The Spread of Gunpowder (800-1850)

The spread of gunpowder from its origins in China to its rise as a globally important technology.

[OllieBye]

Just a word of warning: the spread of gunpowder is a very complicated and controversial subject. If you have any questions about this video, please don't hesitate to ask.

[micahistory]

Interesting to see how it spread through the silk road

[judahboyd]

Syria then: Explosive rockets

Syria now: *EXPLOSIVE ROCKETS*

[wvd]

Normies: gunpowder
Me, an intelectual: angry sand

[momentary_]

The Europeans had the advantage of being numerous separate kingdoms. This spurred innovation in weaponry as they did not trust each other. China, on the other hand, was unified for the majority of its history during this period and actually banned the development of firearms to maintain political stability.

[DampZombieNugget]

So that's why they were called "Gunpowder Empires"

[Catani]

0:28 (left side) - You

1:38 (left side) - The guy she tells you not to worry about.

[rockhard]

"Rockets were made in Syria"

[foughtstatue]

China: The first inventors
Middle East: The ones who modernized it
Europe: The ones who made them able to be used as the primary weapon of the army

[AJWRAJWR]

Hello from the Southern Hemisphere. We Exist!

[abcdef]

Now that’s an EXPLOSIVE video!

Good work, Ollie!

[Xidnaf]

:D This is so cool!!! Has Ollie Bye made any other videos like this showing the spread of technology??

[Kardia_of_Rhodes]

"By 1900, it had fallen out of use almost everywhere"

Meanwhile in Afghanistan...

[Pawne]

Love these extremely specific, niche videos.

[MinokawaPH]

Hello, I was just wondering why you didn't put anything in the Philippines at all. Somewhere in 1530s, The first cannon blacksmith native to the Philippines learned how to cast cannons from the Portuguese. He was comissioned Rajah Sulayman, the 14th Rajah of the Kingdom of Maynila. The palisades were then surrounded by the cannons Panday Pira created. It was also believed that Rajah Sulayman had a 16 feet cannon near his house. Moreover, ancient Filipino fleets were armed by what is called "lantakan", a hand cannon used by many malay kingdoms. When the Spanish came in 1570s, they conquered Manila and looted the cannons. The Spaniards used the natives to build a large fortress called Intramuros, and since they lack a blacksmith with them, Panday Pira was commissioned to cast the cannons that will protect the Intramuros.

During the Filipino revolution against Spain cannons were also heavily used by the Filipinos. During the Siege of Baler, the Filipinos bombarded a church stationed by several Spanish soldiers. The Filipinos later won, taking much of the archipelago except Manila.

In 1898, cannons were also used by the Filipinos in the Philippine-American War.

[dimitrioslamprakis]

As always impeccable and extraordinary work, dear Ollie! Excellent!

One aspect of this video that really thrills me is the fact that, although gunpowder was invented in China and thence spread to the rest of the Eurasian supercontinent, Chinese inventions were rapidly superseded by Middle Eastern and, especially, European inventions and upgrades onto the original prototypes imported from China! This may help explain, I think, why the Chinese and Indian empires stagnated and finally succumbed in the course of 15th-19th centuries to the ascending Western colonial empires. This is further depicted by the fact that a) since c. 1400 no further inventions were produced by the Chinese and b) that by 1500 suddenly all red icons disappear from the map and with minimal exceptions there is a balance until c. 1600 between European and Middle Eastern inventions/icons, when the maps turns overwhelmingly blue.


Thank you again Ollie for the good and hard work you put into each and every video you prepare for all of us!

[BallyBoy]

Now that was a hell of a video. Good job man. Really impressed and definitely more knowledgeable than I was earlier.

[Maus_Indahaus]

Everyone chill until Europeans start innovating

[VologdaMapping]

Never realized I wanted to see this, you’ve done it again👏🏻👏🏻

[micahistory]

This was a really interesting topic and I loved the maps as always