That is called the chariot theory of history – the idea that the invention of the chariot transformed early bronze age society, and so on through the Gatling gun to atomic bombs. To that I would reply that most significant inventions and discoveries are of a peaceful not a military kind. Against the chariot theory of history I would propose the shadoof theory – the shadoof being the discovery in ancient Mesopotamia, at about the same time as the chariot was being invented, that if you have a bucket at the end of a pole which is pivoted on a wooden cradle, you can hoist water from a lower level to an upper level. That was a huge step forward in irrigation and agriculture. I would insist that most technological advances and developments of civilisation have, can and could only take place in conditions of peace rather than war.
--- John Gittings