much money on the military in a true communist system

A true communist system has neither money nor a military, as any Marxist would quickly point out. Communism was thir ideology, but socialism was thier system.

And only the Eastern Romans knew how to make Greek fire, and it was used largely in a defensive manner around Constantanople on ships and the walls... nobody elee knew how to make it, so I fail to see how big the impact was.

Originally Posted by Airborne

And only the Eastern Romans knew how to make Greek fire, and it was used largely in a defensive manner around Constantanople on ships and the walls... nobody elee knew how to make it, so I fail to see how big the impact was.

Why do you think they call it Greek fire? The Greeks made it, they used it extensively on land but most notably on the sea, water only spurred the flames to grow larger and spread, ships would be destroyed in minutes, that was huge for the Greeks. But when the Library of Alexandria burned down the instructions to make Greek fire were lost.

The Empire was more than Greeks at that time, that's why I used the word Eastern Romans, that is what they were.

Yes, I know that Greek Fire died with the taking of Constantinople in the 1400's. At that point, Greek Fire was their state secret, yet it had been a lot more widely used during the height of Roman power. Interesting thing is, it never really was made obsolete until it was a lost science. Pretty impressive, no?

I was under the impression they lost the recipe long before they fell.

No, its use was documented throughout the reign of even the last Emperor Constantine XI (I believe it was). During the era of the Byzantines being besieged by the Ottomans, the secret of Greek Fire was only still known to the Byzantines and they closely guarded the secret of its making. None survived to pass on the knowledge, so it is at the fall of Constantinople that it's making was lost.

Other less effective flamable liquid concoctions existed most certainly, but Greek Fire was significantly more potent than other contemporary creations.

Bit disappointed doddsy2978 did nt say it up front.

The telegraph and the Railroad. It's all about comms.....

ANZAC

Metal armoring of ships, initially done on the Moniter and Merimack in the the American Civil War, is an obvious one. In almost no time, unarmored combat ships were obsolete.

The tank itself did not radically alter the course of warfare until it was used properly - aka Blitzkrieg. After its proper use was introduced, the whole concept of infantry had to be completely rethought.

The trebeche was a vast improvement over the catapult, and made city/castle walls a lot less secure of a defense.

The invention of the sail was undoubtedly significant, but too long ago to have a whole lot of documentation on.

Originally Posted by godofthunder9010

Metal armoring of ships, initially done on the Moniter and Merimack in the the American Civil War, is an obvious one. In almost no time, unarmored combat ships were obsolete.

this statement is not technically correct. The british had already used iron armored vessals, notably as floating gun batteries, during the crimerian war. Both the french ship Glorie, and the British Warship Warrior, (Which is still afloat and preserved, btw) were provided metal armour plate for use as an armoured warship well before the engagement of the USS Monitor (North) and the CSS Virgina, made from the hulk of the USS Merrimac.

Now their claim to fame as the first armoured ships to fight one another is safe.

The battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack/Virginia proved that wooden hulled ships were obsolete, several nations already had one or two iron clads but nobody wanted to spend the money to build a fleet or untested ships that could just turn out to be as weak as the wooden hulled ships but more expensive.


And the Monitor and Merrimack, qhile both being Iron Clads, were two completely different ships, the Monitory was designed more for use on the many key rivers running through the USA and CSA, where as the Virginia was built for use on the seas and even had a mast still because the Admirals of the south were untrusting of the new steam engines.