fighting the last war

The fighting machine (also known as a "Martian Tripod") is one of the fictional machines used by the Martians in H. G. Wells' 1898 classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. In the novel, it is a fast-moving three-legged walker reported to be 100 feet (30 meters) tall with multiple, whip-like tentacles used for grasping, and two lethal weapons: a heat-ray and a gun-like tube used for discharging canisters of a poisonous chemical black smoke. It is the primary machine the Martians use when they invade Earth, along with the handling machine, the flying machine, and the embankment machine.

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