Archimedes Accomplishments

Brute force and pure strength do not win battles. Archimedes, a Greek genius proved that to be true by winning many battles despite not being the best strategist or having the best army; building and inventing war machines led him to his victory. Archimedes’ inventions have completely altered the way warfare was fought. Firstly, to defend the Romans off when Syracuse was fighting the Second Punic war, Archimedes invented war machines that were effective and required significantly lesser amount of work. Next, his weapons were incredibly advanced, even for today’s standards. Finally, Archimedes became the first person ever to take advantage of steam technology by building the steam cannon. Directly or indirectly, many wars and battles would have resulted differently if not for his inventions. First, Archimedes invented war machines that made fighting war easier and more effective. One of his inventions included Archimedes’ claw, also known
His legacy still remains to this day, that Roman descendants of Syracuse would threaten their kids with “Look out! Or Archimedes will come and get you!”(Terry Jones' Barbarians, 2007, p.164) While fighting the Punic Wars, Archimedes defended Syracuse by building brilliant war machines that do not require a lot of soldiers yet had the ability to bring down an entire fleet of ship in a short time. Next, his inventions such as the stone thrower, the small catapult and Archimedes’ screw, were incredibly ahead of its time and set the foundation for many war weapons today. Lastly, Archimedes was the first person ever to make use of steam technology and built a cannon with it. The significant impact that he created on war weapons entitles him as the father of countless modern weapon technology today. Without his contributions to military technology, there is no doubt that weapons would be a lot different