An illustration of an "eruptor," a proto-cannon, from the 14th century Ming Dynasty book Huolongjing. The cannon was capable of firing proto-shells, cast-iron bombs filled with gunpowder.
Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages primarily consisted of the introduction of the cannon, large tubular firearms designed to fire a heavy projectile over a long distance. Guns, bombs, rockets and cannons were first invented in China during the Han and Song dynasties and then later spread to Europe and the Middle East during the period.
The earliest medieval cannon, the pot-de-fer, had a bulbous, vase-like shape, and was used more for psychological effect than physical damage. The later culverin was transitional between the handgun and the full cannon, and was used as an anti-personnel weapon. During the 15th century, cannon advanced significantly, so that bombards were effective siege engines. Towards the end of the period, the cannon gradually replaced siege engines—among other forms of aging weaponry—on the battlefield.
The Middle English word Canon was derived from the Tuscan word cannone, meaning large tube, which came from Latincanna, meaning cane or reed.[2] The Latinised word canon has been used for a gun since 1326 in Italy, and since 1418 in English. The word Bombardum, or "bombard", was the earliest term used for "cannon", but from 1430 it came to refer only to the largest weapons.[3]
The first documented battlefield use of gunpowder artillery took place on 29 January 1132, when Song General Han Shizhong used huochong to capture a city in Fujian. The world's earliest known hand cannon is the Heilongjiang hand cannon dated 1288, which was found in Mongol-held Manchuria.[4] In his 1341 poem, The Iron Cannon Affair, one of the first accounts of the use of gunpowder artillery in China, Xian Zhang wrote that a cannonball fired from an eruptor could "pierce the heart or belly when it strikes a man or horse, and can even transfix several persons at once."[5]
The Arabs acquired knowledge of gunpowder between 1240 and 1280, by which time there were written Arabic recipes for gunpowder, instructions for the purification of saltpeter, and descriptions of gunpowder incendiaries.[6]
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan claims that the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 saw the Mamluks use against the Mongols in "the first cannon in history" gunpowder formulae which were almost identical with the ideal composition for explosive gunpowder, which he claims were not known in China or Europe until much later.[7][8] However, Iqtidar Alam Khan states that it was invading Mongols who introduced gunpowder to the Islamic world[9] and cites Mamluk antagonism towards early riflemen in their infantry as an example of how gunpowder weapons were not always met with open acceptance in the Middle East.[10]
Al-Hassan interprets Ibn Khaldun as reporting the use of cannon as siege machines by the Marinid sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf at the siege of Sijilmasa in 1274.[7] Super-sized bombards were used by the troops of Mehmed II to captureConstantinople, in 1453. Urban, a Hungarian cannon engineer, is credited with the introduction of this cannon from Central Europe to the Ottoman realm.[11] It could fire heavy stone balls a mile, and the sound of their blast could reportedly be heard from a distance of 10 miles (16km).[11] A piece of slightly later date (see pic) was cast in bronze and made in two parts: the chase and the breech, which, together, weighed 18.4tonnes.[12] The two parts were screwed together using levers to facilitate the work.
In Africa, the Adal Empire and the Abyssinian Empire both deployed cannons during the Adal-Abyssinian War. Imported from Arabia, and the wider Islamic world, the Adalites led by Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi were the first African power to introduce cannon warfare to the African continent.[14] Later on as the Portuguese Empire entered the war it would supply and train the Abyssinians with cannons, while the Ottoman Empire sent soldiers and cannons to back Adal. The conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlockmusket, cannons, and the arquebus over traditional weapons.[15]
In Europe, one of the earliest mentions of gunpowder appeared in Roger Bacon's Opus Majus in 1267. It describes a recipe for gunpowder and recognized its military use:
We can, with saltpeter and other substances, compose artificially a fire that can be launched over long distances... By only using a very small quantity of this material much light can be created accompanied by a horrible fracas. It is possible with it to destroy a town or an army... In order to produce this artificial lightning and thunder it is necessary to take saltpeter, sulfur, and Luru Vopo Vir Can Utriet.[16]
Probably one of the oldest European firearms was the 1322 bronze vase-shaped gun from Mantua of 1322, of which drawings and measurements made in 1786 before it disappeared in 1849. It was 16.4 cm long, weighed about 5 kg and had a caliber of 5.5 cm.[18] The first document that mentions the use of cannons in Italy (and also in Europe) comes from a register of the municipality of Florence dated 1326 and attests, in that year, the purchase by the municipality of iron bullets and cannons.[19] The following year, some cannons are also documented in the castle of Gassino,[20] near Turin and, in 1335, the presence of firearms is also attested in Venice.[21] However, it was only around 1340 that the use of cannons began to become more frequent and they were no longer only used to defend castles and cities, but also to besiege them, as the Visconti did in 1351 during the siege of Conselice, near Bologna.[22]
Muslim and Christian Iberia
In reference to the siege to Alicante in 1331, the Spanish historian Zurita recorded a "new machine that caused great terror. It threw iron balls with fire."[7][23] The Spanish historian Juan de Mariana recalled further use of cannons during the Siege of Algeciras (1342-1344):
The besieged did great harm among the Christians with iron bullets they shot. This is the first time we find any mention of gunpowder and ball in our histories.[24]
Juan de Mariana also relates that the English Earl of Derby and Earl of Salisbury had both participated in the siege of Algeciras, and they could have conceivably transferred the knowledge about the effectiveness of cannon to England.[25]
The Iberian kings at the initial stages enlisted the help of Moorish experts:
The first artillery-masters on the Peninsula probably were Moors in Christian service. The king of Navarre had a Moor in his service in 1367 as maestro de las guarniciones de artilleria. The Morisques of Tudela at that time had fame for their capacity in reparaciones de artilleria.[26]
A reconstruction of the pot-de-fer vase cannon that fired arrows.
Cannon seem to have been introduced to the Kingdom of England in the 14th century, and are mentioned as being in use against the Scots in 1327.[27] The first metal cannon was the pot-de-fer, first depicted in an illuminated manuscript by Walter de Milamete,[28] of 1327 that was presented to Edward III upon his accession to the English throne.[29] The manuscript shows a four-legged stand supporting a "bulbous bottle", while the gunner stands well back, firing the charge with a red-hot iron bar.[27] A bolt protrudes from the muzzle, but no wad is shown.[28] Although illustrated in the treatise, no explanation or description was given.[30]
This weapon, and others similar, were used by both the French and English during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), when cannon saw their first real use on the European battlefield.[31] The cannon of the 14th century were still limited in many respects, as a modern historian summarises:
Early cannon were inferior in every respect to the great siege-engines: they were slow and small, they were limited… [in the 14th century] to firing bolts or 'garrots' and they had a very limited range. The weaknesses were due to limited technology: inability to forge or cast in one piece or make iron balls. They were probably as dangerous to their users as to the enemy and affected the morale of men (and horses) rather than damaged persons or buildings.[32]
During the 1340s, cannon were still relatively rare, and were only used in small numbers by a few states.[33] "Ribaldis" were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the Battle of Crécy between 1345 and 1346.[33] These were believed to have shot large arrows and simple grapeshot, but they were so important they were directly controlled by the Royal Wardrobe.[33] According to the contemporary chronicler Jean Froissart, the English cannon made "two or three discharges on the Genoese", which is taken to mean individual shots by two or three guns because of the time taken to reload such primitive artillery.[34] The Florentine Giovanni Villani agreed that they were destructive on the field, though he also indicated that the guns continued to fire upon French cavalry later in the battle:
The English guns cast iron balls by means of fire… They made a noise like thunder and caused much loss in men and horses… The Genoese were continually hit by the archers and the gunners… [by the end of the battle] the whole plain was covered by men struck down by arrows and cannon balls.[34]
Similar cannon to those used at Crécy appeared also at the Siege of Calais in the same year, and by the 1380s the "ribaudekin" clearly became mounted on wheels.[33] Wheeled gun carriages became more commonplace by the end of the 15th century, and were more often cast in bronze, rather than banding iron sections together.[35] There were still the logistical problems both of transporting and of operating the cannon, and as many three dozen horses and oxen may have been required to move some of the great guns of the period.[35]
Another small-bore cannon of the 14th century was the culverin, whose name derives from the snake-like handles attached to it.[36] It was transitional between the handgun and the full cannon, and was used as an anti-personnel weapon.[36] The culverin was forged of iron and fixed to a wooden stock, and usually placed on a rest for firing.[37]
15th century culveriners.
The culverin was also common in 15th century battles, particularly among Burgundian armies.[37] As the smallest of medieval gunpowder weapons, it was relatively light and portable.[37] It fired lead shot, which was inexpensive relative to other available materials.[37]
Significant developments in the 15th century produced very effective bombards,[38] an early form of battering cannon used against walls and towers.[36][39] These were used both defensively and offensively. Bamburgh Castle, previously thought impregnable, was taken by bombards in 1464.[38] The keep in Wark, Northumberland was described in 1517 as having five storeys "in each of which there were five great murder-holes, shot with great vaults of stone, except one stage which is of timber, so that great bombards can be shot from each of them."[40] An example of a bombard was found in the moat of Bodiam Castle, and a replica is now kept inside.[39]
Hand culverin (middle) with two small cannon, Europe, 15th century.
Artillery crews were generally recruited from the city craftsmen.[41] The master gunner was usually the same person as the caster.[41] In larger contingents, the master gunners had responsibility for the heavier artillery pieces, and were accompanied by their journeymen as well as smiths, carpenters, rope makers and carters.[41] Smaller field pieces would be manned by trained volunteers.[41] At the Battle of Flodden, each cannon had its crew of gunners, matrosses and drivers, and a group of pioneers to prepare the path ahead.[35] Even with a level path, the gunpowder mixture used was unstable and could easily separate out into sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal during transport.[35]
Once on site, they would be fired at ground level behind a hinged timber shutter, to provide some protection to the artillery crew.[35] Timber wedges were used to control the barrel's elevation.[35] The majority of medieval cannon were breechloaders, although there was still no effort to standardise calibres.[35] The usual loading equipment consisted of a copper loading scoop, a ramrod, and a felt brush or "sponge".[41] A bucket of water was always kept beside the cannon.[41] Skins or cloths soaked in cold water could be used to cool down the barrel, while acids could also be added to the water to clean out the inside of the barrel.[41] Hot coals were used to heat the shot or keep the wire primer going.[41]
Some Scottish kings were very interested in the development of cannon, including James II, who was killed by the accidental explosion of one of his own cannon while besieging Roxburgh Castle in 1460.[42]Mons Meg, which dates from about the same time, is perhaps the most famous example of a massive bombard. James IV was Scotland's first Renaissance figure, who also had a fascination with cannon, both at land and at sea.[42] By 1502, he was able to invest in a Scottish navy, which was to have a large number of cannon — his flagship, the Great Michael, was launched in 1511, with 36 great guns, 300 lesser pieces and 120 gunners.[42]
The first cannon appeared in Russia in the 1370-1380s, although initially their use was confined to sieges and the defence of fortresses.[43] The first mention of cannon in Grand Duchy of Moscow chronicles is of tyufyaks, small howitzer-type cannon that fired case-shot, used to defend Moscow against Tokhtamysh Khan in 1382.[43] Cannon co-existed with throwing-machines until the mid-15th century, when they overtook the latter in terms of destructive power.[43] In 1446, a Russian city fell to cannon fire for the first time, although its wall was not destroyed.[43] However it was not until 1475, when Ivan III established the first Russian cannon foundry in Moscow, which was the beginning of the native cannon production industry.[44] The first stone wall to be destroyed in Russia by cannon fire came in 1481.[43]
Byzantine and Ottoman Empires
During the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire began to accumulate its own cannon to face the Ottoman threat, starting with medium-sized cannon 3 feet (0.91m) long and of 10" calibre.[45] Only a few large bombards were under the Empire's control. The first definite use of artillery in the region was against the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1396. These loud Byzantine weapons, possibly operated by the Genoese or "Franks" of Galata, forced the Turks to withdraw.[45]
The Ottomans had acquired their own cannon by the siege of 1422, using "falcons", which were short but wide cannon. The two sides were evenly matched technologically, and the Turks had to build barricades "in order to receive… the stones of the bombards."[45] Because the Empire at this time was facing economic problems, Pope Pius II promoted the affordable donation of cannon by European monarchs as a means of aid. Any new cannon after the 1422 siege were gifts from European states, and aside from these, no other advances were made to the Byzantine arsenal.[45]
In contrast, when Sultan Mehmet II laid siege to Constantinople in April 1453, he used 68 Hungarian-made cannon, the largest of which was 26 feet (7.9m) long and weighed 20 tons. This fired a 1,200 pound stone cannonball, and required an operating crew of 200 men.[46] Two such bombards had initially been offered to the Byzantines by the Hungarian artillery expert Urban, which were the pinnacle of gunpowder technology at the time; he boasted that they could reduce "even the walls of Babylon".[45] However, the fact that the Byzantines could not afford it illustrates the financial costs of artillery at the time. These cannon also needed 70 oxen and 10,000 men just to transport them.[45] They were extremely loud, adding to their psychological impact, and Mehmet believed that those who unexpectedly heard it would be struck dumb.[45]
The 55-day bombardment of Constantinople left massive destruction, as recounted by the Greek chronicler Kritovoulos:
And the stone, borne with enormous force and velocity, hit the wall, which it immediately shook and knocked down and was itself broken into many fragments and scattered, hurling the pieces everywhere and killing those who happened to be nearby.[45]
Byzantine counter artillery allowed them to repel any visible Turkish weapons, and the defenders repulsed any attempts to storm any broken points in the walls and hastily repaired any damage. However, the walls could not be adapted for artillery, and towers were not good gun emplacements. There was even worry that the largest Byzantine cannon could cause more damage to their own walls than the Turkish cannon.[45] Gunpowder had also made the formerly devastating Greek fire obsolete, and with the final fall of what had once been the strongest walls in Europe on May 29, "it was the end of an era in more ways than one".[45]
Cannon at the end of the Middle Ages
The rounded walls of the 14th century Sarzana Castle showed adaption to gunpowder.
Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the development of cannon made revolutionary changes to siege warfare throughout Europe, with many castles becoming susceptible to artillery fire. The primary aims in castle wall construction were height and thickness, but these became obsolete because they could be damaged by cannonballs.[47] Inevitably, many fortifications previously deemed impregnable proved inadequate in the face of gunpowder. The walls and towers of fortifications had to become lower and wider, and by the 1480s, "Italian tracing" had been developed, which used the corner bastion as the basis of fortifications for centuries to come.[47] The introduction of artillery to siege warfare in the Middle Ages made geometry the main element of European military architecture.[47]
In 16th century England, Henry VIII began building Device Forts between 1539 and 1540 as artillery fortresses to counter the threat of invasion from France and Spain. They were built by the state at strategic points for the first powerful cannon batteries, such as Deal Castle, which was perfectly symmetrical, with a low, circular keep at its centre. Over 200 cannon and gun ports were set within the walls, and the fort was essentially a firing platform, with a shape that allowed many lines of fire; its low curved bastions were designed to deflect cannonballs.[48]
To guard against artillery and gunfire, increasing use was made of earthen, brick and stone breastworks and redoubts, such as the geometric fortresses of the 17th century French Marquis de Vauban. Although the obsolescence of castles as fortifications was hastened by the developments of cannon from the 14th century on, many medieval castles still managed to "put up a prolonged resistance" against artillery during the English Civil War of 17th century.[49]
↑ Calvert, James B (2007-07-08). "Cannons and Gunpowder". Mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/index.htm. Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
↑ C.P.Atwood-Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p.354
↑ Norris, John (2003). Early Gunpowder Artillery: 1300–1600. Marlborough: The Crowood Press. p.11. ISBN1-86126-615-4.
↑ Kelly, Jack (2004). "Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World". Basic Books.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help).
↑ Khan, Iqtidar Alam (1996). "Coming of Gunpowder to the Islamic World and North India: Spotlight on the Role of the Mongols". Journal of Asian History. 30: 41–5..
↑ Khan, Iqtidar Alam (2004). "Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India". Oxford University Press.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help).
↑ Davies, Jonathan (2019). The Medieval Cannon 1326–1494. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p.5. ISBN9781472837219.
↑ Crosby, Alfred W. (2002). Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.120. ISBN978-0-521-79158-8.
↑ Andrade, Tonio (2016). The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p.76. ISBN978-0-691-13597-7.
↑ Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving. "Military and War Weapons: the Cannon". Reproduced from "The People's Almanac" series of books. Trivia-library.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
Bag, A. K. (2005). "Fathullah Shirazi: Cannon, Multi-barrel Gun and Yarghu". Indian Journal of History of Science.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Carman, W. Y. (2004). A History of Firearms: From Earliest Times to 1914. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-43390-0.
Chartrand, René (2005-03-20). French Fortresses in North America 1535–1763: Quebec, Montreal, Louisbourg and New Orleans. Osprey Publishing. ISBN978-1-84176-714-7.
Hoffmeyer, Ada Bruhn de (1972). Arms and Armour in Spain. Madrid: Instituto do Estudios sobre Armas Antiguas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Patronato Menendez y Pelayo.
Mariana, Juan de. Historia general de Espana, 2 volumes, Madrid, 1608, ii, 27; English translation by Captain John Stephens, The General History of Spain, 2 parts, London, 1699, p 2 64
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon.
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building pipelines, tunnels, and roads.
Medieval warfare is the warfare of the Middle Ages. Technological, cultural, and social advancements had forced a severe transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery. In terms of fortification, the Middle Ages saw the emergence of the castle in Europe, which then spread to the Holy Land.
Early thermal weapons, which used heat or burning action to destroy or damage enemy personnel, fortifications or territories, were employed in warfare during the classical and medieval periods.
The hand cannon, also known as the gonne or handgonne, is the first true firearm and the successor of the fire lance. It is the oldest type of small arms as well as the most mechanically simple form of metal barrel firearms. Unlike matchlock firearms it requires direct manual external ignition through a touch hole without any form of firing mechanism. It may also be considered a forerunner of the handgun. The hand cannon was widely used in China from the 13th century onward and later throughout Eurasia in the 14th century. In 15th century Europe, the hand cannon evolved to become the matchlock arquebus, which became the first firearm to have a trigger.
The bombard is a type of cannon or mortar which was used throughout the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Bombards were mainly large calibre, muzzle-loading artillery pieces used during sieges to shoot round stone projectiles at the walls of enemy fortifications, enabling troops to break in. Most bombards were made of iron and used gunpowder to launch the projectiles. There are many examples of bombards, including Mons Meg, the Dardanelles Gun, and the handheld bombard.
The fire lance was a gunpowder weapon and the ancestor of modern firearms. It first appeared in 10th–12th century China and was used to great effect during the Jin-Song Wars. It began as a small pyrotechnic device attached to a polearm weapon, used to gain a shock advantage at the start of a melee. As gunpowder improved, the explosive discharge was increased, and debris or pellets added, giving it some of the effects of a combination modern flamethrower and shotgun, but with a very short range, and only one shot. By the late 13th century, fire lance barrels had transitioned to metal material to better withstand the explosive blast, and the lance-point was discarded in favor of relying solely on the gunpowder blast. These became the first hand cannons.
The history of the firearm begins in 10th-century China, when tubes containing gunpowder projectiles were mounted on spears to make portable fire lances. Over the following centuries, the design evolved into various types, including portable firearms such as flintlocks and blunderbusses, and fixed cannons, and by the 15th century the technology had spread through all of Eurasia. Firearms were instrumental in the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the establishment of European colonization in the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. The 19th and 20th centuries saw an acceleration in this evolution, with the introduction of the magazine, belt-fed weapons, metal cartridges, rifled barrels, and automatic firearms, including machine guns.
The history of cannons spans several hundred years from the 12th century to modern times. The cannon first appeared in China sometime during the 12th and 13th centuries. It was most likely developed in parallel or as an evolution of an earlier gunpowder weapon called the fire lance. The result was a projectile weapon in the shape of a cylinder that fired projectiles using the explosive pressure of gunpowder. Cannons were used for warfare by the late 13th century in the Yuan dynasty and spread throughout Eurasia in the 14th century. During the Middle Ages, large and small cannons were developed for siege and field battles. The cannon replaced prior siege weapons such as the trebuchet. After the Middle Ages, most large cannons were abandoned in favor of greater numbers of lighter, more maneuverable field artillery. New defensive fortifications such as bastions and star forts were designed specifically to better withstand artillery sieges. Cannons transformed naval warfare with its deadly firepower, allowing vessels to destroy each other from long range. As rifling became more commonplace, the accuracy of the cannon was significantly improved, and they became deadlier than ever, especially to infantry. In World War I, a considerable majority of all deaths were caused by cannons; they were also used widely in World War II. Most modern cannons are similar to those used in the Second World War, including autocannons—with the exception of naval guns, which are now significantly smaller in caliber.
Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty. Knowledge of gunpowder spread rapidly throughout Asia and Europe, possibly as a result of the Mongol conquests during the 13th century, with written formulas for it appearing in the Middle East between 1240 and 1280 in a treatise by Hasan al-Rammah, and in Europe by 1267 in the Opus Majus by Roger Bacon. It was employed in warfare to some effect from at least the 10th century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance before the appearance of the gun in the 13th century. While the fire lance was eventually supplanted by the gun, other gunpowder weapons such as rockets and fire arrows continued to see use in China, Korea, India, and this eventually led to its use in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Bombs too never ceased to develop and continued to progress into the modern day as grenades, mines, and other explosive implements. Gunpowder has also been used for non-military purposes such as fireworks for entertainment, or in explosives for mining and tunneling.
The pot-de-fer was a primitive cannon made of iron. It was used by the French in the Hundred Years' War. The name means "iron pot" in French. In Italy, pots-de-fer were known as vasi or vasii, meaning "pot" or "vase".
Military forces of the Ottoman Empire used a variety of weapons throughout the centuries. The armoury in Topkapı Palace has a large collection showing select items.
A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid, or gas. Solid projectiles may be free-flying or tethered. A large-caliber gun is also called a cannon.
Artillery began to be used in France in the 14th century. The first depiction of a cannon in Europe appeared in Walter de Milemete's 1326 De nobilitatibus, sapientiis, et prudentiis regum. Small rudimentary weapons such as the pot-de-fer or the portable bâton à feu were introduced. At this early stage, cannon would fire either stone balls or metal pellets.
Gunpowder weapons in the Song dynasty included fire arrows, gunpowder lit flamethrowers, soft shell bombs, hard shell iron bombs, fire lances, and possibly early cannons known as "eruptors". The eruptors, such as the "multiple bullets magazine eruptors", consisting of a tube of bronze or cast iron that was filled with about 100 lead balls, and the "flying-cloud thunderclap eruptor", were early cast-iron proto-cannons that did not include single shots that occluded the barrel. The use of proto-cannon, and other gunpowder weapons, enabled the Song dynasty to ward off its generally militarily superior enemies—the Khitan led Liao, Tangut led Western Xia, and Jurchen led Jin—until its final collapse under the onslaught of the Mongol forces of Kublai Khan and his Yuan dynasty in the late 13th century.
Mughal artillery included a variety of cannons, rockets, and mines employed by the Mughal Empire. This gunpowder technology played an important role in the formation and expansion of the empire. In the opening lines of Abul Fazl's famous text Ain-i-Akbari, he claims that "except for the Mediterranean/Ottoman territories (Rumistan), in no other place was gunpowder artillery available in such abundance as in the Mughal Empire." Thereby subtly referring to the superiority of the empire's artillery over the Safavids and Shaibanids. During the reign of the first three Timurid rulers of India—Babur, Humayun, and Akbar—gunpowder artillery had "emerged as an important equipage of war, contributing significantly to the establishment of a highly centralized state structure under Akbar and to the consolidation of Mughal rule in the conquered territories."
This is a timeline of the history of gunpowder and related topics such as weapons, warfare, and industrial applications. The timeline covers the history of gunpowder from the first hints of its origin as a Taoist alchemical product in China until its replacement by smokeless powder in the late 19th century.
The Ming dynasty continued to improve on gunpowder weapons from the Yuan and Song dynasties as part of its military. During the early Ming period larger and more cannons were used in warfare. In the early 16th century Turkish and Portuguese breech-loading swivel guns and matchlock firearms were incorporated into the Ming arsenal. In the 17th century Dutch culverin were incorporated as well and became known as hongyipao. At the very end of the Ming dynasty, around 1642, Chinese combined European cannon designs with indigenous casting methods to create composite metal cannons that exemplified the best attributes of both iron and bronze cannons. While firearms never completely displaced the bow and arrow, by the end of the 16th century more firearms than bows were being ordered for production by the government, and no crossbows were mentioned at all.
This is an overview of Chinese siege weapons.
In the history of gunpowder there are a range of theories about the transmission of the knowledge of gunpowder and guns from Imperial China to the rest of the world following the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties. The earliest bronze guns found in China date back to the 13th century, with archaeological and textual evidence for previous nascent gunpowder technology developed beforehand. Scholars note the scarcity of records for firearms in the Middle East prior to the mid-14th century, and in Russia before the late 14th century, yet cannons already appeared in Europe by the early 14th century. Less accepted theories include gunpowder as being independently invented in the Middle East or South Asia.
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