Camp Tapa, Estonia. (February 19, 2025): America’s has the most powerful military in the world… and we’re still throwing Molotov Cocktails? In this photo by Private First-Class Nathan Arellano Tlaczani, Staff Sergeant Scottie Geil from Abel Battery, 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Field Artillery Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, throws a Molotov cocktail during a joint training exercise with Estonian and British soldiers. Although these improvised explosives are not part of official American military gear, U.S. troops nevertheless learn how to make and deploy them.

This isn’t the first time the U.S. military has used such improvised devices in war. At the beginning of World War II, America was unprepared and low on arms and munitions. In 1942, the U.S. developed the M-1 Frangible, a Molotov cocktail-style device consisting of a pint-sized clear glass bottle filled with explosives. It was called "frangible" because it was made of glass that was brittle and easily broken. For the Americans, these “grenades” were uncomplicated weapons that were a stop gap until more effective devices could be developed.

The name "Molotov cocktail" was coined by the Finns during their war with Russia in 1939. Russian foreign minister Mikhaylovich Molotov was infamous for ordering incendiary aerial attacks on Finnish cities, saying he was dropping “humanitarian supplies.” The Finns responded with their own hand-held version, or cocktail, which became an effective, and very deadly weapon. Hence the Molotov Cocktail and its many versions have become a staple of urban warfare ever since.

Despite being the largest and most sophisticated military on earth, the U.S. continues to train with Molotov Cocktails because they are a simple and very effective weapon.