It is doubtful if any one invention has revolutionised any one activity more than.
Before it, archers and catapults notwithstanding, war was.
a personal, man-to-man affair. After it, combat could routinely be conducted at a distance.
And not only with bullets and cannonballs. By putting huge quantities of the stuff under.
things someone wanted to eliminate like city walls, the Houses of Parliament, and so on,.
because they could simply be blown up. .
It is generally determined that the discoverers of gunpowder were the Chinese. As.
early as in the T'ang dynasty (AD 618-906) there seem to have existed what were called.
"fire trees" and "silver flowers." Chinese legend has it that some herdsmen who were.
trying to keep warm saw their campfire leap and fizzle around like a torch. They soon.
discovered that the fire pit was built on sulfur with a rock containing potassium.
perchlorate, the ingredients of gunpowder. This soon became a common mixture to make.
fire. To transport the mixture with so much firepower, the herdsman used a hollow.
bamboo stick with mud at both ends. The stick, accidentally fell into a fire and exploded.
with a bang. Thus the "fire trees" and "silver flowers" were born.
Later on in the year 1161, when the Chinese were suffering invasion from the Chin.
Tatars from the north some historical documents state that they successfully used.
explosives to defeat their attackers. This seems to be definite proof of a knowledge of.
gunpowder among the Chinese at this period. However there has been considerable.
argument as to whether these references to explosives indicate that the Chinese knew.
about the use of a cannon and also if the explosives were in fact gunpowder. Chinese.
records state that when the Mongols laid siege to the North China city of Kaifeng in 1232,.
the people within the city terrified the Mongols with "heaven quaking thunder". The.
instrument they used is described as an iron tube or vessel that was filled with a powder or.