Gunpowder Day 2024 is on Tuesday, November 5, 2024: Wooden Barrels of Gunpowder?

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 is Gunpowder Day 2024.

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Remember, remember! The 5th of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot…Referred to as Guy Fawkes Evening or Fireworks Evening, Gunpowder Day concentrates on the plot by Guy Fawkes along with other conspirators to inflate Britain’s parliament in 1605. Rebelling from the persecution of Catholics by King James I, they planned to get rid of the monarch throughout his trip to parliament. However the plan was foiled and also the traitors performed.On Gunpowder Day, families construct an effigy of Guy Fawkes to become burned on the bonfire your evening. Fireworks will also be trigger to increase the festivities. Public shows will also be held and also the greatest celebration of Gunpowder Day is within Lewes in East Sussex, England. Six bonfire communities host their very own fireworks shows and gargantuan bonfires. After sunset, a sizable procession of all the communities moves through Lewes. Many people carry flame torches along with a river of fireside is visible flowing with the town throughout the night.

Gunpowder barrels were made of cured wood and were sealed within by pitch or some other wax-like substance and then calked with tow to keep them tight. Most were also lined with lead, to be used for making musket balls as the barrel was emptied and to keep it water proof and more importantly fireproof. Gunpowder magazines were kept in the depths of ships and fortresses and were lit only by natural light. All work in the magazine, therefore, had to be done during the day.

impact of gunpowder on our world?

Gunpowder is, in fact, one of the most important discoveries in human history.

As an above poster pointed out, it absolutely revolutionized warfare, particularly in the west (it had been discovered/developed in China), where fixed fortifications (essentially castles) were the rule of the day. Castles could slowly destroyed by siege engines such as trebuchets, but gunpowder made their destruction immediate, and thus their military value negligible.

In the rush to produce better firearms, everything from massive cannons to hand-held "gonnes," metallurgy was slowly revolutionized. Previously, siege engines like trebuchets and catapults were built at the site of the siege from existing materials. Artillery, however, requires smelting and forging. Cannons had to be towed on carts; as a result, transportation technology was vastly improved as things like leaf springs and floating suspension were developed. Roads had to be made more reliable; potholes could easily wreck a caisson.

Ships, now bearing cannons, soon became formidable naval weapons, and the control of the seas, and an increase in the amount of trade, became possible.

Military architecture was revamped, and new methods & materials were pressed into use; generals were loathe to abandon their fortresses. These advances soon found their way into general construction.

Further, gunpowder's use as a general explosive for use in mining, road-building and so on was quickly developed; until the invention of "safe" high explosives in the latter 19th century, gunpowder remained the best, safest tool for mass excavation.

Many other examples exist as well.

timeline of the invention of gunpowder?

Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese in the 800s By the 1200s, a Chinese Bureau of Munitions was operating seven factories that produced 7,000 rockets and 21,000 bombs a day . One of the first recorded applications of gunpowder in European military history occurred at the 1346 Battle of Crecy, where the English arsenal included little gunpowder "firepots."

This site starts with Chinese in 800s thru 1903. 1232: The Chinese who invented gunpowder (black powder) first used it in a weapon - gunpowder filled tubes aka rockets.

1364: First recorded use of a firearm - shooter lit wicks by hand that ingnited gunpowder that was loaded into the gun barrel.

1892: Automatic handguns invented by Joseph Laumann

1893: Borchardt pistol - automatic handgun with a separate magazine in the grip

1903: First automatic rifle a Winchester.

These and more on page 2 of

Hope this helps. (Rocky keep on flying)