Inventions That Led to Big Victories

In the early 17th century, French hunters hunting boar began attaching knives, called bayonets, to their muskets. The French army first adopted the bayonet in 1671, and by the end of the 17th century, bayonets were a standard part of military issue equipment. The bayonet eliminated the need for pikemen in the military. Previously, pikemen had served as a guard for the musketeers as they reloaded; however, the guard was no longer needed once the muskets included a bayonet. The introduction of the bayonet changed the role of the musketeer and led, overall, to a period of reduced specification of tasks. Since pikemen were no longer needed, musketeers took on an increasingly important role in the armies of the 18th century. As gun technology advanced, the bayonet became less important. By the Civil War, only one percent of fatalities could be attributed to the bayonet.

Pikemen had, throughout the Middle Ages and early modern period, been an essential part of the fighting force. After the introduction of the bayonet, pikemen were gradually removed from the armed forces, although still occasionally played a ceremonial role.

In 1795, the French Directory or government of the period offered a substantial prize for an advance in food preservation. Improved food preservation was essential for long combat—troops could not fight effectively if they were not fed. Several years later, during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, a young French chef, Nicholas Appert, set out to solve this problem. Appert first relied upon the longest-lasting and best-sealing container of the time, the champagne bottle. These bottles were sealed with a mixture of cheese and lime. By 1803, Appert progressed to wide-mouth jars, and began canning a variety of foods, including fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy and fish. These early, glass-container, canned foods were sent out with the French Navy beginning in 1804.

Barbed wire, or heavy wire with sharp wire barbs, is commonly used for fencing. While there were a number of earlier unpatented versions of barbed wire, barbed wire as we know it today developed out of an idea by Henry Rose, presented at an 1873 county fair. Rose suggested adding barbs to a wooden fence rail for livestock containment. Several of those who saw Rose’s idea worked to develop their own barbed wire. By November 1874, two men had joined together to form the Barb Fence Company. While barbed wire was marketed as containment fencing for livestock, it soon found other uses on the battlefield. In the Second Anglo-Boer War in what is now South Africa, the British used barbed wire to confine people to concentration camps and to help fortify buildings.

Chlorine was a chemical used by the German dye industry. Today, we still use chlorine bleach for industrial uses, to clean in our homes and to whiten our laundry; however, on the battlefield, this chemical had a significantly greater impact. Chlorine was, in fact, the first major chemical weapon, deployed on the battlefields of World War I on April 22, 1915. The Germans had experimented with chemical weapons previously, but had been less successful. Chemist Fritz Haber had used chlorine in an industrial setting, and recognized several key attributes that made it an ideal chemical weapon. Chlorine remains gaseous at cold temperatures and is heavier than air, so sank into enemy trenches. When inhaled, chlorine causes the lungs to fill with fluid, killing by drowning.

Before the introduction of antibacterial compounds or modern antibiotics, infection was a more likely cause of death than a wound. In World War I, medics had only saltwater and alcohol to wash wounds, and, while they understood infection, lacked the ability to treat it. That changed in World War II, with the introduction of sulfanilamide. Sulfanilamide or sulfa was an antibacterial powder, issued to American soldiers.