The criteria for creating this list were the reliability, safety and usefulness of the weapon at the time of its creation.

1. Colt rifle with a rotating drum.
Although these rifles were a good addition to the firepower of the inhabitants of the Old West, already from the 1830s they began to show noticeable shortcomings: after each shot, hot gas burned the shooter's hand, in addition, due to the special design of the rifle, gases leaked in the front cylinder , which negatively affected the speed of the bullet.


2. The Liberator.
This pistol was made by them sheet metal specifically for the resistance movement during World War II. Unfortunately, it was possible to shoot from it only once per field conditions, since most of the opponents were armed with semi-automatic pistols or machine guns. Reloading this pistol was such a hassle that it was easier to throw it away.


3. Gyrojet.
Gyrojet is a hand-held rocket launcher created in the 1960s. It fired 13mm rockets and differed from most firearms in that the speed of the fired rocket increased after it was fired from the barrel. One of its main problems was the lack of firepower in close combat.


4. Boys Anti-tank Rifle.
This is an early anti-tank weapon that began to be used at the beginning of World War II. It was a 5-shot rifle, weighing 16 kg and firing armor-piercing rounds at a distance of 300 meters. Unfortunately, her power was not enough to deal with the armor. German tanks and she vanished into oblivion.


5. Nock Volley Gun.
This peculiar pistol appeared around 1780. It was quite effective with 7 .50 caliber bullets fired at the same time, but its killer recoil could break any shooter's shoulder.


6. Cochran revolver.
This revolver stands out for its horizontally rotating barrel. Its disadvantage was that, if handled incorrectly, it could shoot at the shooter himself.


7. Nambu (94 Shiki Kenju).
This World War II pistol was not powerful enough, too bulky and awkward to use. In addition, due to its design, it was capable of making an accidental shot and was considered more dangerous for the one who used it than for the target.


8. Pepper Box revolver.
This revolver was mainly used in the pre-colt period. Its main disadvantages were the huge weight due to the many trunks, the terrifying inaccuracy, the possibility of an explosion and a shot from all the trunks at once.


9. Grossflammenwerfer.
This is a German flamethrower from World War I. To control it, a team of 2 people was required, which were usually used as convicts due to the high flammability of the weapon itself.


10. Shosha.
This French machine gun was so bad that the soldiers abandoned it in favor of a simple rifle. It was designed in such a way that dirt and dust penetrated into all its cracks, making shooting much more difficult.

The creators of modern small arms are doing their best to make life easier for a soldier. Excessive "abstruseness" of the design only leads to difficulties in operation, which is unacceptable in real combat operations. But to this seemingly simple thought, the weapon idea did not come immediately. For the last hundred years, designers have been creating weapons so strange that soldiers often simply refuse to use them. Here, for example, are several real-life models of personal small arms that are considered the worst in the whole world.

Stengun MK II

Country: UK

Entered service: 1940

Type: submachine gun

Range: 70 meters

Shop: 32 rounds

Britain needed small arms, but did not have the resources and time to produce. The result was the Sten gun MK II: it was easy to assemble and the manufacturing cost was minimal. The submachine gun often misfired; in addition, due to assembly defects, the bullets could generally lose their destructive power at the end.

bazooka

Country: USA

Entered service: 1942

Type: anti-tank weapon

Range: about 152 meters

Shop: 1 missile

The bazooka was inconvenient to use and created problems both for the shooter himself and for the soldiers around him. However, based on these weapons, more advanced models subsequently appeared.

Revolver

Country: USA

Commissioned: 1856

Type: pistol

Shop: 9 rounds

The revolver could shoot buckshot - which, in principle, was great idea for personal weapons. Designed as a weapon for a cavalryman at the end civil war, LeMat had 9 pistol cartridges in the drum and another loaded with buckshot in an additional barrel. The soldier had to switch the movable striker manually to select the type of cartridge. In theory, everything worked well, in practice it turned out that the firing pin sticks in 3 out of 5 cases, leaving the owner of the revolver unarmed.

Krummlauf

Country: Nazi Germany

Entered service: 1945

Type: assault rifle

Range: 15 meters

Shop: 30 rounds

A cannon with a twisted barrel might work in Bugs Bunny cartoons, but in real life this is unlikely to happen. The Krummlauf was designed for shooting around corners. The operator chose the target using a special periscope. By the time the weapon was put into production, its incredibly high cost was found out and the project was frozen.

Shosha machine gun

Country: France

Commissioned: 1915

Type: machine gun

Range: 5,000 meters

Shop: 20 rounds

At the height of World War I, French army the Shosh machine gun arrived - the embodiment of what a functional killing machine should definitely not be. The machine guns were made so carelessly that the operator was injured due to the incredibly strong recoil. The trigger mechanism constantly jammed, but even if everything went fine, then 20 barrels were clearly not enough to support the advancing soldiers with fire.

Gyrojet

Country: USA

Entered service: 1965

Type: pistol

Range: 300 meters

Shop: 6 rounds

The Gyrojet pistol is considered almost the most creative representatives of the species. Rocket ammunition was used as projectiles: the pistol was inaccurate and often exploded right in the hands of a soldier.

Mars

Country: UK

Weapons are different: they shoot well and badly!

1. Colt rifle with a rotating drum.

These rifles are good magnification firepower of the inhabitants of the Old West. Since the 1830s, they have shown significant shortcomings. For example, after each shot, hot gas burned the shooter's hand, and because of the special design of the rifle, gases leaked in the front cylinder, and this negatively affected the speed of the bullet.

2. The Liberator.

This pistol was created from sheet metal for the resistance movement during World War II. Since most of the opponents were armed with semi-automatic pistols or machine guns, this pistol could only be fired once in the field, and reloading it was a very troublesome business (easier to throw it away!).

3. Gyrojet.

In front of you is the Gyrojet, a hand-held rocket launcher that was created in the 1960s. It fired 13 mm rockets, differing from most firearms in that the speed of the fired rocket increased after it was fired from the barrel. But its main problem is the lack of firepower in close combat.

4. Boys Anti-tank Rifle.

At the beginning of World War II, this early anti-tank weapon began to be used, which looked like a 5-shot rifle, weighing 16 kg and firing armor-piercing rounds at a distance of 300 meters. Its power was not enough to cope with the armor of German tanks, which is why it sank into oblivion.

5. Nock Volley Gun.

This pistol appeared in 1780. It used 7 bullets of 50 caliber, which were fired at the same time. Its deadly recoil could break any shooter's shoulder.

6. Cochran revolver.

This interesting revolver stands out for its horizontally rotating barrel. Its significant drawback is that if handled incorrectly, it could shoot at the shooter himself.

7. Nambu (94 Shiki Kenju).

During World War II, this pistol was considered very powerful weapon, although it was very bulky and inconvenient to use. It was also considered more dangerous to the one who used it, as it could shoot at him.

8. Pepper Box revolver.

In the pre-colt period, this revolver was often used. Its disadvantages are the huge weight due to the many trunks, the terrifying inaccuracy, the possibility of an explosion and a shot from all the trunks at once.

9. Grossflammenwerfer.

This is a German flamethrower from World War I. To control it, a team of 2 people was needed, which were usually used as convicts due to the high flammability of the weapon itself.

10. Shosha.

This French machine gun was so bad (dirt and dust penetrated into all its slots that made shooting difficult) that the soldiers abandoned it in favor of a simple rifle.


On January 16, 1963, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the world community that a new weapon of terrible destructive power had appeared in the USSR - the hydrogen bomb. Today is a review of the most destructive weapons.

Hydrogen "Tsar bomb"


The most powerful hydrogen bomb in the history of mankind was detonated at the Novaya Zemlya test site about 1.5 years before Khrushchev's official statement that the USSR had a 100-megaton hydrogen bomb. The main purpose of the tests is to demonstrate military power THE USSR. While thermonuclear bomb, created in the USA, was almost 4 times weaker.


The Tsar Bomba exploded at an altitude of 4200 m above sea level 188 seconds after being dropped from a bomber. Nuclear mushroom explosion rose to a height of 67 km, and the radius fireball the gap was 4.6 km. The shock wave from the explosion circled 3 times Earth, and the ionization of the atmosphere created radio interference for 40 minutes within a radius of hundreds of kilometers. The temperature on the surface of the earth under the epicenter of the explosion was so high that the stones turned into ashes. It is worth noting that the "Tsar Bomba", or as it was also called, "Kuzkin's Mother" was quite clean - 97% of the power came from the reaction thermonuclear fusion, which practically does not create radioactive contamination.

Atomic bomb


On July 16, 1945, in the United States of America, in the desert near Alamogordo, the first explosive nuclear device, the plutonium-based Gadget single-stage bomb, was tested.



In August 1945, the Americans demonstrated the power of the new weapon to the whole world: the Americans dropped atomic bombs over Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The USSR officially announced the presence atomic bomb March 8, 1950, ending the US monopoly on the world's most destructive weapons.

Chemical weapon

The first ever use case chemical weapons in the war can be considered April 22, 1915, when Germany used chlorine against the Belgian city of Ypres Russian soldiers. From a huge cloud of chlorine released from cylinders installed on the front flank of the German positions, 15 thousand people received severe poisoning, of which 5 thousand died.


During World War II, Japan used chemical weapons many times during the conflict with China. During the bombing of the Chinese city of Woqu, the Japanese dropped 1,000 chemical shells, and later another 2,500 bombs near Dingxiang. Chemical weapons were used by the Japanese until the end of the war. Total from poisonous chemical substances 50 thousand people died, both among the military and among the civilian population.


The next step in the use of chemical weapons was made by the Americans. During the years of the Vietnam War, they very actively used poisonous substances, leaving the civilian population no chance of salvation. Since 1963, 72 million liters of defoliants have been sprayed over Vietnam. They were used to destroy the forests in which they hid Vietnamese guerrillas, and during the bombing settlements. Dioxin, which was present in all mixtures, settled in the body and caused diseases of the liver, blood, deformities in newborns. According to statistics from chemical attacks about 4.8 million people suffered, some of them after the end of the war.

laser weapons


In 2010, the Americans announced that they had successfully tested laser weapons. According to media reports, a 32-megawatt laser cannon shot down four drones off the coast of California. aircraft. The planes were shot down from a distance of more than three kilometers. Earlier, the Americans reported that they had successfully tested an air-launched laser, destroying ballistic missile.


Agency for missile defense USA notes that laser weapons will be in great demand, since it can be used to strike several targets at once at the speed of light at a distance of several hundred kilometers.

Biological weapons


Start of application biological weapons belong to ancient world when in 1500 B.C. the Hittites sent a plague to enemy lands. Many armies understood the power of biological weapons and left infected corpses in the enemy’s fortress. It is believed that the 10 biblical plagues are not divine acts of vengeance, but biological warfare campaigns. Anthrax is one of the most dangerous viruses in the world. In 2001, letters containing white powder began to arrive at US Senate offices. Rumor has it that these are spores of the deadly bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax. 22 people were infected, 5 were killed. The deadly bacterium lives in the soil. A person can become infected with anthrax if they touch, breathe in, or swallow the spores.

MLRS "Smerch"


jet system salvo fire"Smerch" experts call the most terrible weapon after nuclear bomb. It takes only 3 minutes to prepare the 12-barreled Smerch for combat, and 38 seconds for a full salvo. "Smerch" allows you to lead effective fight With modern tanks and other armored vehicles. Rocket projectiles can be launched from the cockpit of a combat vehicle or using a remote control. Their combat characteristics"Smerch" preserves in a wide range of temperatures - from +50 C to -50 C and at any time of the day.

Missile complex "Topol-M"


The upgraded Topol-M missile system is the core of the entire group missile troops strategic purpose. Intercontinental strategic complex"Topol-M" is a 3-stage monoblock solid-propellant rocket "packed" in a transport and launch container. In such packaging, it can be 15 years. Lifetime missile system, which is produced both in the mine and in the soil version - for more than 20 years. Whole head part"Topol-M" can be replaced by a multiple warhead carrying three independent warheads at once. This makes the missile invulnerable to air defense systems. The agreements that exist today do not allow Russia to do this, but it is possible that the situation may change.

Specifications:
hull length with head - 22.7 m,
diameter - 1.86 m,
starting weight - 47.2 tons,
payload payload 1200 kg,
flight range - 11 thousand km.

neutron bomb


The neutron bomb, created by the American scientist Samuel Cohen, destroys only living organisms and causes minimal damage. The shock wave from a neutron bomb is only 10-20% of the released energy, while with the usual atomic explosion it accounts for about 50% of the energy.


Cohen himself said that his offspring is "the most moral weapon that has ever been created." In 1978, the USSR proposed to ban the production of neutron weapons, but this project did not find support in the West. In 1981, the United States began the production of neutron charges, but today they are not in service.

Intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20 "Voevoda" (Satana)


Intercontinental ballistic missiles "Voevoda", created in the 1970s, terrify potential adversary just the fact of its existence. SS-18 (model 5), as Voevoda is classified, entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. It carries a 10,750 kiloton charge of independent homing warheads. Foreign analogues of "Satan" have not been created so far.

Specifications:
hull length with head - 34.3 m,
diameter - 3 m,
payload payload 8800 kg,
flight range - more than 11 thousand km.

Rocket "Sarmat"

In 2018 - 2020 Russian army will receive the latest heavy ballistic missile "Sarmat". The technical data of the missile has not yet been disclosed, but, according to military experts, new rocket surpasses in its characteristics the complex with the Voyevoda heavy missile.

Anyone who is interested in the topic atomic weapons, we offer an overview of significant events in the history of the USSR and Russia.

The motto of the famous Soviet aircraft manufacturer Andrei Tupolev was the phrase that an ugly car will never fly. The legendary gunsmith Igor Stechkin often said that ugly weapons do not shoot. However, several dozens of ugly, bizarre and frankly ugly tanks have been created in the entire history of armored vehicles. Most of these machines have not received wide distribution, but their bright mark in history military equipment they still managed to leave.
colorful Australian The Australians began to create their own armored vehicles at a time when the invisible threat of an amphibious landing from Japan began to take on very specific outlines. However, the approach to creating their own armored vehicles, even taking into account the available foreign developments, was extremely unusual for the Australians. Originality, with a partial eye on colleagues in the armored workshop, eventually turned into the creation of the Sentinel medium tank, the mass production of which was to be launched from 1942. For the destruction of enemy landings thrown along the coastline, such a tank was quite suitable. Rugged cast hull, three Kidillac engines with a total power of 350 Horse power, and quite tolerable weapons. The 40-mm QF-2 anti-tank rifled gun played the main violin in delivering lead to the enemy, and two Vickers machine guns were engaged in the suppression of infantry and other unarmored targets. "box with dignity". A massive armored mask was welded on the front of the hull to protect the machine gun, outwardly very vaguely resembling protective devices. According to experts, the armored cap covering the tank machine gun should protect the crew as much as possible when shells and shrapnel hit. However, neither during the development of the tank and its testing, as well as throughout the entire post-war history, people who were involved in the development of this vehicle, as well as historians and museum staff, could not answer the question of curious citizens why the armored cap has the shape of - for which photos of the tank in some publications are marked "18+".
Great craftsmen

With the exception of recent history in the armored forces of Italy there was almost never a normal, well-armed and, last but not least, eye-pleasing tank. All the work of Italian industrialists and engineers on their own promising armored vehicles is more like trying to experiment just out of boredom. In fairness, it should be noted that Italian engineers were among the first to use diesel engines and other design innovations in their own armored vehicles. The Italian gunsmiths were also in the lead in terms of the creation of armored vehicles with terrible hull shapes and an incomprehensible purpose. One of the most monstrous, senseless and scary tanks FIAT 2000 became in the history of Italian armored vehicles. The 40-ton monster, the mastodon of the First World War, was armed with a 65-mm gun and NINE machine guns. There is no need to talk much about the combat effectiveness of the Italian tank. Serial production these machines could not be adjusted, and two prototypes, thrown into the fire of battles in Libya, demonstrated top speed as much as 4 kilometers per hour, and their use was very quickly abandoned. Another "invention" of Italian gunsmiths is an armored "scooter" - an assault self-propelled machine gun MIAS, the crew of which consisted of one person. The development of the machine gun was carried out by specialists from Ansaldo, the main state contractor and supplier of the Italian army. A quarter-liter engine gave the self-propelled gun an impressive power for such dimensions - 5 hp, and allowed it to develop a maximum speed of 5 km / h. Despite the fact that Mias never went into production, remaining at the stage of several prototypes, its main purpose was to support infantry formations. The developers planned to achieve this by installing a 6.5-mm Scotti machine gun in the design, the ammunition load of which was one thousand rounds. nuclear tanks
Products that did not survive to mass production and even experimental tests are one of the topics for a separate story. The minds of scientists and the military after the war were occupied by machines capable of fighting always, everywhere, without rest and failures. One of these vehicles was the American tank TV-8, which was developed by the American company Chrysler. The main highlight of the tank was the hull unusual shape, which looked more like an unidentified flying object than experimental, but still armored vehicles. All units, including the gun, auxiliary devices and the power plant, were located inside a fancy turret-hull. The tank was supposed to be used in the most different conditions, including fighting after application nuclear strike. In order to move anytime and anywhere, the developers have designed a special hybrid transmission in which diesel engine acted as a generator of electricity, which through special devices would set the car in motion. For some time, gas turbines were considered as alternatives power point, as well as the most exotic - atomic, to the creation of an experimental prototype of which the matter never came. And although the armament of the tank was a 90-mm T20 gun, the vain work and torment of the developers soon stopped - the project was officially frozen. american tank often compared with the Soviet experimental product Object 279. These machines really have a lot in common - an incomprehensible look and shape of the body, controversial technological solutions. However, both American TV-8 and Soviet Object 279 were developed taking into account operations in difficult areas. Soviet tank builders in this matter have advanced most deeply. The design of caterpillar propellers ensured the patency of the machine even in deep snow and in wetlands. Despite the fact that the Soviet machine weighed 60 tons, thanks to the mobility and patency of the structure, it became possible to install a powerful 130-mm M-65 gun. However, the unique Soviet machine, as well as its American counterpart, never saw mass production.
On the trail of monsters One of those who immediately after the Nazis liked the idea of ​​​​creating giant tanks, have become Americans. In 1943, the United States launched a program to create a super-heavy and protected tank capable of breaking through any, even the most fortified enemy area. The result of titanic work was the freak tank T-28, according to appearance more like artillery battery with four tracks. The main weapon of the vehicle was a 105 mm gun, covered with an armored mask 305 mm thick. The pairwise use of caterpillars, two on each side, became a necessary measure. The mass of the car was 86 tons, and moving around in such conditions, and even more so fighting, was not an easy task. Serial production of the monster tank, of course, did not see. In total, two experimental vehicles were made, one of which is still stored in the armored vehicles museum at Fort Knox. The ugliest tank in the world
For a long time it was believed that the "honorary" title of the ugliest tank in the world would not leave the Italian work of tank art - the eight-ton Fiat Ansaldo. However, American experts magazine National Interest found the king of the list of the ugliest tanks in history. The winner in this category was the New Zealand Bob Semple, which was never created or designed as fighting machine. At its core, the New Zealand product is a tractor hung with armor plates and a pair of machine guns, with which the New Zealand government planned to destroy the Japanese landing force. 25.4 tons and was able to move at a speed of 12 km / h. The tank had two layers of armor: 12.7 mm thick corrugated manganese steel plates were fixed on top of 8 mm armor. The crew of the combat vehicle consisted of six people.
In total, three tanks were produced, each of which was armed with six Bren 303-mm machine guns. Two machine guns were located in front, one more - on each side and behind, and one gun was placed in the tower. After a whole wave of scandals related to the production and construction of this tank, all work on its creation was stopped, and the already built tanks were transferred to military tests. Shelling tanks from a lung small arms and machine guns showed that under conditions of real, and not test firing, the tank crew could live, on average, 25 minutes. The tank designer himself, on the wave of criticism, called the car "an honest attempt to make at least something out of the available materials in conditions where the invader was on the threshold."