The Rise of Gunpowder in Europe

Gunpowder was a technical innovation that lastingly changed the face of European warfare and culture in late medieval and early modern times. Even though early gunpowder weapons were ineffective, they fascinated military artisans who, over time, tweaked them into absolutely essential weapons for any successful military operation. This is how contemporary historiography tells the story of gunpowder.
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Bibliography
Sources
Bacon, Roger, opus maius, latin with an English commentary, Ed. by Bridges, John H., The "opus majus" of Roger Bacon (2 vol.), Frankfurt 1964.
Tartaglia, Niccoló, La nova scientia de Nicolo Tartaglia con una gionta al terzo libro, Venice 1558.
Walter de Milemete, De nobilitatibus, sapientiis, et prudentiis regum, 1326.
Literature
Al-Hassan, Ahmad Y. "Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries". ICON 9 (2003): p. 1-30.
Andrade, Tonio, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History, Princeton 2016.
Arnold, Thomas, The Renaissance at War, London 2001.
May, T., Review of Khan, Iqtidar Alam, Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India. H-War, H-Net Reviews 2006 (www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.... last consultation: 10.04.2020).
Max Jaehn, Geschichte der Kriegswissenschaften, vol. 1-3, München und Leipzig 1889-1891 (Reprint Hildesheim 1966).
Morillo, Stephen, War in World History: Society, Technology, and War from Ancient Times to the Present, Volume 1, To 1500, McGraw Hill 2008.
Ortenburg, G., Landsknechte. Waffe und Waffengebrauch (Heerwesen der Neuzeit, sect. 1, vol. 1) Koblenz 1984.
Popplow, M., s.v. Schiesspulver, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit.
#history #gunpowder #sandrhoman

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Because our videos are taking more and more time to produce, we created a Patreon account. If you'd like to support our work financially, then have a look here: www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory

[@rocks2173]

also do a subscribe star

[@reubenrex7818]

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[@brunoduncan2381]

@Reuben Rex instablaster :)

[@reubenrex7818]

@Bruno Duncan thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site on google and Im in the hacking process atm. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later with my results.

[@reubenrex7818]

@Bruno Duncan It worked and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy! Thanks so much you saved my account !

[@thaileinh9877]

>Try to find elixir of life >Create powder of death

[@systemhalodark]

> Still call it fire medicine

[@kafon6368]

Quick, someone engineer a new super virus, NOW!!!

[@sinoroman]

>called [] Snow by Arabs

[@andrewgodly5739]

Basically the search for eternal life only ends in finding something poisonous or a new weapon. I guess the only thing that's eternal is death

[@cv4809]

Ironic

[@EntranceDenied]

I remember reading some where at the Battle of Mohi, Hungarians vs Mongols: The Hungarians claimed that the Mongols had magic and fire breathing dragons. Seems like they were up against gunpowder weapons the Mongols brought from China.

[@pikeshotBattles]

The Mongols used "siege engines" against the bridgehead, but its unclear whether these were gunpowder weapons. And if they were so its also unclear whether they were proper cannons, or just flaming/exploding things fired by catapult/trebuchet.

[@DmoneyS44]

@WithAStick AngryWhiteMan seems like an arbitrary distinction. Barbarian of not, the Jin Dynasty was Chinese

[@vrisbrianm4720]

@WithAStick AngryWhiteMan The Jin dynasty still occupied and ruled northern China, so saying that the Mongol learnt/copied the gunpowder technology from "China" is not actually wrong.

[@beregu]

I also read the same. Perhaps, Mongols didn’t use much gunpowder in Europe because of raw material supply from the areas where they were taking military actions. Therefore, during the Mongol Empire, gunpowder and gunpowder weapon terminologies were not settled.

[@TheAmbrazura]

No, it rather was some oil from Persia or other places.

[@heyma7800]

5:33 okay that's pretty impressive

[@chromsh2806]

Didn't have to flex that hard smh

[@omarma7815]

weird flex but ok

[@kakalimukherjee3297]

W I D E D I C C

[@nameunavailable1330]

5:40 Dude has a wicked stream

[@ericleung663]

I came to the comments just for this.

[@gabesegun7966]

That's a lot of dump

[@adamloverin231]

I was waiting for dude to shrink up like a dried prune.

[@toastedghost8971]

@obglobgablob they were just built different back in the day

[@nyktal]

i was gonna comment this just now, dude has a set of pipes on him

[@anthonychojvang]

This is why I think your videos are so underrated. You take in the sources, evaluate, and compare them to each other. Something I think is integral to the study of history and you are very good at it.

[@flynntom8057]

There's a channel I'd recommend called Historians Craft which you may like that tries to do the same thing.

[@mariushunger8755]

Garlic and honey must give it a nice smell, I reckon

[@hansybarra]

The mix is used for cure cough.

[@miguelmontenegro3520]

@@hansybarra Honey and lemon juice helps as well. It's so tasty, they created a band with this name.

[@lzccc9015]

Adding garlic to the gun powder makes bombs able to kill vampires 😝

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

When making homemade rocket fuel, we substituted sugar in place of charcoal. When lit, it smelled like caramel candy !

[@mydogbrian4814]

- Yes these ingredients were added so that the gunpowder could be used as👉 a sandwhich spread & eaten if it got wet & couldnt be used for its primary purpose. Ideal for during the rainy season. Lol. 🙄

[@davidjacobs8558]

薬 is more generic term than medicine. meaning is more close to "chemical reagent of any kind" for example, poison would be 毒薬 pesticide wowuld be 農薬

[@blee04524]

Agreed

[@lzccc9015]

a precise explanation 👍

[@goldenn1086]

It's 藥

[@captainsandwhich7469]

@@goldenn1086 traditional and simplified chinese bro

[@fuckyoutubeusernamechange]

​@@captainsandwhich7469for simplified it's药，for traditional it's藥，for Japanese it's薬

[@adamorlowski4886]

I dont know how I only just found your channel.... The Production quality is superb my friend!

[@SandRhomanHistory]

haha, thanks man!

[@rakasiwi3178]

The scary thing of gun is unlike knight that take years to train, even the peasants can be a deathly army with just a month of training

[@chadfalardeau3259]

That is why guns were adopted so quickly, and why wars became bigger, more frequent and with a higher body count

[@inthefade]

That huge stream of piss makes me laugh every time! The dude's got a fire hose.

[@LeighJFP]

Are you 8

[@metagen77]

@@LeighJFP im 40 and this is hilarious

[@GanjaMasterBlaster]

I still find that hilarious XD He probably drank alot

[@alswann2702]

Me at 19 on a Saturday morning.

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

Gunpowder: * exists * Late-medieval engineers: *BOOMSTICK*

[@1998wiwi]

I've discovered this channel recently, and I must say I'm impressed. I love when educational channels cite scholarly sources. Keep it up guy(s)!

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@comdickinson5964]

6:21 "look hither mother, I smite this fire"

[@marbeaux4171]

Me at 5:42 "That's... a lot of pee bud. Might want to go see an apothecary or a priest about that."

[@ScudForEver]

Priest: the demon is inside your penis son, we must expell it dranibg your blood!

[@thomasmuntzer684]

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics by Bert Hall is a good introduction to this subject.

[@mjs24]

I love history channels... I watch a lot of them but your channel by far has the best visuals!

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Glad you like them!

[@rafaelramos1486]

the only thing I can said you have done a great job researching your information. This it's a very informative video. Thanks for sharing

[@francofazzolari7973]

Generalls: We need saltpeter urgently!!! Pikemen: we are on it sir! (5:33)

[@philRminiatures]

Thumbs up! Once again, very nicely illustrated and explained!👍👍

[@vast634]

once a basic form of blackpowder mixture is crafted, any smart alchemist could have tinkered with different combinations to quickly improve it.

[@Journeyman107]

Love the style of your graphics, they really do a lot to set the channel apart

[@niu9432]

Great video! Much respect for proper use of references in the video, just as it would've been used in a scientific paper. Regarding Mongols and gunpowder, mentioned at 3:00, there is no direct evidence that they used gunpowder as a weapon outside of China. However, it is not hard to imagine that it would be hard for contemporary historians to describe the gunpowder, used against them, as a novel technology. In fact there are some hints in the fragments regarding Mongol invasion in 1241. Polish author of Chronicles of that period, Jan Długosz, writes about a "fireball" and "pile of smoke" during the siege of Wrocław. Of course according to him it was sent by god, thanks to prayers of saint Czesław. He (Długosz) also mentions using "witchcraft" and "smoke" during the battle of Legnica. Davies and Moorhouse attributed that to the use of gunpowder by Mongols (see "Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City" by Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse - unfortunately cannot give You page as its kindle edition. On my reader it says Location 1873 out of 14207).

[@Alex-pj8nz]

Mongols used bombs in Europe it seems, so they definitely used gun powders outside China.

[@TheAmbrazura]

Just some oil probably known as a weapon from ancient times. Gunpowder was invented in Europe.

[@niu9432]

@@TheAmbrazura How was deflagration achieved in the technology that You describe? I do not know such a weapon from ancient times.

[@TheAmbrazura]

@@niu9432 "medieval flamethrower" as an example. Ancient Greeks used it on their ships. Mongols could use special catapult that throws something burning.

[@niu9432]

@@TheAmbrazura Or it could've been gunpowder.

[@allamaadi]

Eure Videos sind ganz toll Man-du und deine Team schaffen manche die besten und geschichtstreuen Content bei KZbin. Hoffentlich werdet ihr viel Geld also mehr von ihnen zu erschaffen.

[@Freak_Gamer]

Please make a followup talking about early production methods in more detail! I really liked that part

[@Chrononauts]

My night just became interested! Thanks!

[@jaythompson5102]

Just wanted to add another comment about how great of a job you are doing, I appreciate hearing about competing points of view and quotes from historians.

[@marcn4452]

Can you please make a short video on early firearms? From hand-held cannons to matchlock arquebuses

[@brokenbridge6316]

This video was a good one. And nicely informative. Nice job.

[@DionysianLovecraftian]

The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous!

[@TimideoTheEnd]

I like those new shields! Great video!

[@donvitocorleone7863]

The dude that kept having to pee: Where am I and where is the nearest toilet I gotta piss bro

[@immanuealandrews]

Your videos are gem. Thanks.

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Glad you like them!

[@gay_putin_]

Fantastic content brother, I dig your video's 👍🏽

[@rexmundi3108]

Best video on the subject I have found!

[@randomthot125]

Read "Gunpowder weapons in the Song dynasty" wiki page, it's really interesting. China would most definitely have had the artelliary edge if it wasn't taken over by the Mongols, China in fact never fully recovered from it.

[@keanuortiz3766]

Funny that the chinese tried to make an elixir of life but instead made an elixir that shortened lives instead

[@captainsandwhich7469]

Gunpowder is not only used for guns

[@DocDoesGamingYT]

I'm just here doing research for a D&D campaign, great little summary!

[@Wehdeo]

6:25 He’s back

[@anusboy5000]

Very good stuff! You got a new fan.

[@Arizona-ex5yt]

I just finished a book by Jonathon Sumpton about the first 10 years of the 100 years war (1337-1347) and I was surprised that cannons were used effectively in siege warfare at such an early date. Of course they weren't used that often because they were so cumbersome. It's funny; I always thought Shakespeare's references to cannon in Henry V were anachronistic but they were being used at long before that.

[@jamesabestos2800]

Don't mention the H.R.E coexisting at the same time with the U.S.A

[@drowningin]

They noted the fire medicine wasn't healthy at all. Can you imagine being unlucky enough to be someone who drank/ate it?

[@keylimep1365]

Why there is no mention of middle eastern records on the use of gunpowder during early medieval and late medieval? I cant help but notice that there is a really big gap in your history about gunpowder.

[@dankeykang868]

No man. Gunpowder just teleported from China to Europe. There's absolutely nothing that happened in the Middle East that was influencal or worth learning, especially in medieval times.

[@Bert2368]

@@dankeykang868 Dude, ya gotta add sarcasm tags or -whoosh- right over their heads. Plenty of gunpowder and powder weapons used by muslims in the late medieval/renaissance era. When the Portugese reached India after circumnavigating Africa and entered the red sea, they met people with cannons and match lock muskets who occasionally shot at them. When later Portugal sent a small army to assist the Christian Ethiopians/Abyssinians against invasion by muslims (around 1530) the muslims certainly had guns too.

[@Bert2368]

@@dewlittle1211 -whoosh-

[@cv4809]

Yeah I was hoping he could mention the gunpowder use by Persians Indians and ottomans

[@Abdelkarim.19]

@@dankeykang868 the arabs invented gunpowder

[@noemiekramer7699]

Quick, comprehensible and nicely animated As always ;)

[@nicholas9476]

6:23 That dude's stream could power the mill

[@sengokusanada2690]

lol

[@su_morenito_1948]

Nice vids you make man

[@markusmoor631]

Congrats to 50k subs! :-)

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

Finally someone acknowledges that gunpowder existed in late medieval Europe

[@spymasterk4873]

no is not

[@Alex-pj8nz]

Mongols brought it over from China, Chinese used bombs against the mongols and the mongols used bombs against Eastern Europe looking at historical sources. And they also had hand cannons.

[@vinz4066]

​​@@spymasterk4873 Yes it did

[@PenolongSukarela]

Stop black,you not have iq​@@spymasterk4873

[@kebman]

Judging by the size of the stream, the trunk of the guy has to be formidable!

[@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK]

I suppose early cannons, despite having poor affect on the targets, would still have a devastating morale crippling component!

[@missingthe80s58]

Another set of major improvements in the 1790's is often overlooked, the work of William Congreve 1st Baronet. He was responsible at least in England of changing state run powder mills from stamp mills to runner mills, also changing charcoal making from that of dirt covered mound charring to indirect heating of iron flasks called retorts in which the wood was charred in a controlled way, he introduced high density pressing of the powder and modern corning methods. All modern small arms grade black powder is manufactured in this way. Other improves have come along by the likes of Eleuthere DuPont.

[@benm5913]

I really love early modern history. This is great!

[@yifu100]

The West always say china only used gun powder for medicine, firecracker or whatever, but that's not true. song dynasty china used gun powder to develop series weapons like fire arrows, then fire lance, eventually (突火枪）fire-emitting lance which is the prototype of hand cannon. when gun powder spread to Europe, hand cannon is what the European get. Later, Europe developed a more efficient such as siege cannons.

[@yuio5652]

I agree with you.

[@lorddaquanofhouserastafari4177]

5:34 my dudes got a dam fire truck hose 😅

[@Dilpikl2]

Honey isn't actually a strange ingredient for gunpowder, as dried honey and pure sugar are both excellent sources of carbon. You can easily make a mediocre gunpowder, one good enough to reload shotgun shells with, by combining dried honey or sugar with saltpeter created from urine.

[@christinejoyinoc9185]

Love this animations!!

[@seedo201]

First canons used by the Mamelukes armies against the mongols. They even made hand guns in the battle of Ein jalut. And in asia also. It came much later to europe

[@arda213]

No you dont get it. There's absolutely nothing that happened in the Middle East that was influencal or worth learning. Everything remarkable, everything worth attention happened in Europe. (sarcasm)

[@seedo201]

@@arda213 hahah good you wrote sarcasm in the end. You got me for a bit 😄

[@arda213]

@@seedo201 I am a Turk so from middle east myself.

[@saltysaltmaker3848]

Even though even later on armours could still stand up to gunpowder weapons of the time, in order to do so they became much more expensive and heavier too. Cheaper to outfit several people with that money than one super armoured guy.

[@kyleheins]

Also, there was no guarantee that the armor would protect you. Due to powder quality variation, charge variation and shot mass variation shots could have very random muzzle energies, so at the moment before impact a gunner had a decent chance to puch even the heaviest armor using a musket. The arquebus would have been too weak though, and since muskets were originally too heavy for most mobile battles it was often one simply didn't have the firepower needed, even if it did exist in an unreliable form.

[@jandisueiras4790]

The first uses and description of gunpowder in Europe was in Iberic Peninsula during Reconquista against moors, used first for them.

[@benm5913]

Honey or caramelized sugar make black powder more usable for rockets. There are many modern DIY recipes for rocket motors that use both.

[@m.wagner7008]

Awesome Video 🎉❤

[@moor-music9658]

Outstanding video! How the heck did you manage to animate this old book with own content, I just can't see how you do that...

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

I cant believe you animated that guy peeing in the powder mill! Lol

[@Psiberzerker]

Saltpeter is also a Nitrate. All explosives also have a Nitrate in addition to the Oxidizer (Often as the oxidizer, though Ammonium Nitrate is packed with it) as a combustion booster. N2 forms a strong triple covalent bond, which releases almost as much energy as the oxygen, and drives expansion. It's literally the difference between a fuel, and Explosive.

[@hellothere4858]

The mongols didn't necessarily need to use gunpowder outside of asia to bring it to europe. Considering that one of the characteristic of the mongols was to encourage trade in their vast empire it could just be that it was traded for by say the Vetnitians who had colonies in the black sea and traded heavily with the mongols, giving them info on europe and fighting with them against the Rus principalities.

[@antoniomoreno8045]

In the Siege of Sevilla (1248) or in the Siege of Niebla (1264) among other mentions in the castillian conquest of the Guadalquivir valley, the chronicles describe the use of "machines", throwing "thunders" by the andalusi defenders. Since second quarter of the XIV century the refferences to the use of gunpowder cannons by the late andalusis are numerous and unambiguous, with mentions of metal balls, again the "thunder" noise and even the effects on soldiers. While the XIII century cases are described poorly, the fact that andalusis alchemists described salpeter and their effects (linking with China the substance) in early XIII century, as for example Ibn Al Baytar, some decades before Roger Bacon, makes the use in XIII battles more plausible.

[@Abdelkarim.19]

It is the Arab scholar Hassan al-Rammah who is the first to write a book on this subject, he explains how to make gunpowder with the right proportions to obtain an explosion

[@prism3896]

Can u guys make a video about a castle fort like what part is important in a good castle and how u would defend it from a siege and its function in peace times

[@custodialmark]

in study of my ancestry. once read a blog online of a krayhenbuhl who gave or told napolean of the better powder , that was needed to blow a certain wall,city,castle. i hoped youd mention...

[@jimparsons6803]

Early in the 20th century (feels really strange to say that) a small group of Germans found a way to make ammonia and then to use platinum, air (oxygen), and initially heat to make nitric and nitrous oxide, which they bubbled through lye water to get sodium nitrate, mostly, which was first used as a farm fertilizer. Then along came WW1. Later WW2, both of which owe much of their collective destructive power to that cited chemical reaction.

[@Burnhill10]

I really like your episode. They easy and logically explaining about think in were in my favourite time in history the mediaeval times. I play a lot you EU4 and I like that you explain a few things why things are the way the way they are. I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Is it possible that you make a episode about the heavy cavalry are used by the Polish troops from the Commonwealth also known as Winged hussars. My background of my computer is a painting about them and I get many about it.

[@chrismedina54]

How ironic that the Chinese alchemists were looking for an elixir of life, and instead discovered a compound of death. I guess the adage about the road to ruin being paved with good intentions strikes again.

[@immanuealandrews]

First use of gun powder in India was by Babur at 1st Battle of panipat in 1526. He was descended froഎം The great khan and from Timur.

[@chan625]

When you realise that progress covered by every 2 sentences here took an entire human generation to pass

[@fastcars393]

@SandRhoman History - Love the vid but do you know of any source I could use that name specific gunpowder manufacturing centres in Europe and elsewhere around the world between 1400 to 17th century? Gunpowder production was already taking place at the Tower of London in the early 1300s and Vosoges or Vesoges during Louis XIV's time but I haven't found anything on specific places. Would be great if you or anyone here as any info?

[@vikiyao]

History channels on youtube are often full of ideology and bias, you have my respect, bro, I like the "Bibliography" and "Literature" parts.

[@Arthur-vo9kt]

6:25 this soldier is the man responsible for gunpowder development, for sure

[@alexanderkomosa9134]

I appreciate the fact that you pronounce foreign words properly.

[@johndeverson3533]

8:51 I was amazed about this

[@charlesferrin5]

Those are some powerful streams.

[@BillSmith-ut5li]

The fact that these books are written down with these illustrations shows the wealth that was generated through the knowledge of mixing this powder. Literally in the 13th century to have a book illustrated. This is a great expense. And demonstrated the value of these books. Expect they were as valuable or even more valuable than a pilot Sailors navigational ledgers. And people were known to over those. I'm sure there were highly more value than even Long bowman.

[@OasisTypeZaku]

I don't think we've seen such a quantum leap in ranged firepower ever. Going from 180, *maybe* 200 joules of energy from longbows and windlass crossbows, to around 3,000+ joules with black powder arquebuses.

[@tecramos]

The appearance of gunpowder could be like convergent evolution, it would appeared on the "scene" regardless if it was the chinese or the europeans.

[@sixwingproductions]

why doesn't anyone realize that due to the silk road gunpowder may have been a joint invention.

[@Jupiter__001_]

@ Turks used their cannons to great effect during sieges.

[@DefeatedRoyalist]

Aleksa Petrovic I do agree with most of this post, however, I’d say the Turks and certain European Kingdoms embraced firearms equally, often to the detriment of neighbors who were slow to adapt to blackpowder weapons. For example France during the battle of Castillon, or Formigny, Hussites during the Hussite wars, Spain/HRE at Pavia, Turks at the battle of Mohacs, siege of Constantinople. The list goes on:) All about perspective I suppose.

[@Jupiter__001_]

@ For infantry using handheld guns, yes the Spanish were the main improvers, but for artillery, both in the field and in sieges, the Ottomans were responsible for most of the early innovation.

[@MrManueleh]

There have been times when descriptions of articles was enough to make replicas. Italian scholars heard of the description of telescopes and created telescopes without ever seeing one.

[@goodman4966]

i love the animated

[@istoppedcaring6209]

Tonio Andrade also brings to light a new perspective on VOC Formosa

[@captaintaylor2409]

How do you not have 1 million subscribe

[@cesargonzalez4146]

Man, you have to make videos detailing the history of different types of weapons up to the invention of the capsule primer. It changed everything, the composition, organization, equipment and tactics of armies, the size of the battles and geographic extensions of theaters of war. Maybe you could make a video detailing the differences in the way gunpowder weapons in Europe and East Asia.

[@Hanmieson]

Damn that guy at 5:36 must have done some hard fighting or marching.

[@ansonang7810]

gun can peirce through an armor that cost a fortune like 1/2kg gold. at less the cost. also making 30yrs training a waste. farmers can beat knights with a 40pcs silver gun.

[@sengokusanada2690]

I saw some Tanegashima in the background.

[@Sandra.Molchanova]

I like the graphics in this video, keep it up! 🤩

[@SandRhomanHistory]

Thanks, will do!

[@michaelzlprime]

6:27: that's one mighty stream

[@reallyhappenings5597]

The DuPont family were by far the most dominant producers of gunpowder and other explosives in early American history. Although they had already been in business for a couple of generations, the Civil War brought them staggering and enduring wealth.

[@louierenault7344]

5:40 yeah should probably have that checked out

[@peterbunnell2373]

@ 5:00: aka: Fuel, oxidizer & catalyst.

[@BlurbFish]

In order for a reagent to qualify as a catalyst, it must not be consumed in the reaction that it assists. In this case, sulfur is oxidized by nitrate to various sulfur oxides which do not return to elemental sulfur any time soon. While I'm not sure what the correct term for sulfur's role in this composition, it's for certain that it is *not* a catalyst.

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

Holy wow. With one or two clicks, one can have a manual for the maintenance of his or her firearm, that's such a far cry from the handwritten...dare I say it, works of art that the first firearm manuals were!

[@BFDT-4]

Read Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban, which deals fundamentally with the rediscovery of gunpowder after millennia of a post-apocalyptic stone age.

[@roybixby6135]

Great Animations...

[@phineascampbell3103]

5:40 Jesus Christ!! Even the horses are looking at that and thinking wow, how much!?