Dbq Gunpowder

2:Another reason why gunpowder revolutionized Europe was the transition from medieval artillery to modern artillery that contained gunpowder. After the powder was spread along the Silk Road in the 13th century, it landed in the hands of Europeans seeking a more prominent way of using the powder. Before gunpowder, medieval artillery was based of heavy swords, iron armor, axes, knives, and arrows. These items were the basis of medieval artillery and only men who have trained for many years could obtain these weapons. The weapons were used for another 500 years before gunpowder was introduced, and some of the items started to involve the technology of the powder. For example, regular arrows soon transitioned to arrows with tubes of gunpowder on

The cannons were assembled with barrels and long wooden cores that were hammered together and then filled with molten hot iron to secure any cracks. When Europeans tested a cannons use at war, they often exploded because the gunpowders explosions was too strong compared to canon itself. A primary source that indicates gunpowder was a transition to modern artillery from medieval is this image. The primary source shows two men battling, one with medieval artillery and one with more modern artillery. The image was created during the 14th century which indicates that Europeans were familiar with gunpowder and were tampering with it. It also shows a man fiddling with a cannon and a trebuchet at the same time. The action of the image was against two men that appeared to be fighting with different weapons that represented different time periods. The man on the far left was on top of a castle with a crossbow dressed in iron armor, which represented the medieval age. The man fighting on the far right was located on the ground loading cannons while the trebuchet is untouched in the

The image indicates that the man on the bottom has forgotten about the trebuchet and is more focused on the cannons abilities because of the gunpowders tactics. Since the cannon is increasingly more compelling than the trebuchet, men in the Middle Age started to transition to gunpowder- based technology knowing that gunpowder was more effective and powerful. The image could also be seen as soldiers thinking that cannons are more of a effective weapon since it’s chosen over the trebuchet. Gunpowder was the primary propellant in cannons by making the cannon fire the iron/steel ball to its enemies. It drove the ball upward causing a smokey effect resulting in a large sound from the kinetic energy towards the heavy ball. By 1350, cannons and other gunpowder based weapons were regularly used in the English and French armies. Therefore, the transition from medieval artillery to modern artillery truly impacted the fighting style in Europe. Gunpowder gave warfare a fresh start to create powerful weapons that ultimately made Europe and many more places stronger in the long run. In the end, there was now a quicker way to defeat an entire army more sufficiently and