mongols used gunpowder in war for the first time in india.
mongols used gunpowder in war for the first time in india.
who used gunpowder in war for the first time in india?
mongols
there are problems on both extremes of the gun transmission debate. its proponents emphasize the older history of gunpowder evolution as attested by historical records and archaeological samples in china, its less obviously militarily focused name as "fire medicine," the mongol role as a catalyst in disseminating gunpowder technology, and criticizes the scant or absent evidence of prior experimentation with gunpowder in europe for non-military purposes before the arrival of the gun. however, there are still several blanks in the history of a gun transmission theory and the questions they raise which its proponents have been unable to answer. the rapid spread of guns across eurasia, only 50 years from china to europe, with non-existent evidence of its route from one extreme of the continent to the other, remains a mystery. other chinese inventions such as the compass, paper, and printing took centuries to reach europe, with events such as the battle of talas as perhaps a possible takeoff point for discussion. no such event exists on record for either gunpowder or the gun. there is simply no clear route of transmission, and while the mongols are often pointed to as the likeliest vector, timothy may points out that "there is no concrete evidence that the mongols used gunpowder weapons on a regular basis outside of china." according to kate raphael, the list of chinese specialists recruited by genghis khan and hulagu provided by the history of yuan includes only carpenters and blacksmiths, but no gunpowder workers. a conclusion most military historians in the transmission camp have come to is that the rapid diffusion of gunpowder and the gun is probably best explained by its clear military applications.
history of gunpowder
the territorial state has been around for centuries, but it has taken many forms throughout history, one example of this is the gunpowder empires of the early modern period. these gunpowder empires were characterized by a large central power which could purchase weaponry that smaller states could not afford, allowing them to expand rapidly. in the 15th century there were many states which used gunpowder but the three big “gunpowder empires” were the ottoman, safavid, and mughal empires. in the early modern period these three islamic empires governed over vast swathes of territory which were not always homogeneous, in many cases, like the ottoman empire, smaller states were conquered for tax purposes and added to the empire. these gunpowder empires owed much of their stability to their large centralized governments and technologically advanced militaries. in addition, these islamic empires would spread their religion to conquered territories, while not forcing their subjects to accept their faith many received favorable status for converting. in addition to the big three islamic gunpowder empires, there were three other states in east asia that were significantly affected by the introduction of gunpowder. these three, china, japan, and korea also quickly adapted the use of muskets and professional standing armies. however, because of the relative power dynamics of east asia, only the chinese under the ming and qing dynasties was able to expand rapidly, thus making them a gunpowder empire.
territorial state