Page 88 - (DK) Smithsinian - Military History: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Objects of Warfare

86 KEY EVENTS KEY DEVELOPMENT

WMEN 500–1500 11th–15th century GUNPOWDER

◼ 1044 A document written for the
Chinese emperor describes the use
MAKES ITS MARK
of gunpowder for smoke bombs and
incendiary devices in sieges.
◼ 1231 “Fire lances”—primitive
The arrival of gunpowder is often dated to 1453, when the massive cannon of
flamethrowers—and “thunder-crash
bombs” are employed in the defense
sieges for a thousand years. However, by this time, gunpowder had already been
Mongols’ forces.
AND BO of Kaifeng (Beijing) against the Sultan Mehmed II breeched the walls of Constantinople, a city that had resisted
in military use in China for four centuries.
◼ 1326 The government of
Florence, Italy, orders a supply of
The explosive properties of a mix of charcoal,
metal cannon and ammunition to
together with iron hoops. Exploiting the propulsive
be used in the defense of the city.
sulfur, and saltpeter were probably discovered
power of improved “corned” gunpowder, these
KNIGHTS ◼ 1346 King Edward III of England by Chinese alchemists during the Tang dynasty mighty but cumbersome cannon were capable of
hurling stone shot with crushing force against the
(618–907ce). Documents from the Song dynasty,
uses small field cannon against the
French, at the Battle of Crécy.
in the 11th century, make reference to the use of
walls of large structures, such as castles and towns,
facilitating early siege warfare. The artillery used at
gunpowder-tipped arrows as incendiary devices,
◼ c.1350 Chinese armies are
regularly deploying hundreds of
cannon and primitive handguns
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed by a renegade Christian
into besieged cities by catapult.
in field battles and sieges. and of gunpowder fire-bombs that were hurled the 1453 Siege of Constantinople, made for
Over the following centuries, a whole family Hungarian artillery expert, included a bombard so
◼ 1380s Large siege guns of gunpowder weapons was developed, from large that it traveled on a cart drawn by 50 yoke of
(bombards) come into use in flame-throwing “fire-lances” to grenades, rockets, oxen and could fire a ball weighing up to half a ton.
Europe; some are capable of
firing stone shot weighing up hand-held guns, and primitive cannon. These For a brief period of time, heavy cannon were
to 500lb (230kg). devices did not transform the Chinese practice decisive weapons. At the same time that Mehmed
of war, but took their place as a significant but was taking Constantinople, the French royal
◼ 1421 Using hand guns and
cannon mounted on wagons, subsidiary adjunct to traditional weaponry, often artillery, created by brothers Jean and Gaspard
Hussites led by Jan Zizka defeat employed primarily for psychological effect. Bureau, was making a decisive contribution to the
Sigismund, King of Hungary defeat of the English at the end of the Hundred
and Bohemia, at the Battle of
Kutna Hora. THE NEW TECHNOLOGY
As the new gunpowder-based technology filtered
◼ 1439–53 Brothers Jean through to the Muslim armies of West Asia and to
and Gaspard Bureau create a
powerful artillery train for King Christian Europe, in the 12th and 13th
Charles VII of France, aiding him centuries, its impact at first remained
in the defeat of the English in the marginal. The few small cannon
Hundred Years’ War.
deployed at Crécy in 1346 were
◼ 1453 Sultan Mehmed II of the puny in their effect compared with
Ottomans uses large cannon to the decisive firepower of the
decisive effect during the successful
siege of Constantinople. archers’ longbows.
However, European
military artisans
and their employers
▶ SIMPLE FIREPOWER saw the potential of
Most early gunpowder large guns for sieges.
weapons were crude by later And so, by the 15th century,
standards, and did not make bombards (large siege guns) were
a great physical impact; their
effect on the enemy was being made, usually with barrels
mainly psychological. of wrought iron rods bound

“We can compose artificially a fire that
can be launched over long distances…

It is possible with it to destroy a town

or an army”

ROGER BACON, OPUS MAIOR, 1248