What was the "atomic bomb" of pre-modern era warfare?

This submission has been removed because it violates the rule on poll-type questions. These poll-type questions do not lend themselves to answers with a firm foundation in sources and research, and the resulting threads usually turn into monsters with enormous speculation and little focussed discussion. “Most”, “least”, "best" and "worst" questions usually lead to vague, subjective, and speculative answers. If you'd like, you may PM /u/caffarelli to have your question considered for an upcoming Tuesday Trivia thread.