gunpowder was first used as a weapon in the 12th century.
gunpowder was first used as a weapon in the 12th century.
when was gunpowder first used as a weapon?
12th century
chinese people had witnessed conflicts and constant warfare all across china. fifty years after the fall of the tang dynasty, china witnessed five successive dynasties in the north along with a dozen small nations in the south in a short timespan. the quick rise and fall of these countries and the fragmented nature is a result of the rise of warlords towards the later half of the tang dynasty. in 960, zhao kuangyin staged a coup of his own to take over the dominant northern dynasty of the later zhou, and founded the song dynasty. he was able to finally reunite all the fragmented states of the south and put an end to the problem of military coups that had plagued china for the last century. the song established its capital at kaifeng on the yellow river. it was during the reign of this dynasty that the chinese started to produce gunpowder using saltpeter, sulfur and carbon. some historians believe that the chinese did not consider gunpowder a particularly important weapon, though in fact they were the first people to systematically use gunpowder as weapons on a wide scale. even the arabs, who had probably been using gunpowder much earlier than the europeans, referred to potassium nitrate as 'snow from china' and the persians referred to it as "chinese salt" or "salt from chinese salt marshes" ( ). from about 1000 ad it had been mostly used in the form of firecrackers, and was used to improve existing weapons (for example), attached on spears for a shock burst upon engagement, or on arrows so they can fly faster mid air or be shot off in large salvos without the need of bows. in the 12th century, the chinese were using crude hand grenades and were starting to use the earliest forms of rockets and cannons in addition to the aforementioned firecracker weapons.
history of weapons
the discovery of gunpowder was probably the product of centuries of alchemical experimentation. saltpetre was known to the chinese by the mid-1st century ad and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpetre and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations. the impetus for the development of gunpowder weapons in china was increasing encroachment by tribes on its borders. the earliest known formula for gunpowder can be found in a chinese work dating probably from the 9th century. the chinese wasted little time in applying it to warfare, and they produced a variety of gunpowder weapons, including flamethrowers, rockets, bombs, and mines, before inventing firearms. european descriptions of gunpowder first appear in "opus maius" and "opus tertium", written by the english philosopher roger bacon in the mid-13th century, although the mixture was not very effective. the composition of gunpowder varied throughout the period, and did not settle into the current ratios of saltpetre, sulfur and coal until the 17th century.
early thermal weapons