Gunpowder

AbstractA material which had a profound impact upon the history of warfare, gunpowder was originally developed in China during the first millennium both as the incendiary for fireworks and as propellant for catapult bombs. It arrived in the West and Europe from the mid‐thirteenth century onwards via the Middle East where Arab use had been similar to that of the Chinese. European application was, however, more closely focused on its evolution and harnessing as the principal propellant explosive in firearms and shells. European success in this regard was not exclusive, however. By the mid‐sixteenth century the principal powers of the Far East—the Chinese and the Japanese—and the Ottoman Empire had all developed and perfected the manufacture of gunpowder in weapons technology. Gunpowder's historical significance rests on its geographic diffusion and its relative longevity: its function in weapons technology across the world obtained until the late nineteenth century when it was progressively replaced by cordite.