 1918.
A British water-cooled machine gun.
Second World War – Western Europe
1939 – 1945 · 35 catalogue items
A German anti-aircraft gun that was also feared as an anti-tank gun. The Condor Legion already used it against ground targets in the Spanish Civil War; a tank gun derived from it armed the Tiger I, among others.
🧪 Prototype36 built
Design: Erich Bachem (1944–1945)
A wooden rocket interceptor that took off vertically from a tower, fired a salvo of rockets at bombers and then broke apart: pilot and engine came down by parachute. The only manned launch, on 1 March 1945, killed test pilot Lothar Sieber. The aircraft never saw action.
A German battleship. In May 1941, together with Prinz Eugen, she sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in the Denmark Strait; three days later she was herself sunk after a massive pursuit.
A four-engined American bomber with thirteen heavy machine guns, the backbone of the daylight bombing campaign over Germany. Engine power is the total of four 895 kW engines.
A light automatic rifle by John Browning, introduced in France in 1918; the support weapon of the American rifle squad until the Korean War.
An American air-cooled machine-gun family.
A semi-automatic pistol by John Browning in .45 ACP; the standard sidearm of the US Army for more than seventy years.
The most-produced American military aircraft ever (18,482 built). Henry Ford's Willow Run plant built thousands of them; at its peak a bomber rolled off the line roughly every hour. Engine power is the total of four engines.
🧪 Prototype3 built
Design: Reimar and Walter Horten; Gothaer Waggonfabrik (1943–1945)
A jet-powered flying wing with no fuselage or tail. The second prototype flew in February 1945 and crashed on its third flight; the unfinished third was captured by American troops and is in the Smithsonian. That it was intended as a 'stealth fighter' has not been demonstrated.
A German standard bolt-action rifle.
A British bolt-action rifle family; models and dimensions varied.
A German pistol with a distinctive toggle-lock action. The 9×19 mm Parabellum cartridge developed for it is still the world's most widely used pistol cartridge.
An American semi-automatic service rifle.
An American medium tank; engines, guns and armour varied considerably by variant.
The most-produced fighter aircraft in history (34,248 built); it first saw action with the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Figures are for the G-6; top speed is measured at sea level.
The world's first operational jet fighter: far faster than any propeller fighter, but deployed too late and in too small numbers. Jet engines deliver thrust (2 × 8.8 kN) rather than shaft power, so engine power is left blank.
A German general-purpose machine gun.
A German general-purpose machine gun with a high cyclic rate of fire; there is no universal combat-performance score.
A British fragmentation hand grenade; mass and fuze varied by model.
A German submachine gun designed by Heinrich Vollmer, with a folding stock for vehicle crews and paratroopers. The Allies mistakenly called it the 'Schmeisser'.
An American fighter whose British Merlin engine and large fuel tanks let it escort bombers deep over Germany; it was also used in the Korean War. Range is with drop tanks.
🧪 Prototype
Design: Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (1943–1944)
Two wooden wheels three metres across, driven by cordite rockets on the rims, with a drum of explosive between them: meant to be launched from a landing craft to blast a breach in the Atlantic Wall. In trials on the beach at Westward Ho! rockets came loose and the contraption careered in all directions. It was never used.
A German tank with a 75 mm gun; performance varied by model.
The workhorse of German armoured divisions, upgraded with a longer 75 mm gun.
📐 Paper design onlyNever built
Design: Geoffrey Pyke, Combined Operations (1942–1943)
A plan for an unsinkable aircraft carrier made of pykrete, a mixture of ice and wood pulp that is far tougher than ice and melts slowly. The ship was to be 610 metres long and give convoys air cover in mid-Atlantic. A thousand-tonne scale model was built in Canada in 1943; the plan was then dropped because long-range aircraft and escort carriers had made it unnecessary.
A French light tank and the first production tank to carry its armament in a fully rotating turret – the layout of almost every later tank. After 1918 it was used by many countries and in many conflicts.
A British submachine gun.
The first successful assault rifle: an intermediate cartridge made automatic fire controllable. It influenced post-war weapons such as the AK-47.
A German assault gun without a rotating turret: low, cheaper than a tank and the most-produced fully tracked German armoured fighting vehicle of the war.
A British single-engined fighter; figures are for the early Mk I, while later variants were faster and more heavily armed.
An American submachine gun with model and magazine variants.
A heavy German tank armed with the 8.8 cm KwK 36; heavily armoured but complex and expensive.
A German heavy tank of almost 70 tonnes with the long 8.8 cm KwK 43 gun and up to 185 mm of armour. Powerful but mechanically fragile; because of Allied bombing only 492 were built.
🔧 Limited production
Design: August Coenders, Röchling steelworks (1943–1944)
A multi-charge gun: side chambers with extra charges accelerated the shell further as it travelled up the barrel. The battery at Mimoyecques was meant to bombard London from 165 km away, but Tallboy bombs wrecked it in July 1944 before it could fire. Two shorter guns shelled the city of Luxembourg around the turn of 1944–1945.
A British water-cooled machine gun.
Second World War – Pacific
1941 – 1945 · 18 catalogue items
A Japanese bolt-action rifle.
🧪 Prototype
Design: Lytle S. Adams; US Army Air Forces and Navy (1942–1944)
A bomb casing holding more than a thousand Mexican free-tailed bats, each carrying a small timed incendiary. Released over Japan, the animals were expected to roost under the eaves of wooden houses. In one test armed bats escaped and part of an airfield in New Mexico burned down. After spending about two million dollars the project was cancelled in 1944.
🧪 Prototype
Design: Bob Semple, Public Works Department (1940–1941)
New Zealand's emergency tank from the days when a Japanese invasion was feared and no real tanks could be had: a Caterpillar crawler tractor with a superstructure of corrugated iron over steel and a row of Bren guns. It was slow and top-heavy and became a target of ridicule. A few were built; none saw action.
A four-engined American bomber with thirteen heavy machine guns, the backbone of the daylight bombing campaign over Germany. Engine power is the total of four 895 kW engines.
A light automatic rifle by John Browning, introduced in France in 1918; the support weapon of the American rifle squad until the Korean War.
An American air-cooled machine-gun family.
A semi-automatic pistol by John Browning in .45 ACP; the standard sidearm of the US Army for more than seventy years.
The most-produced American military aircraft ever (18,482 built). Henry Ford's Willow Run plant built thousands of them; at its peak a bomber rolled off the line roughly every hour. Engine power is the total of four engines.
🔧 Limited production9300 built
Design: Imperial Japanese Army technical research institute (1942–1944)
Paper hydrogen balloons that rode the jet stream across the Pacific in a few days carrying incendiary and high-explosive bombs: the first intercontinental weapon. Japan launched more than nine thousand; a few hundred were found in North America. In May 1945 one killed six people in Oregon, the only deaths from enemy action on the US mainland during the war.
A British bolt-action rifle family; models and dimensions varied.
An American semi-automatic service rifle.
An American medium tank; engines, guns and armour varied considerably by variant.
A Japanese naval fighter; figures vary by A6M variant.
An American fighter whose British Merlin engine and large fuel tanks let it escort bombers deep over Germany; it was also used in the Korean War. Range is with drop tanks.
An American submachine gun with model and magazine variants.
An American aircraft carrier of the Yorktown class.
An American Iowa-class battleship; Japan signed its surrender on deck in 1945. Modernised with cruise missiles, it was deployed in the Gulf War.
A Japanese battleship carrying the largest guns ever mounted on a ship; sunk during Operation Ten-Go.
Korean War
1950 – 1953 · 11 catalogue items
A light automatic rifle by John Browning, introduced in France in 1918; the support weapon of the American rifle squad until the Korean War.
An American air-cooled machine-gun family.
A semi-automatic pistol by John Browning in .45 ACP; the standard sidearm of the US Army for more than seventy years.
A British bolt-action rifle family; models and dimensions varied.
An American semi-automatic service rifle.
An American medium tank; engines, guns and armour varied considerably by variant.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.
An American fighter whose British Merlin engine and large fuel tanks let it escort bombers deep over Germany; it was also used in the Korean War. Range is with drop tanks.
A Soviet submachine gun; drum and box magazines were used.
An American Iowa-class battleship; Japan signed its surrender on deck in 1945. Modernised with cruise missiles, it was deployed in the Gulf War.
A British water-cooled machine gun.
Vietnam War
1955 – 1975 · 8 catalogue items
An assault-rifle family; an AKM is not identical to an early AK-47.
A transport and support helicopter; armament and engine varied by model.
An American air-cooled machine-gun family.
A semi-automatic pistol by John Browning in .45 ACP; the standard sidearm of the US Army for more than seventy years.
An American 5.56 mm rifle family; models varied between wars.
An American general-purpose machine gun.
A portable grenade launcher; range and operation depend on the ammunition.
A Soviet tank family with numerous export and licensed variants.
Gulf War
1990 – 1991 · 10 catalogue items
An assault-rifle family; an AKM is not identical to an early AK-47.
A British main battle tank with Chobham armour and a rifled 120 mm gun. Armour values are not public.
An American 5.56 mm rifle family; models varied between wars.
An American tank with a 120 mm gun. Exact composite-armour values are not assumed to be known.
An infantry fighting vehicle, not a main battle tank.
An American general-purpose machine gun.
A portable grenade launcher; range and operation depend on the ammunition.
A Soviet tank family with numerous export and licensed variants.
A Soviet tank family; export models were not identical to all Soviet models.
An American Iowa-class battleship; Japan signed its surrender on deck in 1945. Modernised with cruise missiles, it was deployed in the Gulf War.
First Punic War
264 BCE – 241 BCE · 1 catalogue items
Slingers from the Balearic Islands fought as mercenaries for Carthage and Rome. According to chroniclers, Hannibal had around two thousand of them in the vanguard of his army in Italy.
Imjin War: Japanese invasions of Korea
1592 – 1598 · 1 catalogue items
A covered Korean warship that Admiral Yi Sun-sin deployed against the Japanese invasions; its roof was studded with iron spikes against boarding. Whether the deck was also covered with iron plates is disputed among historians.
Russian Civil War
1917 – 1922 · 2 catalogue items
A French light tank and the first production tank to carry its armament in a fully rotating turret – the layout of almost every later tank. After 1918 it was used by many countries and in many conflicts.
A British single-seat fighter from 1917: tricky to fly but highly manoeuvrable, and one of the most successful Allied fighters of the war. It was still used in the Russian Civil War after 1918.
Spanish Civil War
1936 – 1939 · 6 catalogue items
A German anti-aircraft gun that was also feared as an anti-tank gun. The Condor Legion already used it against ground targets in the Spanish Civil War; a tank gun derived from it armed the Tiger I, among others.
A water-cooled machine-gun family; calibre and mount varied by country.
The most-produced fighter aircraft in history (34,248 built); it first saw action with the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Figures are for the G-6; top speed is measured at sea level.
An improvised incendiary weapon: a breakable bottle filled with flammable liquid and fitted with a fuse. First used in the Spanish Civil War; during the Winter War of 1939 the Finns gave it its mocking name, after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.
A French light tank and the first production tank to carry its armament in a fully rotating turret – the layout of almost every later tank. After 1918 it was used by many countries and in many conflicts.
Invasion of Poland (1939)
1939 – 1939 · 6 catalogue items
A German anti-aircraft gun that was also feared as an anti-tank gun. The Condor Legion already used it against ground targets in the Spanish Civil War; a tank gun derived from it armed the Tiger I, among others.
A German pistol with a distinctive toggle-lock action. The 9×19 mm Parabellum cartridge developed for it is still the world's most widely used pistol cartridge.
A water-cooled machine-gun family; calibre and mount varied by country.
The most-produced fighter aircraft in history (34,248 built); it first saw action with the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Figures are for the G-6; top speed is measured at sea level.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.
A French light tank and the first production tank to carry its armament in a fully rotating turret – the layout of almost every later tank. After 1918 it was used by many countries and in many conflicts.
Winter War (Russo-Finnish War)
1939 – 1940 · 4 catalogue items
A Soviet heavy tank whose thick armour withstood most German anti-tank guns in 1941. Later versions became heavier and slower; figures vary by production year.
A water-cooled machine-gun family; calibre and mount varied by country.
An improvised incendiary weapon: a breakable bottle filled with flammable liquid and fitted with a fuse. First used in the Spanish Civil War; during the Winter War of 1939 the Finns gave it its mocking name, after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
A Russian/Soviet bolt-action rifle in several models.