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Early modern warfare is the era of warfare during early modern period following medieval warfare.It is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and firearms; for this reason the era is also referred to as the age of gunpowder warfare (a concept introduced by Michael Roberts in the 1950s).
The pike replaced the spear and the Scots began to convert from the bow to gunpowder firearms. Feudal heavy cavalry were replaced with light horse, often drawn from the Borders. James IV established a gun foundry in 1511 and gunpowder weaponry fundamentally altered the nature of castle architecture. In the 1540s and 1550s, Scotland was given a ...
Roger Bacon described the first gunpowder in Europe. "Vaso", the earliest illustration of a European cannon, from around 1327, by Walter de Milemete. In Europe, one of the earliest mentions of gunpowder appeared in Roger Bacon's Opus Majus in 1267. It describes a recipe for gunpowder and recognized its military use:
Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.. Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).
The revolutionary nature of these changes was only visible after a long evolution that handed Europe a predominant place in warfare, a place that the industrial revolution would confirm. [ 55 ] Some historians have begun to challenge the existence of a military revolution in the early modern period and have proposed alternative explanations.
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur , charcoal (which is mostly carbon ), and potassium nitrate (saltpeter) .
The earliest gunpowder recipe and primitive weaponry date to China's Song dynasty and the oldest extant guns appear in the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. However, historian Tonio Andrade notes that there is a surprising scarcity of reliable evidence of firearms in Iran or Central Asia prior to the late 14th century.
This is a timeline of the history of gunpowder and related topics such as weapons, warfare, and industrial applications. The timeline covers the history of gunpowder from the first hints of its origin as a Taoist alchemical product in China until its replacement by smokeless powder in the late 19th century (from 1884 to the present day).