Was the invention of gunpowder a burden or a blessing?

The question will establish whether the creation and innovation of gunpowder was a blessing or burden on humanity throughout history by covering the social, political and economical benefits and burdens due to the widespread use of gunpowder. As it’s invention and subsequent production changed the course of human history, we will be covering most aspects that came with the invention of gunpowder and how it shaped our world through the ages and continents.

Gunpowder is believed to have originated in China in the 9th century as part of China’s “Four Great Inventions'' and was originally designed for medicinal purposes and later for warfare around 904 A.D and has spread throughout Eurasia in the 13th century through trade and invasion. Gunpowder or otherwise known as ‘black powder’ or ‘smokeless powder’ was created from a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate otherwise known as saltpetre. The sulfur and charcoal act as a fuel for the powder with the sulfur also lowering the energy required for the explosive reaction to occur while the saltpetre acts as an oxidizer. 75% of the mixture by weight is potassium nitrate, 15% is charcoal and the remaining 10% is sulfur. When ignited black powder combusts releasing 3 megajoules of energy per kilogram(1), it ​ ​ is a low explosive so rather than exploding it deflagrates making it ideal for being used for propulsion.

It has been used; as special ammunition for fire bows, early cannons, muskets, rifles, fireworks, rockets, fire lances and mines throughout human history(Appendix A). ​ ​ The invention of gunpowder was and is a significant event in human history as it has shaped the styles of warfare at the time while resulting in massive political and cultural change in Europe and beyond such as the eventual collapse of feudalism and the Siege of Constantinople. For example, gunpowder created a different form of combat that didn’t rely on many inadequately trained levies with highly trained knights as a standard musketeer could kill a fully armoured knight with a few weeks or months training and cannons which were used by both the French and the English in the Hundred years war as well as in the Siege of Constantinople which allowed the city to be captured thus what would have taken months, if not years, finally resulted in the ‘impenetrable city’ to be taken for the first time.

Gunpowder had, by the end of the 14th century completely changed the face of warfare in Europe and would play a significant and destructive role during the age of exploration and colonial expansion, which resulted in much death and bloodshed with the discovery of the Americas and later colonisation by the European powers, as well as the European exploitation of African nations through the introduction of gunpowder weaponry to promote warfare and the slave trade(Appendix B) which ​ was made possible due to the ease of trade and technological superiority. This resulted in 12 million Africans (mostly men) being sent towards the Americas between the 16th and 19th century and according to Patrick Manning(2) which ​ Was the invention of gunpowder a burden or a blessing? displaced Africa in a political, social and economical way as a large part of its workforce and population was enslaved and the nations of Africa descended into warfare to gain more favour from the European traders and extortionists who viewed the Africans as inferior and “unclean”. The devastating impact of gunpowder was also drastically felt on the other side of the world when the Americas were discovered, the introduction of gunpowder and European diseases lead to the collapse and death of the Aztec, Mayan and Incan civilizations at the hands of the Spanish Conquistadors in the 15th and 16th century(6)(7) with the death of over 50 ​ million natives over a hundred years(8). ​ ​

However, the invention of gunpowder has also led to the collapse of feudalism in Europe and allowed the renaissance to occur. As cannons, muskets and rockets allowed the castles of kings and lords to become obsolete and the musket allowed a trained levy to take down a knight the feudal system that depended upon a form of caste system where the peasants were at the bottom while the kings and lords were at the top. Gunpowder made men equal on the battlefield as a bullet would negate all the years of training a knight receives while making armour and cavalry less effective therefore preventing the knights, lords and Kings from ruling through force as gunpowder made warfare and rebellion both easier to occur and harder to crush. The invention of gunpowder also led to the creation of the first torpedo in 1270 which was made by Hasan al-Rammah in “The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices”, which illustrated a torpedo running with a rocket system filled with explosive materials and having three firing points(Appendix C)(9). ​ ​

Furthermore, the widespread use of gunpowder in Europe by the 14th century has reduced the cost of armies and had economical benefits in mining and construction. By the late 17th-century gunpowder was used in mining and road building and remained a useful explosive for breaking coal and rock deposits up until the 20th century after the invention of dynamite(3). For example, One 2400-ft stretch of the ​ ​ 5.4 mi Box Tunnel on the Great Western Railway line between London and Bristol consumed a ton of gunpowder per week for over two years(4). Gunpowder was ​ ​ mainly used for the construction of roads and railways and the shaping of the land by making rivers or flattening mountains and not mining due to the danger of the explosion and the toxic fumes released by the reaction. For example, gunpowder was used in the construction of the Suez canal in 1859(Appendix D)(5) which ​ ​ increased trade as a new route to India and China was made which made the colonial companies' domination of India more economically strong. The ability to shape the land with explosives allowed more roads, canals and tunnels to be built effectively and efficiently. However, it also made power more bias towards those with gunpowder as it allowed greater exploitation to occur with the side without gunpowder which can still be seen with the Native American ethnic groups whose Was the invention of gunpowder a burden or a blessing? number decreased after the Colonial age due to epidemics, war and poverty which can still be seen today in a small minority(10). ​ ​

Despite the horrific atrocities that were made possible by using gunpowder and related technologies, overall, I believe that gunpowder was mostly a blessing as it allowed major economical, technological and social change to occur in Europe and the rest of the world. Gunpowder made the construction and destruction of the land easier and cheaper allowing canals, roads and railways to be constructed. The invention and development of firearms changed the tactics and strategies of warfare and later led to the collapse of the feudal system and forming the foundations for more egalitarian forms of governance. All of this at the cost of the exploitation of the technological inferior groups and the death of many in the wars which occurred due to the technological edge gunpowder gave. I think that the benefits of gunpowder outweigh its negative burdens in the cost in human life as it became easier to mass produce items and trading became more common due to improved roads and new sea routes, such as the Suez Canal, which improved sanitation, organisation and led to a better quality and style of life which saved and improved more lives than those killed as a result of gunpowder.

References

1- https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/07/02/the-chemistry-of-gunpowder/ ​ 2-Patrick Manning, "The Slave Trade: The Formal Demographics of a Global System" in Joseph E. Inikori and ​ Stanley L. Engerman (eds), The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies and Peoples in Africa, the ​ Americas, and Europe (Duke University Press, 1992), pp. 117–44. ​ 3-https://www.britannica.com/technology/gunpowder ​ 4-Brown (1998), Chapter 6: Mining and Civil Engineering. ​ ​ 5-https://www.faversham.org/history/explosives/about-gunpowder#:~:text=Typically%2C%20European%20manuf ​ acturers%20used%20saltpetre,%2C%20of%20course%2C%20by%20weight.&text=It%20was%20cheaper%20th an%20saltpetre,to%20blast%20the%20Suez%20Canal. 6-Restall, Matthew, When Montezuma Met Cortés. Ecco 2018 p. xxix, ​ ​ ​ ​ 7-Restall & Asselbergs 2007, p. 111. ​ ​ 8-https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-changed-after-europeans-killed-indigenous-americans-2019-2?r=US& ​ IR=T#:~:text=European%20colonizers%20killed%20so%20many,a%20group%20of%20researchers%20conclud ed&text=Following%20Christopher%20Columbus'%20arrival%20in,a%20study%20published%20this%20year. 9-Ahmad Y Hassan (1987), "Chemical Technology in Arabic Military Treatises", Annals of the New York ​ ​ Academy of Sciences, 500 (1): 153–166 [160]. ​ ​ ​ 10-War not a major cause : Thornton, pp. 47–49 ​

Was the invention of gunpowder a burden or a blessing?

Appendix A: From left to right, a list of early gunpowder weapons in China (Fire ​ arrows,rocket arrows,thunderclap bombs,fire lance,"flying-cloud thunderclap-eruptor" ​ cannon,"mother of a hundred bullets gun","thousand ball thunder cannon" and “self-trip trespass landmine”)

Appendix B: A diagram of transatlantic slave trade with contributors and trade ​ ​ directions(which was made possible due to gunpowder).

Was the invention of gunpowder a burden or a blessing?

Appendix C: A diagram of Hassan Al-Rammah’s first torpedo based on ​ ​ ​ gunpowder

Appendix D: Image of the construction of the Suez Canal in 1859 with the aid ​ ​ of gunpowder