Leonard T. Koonce 
While humans have been fighting each other since they were human, modern warfare only began around 5,000 years ago, in the age of chariots – the ancient version of the modern chariot.
Tanks could only have been invented in ancient societies with governments and bureaucracies capable of developing and building them by the hundreds, as well as recruiting and training the soldiers who drove them into battle.
The tank is the first example of how new military technology can disrupt previous methods of warfare. History is replete with such inventions or developments – innovations that have changed the way wars are fought.
To identify 30 inventions that revolutionized combat, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed independent research from a variety of sources. These inventions were not always originally intended for use in warfare, but when the technology was reallocated to military use, the technology forever changed the way wars were fought. (These are 18 of the deadliest guns of all time.)
A notable example is the continuous tread of the tracks, the metal belts on a tank that allow it to roll easily over barbed wire and hedgerows. Belts were originally invented in California to provide combines with the traction needed to drive over bumpy fields. (It also works the other way around, like with these 19 commercial products invented by the military.)
Click here to see 30 inventions that shaped military history
Other inventions were always intended for military use, such as the English six-foot longbow that could send an arrow into a rider up to half a mile away. The weapon, invented by the Celts in what is now Wales, was designed specifically for combat and radically changed the political landscape of Europe giving the English a formidable advantage on the battlefield .
Other important inventions in military history, such as modern global positioning systems or the Internet itself, were always intended for use by both civilians and soldiers.
