The Effects of Gunpowder on Warfare Essays - 1516 Words

The discovery of gunpowder changed war from being fought with medieval weaponry and battle tactics to more modern day weapons and tactics because the gunpowder powered weapons are more deadly. Weapons that use gunpowder to launch projectiles have a greater range than melee weapons and are more powerful than bow and arrows. Also, cannons are more powerful and have a greater range and accuracy than catapults and they also can be reloaded faster than catapults. Gunpowder weapons changed war because they are stronger, more accurate, have a greater range and are able to be reloaded faster than medieval weaponry. Gunpowder was invented long before the Europeans were introduced to it. Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese in the ninth century .†¦show more content†¦The long range infantry weapon of the 1700’s was the musket. The musket is stronger than the bow and arrow. The kinetic energy and momentum of an 18mm musket ball shooting from a Brown Bess musket are 1460 joules and 9.36 kg*m/s. The kinetic energy and momentum of an arrow being shot from a bow are 16.5 joules and 1.15 kg*m/s. The musket ball clearly has a much stronger momentum and kinetic energy than the arrow, which means it has more stopping power. Firearms of the 1700’s also have much greater maximum range than bows and arrows. If a Brown Bess was fired at a forty five degree angle in a frictionless environment, the musket ball would travel 9783 meters. If a bow fired it’s arrow at forty-five degrees in a frictionless environment, it would travel only one hundred and nineteen meters. The musket has more than eighty-two times the maximum range of the bow and arrow. Some might say that bows and arrows are stronger than muskets, but that is not entirely true. Most people refer to muskets and rifles of the eighteen and nineteenth century only as smooth-bore barrel muskets. Muskets barrels later became rifled in the nineteenth century and are much more accurate than their smooth-bore relatives. Not only are muskets more lethal than bows and arrows, but cannons and artillery are more lethal than medieval catapults. Not only are gunpowder powered infantry weapons more deadly than medieval infantry weapons, but gunpowder powered artillery is more lethal thanShow MoreRelatedThe Invention Of The World War II1367 Words   |  6 Pagesin warfare driven by advancements in technology. For instance, the invention of gunpowder eventually led to the creation of many new weapons which called for changes in the way battles were fought. Nuclear weapons ended World War II and caused major tension during the Cold War. The invention of the Internet gave way to a completely new branch of warfare, cyber warfare. The Effects of Gunpowder in Weapons The development of gunpowder in weapons was the first step to modern warfare. 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