Book description
For many, gunpowder is associated with Guy Fawkes and the attempt to
blow up parliament on 5 November 1605. Fewer people know that the
formula for gunpowder was in fact discovered more than 1,000 years ago
- in China - and by accident - and was initially a medicine.
This fascinating book tells the story of the huge impact of
gunpowder on every state and empire in the world. For 400 years the
Chinese kept it to themselves, until a Mongol soldier leaked the
secret to the Islamic world, where gunpowder played a crucial role in
the rise of the great empires of the Ottomans and the Mughals: the
spectacular capture of Constantinople in 1453 was accomplished through
new siege tactics, while India was conquered with muskets and
artillery mounted on 700 carts held together with ox harnesses.
Even more important was the impact of gunpowder on Europe, where new
weapons created new states and helped Europeans go on to dominate the
rest of the world. Packed with unexpected and interesting facts,
Gunpowder is an exciting, devastating and important story.
Clive Ponting was until recently Reader in Politics and International
Relations at the University of Wales, Swansea. His
Green History of
the World
was an international bestseller, and his revisionist biography of
Churchill raised a storm of controversy. Available in Pimlico are his
most recent books:
The Pimlico History of the Twentieth Century
;
World History: A New Perspective
;
Thirteen Days: The Road to the First World War
; and
The Crimean War
. He recently took early retirement and now lives on a small Greek
island where he is creating a Mediterranean garden and cultivating
olives.
