Editing Land mine (section)

===Gunpowder===
{{see also|History of gunpowder}}

====East Asia====
[[File:火龍經 明朝 焦玉二 13.jpg|thumb|Chinese illustration of a land mine with eight explosive charges, from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'', 14th century]]
[[File:武備志 茅元儀 明朝 火器五 34.jpg|thumb|A "self-tripped trespass land mine" from the ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'', 1621]]

[[Gunpowder]], an explosive mixture of [[sulfur]], charcoal and [[potassium nitrate]] was invented in China by the 10th century and was used in warfare soon after. An "enormous bomb", credited to Lou Qianxia, was used in 1277 by the Chinese at the Battle of Zhongdu.<ref name=needham192>{{harvnb|Needham|1987|pp=192–193}}</ref>

A 14th-century military treatise, the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' (''Fire Dragon Manual''), describes hollow [[cast iron]] [[Shell (projectile)|cannonball shells]] filled with gunpowder.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 264">{{harvnb|Needham|1987|p=264}}</ref> The wad of the mine was made of hard wood, carrying three different [[fuse (explosives)|fuses]] in case of defective connection to the touch hole. These fuses were long and lit by hand, so they required carefully timed calculations of enemy movements.<ref name=needham192/>

The ''Huolongjing'' also describes land mines that were set off by enemy movement. A {{convert|9|ft|m|0|adj=on}} length of bamboo was waterproofed by wrapping it in cowhide and covering it with oil. It was filled with compressed gunpowder and lead or iron pellets, sealed with wax and concealed in a trench.<ref name=needham192/> The triggering mechanism was not fully described until the early 17th century. When the enemy stepped onto hidden boards, they dislodged a pin, causing a weight to fall. A cord attached to the weight was wrapped around a drum attached to two steel wheels; when the weight fell, the wheels struck sparks against [[flint]], igniting a set of fuses leading to multiple mines. A similar mechanism was used in the first [[wheellock]] [[musket]] in Europe as sketched by [[Leonardo da Vinci]] around 1500 AD.<ref name="needham199">{{harvnb|Needham|1987|p=199}}</ref>

Another victim-operated device was the "underground sky-soaring thunder", which lured bounty hunters with [[halberd]]s, [[pike (weapon)|pike]]s, and [[lance]]s planted in the ground. If they pulled on one of these weapons, the butt end disturbed a bowl underneath and a slow-burning incandescent material in the bowl ignited the fuses.<ref name="needham203">{{harvnb|Needham|1987|pp=203–204}}</ref>{{refn|According to the ''Wubei Huolongjing'' (17th century), the material could burn continuously for 20 to 30 days without going out. Its formula included {{convert|1|lb|abbr=on}} of white sandal wood powder, {{convert|3|oz|abbr=on}} of iron rust ([[ferric oxide]]), {{convert|5|oz|abbr=on}} of "white" charcoal powder (from [[quicklime]]), {{convert|2|oz|abbr=on}} of willow charcoal powder, {{convert|6|oz|abbr=on}} of dried, ground, and powdered red dates, and {{convert|3|oz|abbr=on}} of bran.<ref name="needham203"/>}}

====Western world====
At [[Augsburg]] in 1573, three centuries after the Chinese invented the first pressure-operated mine, a German military engineer by the name of Samuel Zimmermann invented the ''Fladdermine'' (flying mine). It consisted of a few pounds of black powder buried near the surface and was activated by stepping on it or tripping a wire that made a [[flintlock mechanism|flintlock]] fire. Such mines were deployed on the slope in front of a fort. They were used during the [[Franco-Prussian War]], but were probably not very effective because a flintlock does not work for long when left untended.<ref name=CrollCh2>{{harvnb|Croll|2008|loc=Chapter 2: Gunpowder mines}}</ref><ref name=OriginsPart1>{{cite journal |last1=Schneck |first1=William C. |title=The origins of military mines: part I |journal=Engineer |date=July 1998 |pages=49–55 |url=https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll8/id/2679 |access-date=May 19, 2019 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803012911/https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16021coll8/id/2679 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[fougasse (weapon)|fougasse]], was a precursor of modern fragmentation mines and the [[M18 Claymore mine|claymore mine]]. It consisted of a cone-shape hole with gunpowder at the bottom, covered either by rocks and scrap iron (''stone fougasse'') or [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] shells, similar to large black powder hand grenades (''shell fougasse''). It was triggered by a flintlock connected to a tripwire on the surface. It could sometimes cause heavy casualties but required high maintenance due to the susceptibility of black powder to dampness. Consequently, it was mainly employed in the defenses of major fortifications, in which role it used in several European wars of the eighteenth century and the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]].<ref name=OriginsPart1/>

Early land mines suffered from unreliable fuses which were vulnerable to damp. This changed with the invention of the [[safety fuse]]. Later, ''command initiation'', the ability to detonate a charge immediately instead of waiting several minutes for a fuse to burn, became possible after electricity was developed. An electric current sent down a wire could ignite the charge with a spark. The Russians claim first use of this technology in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–29)|Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829]], and with it the fougasse remained useful until it was superseded by the Claymore mine in the 1960s.<ref name=CrollCh2/>

Victim-activated mines were also unreliable because they relied on a flintlock to ignite the explosive. The [[percussion cap]], developed in the early 19th century, made them much more reliable, and pressure-operated mines were deployed on land and sea in the [[Crimean War]] (1853–1856).<ref name=CrollCh2/>

During the [[American Civil War]], the [[General officers in the Confederate States Army#Brigadier general|Confederate brigadier general]] [[Gabriel J. Rains]] deployed thousands of "torpedoes" consisting of artillery shells with pressure caps, beginning with the [[Battle of Yorktown (1862)|Battle of Yorktown]] in 1862. As a captain, Rains had earlier employed explosive booby traps during the [[Seminole Wars]] in Florida in 1840.<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|Friesen|1999|p=4}}</ref><ref name=OriginsPart1/> Over the course of the war, mines only caused a few hundred casualties, but they had a large effect on morale and slowed down the advance of Union troops.<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|Friesen|1999|p=6}}</ref> Many on both sides considered the use of mines barbaric, and in response, generals in the [[Union Army]] forced Confederate prisoners to remove the mines.<ref name=CrollCh2/>