Gunpowder: China’s Accidental Revolution

In the 9th century, Chinese alchemists searching for immortality invented something far deadlier gunpowder.

During the Tang dynasty, Taoist alchemists experimented with sulfur,

charcoal, and saltpeter. Instead of eternal life, they discovered

an explosive mixture. The earliest written gunpowder formula appears in 1044, in the Chinese military

text Wujing Zongyao. At first, gunpowder wasn’t used in guns. It powered fire

arrows, smoke bombs, and explosive grenades. By the 10th and 11th centuries,

China developed fire lances bamboo tubes that shot flames and shrapnel. These evolved into

the first true firearms. In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire carried gunpowder technology westward.