History of gunpowder

Gunpowder was the first explosive ever made. It is one of China's famous "Four Great Inventions" and was first made during the late Tang dynasty in the 9th century. The earliest written recipe for gunpowder appeared later, in the Song dynasty during the 11th century.

Soon after it was invented, knowledge of gunpowder spread quickly across Eurasia, helped by events like the Mongol conquests. By the 13th century, people in the Middle East and Europe had begun using gunpowder in weapons. At first, it was used in things like fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance, before guns were developed.

Gunpowder changed warfare forever. It led to the creation of large artillery pieces called bombards in the 15th century and helped firearms become the main weapons in Europe by the 17th century. As cannons became stronger, new types of forts like the star fort were built because old city walls could no longer protect cities.

Though gunpowder was later replaced by smokeless powder in the 19th century, it remained important for things like fireworks, mining, and building tunnels. Today, gunpowder is often called black powder to differ it from the materials used in modern guns.

Chinese beginnings

Gunpowder was invented in China long ago, during the first thousand years AD. The oldest known mention of gunpowder was in 142 AD in the Eastern Han dynasty. An alchemist named Wei Boyang wrote about a substance that acted like gunpowder. At that time, saltpeter was made in Hanzhong, but later production moved to Gansu and Sichuan.

Taoist alchemists helped develop gunpowder by testing with sulfur and saltpeter. Another mention of gunpowder happened in the year 300 during the Jin dynasty. A Taoist philosopher named Ge Hong wrote down the ingredients for gunpowder.

The first certain records of gunpowder in China were during the Tang dynasty in Taoist books. The first recipe mixed six parts sulfur, six parts saltpeter, and one part birthwort herb. Alchemists called this "fire medicine," and this name for gunpowder is still used in China today.

The oldest surviving recipe for gunpowder is from 1044 in a military book called Wujing Zongyao. This book described many early weapons made with gunpowder, such as "flying incendiary club for subjugating demons" and "caltrop fire ball." Over time, a few main types of weapons became common, like gunpowder arrows, bombs, and early guns.

Fire arrows

The first gunpowder recipe did not have enough saltpeter to explode, but it burned very well. One of the first weapons was the fire arrow. The earliest possible use of fire arrows was by the Southern Wu in 904. Arrows with gunpowder were very useful weapons at that time.

Rockets

At first, fire arrows were just arrows with gunpowder attached. Later, they became projectiles (rockets) pushed by gunpowder. We do not know exactly when this change happened. In 969, two Song generals made a new kind of fire arrow that used gunpowder tubes to push it forward. They showed these to the emperor in 970.

In 975, the state of Wuyue sent soldiers who knew how to use fire arrows to the Song dynasty. That same year, the Song used fire arrows to destroy a fleet from Southern Tang. In 994, the Liao dynasty attacked the Song but was stopped with help from fire arrows.

Explosives

Bombs using gunpowder were mentioned as early as the 11th century. In 1000 AD, a soldier showed a design for a early bomb and other weapons. The military book Wujing Zongyao from 1044 listed bombs with names like "ten-thousand fire flying sand magic bomb" and "burning heaven fierce fire unstoppable bomb."

Fire lance

The Song moved their capital, and the fighting that followed saw the first early gun, the fire lance, used in battle. The Song forces first used it in 1132.

Naval bombs

Gunpowder was also used in sea battles. In 1129, the Song ordered that all warships be equipped with machines to throw gunpowder bombs. In 1159, a Song fleet caught a Jin fleet and used gunpowder arrows against them. In 1161, Song boats surprised a Jin fleet, used thunderclap bombs, and defeated the Jin force.

Hard-shell explosives

The first iron bomb appeared in 1221 during the siege of Qizhou. This time, the Jin had the better technology.

Hand cannon

The early fire lance is not considered a true gun because it did not shoot projectiles. In 1259, a "fire-emitting lance" appeared. According to the History of Song, it used a large bamboo tube stuffed with a pellet wad. When the fire went off, it shot the pellet wad out the back, making a loud noise that could be heard from far away.

Archaeologists have found samples of early guns, called hand cannon, dating from the 13th century. The oldest gun that we know the exact date for is the Xanadu Gun because it has an inscription saying when it was made, in 1298.

Use by the Mongols

The Mongols worked with experts from places like China who knew about gunpowder. Even though there aren't many written records from the Mongols, some think they helped spread gunpowder across Eurasia. Others are not sure about this.

The Mongols attacked the Jin dynasty in 1211 and took it over by 1234. During a big attack on Kaifeng in 1232, they used gunpowder weapons. The Jin people used their own gunpowder bombs and special arrows to defend themselves.

The Mongols also fought the Song dynasty. In 1237, they attacked a city called Anfeng and used large gunpowder bombs. The Song soldiers fought back with their own bombs. Later, during a long siege of Xiangyang from 1268 to 1273, both sides used many types of gunpowder weapons.

Gunpowder weapons were used in battles across Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. In Japan, paintings and writings show that bombs were used during battles with the Mongols. In Java, the Mongols brought many gunpowder weapons, which may have helped improve local weapon technology.

Historiography of gunpowder and gun transmission

Main article: Historiography of gunpowder and gun transmission

Most historians think gunpowder was first made in China. Some people believe it may have been invented in Europe, the Middle East, or India. Those who think it was not first made in China say Chinese records do not clearly show the use of gunpowder in weapons. They also note that early Chinese guns were small and not very reliable. Some even suggest that guns might have been developed first in Europe.

Those who support the idea that China was the first to make gunpowder say there is little proof that anyone else was testing with gunpowder before the Chinese. When gunpowder appeared in Europe, it was already ready for use in wars, without the many years of testing that took place in China. Early European gunpowder recipes had the same mistakes as Chinese ones. Some words for gunpowder-related things in Muslim countries even sound like Chinese words. Europeans also had trouble getting one of the main ingredients, which was rare in Europe. Many believe that the knowledge of making guns came from China to Europe, rather than being invented separately.

Spread throughout Eurasia and Africa

Gunpowder, the first explosive, was invented in China in the 9th century. Its earliest recipe was recorded in the 11th century. Knowledge of gunpowder spread quickly across Eurasia, perhaps helped by Mongol invasions in the 13th century. By 1240 to 1280, written recipes for gunpowder appeared in the Middle East, and by 1267, they were in Europe.

In the Middle East, a writer named Hasan al-Rammah wrote about recipes for gunpowder and how to clean saltpeter. Early writings suggest this knowledge came from China, maybe through the Mongols. They called saltpeter "Chinese snow" and fireworks "Chinese flowers."

In Europe, the first mention of gunpowder was by Roger Bacon in 1267. He talked about a firecracker toy. The oldest European recipes for gunpowder appeared between 1280 and 1300. The first picture of a gun in Europe was in 1326. By the 1320s, guns started spreading across Europe and became common in battles by the late 14th century.

In Southeast Asia, gunpowder reached the Ayutthaya Kingdom by 1352. The Mongol invasion of Java in 1293 also brought gunpowder to the area. In India, gunpowder likely arrived by the mid-14th century, possibly through the Mongols. Korea began making gunpowder in the 1370s and created rockets and cannons. Japan learned about gunpowder around 1270, but it became common after Portuguese guns arrived in 1543.

In Africa, the Adal Empire and the Abyssinian Empire used gunpowder weapons in their wars. The Adalites were the first to bring cannons to Africa, importing them from Arabia and the Islamic world.

Transition to early modern warfare

Further information: Early modern warfare

Early Ming firearms

Main article: Gunpowder weapons in the Ming dynasty

Further information: Huolongjing and Wubei Zhi

Gun development in China grew a lot during the Ming dynasty. The ruler, Zhu Yuanzhang, helped this growth by using guns wisely.

Most early Ming guns were small, weighing two to three kilograms. Larger guns weighed about seventy-five kilograms. These guns could shoot stones and iron balls but were mainly used against people. They were not very accurate and could only reach about 50 paces.

Some Ming gunpowder weapons followed global trends. The guns grew longer, matching European designs until around 1450. By 1370, a method called "corning" made gunpowder explosions stronger in land mines, and it may have helped guns too. Around this time, Ming guns started using iron instead of stone for bullets, making them more powerful. The Ming also made rocket launchers called "wasp nests" in 1380, used by general Li Jinglong in 1400.

The peak of Chinese cannon design before European influence in the 1500s was the "great general cannon," which could fire a four-kilogram lead ball. An even heavier version, the "great divine cannon," could fire several iron balls and up to a hundred iron shots at once. These were the last Chinese cannon designs before European models arrived.

China did not build very large siege cannons like other parts of the world, partly because Chinese walls were so thick that even big cannons could not break them. Also, larger guns were not very useful against China's usual enemies, who were horse riders.

Big guns

Main article: History of artillery

Further information: Culverin and Italian Wars

The building of large artillery pieces began in Burgundy. This small European state grew very powerful in the 1300s and led in siege warfare. The Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, focused on using big guns and supported research in gunpowder weapons. He created factories and hired more cannon makers than any other European power at the time.

While most European guns before 1370 weighed about 20 to 40 lbs (9–14 kg), the French siege of Château de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte in 1375 used guns over a ton (900 kg) that shot stones over 100 lbs (45 kg). Philip used these big guns to capture Odruik in 1377. These guns could shoot much heavier projectiles than before, smashing city walls and starting a new era of artillery warfare, which helped Burgundy grow quickly.

Europe began a race to build ever-larger artillery. By the early 1400s, both French and English armies had big guns called bombards, weighing up to five tons (4,535 kg) and shooting balls up to 300 lbs (136 kg). Artillery used by Henry V of England in the Sieges of Harfleur and Rouen in 1415 and 1419 helped break French defenses, and artillery played a key role in French victories under Joan of Arc in the Loire Campaign of 1429.

These weapons changed European warfare. A hundred years earlier, a French writer, Pierre Dubois, said a castle could hardly be taken in a year, and even then, it cost more than it was worth. But by the 1400s, European walls fell very regularly.

The Ottoman Empire also built its own artillery. Mehmed the Conqueror wanted big cannons to capture Constantinople. A Hungarian maker named Urban built a six-meter cannon for him, but during the siege of Constantinople, it did not work well. However, many other large cannons attacked Constantinople’s walls for 55 days, and despite strong defense, the city’s walls were broken.

Further information: Star fort and Bastion

In response to gunpowder artillery, European forts began to use new designs with lower, thicker walls in the mid-1400s. Cannon towers were built with rooms for cannons to fire through slits in the walls. However, this was tricky because the slow firing, loud noises, and smoke made it hard for defenders. Gun towers also limited how many and what size cannons could be used because the rooms could only be built so big. Examples of surviving artillery towers include a seven-layer defense built in 1480 at Fougères in Brittany, and a four-layer tower built in 1479 at Querfurth in Saxony.

The star fort, also called the bastion fort, became popular in Europe during the 1500s. It was developed in Italy by Giuliano da Sangallo, who created a detailed defense plan using angled bastions. These bastions could support each other with crossfire, making them very hard to attack. Artillery on the flanks could fire into the opposite bastion, providing cover fire and stopping digging parties. Artillery on the bastion platform could fire forward, overlapping with fire from the opposite bastion. This made sieges longer and harder. By the 1530s, the bastion fort became the main defense in Italy.

Outside Europe, the star fort helped small European forces hold off much larger armies. Wherever they were built, local people found it very hard to remove European invaders. In China, Sun Yuanhua suggested building angled bastion forts so their cannons could support each other better. Officials Han Yun and Han Lin noted that cannons on square forts could not support each side as well as bastion forts. Ma Weicheng built two bastion forts in his home county, which helped stop a Qing attack in 1638. By 1641, there were ten bastion forts in the county. Before they could spread further, the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and they were mostly forgotten as the Qing dynasty was often on the attack and did not need them.

Classical cannon

Gun design and building in Europe reached its "classic" form in the 1480s – longer, lighter, more efficient, and more accurate than guns just three decades earlier. This design stayed mostly the same, and cannons from the 1480s look very similar to cannons from the 1750s. This 300-year period of dominance gives it the name "classic cannon."

Early classic European guns are shown by two cannons from 1488 kept in a square in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. One is 224 centimeters long with a bore of 6.2 centimeters, and the other is slightly longer at 252 centimeters with the same bore size. They differ from older guns in several ways. Their longer length helps the bullet go farther. They were also lighter because the barrel walls were thinner, allowing heat to escape faster. They did not need a wooden plug to load because the bullet fit tighter in the barrel, making them more accurate. Developments like better gunpowder and iron bullets also made them deadlier. When these guns reached China in the 1510s, Chinese people were very impressed, especially because of their longer, thinner barrels.

There are two main ideas about why the classic gun appeared. One idea is that longer barrels were needed because of a new type of gunpowder called "corned" powder, which kept better, was more powerful, and easier to load. Before corned powder, gunpowder often mixed apart and was unreliable. The faster reaction of corned powder worked well in smaller guns, while large guns could have thinner walls. However, some argue that powder makers cared more about spoilage than how corned powder affected guns, and that corning had been used in China since the 1370s for explosives.

The second idea is that a new way of building guns, casting them muzzle side up, was key. Smith says: "The surviving guns from earlier in the 1400s are big with large bores. They look like parallel-sided tubes with flat ends. The explanation is probably that they were cast muzzle down in the traditional bell-making method, while the long thin guns were cast muzzle up.… Perhaps this marks the real 'revolution' in artillery. Once the technique of casting muzzle up with its advantages was mastered by cannon makers, the way was open for the development of the 'classic' form of artillery." However, Smith himself says it is not clear what advantages this method gave, even though it was used widely.

The arquebus was a handgun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the early 1400s. Its name comes from the German word Hakenbüchse. Although the term arquebus was used for many types of handguns from the 1400s to 1700s, it originally described "a handgun with a hook-like part on its bottom, useful for steadying it against walls or other objects when shooting." These "hook guns" were first defensive weapons on German city walls in the early 1400s, but by the late 1400s they became hand-held guns, with heavier versions called "muskets" that were fired from Y-shaped rests appearing by the early 1500s.

The musket could go through all types of armor of the time, making armor useless, and therefore heavy muskets as well. Although there is little design difference between arquebus and musket except in size and strength, the term musket stayed in use until the 1800s. It might not be wrong to say the musket was just a larger arquebus. At one point, the musket and arquebus were even used to mean the same gun, and were called an "arquebus musket." A Habsburg commander in the mid-1560s called muskets "double arquebuses." The meaning of arquebus and similar guns is complicated because the term was used for different guns and also got several names like hackbut, harquebus, schiopo, sclopus, tüfenk, tofak, matchlock, and firelock. Some say the hackbut was an early form of the arquebus.

The matchlock firing part’s first appearance is not fully known. The first mentions of what may have been arquebuses (tüfek) by the Janissary corps of the Ottoman army date from 1394 to 1465. However, it is unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons until 1444, but the fact that they were listed separate from cannons in mid-15th century records suggests they were hand-held guns. In Europe, a shoulder stock, probably inspired by the crossbow stock, was added to the arquebus around 1470, and the matchlock mechanism appeared a little before 1475. The matchlock arquebus was the first handgun with a trigger.

Matchlock became a common name for the arquebus after it was added to the gun. Before the matchlock, handguns were fired from the chest, tucked under one arm, while the other arm moved a hot pricker to the touch hole to light the gunpowder. The matchlock changed this by adding a firing part with two pieces: the match, and the lock. The lock held a two to three feet long piece of smoldering rope soaked in saltpeter, which was the match. Connected to the lock lever was a trigger, which lowered the match into a pan when pulled, lighting the priming powder, causing a flash to go through the touch hole, lighting the gunpowder in the barrel, and shooting the bullet out the front.

While matchlocks were a big help because they let the user aim the gun with both hands, they were also hard to use. To avoid lighting the gunpowder by mistake, the match had to be taken off while loading the gun. Sometimes the match would go out, so both ends were kept lit. This was awkward because both hands were needed to hold the match during removal, one end in each hand. The process was so complicated that a 1607 drill book by Jacob de Gheyn in the Netherlands listed 28 steps just to fire and load the gun. In 1584 the Ming general Qi Jiguang wrote an 11 step song to practice the steps in rhythm: "One, clean the gun. Two pour the powder. Three tamp the powder down. Four drop the pellet. Five drive the pellet down. Six put in paper (stopper). Seven drive the paper down. Eight open the flashpan cover. Nine pour in the flash powder. Ten close the flashpan, and clamp the fuse. Eleven, listen for the signal, then open the flashpan cover. Aiming at the enemy, raise your gun and fire." Reloading a gun in the 1500s took from 20 seconds to a minute under the best conditions.

The arquebus is considered the first portable "shoulder" handgun. Arquebuses were used as early as 1472 by the Spanish and Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses in 1476. In 1496 Philip Monch of the Palatinate wrote an illustrated book on guns and "harquebuses." The Mamluks were resistant to gunpowder weapons. When they faced cannons and arquebuses used by the Ottomans, they criticized them, saying, "God curse the man who invented them, and God curse the man who fires on Muslims with them." Insults were also made against the Ottomans for bringing "this contrivance artfully devised by the Christians of Europe when they were incapable of meeting the Muslim armies on the battlefield." Eventually, the Mamluks under Qaitbay were ordered in 1489 to train in the use of al-bunduq al-rasas (arquebuses). However, in 1514 an Ottoman army of 12,000 soldiers with arquebuses defeated a much larger Mamluk force. The arquebus became a common infantry weapon by the 1500s because it was cheaper – a helmet, breastplate and pike cost about three and a quarter ducats while an arquebus cost just over one ducat. Another benefit of arquebuses over other gear and weapons was their short training time. While a bow could take years to master, an effective arquebus user could be trained in just two weeks. According to a 1571 report by Vincentio d'Alessandri, Persian arms including arquebuses "were superior and better tempered than those of any other nation."

In the early 1500s a larger arquebus called the musket appeared. The heavy musket, while hard to handle and needing a fork rest to fire properly, could go through the best armor at 180 meters, regular armor at 365 meters, and an unarmed person at 548 meters. However, both the musket and arquebus were limited to a range of only 90 to 185 meters because they were very inaccurate. Some sources say a smoothbore musket could not hit a person-sized target past 73 meters. While rifled guns existed at this time as grooves cut into the barrel, they were special weapons and not many were made. In some ways this made the smoothbore musket worse than the bow. For example, an average Mamluk archer could hit targets only 68 meters away but could shoot six to eight times a minute. In comparison, sixteenth-century matchlocks shot once every several minutes, and much less when including misfires and problems which happened up to half the time. This does not mean firearms of the 1500s were worse than the bow and arrow, because they could go through armor better and needed less training, but the downsides of the musket were real, and it was not until the 1590s that archers were mostly replaced in European warfare. This was perhaps because of the increased effectiveness of musket fighting due to the rise of volley fire in Europe first used by the Dutch. At this time, gunners in European armies made up as much as 40 percent of infantry forces.

As the advantages of the musket became clear, it was quickly adopted across Eurasia so that by 1560 even in China generals praised the new weapon. Qi Jiguang, a supporter of the musket, praised its effectiveness in 1560:

It is unlike any other of the many types of fire weapons. In strength it can pierce armor. In accuracy it can strike the center of targets, even to the point of hitting the eye of a coin [i.e., shooting right through a coin], and not just for exceptional shooters.… The arquebus [鳥銃] is such a powerful weapon and is so accurate that even bow and arrow cannot match it, and … nothing is so strong as to be able to defend against it.

— Jixiao Xinshu

Other East Asian powers such as Đại Việt also adopted the matchlock musket quickly. Đại Việt was considered by the Ming to have made the most advanced matchlocks in the world during the 1600s, better even than Ottoman, Japanese, and European guns. European observers of the Trịnh–Nguyễn War agreed with the Ming about the skill of Vietnamese matchlock making. The Vietnamese matchlock could go through several layers of iron armor, kill two to five men with one shot, yet also fire quietly for a gun of its size.

Gunpowder Empires

The term "Gunpowder Empires" refers to three big empires: the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires. The name was first used by a historian named Marshall Hodgson in a book called The Venture of Islam. He described these empires as strong states that used new weapons like cannons and guns.

Another historian, William H. McNeill, said these empires grew powerful because they could use these new weapons. Some historians think that these weapons were not the main reason these empires became large and strong. But all three empires used guns and cannons, and these became very important in their battles.

Civil engineering

Gunpowder helped people build waterways and canals. In China, it was used as early as 1541. In Europe, it helped build the Canal du Midi in Southern France, linking the Mediterranean sea to the Atlantic sea. It was also used for the Erie Canal in New York.

Before gunpowder, big rocks were broken by hand or by heating and cooling them quickly. The first use of gunpowder in mines was in Hungary in 1627, and it came to Britain in 1638. This work was dangerous because of the thick smoke and risk of sparks, especially in coal mines.

Gunpowder was important for building railways too. Early railways followed the land or used bridges. Later, they cut through hills and made tunnels. For example, the Box Tunnel in Britain needed a lot of gunpowder. The Mont Cenis Tunnel also took many years to build, even with gunpowder.

United States

Revolutionary War

During the American Revolutionary War, people dug in caves to find a substance called saltpeter. They needed saltpeter to make gunpowder because supplies from Europe had stopped. Abigail Adams is said to have made gunpowder on her family farm in Massachusetts.

The New York Committee of Safety wrote papers about making gunpowder in 1776.

Civil War

During the American Civil War, most of the saltpeter used to make gunpowder for the Union armies came from British India. This supply was at risk when Union ships stopped a British ship, the RMS Trent, and took two Confederate diplomats off it. In response, the British government stopped sending saltpeter to the United States, which could have hurt their gunpowder supply. But the problem was fixed, and the diplomats were let go.

The Union Navy blocked ships from reaching the southern Confederate States, making it harder to get gunpowder from other countries. The Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau was created to make gunpowder from materials found in the South. While carbon and sulfur were easy to find, potassium nitrate was made from Calcium nitrate found in cave dirt, tobacco barns, and other places. Many caves were dug up for this purpose.

Decline

In the late 1800s, new discoveries like nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, and smokeless powders were made. These new materials replaced traditional gunpowder for most uses.