Insane Ancient Super Weapons You Never Knew Actually Existed

History has shown that whoever has the bigger gun usually ends up victorious, but what about when there were no guns? Check out today's insane new video that reveals some of the most insane ancient superweapons you never heard of before, until now!
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[@Zenith118]

Slight correction - Hannibal went to war with the Roman REPUBLIC, not the Roman EMPIRE. Hannibal's crossing of the Alps pre-dates the founding of the Roman Empire.

[@av1shh]

Oversimplified fan?

[@elitehacker1416]

This is very true

[@user-yf6zz3cl8i]

To be fair even though Rome wasn't officially an empire at that time, they very much operated like one

[@tommybrown9534]

Wrong.. He went to war with New Yorkers 🤷‍♂️

[@killahasbigrpk8711]

@@av1shh oversimplified enjoyer*

[@Houndf]

No mention of the Hwacha? Literally arrow artillery that could fire 100-200 arrows!

[@Eyes0penNoFear]

I need one of those ship grabby things! The nearest coast is 500 miles away though, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it..

[@IsaiahRichards692]

Everyone who’s played TABS before already knows about the Chu Ko Nu!

[@eddieh9248]

Take it to the lake and go fishing

[@cherrydragon3120]

Use it to grab people

[@uberbeeg]

Did you know the creators of the biggest advancements in explosives, gunpowder, TNT and atomic all regretted it. A Chinese alchemist left notes warning people not to use his powder, Noble regretted TNT so much he created an award for people doing their best to avoid war, Oppenhiemer quoted an ancient text and called himself the destroyer of worlds.

[@cherrydragon3120]

The Corvus is an amazing device. Even today they use it but modernised. Naval Bridges and Tank platforms with extending bridges are a thing to cross canyons and rivers even today Also... siege towers had a secret, BECAUSE they were set on fire the front was often dressed up in a layer of Wet leather or metal plates to prevent fire from putting the tower on fire

[@noelhutchins7366]

Archimedes' mirror already works, a curved building coalesces hundreds of square feet of window to melt anything in the plaza at its base.

[@gruntopolouski5919]

Kinda funny that “War Elephants” was followed by “Greek Fire”… I mean, seeing elephants for the first time as an attacking force would be beyond terrifying - like the first soldiers facing tanks in WW1. And just like in WW1, the dominance of the elephant/tank only lasted until word got back and counters developed. For elephants, caltrops and fire would be great deterrents… and ironically, the same would work vs tanks, scaled up, of course. Anti-tank “hedgehogs” are just large caltrops, after all…

[@davidsaville5239]

The Roman Army used Incendiary pigs 🐖 covered in tar and set alight to combat the Carthageian war elephants 🐘

[@ryanjowett2623]

@@davidsaville5239 don't forget when that happened most of the Roman got burned because the pigs turned around and ran.

[@walterlyzohub8112]

Archimedes light weapon was tried as a number of mirrors held by students onto a ship model and got it started burning. This was reported years ago by a paper done by a teacher with students. Each student could direct his mirror onto one spot.

[@jerry52346]

I mixed pine resin and sawdust all ground fine as needed. Used as a propellant to light a mix of lamp oil. made a giant flam out the front of the pipe.

[@maxlevedgeful]

Trebuchets were known to all civilisations from the castle age. The best were the Japanese ones with 50% faster packing/unpacking.

[@Qrama]

Hahahaha!

[@suhass5710]

Age of empires 2😂😂😂

[@talofauso1498]

Pikes and trebs, devastating combo

[@DoamBot]

Most weapons like that saw their best interpretation with the Japanese. Though that's only because everyone else had already shifted to guns. While they still worked on older tech.

[@al13mosk05]

Yes!

[@jenniferlopez8495]

Surprisingly most of these I already heard of since I was little from Age of Empires 2

[@SungsilNo.1]

The singijun was a ancient Korean weapon used during the Joseon Dynasty. Once the fuse was lit, 100 rockets were launched at once.

[@ynraider]

Koreans also invented the hand grenade. Kublai Khan brought Korean grenadiers to invade Japan!

[@SungsilNo.1]

@@ynraider I know! Koreans are so intelligent!

[@personalemail9329]

@@ynraider where did you learn that bs? because Greek fire was not developed in Korea. And modern Hand Grenade came from Britain.

[@Iorekzickefoose]

The only ones I did not know about was the quickfire crossbow, the corvus, Hellenistic warships, and the iron hand. Good job!

[@WorldWalker128]

That first one I'd seen in the Berserk manga and an RTS game called Battle Realms, but I had no idea it was a legit weapon! Most of the rest I've either seen in RTS games or read about. That boat-bridge was another thing I'd not heard of. Impressive ingenuity!

[@jaycowper]

Dude, battle realms is awesome!

[@dla749]

Greek fire might have had sodium in it, since sodium basically reacts very strongly with water and will either explode or catch fire.

[@stevinharper3551]

Trebuchet is a well known weapon don't really belong on this list. Same with elephants in ancient times. Kingdoms in India and Hannibal.

[@haveyouhuggedyourreptiletoday]

The only thing I find interesting is that If you search the Carthaginian war elephants you will find that they were larger than even the African Elephants.

[@gdragonlord749]

That hot oil think is more than likely an over embellished myth due to how expensive it would be and how cluttered it would make the top of the wall. 5lbs rocks worked just fine.

[@charchadonto]

Instead of hot oil it was mainly hot water or hot sand. much cheaper and still very uncomfortable to encounter.

[@gdragonlord749]

@@charchadonto There was a study on that and it was likely that the sand may cool too fast but water may still be applicable

[@sandhilltucker]

most ships in that time were held together with pitch/tar which could melt if heated enough.

[@FluttershyIsAGoddess]

1:16 It says happy in his mouth when the projectile lands. LOL

[@Solesteam]

0:52 Now I know where Terraria's "repeaters" come from... This doohickey.

[@slicingonions4398]

Mythbusters couldn't recreate the glass mirror that could set ships on fire they tried on 2 different occasions. Great video!

[@EducatedPsycho95]

Am I trippin or did Obama make an appearance in that episode? Lol

[@shewolfsiren]

I think why the previous recreations of Archimedes’ Mirror haven’t worked is because they’re aiming at the wrong target: wood soaked in water. What they should be aiming for is the sails! Once the sails catch fire and start burning, that’s all she wrote! The ship in question is done! TRY IT!!!

[@jm458205]

@@shewolfsiren I've always had that same thought beside the likely issue of being able to focus a small enough area reliably.

[@davemeads859]

It's been successfully recreated since it's most effective using as many mirrors as possible all focusing on the same point but if you have enough mirrors you could melt steel

[@haveyouhuggedyourreptiletoday]

@@jm458205 You also have to remember that sails back then were canvas soaked in oils to protect them from rain.

[@theblackantonio]

Scythed chariots died out because chariots were poor weapons of war - they cost too much and were replaced by cavalry.

[@havable]

Chariots are badass enough to beat god: "The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron." --Judges 1:19

[@davidsaville5239]

@@havable Chariots didn't help the Egyptians chasing the Jews when Moses parted the Red Sea

[@rps215]

Until Hussite Wagons, though it is more like a deployable mobile fortification.

[@southlake631]

Please remember that when Hannibal attacked Rome, it wasn't an Empire yet, it was a Republic.

[@thezeevy]

The entire section on the chariot had me scratching my head. The chariot is one of the earliest weapons in mass war, earliest records put them in Egypt in the 1600s. By Roman times they were effectively dead as a weapon of war. They existed primarily for entertainment.

[@midgetydeath]

Siege towards were often covered in animal hides soaked in water as well to help protect against fire attacks. Their backs were generally open to spare time and material in construction and make it lighter.

[@crazyscienceguy9933]

What I've learned is that these are "ancient weapons you never knew actually existed because they didn't last very long because they were absolutely terrible."

[@sannyassi73]

If the mirror/s were parabolic it would only work at a certain range. I suspect what may work is perhaps hundreds or even thousands of smaller polished flat metal surfaces (old time mirrors) and everyone controlling them would work together to reflect at the same spot. I believe that could actually work, even with simple polished metal- the less reflective, the more you'd need but I am pretty sure you could scale that idea enough to work. Who knows though, it's fun to think about- I wonder if anyone has actually tried this idea before, I'm too lazy to hunt for the answer :P

[@jdw407]

Mythbusters did it. Myth busted.

[@davemeads859]

This absolutely works if you have enough mirrors you can melt steel

[@WorldWalker128]

Well, ACTUAL laser-weapons are used to shoot down drones, so I guess anything is possible.

[@EddyA1337]

With enough mirrors and lenses down to a focal point one could heat stuff up to insane temperatures, but that's what makes it unfeasible, the focal point. Now if you could make it a focal LINE... It'd be technology worth pursuing. If you want to know more look up how gravitational solar lens telescopes work, once you're out far enough (about 650 astronomical units) you can resolve things if you're far away and in a focal line, not a point.

[@gruntopolouski5919]

@@jdw407 Very, VERY, ***VERY*** busted. Rarely have I seen Adam so crushed.

[@haydenwells3879]

They need to make a game where you’re launching bodies over castle walls

[@peterbecza4826]

Stronghold Crusader, cow bodies can be added to be thrown to enemies.

[@seangleason8674]

They would throw the most infected, bloated absolutely foul bodies possible to wreak as much havoc as possible behind castle walls- absolutely savage, but I'm sure equally as effective

[@ryanodonnell8515]

Funny thing is that technique was historically used to intimidate people under siege never understanding the diseases speed within the walls

[@kensmith5694]

You don't cut a rope to fire a weapon. They used more clever triggering systems than that. It usually involved the rope looping over a post of some kind and the post tilting to release the rope.

[@j.davidsapp6212]

I love it how we're all, "well, MIT couldn't replicate it in a semester with a few college students, so it must have never existed." 🤔

[@andrewvalentine6977]

I learnt about alot of these from playing the Age of Empires games way back when. Think I learnt more about history from playing that gamee than I did at school

[@Kalleboost]

I have played too much Age of Empires to not know any of these *Super Weapons* And a bunch of other strategy games

[@TheNaughtySenpai]

4:20 I remember building one of these for a science fair in school. Got 3rd place and a warning for damaging the school 🤣😭

[@donm5354]

Im waiting for: SANE Ancient Super Weapons You Never Knew Actually Existed

[@kofiadofowadie8356]

Actyby the time of the Romans chariots were rarely used by the Roman armies . They preferred infantry fighting tactics overall

[@midgetydeath]

A phalanx wouldn't break against a chariot. The horse and drivers would die very quickly to the pikes. Though, their weight would probably break a lot of pikes, which could be taken advantage of by other forces. Most likely, they were used against phalanx in suicide attacks or would jump off at the last second so only the horse would die but its mass and the chariot could still damage the pikes.

[@maplesyrup7959]

Testudo - Roman Latin for tortoise With this in effect, roman soldiers were almost invulnerable to arrows or even spears! Only the Romans ever implemented that form of defensive warfare! Ever played Rome Total War on PC? That game is really good! ⚔

[@ynraider]

Weak to Elephants...

[@maplesyrup7959]

@@ynraider Only when facing the Carthaginians 🐘 otherwise they were almost invulnerable Although much like Greek phalanx soldiers, sides and rear were its weak points!

[@ynraider]

​@@maplesyrup7959 Also, weak to African hoplites... Hannibal Barca defeated the Romans using Libyan/Numidian, SPARTAN-TRAINED hoplites... Considered OBSOLETE by the Roman Manipule System of the day(which defeated the Macedonian phalanx)

[@ynraider]

@@maplesyrup7959 "Cassius Dio also gives an account of a Roman shield array being defeated by Parthian cataphracts and horse archers at the Battle of Carrhae:"

[@maplesyrup7959]

@@ynraider That lost battle was more.down to the unwise move made by the ego megalomania Marcus Lucinnus Crassus

[@RR-ut3xl]

Cardiff Castle has a Trebuchet you can eat your lunch next to

[@clydesideproductions]

did anyone really not know war elephants or trebuchets "actually existed"

[@foxthefox762]

Thanks to Stronghold for knowing of trebuchets and siege towers. Oldies will understand!

[@420blaze-it]

An absolute classic of a game 🤌

[@juanlugo7492]

He forgot the Archimedes, Steam Cannon

[@LoveHandle4890]

It’s sad how mankind never learns from it’s mistake’s and history is doomed to repeat itself forever in an endless cycle.

[@eaphantom9214]

We keep finding more destruction and quicker ways of killing eachother 😑☹️

[@hongo3870]

Thats a pretty simplistic way to look at war. War happens because you cant tell some people no. Please dont invade me and enslave my people. You fight, or you are abused. This is human nature, and it will be for the foreseeable coming thousands of years.

[@havable]

This will be true so long as we allow an upper class to lord it over everyone. Who starts the wars? Rich people. Who fights them? Everyone else.

[@lemonkehasarrived5051]

poor horses hurt by the scythe chariot

[@mariosdimos2402]

greek fire is υγρο πυρ. more correct to call is liquid fire. not just greek fire.

[@eaphantom9214]

Take the pride of you 🇬🇷 inventing it to heart though, even if - Greek fire - is an incorrect term 😅 A weapon straight from Hades lair, if you will.

[@ringleader5150]

This hits harder after Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

[@sharkchaos5160]

Great video.

[@FluffyEmmy1116]

When I was in Boy Scouts we made a trebuchet at summer camp every year.

[@selvinmckay6768]

Everything on this list I learned playing Age of Empires and Total War games lol nothing was a surprise

[@tureytayno3154]

Also, Age of Mythology have two versions of Archimedes mirror. First: Mounted in a crocodile and second in a tower built for that purpose.

[@xandernelson1492]

You taught your elephant to avoid obstacles. I taught my elephant to go through them. We are not the same.

[@legateel9648]

it's funny how they added mustaches and beards on the roman troops while historically they were always shaved clean

[@edbam6344]

Mainland Taiwan sure was full of great inventors, a shame what's happened in the last 70 years, now they just rip people off.

[@tonyoliver2167]

Catapult "load it up and cut the rope?" Yeah I'm sure that's a great way of saving on rope.... I can't help but assume they had another method of letting catapults off. "Cut the rope?" Yeah and I suppose we'll just dig in to our unlimited supply of rope.

[@davemeads859]

You're actually on to something being able to produce enough rope for a siege was a logistical nightmare during medieval times

[@ryanjowett2623]

Hooks and levers could be used

[@zero18000]

Name of video: Insane Ancient Super Weapons You Never Knew Actually Existed Actuality: A list of ancient weapons most people know about, except 1 or 2 of them. Siege tower? Trebuchets? Come on, it doesn't take an enthusiast to know about these things. Went in expecting to hear some crazy things I hadn't heard about, walked away with only one I wasn't familiar with.

[@LegendNoel73]

Imagine how many elephants got shot with arrows, stabbed, speared and such? Human are monsters!

[@Guest-qm8mi]

14:42 *Animation error.*

[@cjclark1208]

The oarsman just dropped it and grabbed it back real quick with superior speed. Yeah, we’ll go with that lol.

[@mrdyvig]

If they knew enough to use mirrors to redirect sunlight, couldn't they have used several ships with mirrors and one ship with a lense or concave mirror to concentrate the sunlight?

[@mooseboose8175]

Ima simple man. I see a new infographics episode, I click said episode

[@shortie9103]

Where george martin? That automatic bow with gun fu would be good for two series

[@danielbalderrama4137]

I thought the trebuchet was already popular due to the lord of the rings.

[@CONSTANTINEXI63]

These are all very famous weapons and devices around the world

[@Erwdos]

Im quite sure the romans didnt use chariots for war. Chariots went out of fashion for warfare way before they became a big player. People found out how to use bow and arrow and other weapons on horseback, and they become less popular and ineffective. They did use them for entertainment though

[@IsaiahRichards692]

Everyone who’s played TABS before already knows about the Chu Ko Nu!

[@superkamehameha1744]

I think I'm too much of a nerd since I know all of these weapons before.

[@judeabeljangnap7241]

I Prefer The Term An Intellectual 🌝

[@ProductCreationFormula]

Hey look some of the characters from the SCP Foundation are in this show, just wearing different clothes. That character must be an anomaly, still being alive to this day. 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣

[@mastersomethingnu6997]

I will say war elephants were scary there was a huge downside, most after being trained were very timid and thus would run away if they were started by almost all Roman ranged weapons at the time.

[@3ChZer0]

Anyone still don't know how Greek Fire is made of?

[@shadowmancy9183]

I've heard naphtha or possibly crude oil. If I had a supply of flammable liquid that floated on water, I'd be pretty protective of where I got it from, just to keep my navy from dealing with it.

[@inmemoryoffrancoile9274]

4:13 HooFlunDunn

[@martinvasquez818]

I learned of most of these weapons via video games! And some via history stories

[@AverageSlime999]

Shotgun rockets, impressing

[@Random-gc8by]

Ballista: "Am I a joke to you."

[@yamansrivastava1729]

Age of empires prepared me for this video

[@lemonacidrounds7293]

19:03 Whoever does that is a sadistic creep

[@el_perro2436]

Imagine going to an ancient war with an M16 and a tank

[@gm2407]

Archamedes needed a focusing lense.

[@SanjaySingh-bi5gy]

One like from India 👍

[@cdis]

Our flame thrower go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[@anuragtumane5227]

Maybe the weapons shown here must be upgraded to newer versions.

[@_Arminius]

Another problem with elephants is that they can go into musth, which is part of the male reproductive cycle. It's a condition that is extremely unpleasant and makes the elephant extremely aggressive. Therefor the "driver" of the war elephant would carry a large metal nail and a hammer around so he could drive the nail into the back of the elephants head in case it went berserk and uncontrollable. So killing the elephant was sometimes necessary to save the crew on its back.

[@ravanpee1325]

And also the rest of your own army

[@Corruptedhope]

Ploybius sounds like that secret CIA game’s name

[@giorgosstanimeros4226]

Here in Greece we say Greek fire, υγρό πυρ (liquid fire)

[@berrymacokinya8131]

14:38…. They use what..?!?… and lots of them😂

[@Investigat0r]

99.9999% of people who watched this video knew what a trebuchet is. Hannibal didn't fight the Roman Empire. Other than that, good video.

[@samauri_nemisis856]

Oh And Myth busters did the Mirror 1 and succeeded

[@Astral_olpral]

I was thinking about explosive bow arrows

[@Soujirou13]

I uhh....... don't believe the Romans had chariots as part of their military, as you described before the racing part......... I'm no expert, but I've watched enough KZbin "edutainment" to know that after the Bronze Age Collapse, no superpowers used chariots anymore. Alexander was known for his Thessalian and Thracian cavalry (as well as his Companion cavalry), and the Romans were known for their Legions. "Equites" were horse-back troops of the Rome. None of these major powers were known for their charioteers. Citing a kind of mosaic reference of the time, it shows the Pharaoh of Egypt and his army doing battle against many "sea peoples," during the BAC; and the chariot is prominently featured to the SIDE of the piece, implying that it did NOT help them in their fight against the sea peoples (Egypt being one of the only civs to somewhat "survive" the Bronze Age Collapse). So while chariot RACES were a thing until the Byzantine Empire (and perhaps beyond?), chariot fighting fell out heavily after the BAC. Even when Caesar crossed the Channel to attack the Britons, he noted their use of chariots (which had fallen out of fashion, and was probably due to their distance FROM the major empires affected by the BAC for them to have gotten the notice). EDIT: Yeah I just quick-Google'd that and got this: In the Roman Empire, chariots were not used for warfare, but for chariot racing, especially in circuses, or for triumphal processions, when they could be pulled by as many as ten horses or even by dogs, tigers, or ostriches That one was a bad miss......................

[@Hamm3r282]

"but most tanks dont get spooked easily" wuht? there are tanks with emotions?

[@Riper3185]

My father recorded the old cartoon brave star, old ghost buster, transformers and gi joe and thunder cats then came the force and the classic aliens not to mention a vhs of Iron Maiden

[@raeraebadfingers]

Cool

[@MerkhVision]

That’s pretty cool but very random lol did u mean to post that under a different video??

[@The_golden_charlie]

Im just looking at the thumbnaill and the hand looks like hes like COME HERE BOAT NOW.

[@danielhouser8845]

Thanks for the content The infographic show like comment share subscribe people so you can give them ideas for new contact I mentioned a few things I'm just waiting for them to make it 😂 hopefully they are

[@robertmosher7418]

Hannibal only managed to bring one single elephant out of the Alps and down into Italy and mot sure how long the beast lasted. Elephants are not adapted to walking on ice and snow and they all fell off cliffs or died from exposure to the winter mountain weather. He lost nearly half of his calvary horses and mercenaries from the same as well. He even contracted an eye infection and lost that eye.

[@JakeSmith-ps4vr]

Was #7 thermite? Aluminum and iron oxide were readily available...

[@danielmullin9458]

Has the slingshot channel made the zhuge crossbow?

[@TheDemonSlayer395]

I’ve ridden an elephant at someone’s wedding

[@evolancer211]

Don't think the Archimedes mirror would work. I don't think you can steady the mirror for long enough, while on water

[@streamofthesky]

I thought the mirror was supposed to be on the fortresses on land, to defend the coast from enemy ships. Hadn't heard of it being used ON his ships before.

[@geeknupthenight7417]

Actually i did know some of them

[@Jsjsjxjxjxnxnsskkznxnx]

In that thumbnail it was gear 3 gomu gomu no mi grab it is super strong weapon according to ancient world from the void century

[@shadowmancy9183]

For the last one- Mythbusters also tested it. I'll leave their conclusion to those who go to watch that episode.

[@ahmedelshafey7602]

The war chatiot was invented by the ancient Egyptians

[@ctakitimu]

I knew many of these existed. Misleading title, but still interesting

[@leonfairhurst7597]

Romans didn't use chariots in warfare, that's why they were confused when they invaded Britain and faced chariots