Sleepy History - Gunpowder

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Gunpowder—an invention that forever changed the course of history. From its ancient, accidental discovery in China to its powerful role in warfare, exploration, and celebration, this simple mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal reshaped empires and redrew maps. But how was it first created, and how has its use evolved over time? Tonight, journey through the explosive history of gunpowder, as its story unfolds softly and steadily, guiding you into a peaceful and reflective sleep. Narrated by: Jessika Gössl Written by: Jo Steer About Sleepy History  Explore history's most intriguing stories, people, places, events, and mysteries, delivered in a supremely calming atmosphere. If you struggle to fall asleep and you have a curious mind, Sleepy History is the perfect bedtime companion. Our stories will gently grasp your attention, pulling your mind away from any racing thoughts, making room for the soothing music and calming narration to guide you into a peaceful sleep.  Want to enjoy Sleepy History ad-free? Start your 7-day free trial of Sleepy History Premium: ⁠⁠⁠https://sleepyhistory.supercast.com/⁠⁠⁠ Have feedback or an episode request? Let us know at: ⁠⁠⁠slumberstudios.com/contact⁠⁠⁠ Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠www.slumberstudios.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Sleepy History. Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To listen ad-free, get access to bonus episodes, and support the ongoing production of this show. Check out our premium feed. This is the Sleepy History of Gunpowder. Narrated by Jessica Gersel, written by Joe Steer. If you've ever watched fireworks light up the darkness, then you're already familiar with our topic this evening.

It's gunpowder that propels those rockets into the air, resulting in a symphony of sound and color. But when and where did black powder originate? How was it discovered and subsequently used? What uses has it had across its lifetime and what kind of legacy has it left in the world? These are the questions that we'll investigate tonight, beginning in China over a thousand years ago. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of gunpowder. It's the mid-9th century CE, and a group of Chinese monks are hard at work. They're doing what they do mostly every day at present, conducting experiments in ancient Taoist alchemy.

The chemists have been employed by the emperor of China, or the Tang Empire, as it's currently known. His hope is that they'll create an elixir offering those who drink it everlasting life. It's a process that involves a lot of trial and error, one that often yields surprising results, and the monks are not quite prepared for what they're about to discover, as they begin to heat up today's combination of elements. Yellow and ruby sulfur, the latter containing arsenic, have been crushed into a powder and mixed with honey. Then comes salt peter or potassium nitrate ground down into a fine white powder. Salt peter is unique, in that it burns with purple flames, once the molten mineral real.

reacts to the sugar in the honey. Although, the monks don't have the time to observe this today, because they're far too busy putting out fires. It isn't an elixir of immortality, but it is something that will forever change the world. The monks have inadvertently discovered a flammable powder, one that later will become the explosive gunpowder. Experiments like this one in the mid-9th century had been ongoing in China since the second century. We know this because the Taoist chemists recorded their findings. The first reference being in 142 CE during the Han Dynasty. The Tsandong Qi, or kinship of the three, is thought to be the earliest book in China on the subject of alchemy.

In it, there's mention of three powders which fly and dance violently when mixed together. The ingredients are referenced again in 318, in a book of Taoist philosophy called The master who embraces simplicity. Sweet pine resin is combined with salt peter and carbon-based minerals, including charcoal. Once the salt peter is warmed, it's said to produce a purple powder, alongside vapors of the poison, arsenic. Not that toxic fumes seem to have put anyone off from continuing their research and experimentation. It was still ongoing in 492 when an alchemist wrote that Salt Peter burned with a unique purple flame. Two hundred and fifty years later in 756, it was noted that if the mineral Salt Peter was heated, it allowed the yin of the air,

to be obtained. It could then be combined with sulfur and carbon and other metals except for gold. Yin is a concept in Chinese philosophy, one of the oppositional forces which complement one another. Yin and Yang keep everything in balance and can be found many times of the times over in the natural world. This ancient philosophy isn't too far away from how a modern scientist might describe the process. They might tell you that Salt Peter is an oxidizing agent. Because it releases large amounts of oxygen as it burns and decomposes, three elements are needed. to start a fire. Oxygen, fuel and the heat to ignite flames. So, saltpetre provided the oxygen. Sulfur and carbon were the fuel, and the chemists would apply heat to complete the triad of ingredients.

A later recipe from the early 9th century calls for six parts of the first. sulfur to equal part saltpetre to one part birthwort, a herbaceous plant. Birthwort had been used in traditional Chinese medicine as a remedy for snake bites, gout and more. It might seem an odd choice, until we recall the initial goal of the alchemists to produce an elixir which would offer immortality. It also explains the name given to the formula, a name sometimes used today in Mandarin Chinese, a medicine, was more than just a symbolic title.

In its earliest iteration, that's exactly what it was used for. It said that ancient doctors would burn saltpetre with honey to form a healing smoke for the patient to ingest. It was drunk in hot water as a cure for infection and rubbed on the skin to treat a range of ailments. There's something quite poetic about this dangerous powder. being used to treat the sick and ailing. To some, it must have seemed like Yin and Yang were at work, that if something could hurt, it could also heal. However, its dangers were clear to those experimenting, like the monks we began with in 858. They finished their experiment with with singed hands, and faces, while others, were told, burned their houses down.

The powder's capacity to maim and destroy would quickly outweigh its ability to heal, especially as the chemists turned their attention to the battlefield, and began to experiment with weaponized gunpowder. The chemical formula for gunpowder appeared in history books around the mid-11th century. It was already in use in the form of fire arrows, the first instance recorded in 904. A small pouch of gunpowder was wrapped in paper and bound to the arrow's shaft just below the metal head. This was covered in hemp cloth and sealed with hot pine resin, with a fuse dangling to allow its lighting. These differ slightly from incendiary arrows, in that they had their own oxygen source, making them harder to extinguish.

Incendiary arrows are thought to have been in use since the 8th century BC. the latter had flammable materials wrapped below the arrowhead, which was set alight before the arrow was shot. By the 14th century, advancements had been made to fire arrows, turning them into what were essentially small rockets. The use of gunpowder caused the arrow to be propelled further forward and the arm and to explode on impact, causing more devastation. As such, they would become a go-to weapon in battles against the Mongols and other enemies.

Before then, though, adjustments would be made and new weapons created throughout the course of the 10th century. There was the slow match made in 919. A solution soaked cord which burnt slowly and evenly. Initially, this was used to safely light flame throwers. Later, it would be key to numerous weapons, including muskets, cannons, shells, and small bombs. The weapon that came next was an early ancestor of modern firearms. The fire lance, or fire spear, was a handheld cannon, invented around 9.50. The original fire lance was essentially a spear or other pole arm with a firework at the end,

just below the head. It was mostly used for shock and awe during an initial attack. As time went on, the bamboo tube that housed the pyrotechnic component was replaced with metal and had gravel or pellets added as projectiles. Eventually the spear or pole arm head was removed altogether, transforming it into the fort firearm. a sort of combination single-shot flamethrower and shotgun. All of these weapons were referred to as the fire lance or fire spear. The fire lance became central to offensive military strategy.

Incendiary weapons made all the difference in various battles across the 10th century. Formidable forces were pushed. back by fire arrows and victories were grasped thanks to flame throwers and fire lances. All the while, Chinese chemists went on with their experiments, trialing different ratios, elements and methods. By 1044, they had their chemical formula. It was written down in the Wu Jing Ziongiao. The book was a manual, translated into English as the complete essentials for military classics. It's a fitting place for a recipe for gunpowder, which by then was a must for any army seeking victory. Also referenced in this same manual was a new kind of weapon.

The Thunder Clap Bomb. Incendiary bombs were now included amongst a deadly arsenal of fire arrows and fire lances. Gun powder spread across China, the majority of which was ruled by the Song Dynasty. It was a Song Emperor who in 1002 had hosted a demonstration of fireballs at court. It was also a Song Army in 1110 who held the world's first fireworks display. Gunpowder opened up a world of new options to the early pyrotechnicians who orchestrated such events. China had a centuries-old tradition of burning bamboo stems at festivals and ceremonies. The resulting small explosions and loud banging sounds were believed to ward off evil spirits. Now the tubes were filled with gunpowder, which illuminated the darkness and roared like thunder. The term Bao Zhu referred to fireworks and firecrackers, the latter being first. mentioned in 1132, firecrackers were gunpowder rolled in paper, with an exposed fuse left dangling

at the end. They became popular amongst everyday citizens, being cheaper, safer, and more low-key than fireworks. Sometimes they were hung in clusters and set off sequential. This was called a Bayan Pau, meaning whip cannon. Gunpowder made fireworks larger and louder, even more so with the invention of the earth rat in the mid-1200s. This rocket propelled fire that was said to have startled the empress at a feast held in her honor in 1265. It works on the same principles as modern rockets and spacecraft. The gunpowder acts as the fireworks fuel. Once lit, it burns quickly within the tube, producing gases that are forced out through

its base. It's a demonstration of Newton's third law of motion. centuries before the theories were published. In essence, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, the force of gases being ejected from the firework creates the thrust which propels the firework through the air. Fire arrows worked on the same principle, and by now, these were being used in the hundreds of thousands. Fire lances were used alongside them, as well as Thunder clap bombs and molten metal bombs.

Some believe that the Chinese were using handheld cannons, noting a sculpture at the Dazu rock carvings in Chongqing, dated to 1128, an adaptation of, of the fire lance, hand-held cannons had a much longer range, reaching thousands of meters, rather than the three meters of their forebearers. Although some believe that the hand cannon didn't come until later, there's general agreement about the existence of trebushes. These wooden siege engines that performed similarly to a catapult had been used since the fourth century BCE to launch projectiles across land and sea. Now they could launch thunder clap bombs from

song warships. This, alongside the use of fire arrows, was responsible for sinking more than one enemy fleet. There's a definite irony to Gunpowder's origin story that in searching for eternal life, the monks actually found the opposite. It would be used to wage war and bring about mass devastation, resulting in far more casualties than had previously been possible. By now, fire medicine was known as firebomb medicine, and it was a valuable commodity, which brought victory and power. As such, the song looked to keep it for themselves. They banned its private sale in 1067, and soon after forbade its trade with rival dynasties. It was an effort to prevent what today seems inevitable, the spread of gunpowder, beyond China's borders.

They sought to keep it out of the hands of their enemies to stop it being used against their own people. But it was all for naught. Just a few years after its private sale was banned, Song troops would face off against the Vietnamese Lee Dynasty and become the target of fire arrows themselves. By 1127, troops from the Jin Dynasty were also employing fire arrows and bombs against the Song. After losing to the latter a year earlier, they'd captured song craftsmen and forced them to make weapons. By the 13th century, they had expanded their arsenal for use against the invading Mongols. Thunder crash bombs were used to sink a Mongol warship, and flying firelances brought them victory on the battlefield.

though soon the Jin would suffer the same fate as the Song and have their own technology used against them and just as they had taken the city of Kai Feng from the Song, the Mongols would take it from the Jin in 1233. From present-day Mongolia and East Asia, they were led initially by the famed Genghis Khan, they would prove to be fearsome warriors, especially once they adopted incendiary weapons. At Kai Fung, they're said to have rained down bombs and thrown them at Jin shelters at the end of iron chains. Even so, the Jin would hold out for over a year, much in thanks to their superior weaponry. Alongside fire arrows and flying fire lances, they used the heaven-shaking thunder bomb to great effect. This was a precursor to the modern

grenade with an iron casing and gunpowder inside. As the name suggests, its explosion, was loud. It was said to be heard 30 miles away. The bomb would burn an area of more than 300 square meters and was powerful enough to penetrate iron armor. Still, it was the Mongols who would eventually be the victors. Here and elsewhere, across. the next century and a half. By the late 1200s, they would dominate the landscape, amassing a great empire that stretched 9 million square miles. Gunpowder had featured heavily in wars against the song. Cities were bombarded with molten metal bombs. Fortresses were destroyed by new and improved. troubushes. Utilizing a counterweight rather than traction, these siege engines made bombs into powerful

missiles. They were said to destroy all that they touched and shake heaven and earth as they did so. By 1279, the Mongols ruled China with the grandson of Genghis Khan. Kublai Khan at the helm. He had established the UN dynasty in 1271, the first Mongol-led Chinese dynasty. Some know his name through Marco Polo, one of the first Europeans to travel through China. Kublai Khan was open to learning from other cultures. He made a habit. of employing foreigners in various roles. Some worked as diplomatic emissaries like Marco Polo. Others were engineers helping to develop new weapons. Under Kublai Khan, the empire would reach its apex around the tail end of the 13th century. Gunpowder was spread through Mongol invasion,

to the Middle East, Europe, Japan and beyond. Win or lose, they left devastation in their wake, along with new weapons that inspired their enemies. We can chart the spread of knowledge and the growth of technology through references in history books across different regions. By 1254, gunpowder had reached India. It was used in a fireworks display, held in honour of a Mongol emissary. Firecrackers are then mentioned in 1267.

In the work of an Englishman named Roger Bacon, commissioned by the Pope, Bacon might well have seen Mongol explosives. first hand, but it's clear that he himself experimented with firecrackers. He describes so horrible a sound made by the bursting of a thing so small, no more than a bit of parchment, and the noise, he tells us, exceeds the roar of strong thunder, with a flash brighter than the most brilliant lightning. There's a sense of fear in Bacon's writing. He was a Catholic friar as well as a scientist, and some even theorize that he wrote his notes in cipher so that only those who knew the code could read the dangerous recipe. Although, if that were true, it would prove that

ineffective. By 1280, much of Europe had the formula. In that same year, a Syrian chemist and engineer would publish a book containing more than 100 gunpowder recipes. Hassan al-Rama had worked in Syria as the Mongols had torn through neighboring Iraq. truck, studying explosives at length. He invented new types of gunpowder, new fuses and lighters, and the world's first torpedo. This torpedo was described as an egg which moves itself and burns, made by placing gunpowder between two iron sheet pans. These were fixed together to form a pear-shaped vessel with built-in rockets that propelled it across the water. Two rods at the back acted as stabilizers and kept the torpedo moving in the right direction.

Once it reached its target, a spear at the front would pierce the enemy ship and trigger the explosion. The oldest handheld cannons are thought to have been used around this time by UN troops and others in different parts of the empire. These are the earliest known firearms. They had the appearance of metal tubes, a little like the barrel of a modern-day shotgun, gunpowder, and a projectile like a projectile like an. an arrow or metal ball would be loaded into the tube and lit with a slow burning match. They were often imprecise and could be dangerous to the user, but they were certainly powerful in close range conflict. By 1350, improvements had been made both to handheld cannons and the larger ones on wheel.

Now, they were made from cast iron, alongside land and naval mines being produced in China. After the fall of the Mongol Empire in 1368, the succeeding Ming dynasty developed corned gunpowder. The ingredients were mixed with water to form a slurry and then ground together. Corned gunpowder proved faster burning than its predecessor. It was generally more powerful and reliable too. It's still used today in a range of different ways for fireworks, fuses, and various types of ammunition. In 1388, the Ming were the first to use wasp nest. rocket launchers and volley fire of gunpowder-propelled projectiles.

You'll likely be familiar with this military tactic, in which soldiers line up and shoot en masse. It was a commonly used tactic until World War I and features in a number of battle-themed movies. Weapons were developed at an accelerated speed. as foreign nations raced to catch up. By the late 1300s, Saltpeter was being mined in Germany and would later be exported to neighboring countries. Europe had strong cannons on ships and on land

and knights on horseback armed with fire lances. Something called an aqua bus had also appeared. It was a long-range firearm with a hook or lug used to keep it stable on city walls. By 1475, it had a matchlock mechanism, becoming the first handgun requiring the pulling of a trigger. The weapon was soon prevalent in parts of Europe and the Ottoman Empire, which was for formed in 1299. Beginning in Turkey, the Ottoman Empire would endure for more than 600 years, spreading to the Middle East, North Africa, and across parts of Europe and Asia. It's known today as a gunpowder empire, being that territories were conquered using incendiary weapons,

An artillery made up of things like cannons and firearms marked a revolutionary shift in how wars would be fought. By the 16th century, the Aquabus had evolved into the musket, which could carry larger bullets and inflict greater damage. Matchlock firearms, requiring the pulling of a trigger, spread across Eurasia all the way to Japan. Other trigger mechanisms were also invented, differing in the way they ignited the gunpowder. Whereas the matchlock relied on a slow burning match, the flintlock used a spot. and could therefore fire immediately. The wheel lock mechanism could also fire at an instant, and worked in a similar way to a modern lighter. A rotating steel wheel generated friction, creating a spark when it struck a piece of pyrite. Ultimately, the flint lock mechanism would come

to dominate, being cheaper to produce and safer to use. Muskets, rifles and pistols generally relied on the flintlock right up until the mid-1800s. Rifles and muskets at the time were upwards of six feet long. Pistols functioned similarly to muskets and rifles. but were smaller and could be fired with one hand. This meant a person could carry more than one and could fire them easily on horseback or in tight spaces. Gentlemen could also carry one out on the town. The revolver would be made practical later

and could fire multiple shots without being reloaded. The ammunition itself was usually cast lead balls, which rested on the gunpowder within the barrel, though paper cartridges were often used in muzzle-loading firearms, whereby the bullet, powder, and wadding were all in a single package. In essence, a cone or paper cylinder contained gunpowder. powder, the bullet, and a lubricating agent. These were used right up until the American Civil War, when round lead balls were replaced by cone-shaped bullets, more reminiscent of what we think of as bullets today. By this point, for about 200 years, cannons had been relying on cast iron

cannon balls. These replaced ones that had previously been made of stone. There had been countless advancements in the design of the weapon, which had an impact across every type of warfare. In the 1500s, Star forts became increasingly common as a means of withstanding the impact of cannons and other siege weapons. Thick city walls were built in the shape of a star, with bastions in the corners where cannons could be fired. The nature of naval warfare had also altered in the early 17th century with the introduction of the ship of the line.

These were armed with up to 100,000, and 20 cannons lined up in rows along the vessel's broadside. Like soldiers on the battlefield, ships would engage in volley fire, facing off between their broadsides and firing at one another. Naval skirmishes had previously relied on much more intricate maneuvering and positioning to maximize the effectiveness of the weaponry. After the ship of the line was introduced, battles were more like lines of ships with their cannons out, firing upon one another until one side lost. Equally, there were advancements outside of warfare. Since the 16th century, the Ming Dynasty had found gunpowder

useful for hydraulic engineering. It was used in the formation of waterways, including the Grand Canal, to blast away land before dredging. The same technique was used a century later to build the Canal Duma di in southern France, and in the 19th century in New York, in the construction of the Erie Canal, Europeans had also found it useful in mining. It was an effective means of removing hard rocks, which had previously required many hours of hard labour, even more so after the invention of the safety fuse in 1831, which made blasting far less dangerous. This was a tube of gunpowder encircled by a waterproof rope, which burned at a rate of one centimetre per second. Gunpowder proved key to the construction

of coal mines, which would fuel the Industrial Revolution. Beginning in Britain in the mid-1700s, this technological revolution would spread to Europe, America and beyond. Similarly, gunpowder was used in the construction of railways, which would change the global landscape from the 19th century onwards. The Montfraju's rail tunnel is a notable example, stretching across the European Alps from France to Italy. Finished in 1857, it took 13 years to build and was nearly 13 kilometres long. By then, Sir William Congreve, a British lieutenant general, had discovered a means of making gunpowder stronger. It was made using charcoal, enclosed iron cylinders, and formed into cakes using screw presses in a mill.

Meanwhile, in India, around the late 18th century, the Mysorian military were using rockets against the British. They were encased in iron, unlike their European counterparts, which allowed for greater thrust and longer range. A Mysorian rocket equipped with a pound of gunpowder could travel a distance of over 900 meters. The British would catch up in the 19th century, developing their own iron rockets. based on Indian designs, and this was just one of countless inventions in a period which abounded with military advancements. The century would give birth to percussion caps or cap locks,

which would replace the flintlock mechanism in muzzle-loading firearms. Caps were composed of small metal cylinders filled with mercuric forminate, a shock-sensitive chemical compound. The pulling of the trigger caused a hammer to strike the cap, much like a percussionist might bang on a drum. The cap would then ignite and send flames towards the gumpowder, which in turn would burn rapidly, propelling as a gunpowder, propelling as a ammunition from the barrel. Smooth bore barrels had been common in muskets, but were replaced by rifles in the 19th century. The name denoted a firearm with grooves rifled in its barrel. These would cause the projectile to spin, improving range and accuracy. Previously,

Ammunition comprised round shot balls, which had to be forced down the rifled barrel. This changed in the mid-1800s, with Claude Etienne Minier's invention of the Minier ball. This hollow-based bullet was cone-like in shape, with lines etched around its bottom. It expanded when shot, catching the ground. grooves within the barrel and giving it the spin that its inventor had intended. The Mini A ball was used to great effect in the new and improved rifles developed over the century. It said to be responsible for the bulk of casualties both in the Crimean War and the American Civil War. It was in the American Civil War that the Gatling gun was first used, having been invented by an American named

Richard Jordan Gatling. He gave his invention to the Union or Northern Army. This heavy-duty firearm had six revolving barrels and was capable of firing 200 cartridges a minute. Decades later, in 1884, Hiram Stevens Maxim introduced the Maxim gun. The first fully automated machine gun. It was recoil-operated, meaning that the energy created when firing bullets, was enough to eject used shells and reload the next. The kind of mechanisms in the Maxim gun were not previously possible because of the fouling created by black powder. Essentially, black powder would leave residue behind, which would foul up intricate mechanisms after just a few shots.

New or modern propellants, based on nitrocellulose, burned much cleaner. and allowed guns to operate more like machines without the need for constant cleaning. This came to be known as smokeless powder. The maxim gun would be used in both the first and second world wars. Firing at a rate of 600 rounds per minute, it went on to inspire numerous other weapons. It was also around this time that Alfred Nobel invented an explosive, known as dynamite. Made up of nitroglycerin and absorbent soft rocks, it was 1,000 times stronger than gunpowder. And so, dynamite would supersede gunpowder in matters of civic, and military engineering. Between dynamite, smokeless powder, and later explosives, the age of

gum powder would be over by the early 20th century. However, the traditional black powder is still used in modern fireworks alongside various metal salts to add color to the explosions. It's perhaps perhaps another irony in the story of gunpowder, that a weapon that has been central to countless wars would also have a legacy of entertainment on holidays like New Year's Eve and the 4th of July. There's nothing quite like a modern fireworks display, lighting the darkness in patterns of every shape and color. Gunpowder leaves a legacy that is, at the least, problematic and complex, but its impact on history is undeniable. Modern civilization might today look very different if it weren't for enterprising monks in ancient China searching for an elixir, forever.

everlasting life.