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00:02

Over the first few thousand years of their existence, humans got pretty good at killing [Men about to fight run away and get new weapons]

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each other in large groups.

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It was their favorite hobby…y'know, when they weren't busy inventing written language [People working in a factory]

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and discovering new energy sources.

00:18

We showered for the first time in three days so…we'd say we're doing equally impressive things.

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So after early humans developed and improved metal weapons and brainstormed a bit about [Cavemen have idea light bulbs over their heads]

00:28

military strategy, they came to a standstill.

00:32

After all, there are only so many ways to kill people with pointy objects… [Teacher writing on a blackboard]

00:36

…Stabbing, flaying, impaling, hooking, eviscerating…uh, don't ask why we could list those so quickly…

00:43

…but these things weren’t enough to keep humanity satisfied.

00:47

We needed a little something new to spice up our lives. [Explosion on a mountain]

00:50

Enter: gunpowder.

00:52

The funny thing is that this harmless looking black powder that has killed so many people [Barrel of gunpowder with eyes]

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was actually discovered by alchemists who were trying to find ways to lengthen human life. [Alchemist shakes a flask and it explodes]

01:03

Is there a lesson in that?

01:04

The great discovery happened in China around 850 CE. [Great wall of China]

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For centuries, alchemists had been experimenting with potassium nitrate, more popularly known

01:12

as Saltpeter.

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But then somebody got the bright idea to mix saltpeter with sulfur and charcoal.

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The results were explosive…in every sense of the word. [The flask explodes again]

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Ancient Chinese texts report smoke, flame, and even a house burning down during early experiments.

01:28

Gunpowder would go on to affect almost every human society in the world, mostly because [Barrels of gunpowder fall onto countries on a world map]

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of its reliable ability to blow stuff up.

01:38

We bet it won, "most likely to succeed" in high school…possibly by scaring the other

01:42

kids into voting for it.

01:43

The Chinese were also the first to use gunpowder in warfare. [Soldiers sat around a tank]

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Those pesky Mongols kept riding down out of the North to pillage and plunder, so the Chinese [People on horseback ride through a village and set it alight]

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attached tubes of gunpowder to arrows.

01:57

These rocket-powered arrows could fly faster and farther, and they probably scared the [Man shoots arrows out of a tube]

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stuffing out of the first Mongols who saw them.

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And in what was possibly a desire to recreate the hilarious looks on the Mongols' faces

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post-rocket arrows, the Chinese also came up with early cannons and grenades. [Man shoots a cannon and there is an explosion]

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Too bad they didn’t find that life lengthening elixir amidst all this inventiveness.

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It could’ve canceled out some of the death and destruction that was to come. [Picture of a city on fire with a red cross over it]

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It took a few hundred years, but eventually, gunpowder technology spread all over the world.

02:28

Gunpowder transitioned the world from medieval warfare to modern warfare. [Missiles are fired]

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We went from crossbows and lances to guns and cannons.

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And, maybe not surprisingly, gunpowder built a few empires very, very quickly. [Huge building drops onto area of trees]

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The Mughal Empire and The Ottomans got on board the gunpowder train early and used it [Cannon being fired]

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to conquer a ton of territory.

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Of course, the upside to all this death and destruction is that gunpowder also gave us fireworks.

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What would the world be like without peonies, palm trees, and smiley faces made of fire [People watching a firework display]

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in the sky?

03:00

Thanks, China.

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We'll forgive you for the massive death thing, just this once. [China shooting a gun]

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