drug meaning they used gunpowder. Some people think the "thunder" was a real cannon.
However it was most likely really nothing more than some kind of metal bomb filled with.
gunpowder and was thrown at the Mongols by the defending Chinese. .
Only a few decades after this time, the Mongols completed their conquest of the.
greatest land empire ever known to man, not only including all of China, but also most of.
the rest of Asia and Eastern Europe as far west as Poland and Hungary. Because of this.
empire existing, it was possible for Europeans like Marco Polo (however it's not been.
proven if Marco Polo himself ever traveled as far East as China) to travel freely to the Far.
East, and for many new things gotten there to be brought by them back to Europe. It is.
most likely although not completely proven that gunpowder was among some of the.
products which were introduced to Europe this way. .
If all of that is true then the use of gunpowder for cannons is more or less.
completely a development from Europe. In historical documents here cannons are referred.
to in Italy, France, England, and other countries from about 1330 onward. Which goes to.
show that while the Chinese most likely invented gunpowder it is the great thinkers of the.
Western world that made gunpowder into its most useful form. In any case, the Chinese.
themselves, despite knowing of cannons existing over the past several centuries, have.
rarely made great use of them until relatively recent times. Their knowledge of.
gunpowder, for the most part, had been applied to peacefully making fireworks and.
firecrackers.
So now that China derived this soon to be great weapon of warfare how did the.
Europeans take that knowledge and engineer the first cannons and put the gunpowder on.
the battlefield. The first record of gunpowder in Europe is most often credited to Friar.
Roger Bacon from England. He makes a minor description of the mixture of saltpetre.
sulphur and charcoal, the three main ingredients of gunpowder in his book De Secretis.
