Pound for pound, what are the top 5 strongest armies of all time?
Not considering size and looking at the at the time they were in power I would say without ranking these individually: *Roman Army help sway over Europe for ove 500 years, innovative use of machinery and ruthless against the enemies of the Roman Empire. *Mongols held an empire from China to the edge of the Roman Empire use of calvary/mounted archers and ruthless-did incorparate techinal advances from defeated opponents well. Very effective and feared. *German military of World War 2 by innovative tactics and through training and discipline; defeated because of size of population base and political interference at the tactical level mainly. Most modern militaries are based on the German system-War Colleges for senior officers, mechanized units (armor and infantry), jet aircraft and helicopters both used first by Wermacht or Waffen SS, close air support, construction and use of the autoban (interstate system) to move personnel and equipment, first assualt rifles, and many any technical advances can be traced back to the Germans. *U.S. military for the current technical edge and use of this on the battlefield. Might be going too far in some areas, IMHO. Innovation and tactics are a combination of upgrading of previous ideas or combining so innovation is not a major factor. *Seljuk/Saracen Turks-Small tribe united and fought the Crusaders to a draw and also destroyed the Eastern Roman Empire, conquered the middle east, parts of Africa, the Iberian penisula, other parts of Europe and founded the Ottaman Empire that lasted for 700 years. A forgotten military and Empire that did fight numerous wars during that period against Europeand powers and did not fall until the end of World War 1 when the Central Powers were defeated. The question did not ask largest but "pound for pound"-If you look at percent of population in uniform the U.S. is down the list, tops would be Swiss or Finns counting reserves; Vandals and German tribes that destroyed the Romans were seperate invasions and not really armies individually outside of the Vandals and Goths used as merc's by the Romans that turned on them.
7 major achievements of the Indus Valley Civilization?????????
Only 7 or just the major 7? The Indus Valley Civilization (later called the Harappan Civilization) was at least 1000 years before Rome. (1) They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Their building bricks were very uniform making city planning easy. (2) This was the first civilization to incorporate urban sanitation systems. Personal hygiene seems to have been a high priority. (3) Their art was highly advanced. Terracotta, steatite and bronze human and animal figurines with anatomically correct proportions have been found. Their jewelry was complex and considered beautiful by today's standards. Long carnelian beads were a specialty. (4) Transportation and trade were major goals of these people. Their trade network ran from Mesopotamia to northern and central India. Their empire was economic, not military. (5) Indus Valley Civilization agriculture was based upon a highly productive method of raising, storing and transporting domesticated wheat and barley. Other crops were known. (6) They had a written script, mostly used on inscribed seals. The language and scripts are still being investigated and are controversial. (7) Formal religion was highly advanced and included burial and cremation of human remains. Keep in mind that the civilizations may have had no standing army, just a police type force.
Top 10 Worst Tortures of all time?
Nothing can beat the Medieval tortures, they were simply genius in a Devil's disguise. Most date wayy back to ancient times, but some were invented during this era. An ancient Greek one was a heat torture called the Brazen Bull, where they put put the convicted into a brass coffin and place it over a fire until it turned redhot. Stoning is a painful one as it usually took an hour or so for a person to die. The dunking chair was another that they used for witches. They dunked the victim for under a minute before slowly increasing the time. Eventually they drowned. The notorious thumb screw was quite popular as well. What they called 'Exposure' was extremely painful. They nailed them to the ground, naked, and left them there for ages resulting in extreme sunburns and sometimes animals would eat them alive. (Imagine mice eating you alive, slowly). Also the tortures that were used in Russian Gulags were absolutely shocking. One was where they shoved your hands into a pot of boiling water until you confessed or the skin melted off of bones. They threw you in a barrel that had nails hammered in the sides and then rolled you around. They put out cigarettes on a person's skin. And also seemingly simple torture plans such as making a person stand for five or so days straight was quite effective. This is also paired with starvation, depriving of water, keeping them in the complete dark (sensory deprivation, still used today in a lot of places in the world, confuses the brain, sets your other senses to overload, and basically drives you mad) Also, look up some more of the Ancient civilizations and the way they tortured people. You'll find some of the most horrific things, fascinating though. But quite awful. Good luck with your project!