Ever since the first human picked up a fallen branch, bopped his neighbour on the head and stole his cave, men have been inventing and refining bigger and better ways to make others bend to their will.
From swords to Spitfires and bows to bazookas, weapons have always been a showcase for our ingenuity. Every new technology is quickly followed by weaponry brilliantly designed to exploit it. Every new decade brings more accurate and powerful guns, missiles and bombs.
But it's not quite as simple as that. If you chart a path from clubs to cruise missiles, there have been some absolute stinkers along the way. And the more advanced the technology, the more bizarre the duds have become.
So here's our rundown of some the dumbest weapons in recent history. These aren't just ineffective - they're positively absurd. Enjoy it, and thank your lucky stars the nation isn't defended by a man with a seriously confused collie.
M-388 Davy Crockett
In the 1950s and 60s there was a very real fear of a massive Soviet ground attack on western Europe. One answer to that threat was the American army's M-388 Davy Crockett, essentially a bazooka that fired an atomic bomb.
Think about that for a second. What the M-388 did was to put atomic weapons with the capacity to render vast areas uninhabitable for centuries in the hands of a few jumpy frontline grunts with itchy trigger fingers.
It gets worse. The M-388 had a range of just 3km and was woefully inaccurate even at that distance. Crude, stupid and possibly the worst single idea in history.
FP-45 Liberator
The FP-45 was a one-shot pistol produced by the US army in the second world war, designed to be dropped en masse in the occupied territories of Europe for use by members of resistant movements.
The FP-45 Liberator was so crudely made that it could be manufactured quicker than it could be reloaded
It never happened. The pistol was extremely cheap to produce but also crude, simple and only effective over very short distances. And the one-shot barrel didn't instil much confidence either. Against a battle-hardened member of the German SS it effectively meant that if you missed, you died.
In fact, the FP-45 was so crude that it was actually quicker to manufacture than reload (seven seconds against 10), and few were ever used in combat.
Blue Peacock
This British-designed nuclear mine was very, very wrong, for any number of reasons. First, it weighed in at 7.2 tonnes, making it difficult to produce, transport and bury in secret.
Second, it was designed for use in West Germany, to be detonated in the event of Soviet invasion, but nobody thought to ask the West Germans which particular outcome they would actually prefer - the imposition of a competing economic ideology or the complete destruction and contamination of huge swathes of their country.
But the third reason is the most bizarre. When buried in winter, the electronics that controlled the mines froze. To keep them warm enough to work, the inventors proposed encasing live chickens in the shell with enough food and water to last 10 days. The press labelled the Blue Peacock the chicken-powered nuclear bomb, and the project was abandoned.
Chauchat submachine gun
The Chauchat was a good idea, badly implemented. The French weapon was one of the first mass produced, high-powered submachine guns and was used extensively in the first world war. When it worked, it was a powerful asset.
The Chauchat submachine was a powerful weapon but totally unsuited to the demands of the first world war
Unfortunately, it often didn't, for one simple reason. The open magazine meant that it would quickly jam when mud entered the chamber.
And therein lies the Chauchat's problem. The battlefields of Flanders were among the muddiest places in which men have ever waged war, making the Chauchat one of the most misconceived weapons of all time.
The ra t bomb
For some reason, second world war military inventors became obsessed with the idea of animal-based armaments. The ra t bomb was a British initiative that involved stuffing ra t carcasses with explosives and having secret agents bury them in enemy coalbunkers.
In theory, unsuspecting workers would shovel the rats into industrial boilers, the explosives would ignite, and the German war effort would be dealt a mortal blow. In reality, the Germans intercepted the first consignment of dead explosive rats and the project was abandoned.
The anti-tank dog
When the German army attacked Russia in 1941, the Soviet army was woefully ill-equipped to defend the motherland. In a bid to buy time until proper armaments could be imported or produced, the Russians came up with a brilliant plan: strap explosives to dogs, and teach them to run under German tanks.
Russia's anti-tank dog strategy in the second world war backfired in spectacular fashion
To say the plan failed is a bit of an understatement. The dogs had been trained on tanks that didn't move and didn't fire back. When confronted with real German Panzers, the confused and terrified dogs either stopped still and were shot, or ran back in the direction they'd come and exploded among their own troops.
But that's not all. The dogs had been trained on Russian tanks with diesel engines, and used their keen sense of smell to accurately identify a target. German tanks had gasoline engines. You can guess which 'target' they usually chose.
The cat bomb
Our American allies were no brighter. Bizarrely, one idea was to parachute live cats - strapped with explosives - onto enemy shipping.
The cats' natural fear of water would ensure they steered themselves and their deadly payload towards the decks of ships rather than the open ocean.
The plan ran into trouble when it was discovered that the cats tended to pass out during the drop.
Balloon bombs
In the second world war, the Japanese had high hopes for the balloon bomb (or Fu-Go).
The elements rendered Japan's 9,000 balloon bombs virtually useless
Quite simply, the idea was to strap incendiary explosives to hydrogen balloons and let them float over the Pacific Ocean on the winds of the jet stream.
American cities, forests and farmland would be set ablaze, wreaking economic havoc and inciting panic among the populace.
Over 9,000 balloon bombs were launched, some of which caught the wrong breeze and floated back towards Japan.
Only 300 made it anywhere near their target. Japanese propaganda stated that the balloons had killed 100,000 US citizens.
The real figure was six.
The bat bomb
After the failure of the cat bomb, the American military turned its attention to bats. Millions of bats carrying incendiary charges would be packed into bomb cases and dropped over enemy territory.
When the cases opened the animals would fly off and find nice, dark places to hide, like the basements of munitions factories and the cellars of office blocks. A timer would set off the charges and, bingo, Germany would burn.
Tests were encouraging, but the bat bomb was abandoned when the atomic bomb came along, which had the twin advantages of increased destructive power and no time wasted attaching tiny bombs to the legs of a million bats.
Source: The dumbest military weapons -  In The Know - MSN Him - MSN UK
Just for laughs people
From swords to Spitfires and bows to bazookas, weapons have always been a showcase for our ingenuity. Every new technology is quickly followed by weaponry brilliantly designed to exploit it. Every new decade brings more accurate and powerful guns, missiles and bombs.
But it's not quite as simple as that. If you chart a path from clubs to cruise missiles, there have been some absolute stinkers along the way. And the more advanced the technology, the more bizarre the duds have become.
So here's our rundown of some the dumbest weapons in recent history. These aren't just ineffective - they're positively absurd. Enjoy it, and thank your lucky stars the nation isn't defended by a man with a seriously confused collie.
M-388 Davy Crockett
In the 1950s and 60s there was a very real fear of a massive Soviet ground attack on western Europe. One answer to that threat was the American army's M-388 Davy Crockett, essentially a bazooka that fired an atomic bomb.
Think about that for a second. What the M-388 did was to put atomic weapons with the capacity to render vast areas uninhabitable for centuries in the hands of a few jumpy frontline grunts with itchy trigger fingers.
It gets worse. The M-388 had a range of just 3km and was woefully inaccurate even at that distance. Crude, stupid and possibly the worst single idea in history.
FP-45 Liberator
The FP-45 was a one-shot pistol produced by the US army in the second world war, designed to be dropped en masse in the occupied territories of Europe for use by members of resistant movements.
The FP-45 Liberator was so crudely made that it could be manufactured quicker than it could be reloaded
It never happened. The pistol was extremely cheap to produce but also crude, simple and only effective over very short distances. And the one-shot barrel didn't instil much confidence either. Against a battle-hardened member of the German SS it effectively meant that if you missed, you died.
In fact, the FP-45 was so crude that it was actually quicker to manufacture than reload (seven seconds against 10), and few were ever used in combat.
Blue Peacock
This British-designed nuclear mine was very, very wrong, for any number of reasons. First, it weighed in at 7.2 tonnes, making it difficult to produce, transport and bury in secret.
Second, it was designed for use in West Germany, to be detonated in the event of Soviet invasion, but nobody thought to ask the West Germans which particular outcome they would actually prefer - the imposition of a competing economic ideology or the complete destruction and contamination of huge swathes of their country.
But the third reason is the most bizarre. When buried in winter, the electronics that controlled the mines froze. To keep them warm enough to work, the inventors proposed encasing live chickens in the shell with enough food and water to last 10 days. The press labelled the Blue Peacock the chicken-powered nuclear bomb, and the project was abandoned.
Chauchat submachine gun
The Chauchat was a good idea, badly implemented. The French weapon was one of the first mass produced, high-powered submachine guns and was used extensively in the first world war. When it worked, it was a powerful asset.
The Chauchat submachine was a powerful weapon but totally unsuited to the demands of the first world war
Unfortunately, it often didn't, for one simple reason. The open magazine meant that it would quickly jam when mud entered the chamber.
And therein lies the Chauchat's problem. The battlefields of Flanders were among the muddiest places in which men have ever waged war, making the Chauchat one of the most misconceived weapons of all time.
The ra t bomb
For some reason, second world war military inventors became obsessed with the idea of animal-based armaments. The ra t bomb was a British initiative that involved stuffing ra t carcasses with explosives and having secret agents bury them in enemy coalbunkers.
In theory, unsuspecting workers would shovel the rats into industrial boilers, the explosives would ignite, and the German war effort would be dealt a mortal blow. In reality, the Germans intercepted the first consignment of dead explosive rats and the project was abandoned.
The anti-tank dog
When the German army attacked Russia in 1941, the Soviet army was woefully ill-equipped to defend the motherland. In a bid to buy time until proper armaments could be imported or produced, the Russians came up with a brilliant plan: strap explosives to dogs, and teach them to run under German tanks.
Russia's anti-tank dog strategy in the second world war backfired in spectacular fashion
To say the plan failed is a bit of an understatement. The dogs had been trained on tanks that didn't move and didn't fire back. When confronted with real German Panzers, the confused and terrified dogs either stopped still and were shot, or ran back in the direction they'd come and exploded among their own troops.
But that's not all. The dogs had been trained on Russian tanks with diesel engines, and used their keen sense of smell to accurately identify a target. German tanks had gasoline engines. You can guess which 'target' they usually chose.
The cat bomb
Our American allies were no brighter. Bizarrely, one idea was to parachute live cats - strapped with explosives - onto enemy shipping.
The cats' natural fear of water would ensure they steered themselves and their deadly payload towards the decks of ships rather than the open ocean.
The plan ran into trouble when it was discovered that the cats tended to pass out during the drop.
Balloon bombs
In the second world war, the Japanese had high hopes for the balloon bomb (or Fu-Go).
The elements rendered Japan's 9,000 balloon bombs virtually useless
Quite simply, the idea was to strap incendiary explosives to hydrogen balloons and let them float over the Pacific Ocean on the winds of the jet stream.
American cities, forests and farmland would be set ablaze, wreaking economic havoc and inciting panic among the populace.
Over 9,000 balloon bombs were launched, some of which caught the wrong breeze and floated back towards Japan.
Only 300 made it anywhere near their target. Japanese propaganda stated that the balloons had killed 100,000 US citizens.
The real figure was six.
The bat bomb
After the failure of the cat bomb, the American military turned its attention to bats. Millions of bats carrying incendiary charges would be packed into bomb cases and dropped over enemy territory.
When the cases opened the animals would fly off and find nice, dark places to hide, like the basements of munitions factories and the cellars of office blocks. A timer would set off the charges and, bingo, Germany would burn.
Tests were encouraging, but the bat bomb was abandoned when the atomic bomb came along, which had the twin advantages of increased destructive power and no time wasted attaching tiny bombs to the legs of a million bats.
Source: The dumbest military weapons -  In The Know - MSN Him - MSN UK
Just for laughs people
