The Rockets of Mysore

Rockets were originally invented not to send things into space, but to shoot enemies with. Their effectiveness in warfare was demonstrated for the first time by the Chinese in the 13th century, when they used them against the Mongol invaders and successfully kept them away for months. These early rockets, known as ‘fire arrows’, were similar to bottle rockets we use today in firework celebrations, only larger. A short tube was filled with gunpowder, closed at one end and attached to a long stick. When the powder was ignited, hot gases and smoke escaped out of the open end producing a thrust that carried the rocket across no man’s land and towards the enemy. As weapons of destruction, these flaming arrows didn’t have much impact, but the psychological scarring was remarkable. Eventually, the Mongols adopted rockets for their own use, and wherever the marauding armies went, they left behind rocket technology. From the 13th to the 16th centuries, many developments in rocketry took place across Asia and Europe. In England, a monk named Roger Bacon worked on improved forms of gunpowder that greatly increased the range of rockets. In France, Jean Froissart found that more accurate flights could be achieved by launching rockets through tubes. In late 16th century, a German fireworks maker Johann Schmidlap invented the two-stage rocket to reach higher altitudes. Rocketry also reached India via the Mongols in the 13th century. By the mid-14th century Indians were well into rocket warfare. It was in India where the next significant development took place. Back then rockets were made of bamboos and wood and were little more than fireworks. Haider Ali, the ruler of Mysore, took this regular bamboo rocket and turned it into a deadly weapon by making one simple change—he forged them out of iron. Remarkably, despite centuries of use, nobody had ever perfected a rocket made out of iron.