Battles & Wars › Medieval wars › Gunpowder and cannon
Gunpowder rockets (Chinese fire arrows)
by 1232 (Siege of Kaifeng)· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
DebatedHistorians or scientists disagree about what happened, when, or why.
Gunpowder-propelled arrows, the first rockets, developed in China and possibly used in the 1232 defense of Kaifeng against the Mongols.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Chinese 'fire arrows' (huojian) first meant ordinary arrows carrying a burning packet of gunpowder. At some point makers found that a tube of tightly packed powder, open at one end, would push itself forward: the rocket. Accounts of the Jin defense of Kaifeng against the Mongols in 1232 describe flying fire weapons that may have been rockets. By the 1300s, rockets on arrow shafts, launched in batches from racks, were used in China and later Korea. They were inaccurate.
Why it matters
Rockets frightened men and horses more than they killed. The idea spread to the Islamic world, India and Europe, leading to Mysore's iron rockets, Britain's Congreve rockets and, eventually, modern missiles.
How we know
Chinese military manuals such as the Wujing Zongyao (1044) and the Huolongjing (1300s); the Jin dynastic history's account of Kaifeng; and Hasan al-Rammah's Syrian treatise of about 1280, which describes 'Chinese arrows'.
Still debated
How rockets spread to the Islamic world and Europe, whether with Mongol armies or along trade routes, is unclear.
Connections (3)
▸Gunpowder and cannon propelled the first Gunpowder rockets (Chinese fire arrows)Mostly agreed
The connection
Gunpowder first made fire arrows burn fiercely. Packed tightly into a tube open at one end, it produced a jet of hot gas that pushed the tube forward: a rocket. The same chemistry that later blasted shot from cannon here drove the projectile itself.
When and how
China, between about 1000 and 1300; Song and Jin armies, and later Ming China and Joseon Korea.
How sure are we?
Military manuals from the Wujing Zongyao (1044) to the Huolongjing describe gunpowder arrows and, later, true rockets.
Debates and open questions
When incendiary fire arrows became self-propelled rockets is unclear; proposed dates range from the 1000s to the 1200s.
▸Gunpowder rockets (Chinese fire arrows) met the Mongols at Kaifeng during the Mongol conquestsDebated
The connection
In 1232 the Mongols besieged Kaifeng, the Jin dynasty's last capital. Jin defenders used gunpowder weapons, including 'heaven-shaking thunder' bombs and 'flying fire spears', which some historians read as rockets. Mongol armies then adopted gunpowder weapons and carried them west toward Iran.
When and how
Kaifeng, China, 1232–1233; the Jin under Emperor Aizong against Mongol forces led by Subutai.
How sure are we?
The Jin dynastic history describes the weapons, but reading 'flying fire spears' as rockets is interpretation, not certainty.
Debates and open questions
Many historians think the 'flying fire spears' were fire lances, not rockets. How much gunpowder the Mongols used in their western campaigns is also debated.
▸Gunpowder rockets (Chinese fire arrows) were the ancestors of Mysorean and Congreve rocketsMostly agreed
The connection
Gunpowder rockets appeared in China by the 1200s and spread west with the Mongols and traders to the Islamic world and India. Indian armies were using them by the 1500s. Mysore's rulers improved this long tradition by casing the powder in iron, giving more thrust and range than bamboo or paper tubes.
When and how
China, by the 1200s; India, by the 1500s; Mysore, in southern India, under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, 1760s–1799.
How sure are we?
Chinese military texts, Persian and Indian chronicles, and European travelers' accounts trace the spread, but the route is pieced together from scattered references.
Debates and open questions
When and how rockets reached India, by Mongol, Timurid or trade routes, and whether Indian rocketry partly developed on its own, remain uncertain.