Why is the inventor of gunpowder associated with evil spirits? Evil spirits as a “source of knowledge”

Basic concepts and terms: Bombard, musket, caravel, entrepreneurial spirit Teaching methods: Partial search method.

Problem task: imagine that you are taking part in a conference where the problem is being discussed about what era the Great Geographical Discoveries belong to - the Middle Ages or the Modern Age. Express your point of view and give reasons for it.

During the classes

I.Organizing time.

II.Updating basic knowledge.

To make a logical transition to studying a new topic, you should have a short conversation with the class. Reminding students that in the last lesson they began to study the history of modern times, the teacher suggests answering the following questions: when and in connection with what phenomena did the term “modern times” appear? Indicate the chronological framework of the New Time and Early Modern Time. Why do you think these two periods stand out in modern times? What traits did a modern man have? How was he different from a man of the Middle Ages? What purposes do you think the entrepreneurial spirit served?

Summarizing the answers of students, it is necessary to emphasize the desire of the most active part of society to abandon traditional forms of farming, their interest in comprehending new scientific data, the desire to see the world with their own eyes, and the ability to make decisions associated with a certain amount of risk.

III.Learning new material.

1. New inventions and improvements.

The teacher announces the title of the first chapter of the textbook, emphasizing that the New Age originates from such phenomena as the Great Geographical Discoveries, the Renaissance and the Reformation, and suggests moving on to studying a new topic, which is devoted to two lessons.

Having named the topic of the lesson and introduced the class to the plan written on the board, the teacher, during an introductory conversation, invites eighth-graders to think about the problem: which era corresponds more to the Great Geographical Discoveries - the Middle Ages or the Modern Age?

The teacher accompanies the explanation of the first question with comments on the drawings in the textbook and some additional information about inventions.

2. Causes of the Great Geographical Discoveries.

Talking about the role of printing in the development and dissemination of knowledge, the teacher invites students to comment on an illustration depicting a 16th-century printing house. (SLIDE 1). Eighth-graders recall that the founder of the introduction of printing in Western Europe was I. Gutenberg, who began his activities in the first half of the 15th century. He developed a method for making a printing form by setting text from individual characters, designed a device with which he cast letters from an alloy of lead and antimony, and built a manual printing press. He also compiled a recipe for a special printing ink. You might ask students to identify which of Gutenberg's listed inventions they see in this engraving. Eighth-graders will see the work of typesetters, typing text from individual letters under dictation; in the back of the room, one of the workers covers a printing form with paint; in the center, a worker on a machine makes impressions of the typed text on paper (a press rotating with a screw is clearly visible); an apprentice folds dried sheets .

Very interesting for understanding the inner world of a person in the 16th century. engraving “The Inventor of Gunpowder and Evil Spirits” (woodcut, 1554) (SLIDE 2). You can ask students to think about why the author of the engraving placed an image of evil spirits next to the inventor of gunpowder (as people of that time imagined it). The teacher notes that people, having learned to make gunpowder, did not know why the explosion occurred. The roar, puffs of smoke, the smell of sulfur, the terrible, destructive effect of new weapons - how can thoughts of the intervention of evil spirits not come to mind? In the engraving shown in the textbook, Satan is depicted behind the shoulders of gunpowder discoverer Berthold Schwarz, who was carrying out his experiments. Obviously, contemporaries suspected that it was he who whispered to the learned monk the recipe that claimed so many lives. The great Leonardo da Vinci also saw a gloomy picture, who wrote: “Someone will come out of the depths who will deafen those standing nearby with terrifying screams and with his breath will bring death to people and destruction to cities and castles.” Who is this “someone”? Perhaps students can explain that this is a cannon that is cast from bronze in a hole dug in the ground (hence the “subsoil”). The most famous, powerful cannons were treated with respect, endowed with mysterious supernatural power, and given proper names: Wolf, Lion, etc. On the barrels of the guns were the following inscriptions: “I am called Lion, my roar is piercing”; “My name is Rooster. In a fight, I will break through”; “The sudden end of me. Prostrate yourself before me, I advise. I’m coming towards you with a sharp leap...” These examples help schoolchildren imagine the level of consciousness of people of that time, entangled in superstitions.

Working with the concepts of “bombard”, “musket”, “caravel” (illustrations).

3. Enrique the Navigator and the discovery of the Near Atlantic. Around Africa to India.

When introducing eighth-graders to the history of improvements in navigation and shipbuilding, they should refer to the following document (distributed to their desks) “Pedro Nunez. Treatise in defense of the nautical map." By analyzing the text, eighth-graders develop the ability to work with authentic sources.

Then the teacher can invite students to independently read in the textbook stories about the Portuguese discoveries of the Middle Atlantic and the expedition of Bartolomeu Dias, and find the routes of these expeditions on the map.

As a final test of what has been learned, students are instructed, using the textbook, to write down in a notebook the reasons for the Great Geographical Discoveries. Such a task can be performed either in the form of individual or in the form of group work (4-6 people in a group).

IV.Consolidation of the studied material.

At the last stage of the lesson, eighth graders answer a problem task. Explaining why the Great Geographical Discoveries became one of the phenomena that ushered in the Modern Age, students give the following arguments. Great geographical discoveries became possible when:

1) people stopped adamantly following old traditions;

2) there was an understanding of the need to introduce new farming methods, technical inventions and improvements;

3) a person allowed himself to doubt the reliability of old geographical knowledge and wanted to know the true state of affairs;

4) the Europeans grew in confidence in their capabilities and, with their land trade with the East disrupted, they risked stepping into the unknown - opening a sea route to India;

5) people appeared in society with entrepreneurial activity, a desire to get rich, and capable of taking risks.

The existence of these phenomena is characteristic of the New Age.

V.Homework.

§ 1, task on the contour map (1-4, only the journey of B. Dias), learn the meaning of the concepts discussed in the lesson. What are the names of the devices depicted in the textbook (p. 15), what is their purpose?

APPLICATION

“Pedro Nunez. Treatise in defense of the nautical map"

(fragment)

It is quite obvious that the discovery of new coasts, islands, and continents was not a matter of chance; our navigators set out on their journey well prepared, they had instruments, and were familiar with astronomy and geometry. They knew everything they needed to know, as Ptolemy writes about it in the first book of his Geography. They took with them maps with precise directions; these were no longer the maps of the ancients, who knew only twelve winds and traveled without a compass. Therefore, they set off only with a fair wind in the stern, walking along the coast as far as possible. You can read about the sailing of the ancients along the Indian Sea in Ptolemy. Our maps are different from theirs.

Full table of contents
Devilry Devils-Devils Brownie-domozhil Brownie-yard Baennik Ovinnik Kikimora Goblin Field Water Mermaids Werewolves Sorcerer-sorcerer Witch Klikushi Treasures Healers-whisperers Carpenters-Stovemakers Shepherds

Baennik

Smoky and dilapidated, there are fragile bathhouses scattered across ravines and slopes, deliberately set out from the order of other village buildings, ready to burst into flames like gunpowder, fragile and short-lived. From all external signs it is clear that no one cared about them and, having lived out their short life in complete abandonment, the baths always look like buildings doomed to be demolished. Meanwhile, their smoky walls hear the first cries of the newborn of a Russian peasant family and the first sighs of the future breadwinner-plowman. Here, in the hot steam, he straightens, when he comes of age, the members of his body, worn out by hard work, and washes away the sweat of labor, so that, refreshed and invigorated, he can go to new endless labors. A young girl brings her melancholy here, doomed to devote her strength to someone else’s family and give her will into other hands; here for the last time she yearns for her parents’ home on the eve of the day when she accepts the “law” and the blessing of the church. Under such painful impressions, in one of the accounts counting the steam bath among the living ill-willed people, the following reproachful word was uttered about her:

On someone else's side, on the side,
On the villainess unknown:
In the swamp, a bathhouse was cut down,
A katana through the damp forest,
Driven by fierce beasts,
Placed in the damned place.

The reproaches are fair. Despite the fact that “the bathhouse soars, the bathhouse rules, the bathhouse will fix everything,” since ancient times it has been recognized as an unclean place, and after midnight it is even considered dangerous and scary: not everyone dares to look there, and everyone is ready to expect some kind of trouble, some kind of trouble. some chance and unexpected meeting. Such a meeting can happen with that unclean spirit from the undead, who, under the name of the baennik, settles in every bathhouse behind the heater, most often under the shelf on which they usually steam. He is known to all Russian people for his evil unkindness. “There is no meaner than the bannik, but no one is kinder,” they say in the indigenous Novgorod region near Belozersk; but here they firmly believe in his always readiness to do harm and strictly observe the rules of servility and ingratiation.

They believe that the baennik always washes after everyone, usually divided into three turns, and therefore everyone is afraid of the fourth break or the fourth steam: “he” will attack - he will throw hot stones from the heater, splash boiling water; If you don’t run away skillfully, that is, backwards, he can completely scald you. The spirit considers this hour to be its own and allows only devils to wash themselves: for people, bathing time in villages is usually around 5-7 o’clock in the afternoon.

After three changes of visitors, devils, goblins, barnyards and the banniki themselves wash in the bathhouse. If someone goes to the bathhouse at this time to take a steam bath, he will not come out alive: the devils will strangle him, and people will think that that person has gone crazy or been steamed. This belief about the fourth fatal bath “change” is widespread throughout Rus'.

They curry favor with the bannik by bringing him a treat of a piece of rye bread sprinkled with coarse salt. And in order to forever take away his strength and desire to harm, they bring him a black chicken as a gift. When a new bathhouse is built after a fire, such a chicken is strangled (not cut) without plucking its feathers and buried in this form in the ground under the threshold of the bathhouse, trying to time it for Maundy Thursday. Having buried the chicken, they leave the bathhouse backwards and all the time bow to the bathhouse to its permanent and angry tenant. Bannik strives to own the bathhouse indivisibly and is dissatisfied with anyone who encroaches on his rights, even if only temporarily. Knowing this, a rare traveler, caught at night, will decide to seek shelter here, except perhaps for Siberian tramps and runaways, who, as you know, don’t care about anything in the world. Those who go to work and have no means to pay for lodging for the night prefer to sleep somewhere in a haystack, under a barn, under a broom or juniper bush. How highly the baennik values ​​the direct purpose of his home is evident from the fact that he takes revenge on those owners who change this purpose. Thus, in many northern forest areas (for example, in Vologda province) they do not go to the bathhouse at all, preferring to steam in the stoves, which occupy a whole ⅓ of the hut. Although baths exist here, thanks to good flax harvests, and due to increased foreign demands for this product, sold through the Arkhangelsk port, they have been turned into small factories, scutching and carding mills. Those who climb into the oven, the baennik, in addition to the authority and permission of the brownie, sometimes forces the damper so tightly that either they are pulled out in a faint, or they completely suffocate. Doesn't like the baennik. also those brave souls who boast of visiting his home at an unspecified time. Since he has a direct responsibility to remove waste from the bathhouse, he has the right to cause waste to those with whom he is dissatisfied. There are many stories for such cases.

The baennik immediately punishes those who violate the rules and requirements established by him with his court, at least like the following one, which the narrator from the Penza peasants experienced. Once, being late on the road, before the holiday, he climbed into his bathhouse, after the midnight hour. But, undressing, he hurriedly grabbed the cross from his neck along with his shirt, and when he climbed onto the shelf to steam, he could not get down from there as quickly as possible. The brooms just hit the sides by themselves. Somehow, however, he got down and poked his head into the door, but it was so closed that you couldn’t open it. And the brooms do everything they want - they whip. The woman realized that her husband had been gone for a long time, she began to call at the window - there was no answer, she began to break on the door - she did not give in. She called with the roar of the neighbors. These came to help: they chopped down the door with axes - only sparks fly, but no chips. A woman healer came to the rescue, sprinkled the door with holy water, read her prayer and opened it. The man lay unconscious; They forcibly wiped it off with snow.

Experienced people ward off the evil slander of their fellow servants by the attention they receive every time they leave the bathhouse. Always leave a little water and at least a small piece of soap in the tubs, unless you wash with lye; brooms are never taken into the hut. That is why they often tell how, when passing by a bathhouse at night, they heard with what mischief and zeal the devils were whipping around there and at the same time they were buzzing, as if they were talking, but without words. One passer-by got bold and shouted: “Add a couple!” - and suddenly everything became quiet, and a chill ran through his body, and his hair stood on end.

In general, the baennik does not allow jokes with himself, but he allows people to come to him on Christmastide to be bewitched, and the fortune-telling itself takes place as follows: the fortuneteller sticks his bare back through the bathhouse door, and the baenik either hits him with a clawed paw (to disaster), or gently strokes him with a shaggy and soft, like silk, large palm (fortunately). The girls gathered about Christmas time (near Kadnikov, Vologda province) for a conversation, but the guys got angry with them for something - and did not come. It became boring, one girl said to her friends:

Let's go, girls, to the bathhouse and listen to what the baennik will tell us.

The two girls agreed and went. One says:

Stick your hand out the window, girl, and the bannik will put gold rings on your fingers.

Come on, girl, let’s stick it first, and then I’ll do it.

She put it in, and the bannik said:

So I got you.

He grabbed him by the hand and put rings on him, and iron rings: he chained all his fingers in one place, so that it was impossible to open them. Somehow she pulled her hand out of the window, ran home in a hurry and in tears, and her face was blank from pain. She barely composed herself with these words:

God, girls, look what kind of ring-bannik he planted. How can I live now with such a hand? And what a scary banner he is: he’s all furry and his hand is so big and also furry. As he put the rings on me, I kept bawling. Now I won’t go to the bathhouses to listen anymore.

In essence, the bannik tries to be invisible, although some claim that they have seen him, and that he is an old man, like all the spirits akin to him: it is not for nothing that they have lived in this world and in the Russian world for such an innumerable number of years.

However, although this spirit is invisible, its movements can always be heard in the silence of the night - under the shelf, and behind the heater, and in a pile of fresh, unsteamed brooms. Women in labor are especially sensitive to such sounds, but for this reason they are never left alone in the baths: there is always some woman with them, if not the midwife herself. Everyone is firmly convinced that the baennik loves it when postpartum women come to live with him until the third day after giving birth, and even more so for a week, as is usual with rich and kind men. In the same way, everyone undoubtedly believes that bathhouses are filthy and very dangerous places, and if a fire has to vacate them and clean them, then not a single good owner will dare to build a hut here and settle in: either bedbugs will prevail, or a mouse will be deprived and ruin all the belongings. . In the northern forest areas, they are firmly convinced that the baenik will not give rest and will strangle all the livestock: then neither putting money in the corners of the hut, nor setting up an anthill in the middle of the yard, and the like, will help.

The invention of gunpowder. Circuit 12.
As soon as man “received fire from Prometheus” (according to legend), he began to use it not only for heating and cooking, but also as a weapon to fight enemies. Throwing cannonballs, and with them substances that are difficult to extinguish - tar, oil known since ancient times. But to throw cannonballs you needed gunpowder.
Its “invention” and production is attributed to the Chinese. The Arab writer Hassan Alrammah, in a manuscript dating back to 1285, writes about “Chinese arrows”, and calls the substance with which these arrows were thrown “Chinese snow”.
The Indians did not “lag behind” the Chinese, as Montsenu writes, but without saltpeter, as scientists testify, gunpowder cannot be made, and saltpeter “in its pure form” does not occur in nature.
During the construction of the Trojan Column, the engineer Apollodorus made a “pipe” to protect it, at the end of which hung a basket with hot charcoal. At the back of the pipe there were bellows, when inflated, hot particles flew at the enemy.
The first mention of a mixture of sulfur, coal and saltpeter is from the Frenchman Rogero Baco.
The German scientist Albertus Magnus introduced Germany to this mixture. As often happens, discoveries of something occur in different countries independently of each other. But we find the first reliable evidence of a cannon only in a manuscript of 1326. This manuscript of an unknown author is kept in England , in Oxford. There is also a drawing of this gun.
In the 15th century, firearms were already used everywhere. Almost all great discoveries were accompanied by superstition, and their discoverers were persecuted.
A manuscript from 1410 reports about a certain monk Bertold the Black (Schwartz), who “was a master of black magic... He tried to “get” gold, took a mixture of selyrt, sulfur, lead, oil and mercury and put it all in a closed vat on the fire, but the vat exploded after it got very hot.” ​​When I say that his name is not exactly known, I mean that the monk’s name was really Berthold, but the surname “black” was not his surname, but rather a nickname that came from “master of BLACK magic,” but he went down in history precisely as Berthold Schwartz (Black).
Berthold was eventually imprisoned and executed for his “heretical, diabolical discoveries,” as the master and fireworks artist Franz Helm writes “He lived in 1380.”
A Bernadier monk named Berthold the Black. For his invention, he was tried by Emperor Wenceslaus and sentenced to death.”
It is interesting that great poets sometimes also saw “evil spirits” in such discoveries. So the famous Petrarch wrote about “metal acorns falling with terrible thunder from the sky, which only God in his rage can do,” and the person who dares to do this is a heretic and blasphemer.
One way or another, in Europe the master and alchemist Berthold Schwartz is considered the “inventor of gunpowder.”

Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many inventions that completely changed the course of history at one point or another. But only a few of them have significance on a planetary scale. The invention of gunpowder refers precisely to such rare discoveries that gave a great impetus to the emergence and development of new branches of science and industry. Therefore, every educated person should know where gunpowder was invented and in which country it was first used for military purposes.

Background to the appearance of gunpowder

For a long time, debates raged about when gunpowder was invented. Some attributed the recipe for the flammable substance to the Chinese, others believed that it was invented by Europeans, and only from there did it come to Asia. It is difficult to say with an accuracy of one year when gunpowder was invented, but China must definitely be considered its homeland.

Rare travelers who came to China in the Middle Ages noted the local residents’ love for noisy fun, accompanied by unusual and very loud explosions. The Chinese themselves were very amused by this action, but the Europeans inspired fear and horror. In fact, it was not gunpowder yet, but simply bamboo shoots thrown into the fire. After heating, the stems burst with a characteristic sound that was very similar to heavenly thunder.

The effect of exploding shoots gave food for thought to Chinese monks, who began conducting experiments on creating a similar substance from natural components.

History of invention

It is difficult to say in what year the Chinese invented gunpowder, but there is evidence that already in the sixth century the Chinese had an idea of ​​a mixture of several components that burned with a bright flame.

The palm in the invention of gunpowder rightfully belongs to the monks of Taoist temples. Among them there were a lot of alchemists who constantly carried out experiments to create They combined various substances in different proportions, hoping one day to find the right combination. Some Chinese emperors were heavily dependent on these drugs; they dreamed of eternal life and did not hesitate to use dangerous mixtures. In the middle of the ninth century, one of the monks wrote a treatise in which he described almost all known elixirs and methods of their use. But this was not the most important thing - several lines of the treatise mentioned a dangerous elixir, which suddenly caught fire in the hands of the alchemists, causing them incredible pain. It was not possible to extinguish the flames, and the whole house burned down in a few minutes. It is these data that can put an end to the dispute about what year gunpowder was invented and where.

Although, until the tenth and eleventh centuries, gunpowder was not mass produced in China. By the beginning of the twelfth century, several Chinese scientific treatises had appeared detailing the components of gunpowder and the concentration required for combustion. It is worth clarifying that when gunpowder was invented, it was a flammable substance and could not explode.

Gunpowder composition

After the invention of gunpowder, the monks spent several years determining the ideal ratio of components. After much trial and error, a mixture called the “fire potion” emerged, consisting of coal, sulfur and saltpeter. It was the last component that became decisive in establishing the homeland of the invention of gunpowder. The fact is that it is quite difficult to find saltpeter in nature, but in China it is found in great abundance in the soil. There are cases when it protruded onto the surface of the earth in a whitish coating up to three centimeters thick. Some Chinese chefs added saltpeter to food to improve taste instead of salt. They always noticed that when saltpeter got into the fire it caused bright flashes and intensified the burning.

Taoists knew about the properties of sulfur for a long time; it was often used for tricks, which the monks called “magic.” The last element of gunpowder, coal, has always been used to produce heat during combustion. It is therefore not surprising that these three substances became the basis of gunpowder.

Peaceful uses of gunpowder in China

At the time gunpowder was invented, the Chinese had no idea how great a discovery they had made. They decided to use the magical properties of the “fire potion” for colorful processions. Gunpowder became the main element of firecrackers and fireworks. Thanks to the right combination of ingredients in the mixture, thousands of lights flew into the air, turning the street parade into something very special.

But one should not assume that, having such an invention, the Chinese did not understand its importance in military affairs. Despite the fact that China was not an aggressor in the Middle Ages, it was in a state of constant defense of its borders. Neighboring nomadic tribes periodically raided the border Chinese provinces, and the invention of gunpowder could not have come at a better time. With its help, the Chinese consolidated their position in the Asian region for a long time.

Gunpowder: First military use by the Chinese

Europeans had long believed that the Chinese did not use gunpowder for military purposes. But in fact, these data are erroneous. There is written evidence that back in the third century, one of the famous Chinese commanders managed to defeat nomadic tribes with the help of gunpowder. He lured the enemies into a narrow gorge where charges had previously been planted. They were narrow clay pots filled with gunpowder and metal. Bamboo tubes with cords soaked in sulfur led to them. When the Chinese set them on fire, thunder struck, reflected several times by the walls of the gorge. Clods of earth, stones and metal pieces flew from under the nomads' feet. The terrible incident forced the aggressors to leave the border provinces of China for a long time.

From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, the Chinese improved their military capabilities with the use of gunpowder. They invented new types of weapons. The enemies were overtaken by shells launched from bamboo tubes and guns launched from a catapult. Thanks to their “fire potion,” the Chinese emerged victorious in almost all battles, and the fame of the unusual substance spread throughout the world.

Gunpowder leaves China: Arabs and Mongols begin to make gunpowder

Around the thirteenth century, the recipe for gunpowder fell into the hands of the Arabs and Mongols. According to one legend, the Arabs stole a treatise that contained a detailed description of the proportions of coal, sulfur and saltpeter necessary for the ideal mixture. In order to obtain this precious source of information, the Arabs destroyed an entire mountain monastery.

It is not known whether this was so, but already in the same century the Arabs designed the first cannon with gunpowder shells. It was quite imperfect and often maimed the soldiers themselves, but the effect of the weapon clearly covered the human losses.

"Greek fire": Byzantine gunpowder

According to historical sources, the recipe for gunpowder came from the Arabs to Byzantium. Local alchemists did a little work on the composition and began to use a flammable mixture called “Greek fire”. It showed itself successfully during the defense of the city, when fire from the pipes burned almost the entire enemy fleet.

It is not known for certain what was included in the “Greek fire”. His recipe was kept in the strictest confidence, but scientists suggest that the Byzantines used sulfur, oil, saltpeter, resin and oils.

Gunpowder in Europe: who invented it?

For a long time, Roger Bacon was considered the culprit behind the appearance of gunpowder in Europe. In the mid-thirteenth century, he became the first European to describe in a book all the recipes for making gunpowder. But the book was encrypted, and it was not possible to use it. If you want to know who invented gunpowder in Europe, history is the answer.

He was a monk and practiced alchemy for his benefit. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, he worked to determine the proportions of the substance from coal, sulfur and saltpeter. After much experimentation, he managed to grind the necessary components in a mortar in a proportion sufficient to cause an explosion. The blast wave almost sent the monk to the next world. But his invention marked the beginning of a new era in Europe - the era of firearms.

The first model of the “shooting mortar” was developed by the same Schwartz, for which he was sent to prison in order to not disclose the secret. But the monk was kidnapped and secretly transported to Germany, where he continued his experiments in improving firearms. How the inquisitive monk ended his life is still unknown. According to one version, he was blown up on a barrel of gunpowder; according to another, he died safely at a very old age. Be that as it may, gunpowder gave the Europeans great opportunities, which they did not fail to take advantage of.

The appearance of gunpowder in Rus'

Unfortunately, there are no surviving sources that would shed light on the history of the appearance of gunpowder in Rus'. The most popular version is considered to be borrowing the recipe from the Byzantines. Whether it really was so is unknown, but gunpowder in Rus' was called “potion”, and it had the consistency of powder. Firearms were first used at the end of the fourteenth century during the siege of Moscow. It is worth noting that the guns did not have much destructive power. They were used to intimidate the enemy and horses, which, due to smoke and roar, lost orientation in space, which sowed panic in the ranks of the attackers.

By the nineteenth century, gunpowder had become widespread, but its “golden” years were still ahead.

Smokeless powder recipe: who invented it?

The end of the nineteenth century was marked by the invention of new modifications of gunpowder. It should be clarified that for decades inventors have been trying to improve the combustible mixture. So in which country was smokeless gunpowder invented? Scientists believe it was in France. The inventor Viel managed to obtain pyroxylin gunpowder, which has a solid structure. His tests created a sensation; the advantages of the new substance were immediately noted by the military. The so-called smokeless powder had enormous strength, did not leave a soot and burned evenly. In Russia it was received three years later than in France. Moreover, the inventors worked independently of each other.

A few years later he proposed using nitroglycerin gunpowder, which has completely new characteristics, in the manufacture of projectiles. Later in the history of gunpowder there were many modifications and improvements, but each of them was designed to spread death over vast distances.

To this day, military inventors are doing serious work to create completely new types of gunpowder. Who knows, perhaps with its help in the future they will radically change the history of mankind more than once.