Humans are the most innovative species that the Earth has ever seen. Our invention of various technologies has allowed us to dominate the planet in every aspect, and today we are virtually in control of almost everything that happens across the world.
Part of the reason our technology has advanced so quickly in a relatively short amount of time is due to our seemingly endless desire for conflict.
War has always been a strong motivator for the advancement of technology, but it’s only been in the last century that we’ve created weapons that could truly be used for mass destruction.
While there’s never a good reason to advocate for war, there’s no denying just how impressive some of the following weaponry really is.
1. Schwerer Gustav and Dora
This railway siege gun was created at the height of the power of Nazi Germany before the start of the war. It retains the record for the largest calibre of all time, and the shells that were used in the main cannon were the heaviest of their kind.
There’s a famous picture of the massive siege gun that’s been going around the Internet for years, and it gives a sense of the true scale of this humongous weapon. Although it was never really brought to full use during World War II, it was still very much functional, able to fire its seven tone shells over a distance of almost 50 kilometres.
2. R36 ICBM
The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile is one of the most powerful surface missiles that we’ve ever created, and the R36 is widely considered to be the biggest of them all.
Designed by the Russians during the days of the Cold War, and it was a weapon that many officials in the West feared due to its fearsome destructive power.
3. The B53
This was one of the most powerful nuclear weapons that the United States military ever created and was the last of its kind before nuclear weaponry started to become somewhat lower in terms of yields.
Hundreds of these were made in their time, and they were in production for just four years before taken out of service in 1976. The B53 was never used in a civilian setting, but it’s believed that it would have caused unprecedented damage if it ever had been, and most of us are thankful that it didn’t disrupt our lives, giving us the chance to play video games, online casino Sri Lanka games, and television.
4. The Tsar Bomba
Without a doubt, the Tsar Bomba is the world’s most powerful weapon, and one that is thankfully no longer in use. Designed and deployed by the USSR, this nuclear warhead at a yield of 50 megatons, more than bomb since or after.
It was tested at the end of October in 1960, and was detonated in northern Russia, far from any settlements. The resulting explosion was so powerful that people reported seeing the light emitted by it up to 1000km away and had a destruction radius of around 35 kilometres in total.