Understanding The True Nature Of Politics And Its Finality ( Archived) (852)

if you only knew

yeh, that certainely changes the face of the world

funny thing is it took an irishman to figure out it was excellent for killing things

MMMMMM o now they have gone from RUNNING the world to being only infuential....

I suppose that is progress

Many western history books over the years have stated that the Chinese used this discovery only for fireworks, but that is not true. Song Dynasty military forces as early as 904 A.D. used gunpowder devices against their primary enemy, the Mongols. These weapons included "flying fire" (fei huo), an arrow with a burning tube of gunpowder attached to the shaft. Flying fire arrows were miniature rockets, which propelled themselves into enemy ranks and inspired terror among both men and horses. It must have seemed like fearsome magic to the first warriors who were confronted with the power of gunpowder.

Other Song military applications of gunpowder included primitive hand grenades, poisonous gas shells, flame throwers and land mines.

The first artillery pieces were rocket tubes made from hollow bamboo shoots, but these were soon upgraded to cast metal. McGill University professor Robin Yates notes that the world's first illustration of a cannon comes from Song China, in a painting from about 1127 A.D. This depiction was made a century and a half before Europeans began to manufacture artillery pieces.

they do. in money. and whoever holds the money runs the world.

btw still no answer on page 4 of stephen cummings book

but you would be loathe to concede your wrong..

(back again,all spruced up, date stuck in traffic )