Gunpowder
The Chinese are credited with the invention and development of gun powder and its first recorded use is in china’s five dynasties and ten kingdoms period (907-960) period. The first weapons to use gunpowder were called “fire lances” which was made of long tubes of bamboo, later metal that were filled with gunpowder and emitted a blast of flame and shrapnel. The first recorded recipes for gun powder were compiled by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du, and Yang Weide in their printed work the wujing Zongyao, later collected by the Song dynasty (960-1234 ,or 1279, in 1044.
|
|
|
The Flame-Thrower
(Pen huo qi)
The First weapon to be descended from the fire lance and be fouled by gunpowder, was the flame thrower. While the Byzantine Empire is said to have used a type of flame-thrower based of the works of the ancient Greeks before the Chinese, the Chinese were able to construct a better more fully functioning flame-thrower based of the same ancient Greek designs.
The Chinese flame-thrower (or Pen Huo Qi) developed along with the invention of gunpowder during china’s five dynasties and ten kingdom period, was superior to the Byzantine model in that it emitted a continues stream of flame, and was more powerful due to the use of two gunpowder activated pistons, while the Byzantine’s flame-thrower had only one piston. The flame thrower spouted what was called Greek fire, an ancient Greek mixture which has been altered and lost throughout history, however the Chinese were able to attain it through their trade with the Middle East via their maritime ship routes. One of the earliest descriptions of the Chinese flame-thrower again comes again from the Wujing Zongyao manuscript, which illustrated the device in full detail along with the gunpowder formulas required to fuel it. |
|
|
The cannon & cannonballs
Next to follow in the evolution of cast iron explosives was the development of the cannon and the cannonball. The earliest discovered cannon dates back to 1282 during the time of the Mongol rule of China, yet the earliest documented use of cannon like artillery in a Chinese battle is by the Song in 1132, and the earliest gun discovered dates to 1288. However we can assume that while gunpowder was invented some several hundred years earlier during the five dynasties and ten kingdoms period, that cannons and guns of some kind existent before our earliest found documentation.
The Earliest cannons had a vase like shape and were made of either cast iron or later bronze, which fire simple cannonballs shaped from iron, many such cannons were placed along the length of the Great Wall of China to ward off against the Mongol invasion, however the Mongols would conquer china and acquire their cannon technology. While the earliest cannonballs were simply iron, the Chinese would be the first to expand upon the cannonballs potential for more than just a blunt force projectile, and in the mid 14 century to early 15th century we have the first descriptions of exploding cannonballs. The earliest known exploding cannonballs were made of cast iron like the normal cannonball, yet these would have a hollowed out core which would be filled with gunpowder. When fired the exploding cannonball would smash throw its target and set it ablaze, while there are other accounts of the cores being filled with a blinding formula of gunpowder, or even poison, in which the enemy would be both harmed and disoriented by this type of early chemical warfare opening him up to deadly follow up shot of cannon fire. The earliest known forms of exploding cannonballs in Europe date to around the 16th century. |
|
|
Fragmentation Bomb & hand Grenades
During the 14th century (Ming Dynasty), around the same time the Chinese developed the exploding cannonball, they found a way to take what made the exploding cannonball great and make it smaller, thus the first small scale fragmentation bombs were invented. These differed from the earlier incendiary bombs and the later exploding cannonballs in that they resembled what in today’s terms would be considered IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices).
They were made of a generally cast iron outer shell, which would be filled with small iron pellets, pieces of broken porcelain, and a mixture of heated oil which would coat the pellets. When the bomb was ignited by a small amount of gunpowder and a fuse, the resulting explosion sends flaming iron and porcelain shrapnel out, along with the iron pellets which would tear through the enemy and set them on fire. To follow up the fragmentation bomb, the Chinese developed its little brother the hand grenade. The earliest descriptions of a hand grenade type weapon being used by Chinese soldiers is written in the Wujing Zingyao the same military text compiled by the Song to catalog the use and creation of the flame-thrower, gunpowder, and incendiary bombs. Within that regard the text states that during the Song dynasty soldiers used hand thrown explosives called “Zhen Tian Lei” which were small ceramic or metal pot like containers filled with gun powder, and thrown at the enemy. It is said that the Chinese developed the hand grenade off of an earlier Roman design involved the throwing of Greek in small pot like vessels. However they originally acquired the design though the Chinese would quickly evolve the hand grenade from a simply smaller version of their earlier cast iron incendiary bomb into the fully exploding fragmentation weapon we are familiar with today. |
|
|
Land & Naval Mines
Another standard explosive today originally invented by the Chinese is the land mine.
The earliest documentation palaces the invention of the first land mine during the time of the Song dynasty, who used a bomb called a (Huo Pao) to fight the Mongols during their invasion of china. Early text dated to the Mongol Yuan period and the later Ming period describe the land mine as being made of a cast iron generally spherical although sometimes rectangular shaped, filled with the same contents as a fragmentation bomb, though the fuse would be triggered by a trip wire mechanism, activated by enemy movement. This movement tripped a wire which released a pin that allowed weights hidden underground to fall, pulling a cord, which spun an axil attached to an arm that held a flint igniting the fuse and causing the mine to explode killing the enemy whose moment triggered it. While the land mine killed whichever of china’s enemies were unfortunate enough to walk by it, the naval mine did the same in protecting china’s waters from enemy ships. The same military manuscripts detailing the construction of the land mine and many of the other Chinese explosive weapons also describes the development of the naval mine. During the Ming dynasty naval mines were first made out of wrought iron, in-closed in an ox’s bladder in order to make it water proof. The fuse was time device, in that burning joss sticks would float atop the water above the mine which the length of the stick decided the amount of time till detonation. It is said that if the sticks were exposed to air or allowed to get wet then they would not burn and ignite the fuse, thus the fuse and sticks were enclosed in a long water proof tube made of goat intestines. The trigger mechanism would later develop to replace the goat intestine with an ox bladder covered in a lacquered leather casing, while a rip cord pulled by a person on the shore struck the flint and ignited the fuse, allowing the mine to go off exactly when the operator wanted it to. |
|
|
Rockets & Rocket Launchers
The earliest documented rocket launcher type weapon, actually was used gunpowder to propel fire arrows not explosives. This is considered the first arc type of a rocket launcher due to the fact that the technology had not developed to the point of a single gunpowder propelled aerial missile. Thus arrows with their heads coated in flaming cloth or some type f grease or oil, were fitted with gunpowder rockets at the ends which allowed them to take flight. The first arrow rocket launchers were constructed from interwoven stripes of bamboo, with bamboo tubing acting as a rail system for the rockets, while reinforced with glued pieces of wood. The launchers frame worked created a series of small separated chambers were each arrow would be placed, allowing for multiple arrows to be fired at once without interference from one another. The earliest illustrations in the Wujing Zongyao places the invention of the arrow launcher some time during the Song dynasty in the 11th century. This texts stats that the “long serpent” launcher as it was called, was carried via wheelbarrow and could fire approximately 320 rocket arrows at once. The text also states the existent of a single shot portable tubular rocket arrow launcher, which would be the closest to what we know as a rocket launcher today.
During the late Song dynasty while they were trying to defend against the Mongol invasion, they also deployed the first type of multistage rocket which was in practice a form of primitive torpedo. The rocket would be launched from a low platform sitting on the water, which would ignite the rocket propelling it across the surface of the water, and when the first primary booster rocket was about to die it would ignite a second fuse, launching several fire arrows out of the mouth of a decorative dragon’s head. The same concept applies to an early type of Chinese mortar rocket, called “Flying Crows” as they were wing multi staged timed aerial rockets built to look like flying crows. The first rocket type reported to use a winged design and carry an explosive payload that only detonated on contact. |
|
|