Hello,
I noticed that the earliest use of hot weapons (i.e. gunpowder-based ones, so Firearms, Guns and Cannons) appears much earlier in Arab armies than in Chinese ones, which surprised me.
Earliest possibility are Naffatun Firearms SK in Caliphal Later Abbasid from 831 CE, while for Far East armies, the earliest possibility appears to be with Western Xia from 1038 CE.
I was always under the impression both invention and weaponization of gunpowder happened in China. Are there sources I did not consider ?
Best,
Antoine
Naffatun were naptha grenades. Although some historians suggest that they were linked to the Byzantine invention of Greek Fire, Arab science was advanced enough to have invented them.
Gunpowder was invented during the Late Tang dynasty, although the earliest reference to gunpowder like substances dates to 142 AD. The earliest reference to a formula for gunpowder dates to a military manual in 1044, the Wujing Zongyao. The only extant copy dates to 1510.
The first possible reference to fire arrows (an early incendiary based on gunpowder but without enough saltpetre to be explosive) was by the Southern Wu in 904. By 969 a variant used tubes filled with powder to act as a propellant. Proper rockets date may have been used in 1245 or 1264.
Fire arrows were used in naval warfare or sieges.
A decree of 1073 forbids trading sulphur or saltpetre to the Liao, suggesting the Liao were aware of gunpowder developments.
The first proto-guns appear at the siege of De'an in 1132 - called "Fire Lances" by the Chinese. A new word "Fire Bomb Medicine" is used to describe gunpowder from this time. They were attached to battle carts from 1163 when they were used by the Song to defend their siege engines. The earliest archaeological example dates may date to the start of the 13th century, the oldest confirmed example dates to 1298 (as the date of manufacture was stamped into the barrel!).
Ceramic pots filled with gunpowder fare mentioned in 1189 and the first iron bombs appear in 1221 at the siege of Qizhou.
The earliest artistic depiction of what might be a cannon is dated to 1128. The first description of a cannon appears in 1259 using large bamboo tubes. Iron tubes were then rapidly adopted. A 108 kg bronze cannon is dated to the Western Xia period between 1214 and 1227, however these dates are disputed.
Hope that helps.
Richard