High Middle Ages · East Asia · Technology
1233
Mongols use gunpowder bombs at Kaifeng
1233
Defending Jin soldiers reportedly used thunder-crash bombs and fire lances against Mongol besiegers, early deployments of gunpowder weapons. The technology would spread with Mongol armies to the western ends of their empire and transform warfare within two centuries. Chinese accounts describe iron-cased bombs launched from catapults that shattered upon impact, filling the air with metal shards and thick smoke.
In context
Also in 1233 (3 other events on record)
- Kaifeng falls and Jin dynasty collapses · East Asia · War
- Kilwa Sultanate dominates East African gold trade · Africa · Politics
- Coal mining expands in northern England · Europe · Technology
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Technology
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.