Weapons that Changed the World

OK, OK, so the stirrup isn't exactly a weapon, and it's not as sexy as a jet or a tank, but stirrups made mounted fighters extraordinarily more effective.

Not only did the stirrup, first seen in Asia around A.D. 300, make it easier to stay on and control a horse, but it also gave a mounted soldier a stronger base to push against when swinging a sword. And it increased the power behind the weapon.

Some scholars go so far as saying that the small and humble stirrup made feudal Europe possible.