Editing Artillery (section)

===Invention of gunpowder===
{{see also|Gunpowder artillery in the Song dynasty}}
[[File:1350 AD early Chinese vase-shaped cannon.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.8|A depiction of an early vase-shaped cannon (shown here as the "Long-range Awe-inspiring Cannon"(威遠砲)) complete with a crude sight and an ignition port dated from around 1350 AD. The illustration is from the 14th century Ming Dynasty book ''Huolongjing''.<ref name="needham314316"/>]]

Early Chinese artillery had vase-like shapes. This includes the "long range awe inspiring" cannon dated from 1350 and found in the 14th century [[Ming dynasty]] treatise ''[[Huolongjing]]''.<ref name="needham314316">{{Harvnb|Needham|1987|pages=314–16}}</ref> With the development of better metallurgy techniques, later cannons abandoned the vase shape of early Chinese artillery. This change can be seen in the bronze "thousand ball thunder cannon", an early example of [[field artillery]].<ref name="Science and Civilisation in China">{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Needham|year=1987|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|title=Science & Civilisation in China, volume 7: The Gunpowder Epic|isbn=978-0-521-30358-3|pages=317–19}}</ref> These small, crude weapons diffused into the Middle East (the ''[[Inventions in medieval Islam#Military|madfaa]]'') and reached Europe in the 13th century, in a very limited manner.

In Asia, [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] adopted the Chinese artillery and used it effectively in the [[Mongol invasions|great conquest]]. By the late 14th century, Chinese rebels used organized artillery and cavalry to push Mongols out.

As small smooth-bore barrels, these were initially cast in iron or bronze around a core, with the first drilled bore ordnance recorded in operation near Seville in 1247.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} They fired lead, iron, or stone balls, sometimes large arrows and on occasions simply handfuls of whatever scrap came to hand. During the [[Hundred Years' War]], these weapons became more common, initially as the [[Bombard (weapon)|bombard]] and later the [[cannon]]. Cannons were always [[muzzle-loader]]s. While there were many early attempts at [[Breechloader|breech-loading]] designs, a lack of engineering knowledge rendered these even more dangerous to use than muzzle-loaders.