History › Middle ages › Tang dynasty
Gunpowder
formula c. 850 (Tang); weapons by c. 1000 (Song)· Invention or discovery· Asia
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
A mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal that burns explosively, discovered by Chinese alchemists and turned into weapons.
See it on the History map →What happened
Taoist alchemists seeking elixirs of life found the mixture by about 850; one text warns it burned hands, faces and even houses. The Song military manual Wujing Zongyao (1044) printed the first known formulas, for fire arrows and bombs. Bamboo 'fire lances' led to metal guns by the late 1200s. Through Mongol wars and trade, the knowledge reached the Islamic world and Europe by about 1250–1300, where cannons grew ever larger.
Why it matters
It ended the age of high castle walls and armored knights, and helped gun-armed empires, from the Ottomans to Europe's navies, expand.
How we know
Chinese texts, especially the Wujing Zongyao of 1044; surviving bronze guns from the late 1200s; Roger Bacon's description of it in Europe around 1267.
Still debated
Whether gunpowder spread west by one route or was partly reinvented, and the exact date of the earliest Chinese text, are debated.
Connections (3)
▸Tang dynasty invented GunpowderMostly agreed
The connection
Under the Tang, Taoist alchemists seeking elixirs of immortality heated mixtures of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. By about 850 a text warned that such mixes flared up, burning hands, faces and even houses. The discovery was accidental and recorded as a hazard; turning it into weapons came mostly under the following Song dynasty.
When and how
China, mid-800s, among Taoist alchemists; the warning appears in a Taoist text called the Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe.
How sure are we?
That Taoist text; earlier Tang alchemy books that describe heating sulfur and saltpeter together.
Debates and open questions
The text's date is debated, so the discovery may be somewhat earlier or later; no single inventor is known.
▸Gunpowder breached the walls in the Fall of ConstantinopleWell documented
The connection
Mehmed II hired Orban, a Hungarian cannon-founder, who cast huge bronze bombards; the largest fired stone balls weighing around half a ton. For about six weeks they battered the Theodosian Walls, which had stood since AD 413. Defenders patched the breaches each night, but the bombardment wore them down and opened the gaps where the final assault came.
When and how
Constantinople's land walls, April–May 1453; Mehmed II's artillery, cast at Edirne by Orban, who had first offered his services to the Byzantines.
How we know
Eyewitness accounts from both sides describe the great guns and the damage; surviving Ottoman bombards such as the Dardanelles Gun (1464) show the type.
Debates and open questions
How decisive the cannon were, versus the defenders' small numbers and exhaustion, is debated; the biggest bombard reportedly cracked during the siege.
▸Gunpowder helped found Mughal EmpireWell documented
The connection
Babur adopted Ottoman-style battle tactics and employed Ottoman-trained gunners. At Panipat in 1526 he chained carts into a barrier, placed cannon and matchlock musketeers behind it, and sent cavalry around the flanks. Ibrahim Lodi's far larger army, with war elephants, was shattered and Lodi killed. Another victory at Khanwa in 1527 secured northern India.
When and how
Panipat, north of Delhi, April 21, 1526; Babur and his gunners Ustad Ali Quli and Mustafa against Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi.
How we know
Babur's own memoir, the Baburnama, describes the guns, carts and battle; later Mughal histories confirm it.
Debates and open questions
How much guns won the day, versus Babur's cavalry and Lodi's weak leadership, is debated; so is the term 'gunpowder empires' for the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals.