Gunpowder: AN EXPLOSIVE ACCIDENT
The search for the elixir of life led to an invention that would change the way of warfare forever. The first form of gunpowder was accidentally invented by the Chinese before our era and soon found its way west. Gunpowder hit like a bomb and spread like wildfire around the world.
Charcoal
The knowledge was passed on and in the centuries that followed, the search for the elixir of life continued. During these experiments, more and more clues were found with which the explosive mixture could be perfected. around 300 A.D. ch. The three ingredients of gunpowder were first written down: Saltpetre, sulfuric acid and charcoal. However, these had not yet been cleaned enough and were not yet in good proportion with each other, so that there was no question of an explosion.
Gunpowder was finally "invented" in the 8th century - when the Tang dynasty was in power. Although it did not guarantee eternal life, as was hoped, it was used during this time to combat skin diseases, kill insects and shoot fireworks into the sky. It was not until later that the use of gunpowder for warfare became a habit.
War
Around 900, the Chinese discovered that more oxygenated saltpetre meant a more powerful explosion. When fired into a closed container, it shattered into thousands of pieces. However, when there was an opening on one side, smoke, flames and sparks came out. This is how the first cannons were created in 904, which were used against the Chinese arch-enemy Mongolia. The Chinese bombarded the enemy with small cannonballs fired from hollowed out bamboo. Also during this time primitive hand grenades, flame throwers and land mines were used in the war.
However, it was only a matter of time before the explosive stuff made its way to Europe via the Silk Road. The English monk Roger Bacon was the first Westerner to write about gunpowder in the 13th century. Gunpowder was soon used and was very important for, among other things, the Hundred Years War between England and France. The once impenetrable European castles were suddenly found weak. When the first primitive rifle was invented in the 15th century – the arquebus – a new group of soldiers emerged: infantry.