The Invention Of Rockets Dbq

A. The invention of rockets is totally linked with the invention of 'black powder '. Most historians of technology credit the Chinese with its discovery. They form their belief on studies of Chinese writings or on the notebooks of early Europeans who settled in or made frequent visits to China to learn about its history and civilization. It is possible that, during the tenth century, black powder was first constituted from its primary ingredients of charcoal, sulphur, and saltpeter. However this does not mean that it was instantly used to propel rockets.

B. In early thirteenth century, powder propelled fire arrows had become quite common. The Chinese depend on this type of technological development to generate incendiary projectiles of many types, explosive grenades and most probably cannons to repulse their enemies. One such weapon was the 'basket of fire ' or, as per Chinese translations, the 'arrows like flying leopards '. The 0.7 metre-long arrows, each with a long tube of gunpowder attached around the point of each arrow, could be fired from a long, octagonal-shaped basket at the same time and had a range of around 500 paces.

C. Another weapon which was known as 'arrow as a flying sabre ', could be fired from

D. From the beginning of the eighteenth century, Europe became seriously interested in the probability of using the rocket itself as a weapon of war and not just to use other weapons. Before that, rockets were used only in pyrotechnic exhibits. The inducement for the more hostile use of rockets came not from within the European continent but from far-away India, whose leaders had built up a unit of rocketeers and used rockets successfully against the British in the late eighteenth century. These rockets used by India against the British were described by a British Captain working in India as ‘an iron envelope having around 200 millimeters of length and 40 millimeters of diameter with sharp points at the top and a 3m-long bamboo