Post by Catsmate on Apr 14, 2014 12:35:09 GMT
Partially inspired by finding my missing copy of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. This was originally going to be just about gunpowder but then I remembered Benny's distillation experiments in Sanctuary and of course this song. Apologies is this is more rambling than usual.
Actually 10% sulphur and 15% charcoal is generally preferable, Ms. Fish got it wrong there.
Ah, black powder.... Odd sort of stuff, and not just its properties; militarily useful gunpowder just sort of appears in our history, with a flash and a bang, in the mid-fourteenth century in both China and Europe. Though you can make a case for something being around in China in the eleventh century, depending on how you read the Sung annals.
And of course it changes the world.
Less than 120 years later and the remains of feudalism are dead, replaced by the "Gunpowder Empires" with strong central governmnet monopolies on those expensive, castle smashing, artillery batteries. It's probable that any introduction of black powder that catches on will create a similar dynamic, with whatever centre of wealth building a force of cannon to conquer the suddenly outmoded fortifications of local rivals and expanding outward. Until it cncountereds a simlarly capable force. No longer could feudal magnates retreat behind their castle walls to avoid Royal displeasure.
So how do you make the stuff? Well the ingredients and proportions are pretty easy, getting the ingredients isn't that difficult either. Charcoal was used as a fuel for centuries, charcoal burning an organised (if inefficient) business. Sulphur occurs as native crystals, pale yellow in colour, or sulphur springs. The smell is unmistakable and the stuff was used for centuries before black powder was discovered, often as a medicine or a fumigant. Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) was also used medicinally; it's formed naturally in well-aged manure piles, of which no animal powered society is short.
So you've got your ingredients. Grind them to a fine powder, mix throughly with a little water (reduces the danger from dust). If you can compress the resulting 'cake' and allow to dry, careful dry heating helps. Grind to size depending on the application, smaller for small arms, larger for blasting and cannon.
Once you've got your gunpowder what can you do with it? Well the warlike uses outweigh the peaceful; it's useful for civil engineering and mining, and it can produce some spectacular firework displays but mainly it's good for killing and destroying.
"Nobody can make fireseed but the priests of Styphon," Xentos told him. "That was what I meant when I told you that Styphon's House has great power. With Styphon's aid, they alone can make it, and so they have great power, even over the Great Kings". . . . No wonder this country, here-and-now, was divided into five Great Kingdoms, and each split into a snakepit of warring Princes and petty barons. Styphon's House wanted it that way; it was good for business. H. Beam Piper, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen
One big problem is that it's not a very complicated secret. Once it's introduced it will spread.
Guns.
Moving from simple explosions to actual firearms is tricky, you don't just need gunpowder your need metal for your guns. And historically production of useful metal was small scale until the late Middle Ages. For example the total iron production of the entire Roman Empire in the late first century CE was ~20,000 tonnes. So don't expect to mass produce even matchlock muskets that far back in time.
Basically a 'gonne' has three parts; the barrel which contains the explosion (actually deflagration) of the powder and channelled the hot gases and bullet, the lock which ignites the powder when desired, and the stock, the the wooden 'furniture' that made the weapon a gun rather than an awkward metal tube.
Historically the first 'handgonnes' used what's called the 'cannon lock', basically a hole near one end of the barrel by which fire (in the form of a burning twig, hot coal et cetera) was applied to the gunpowder. Soon 'match' replaced the twig and within a couple of decades the 'matchlock' was developed. This was an S shaped pieced of metal riveted to the side of the gun, able to pivot, with a piece of match held in the top.
Early in the sixteenth century the 'wheel-lock' was developed, the first fiction ignition system. It's broadly similar to the flint type cigarette lighter, a steel wheel rotates against a piece of iron pyrites and produces sparks, these ignite a small amount of fine gunpowder in a small 'pan' which flashes and ignites the main charge.
Rifling to improve accuracy had been experimented with for decades; this involves cutting a series of spiral grooves into the inside of the barrel to cause the bullet to spin. This dramatically improves accuracy, from an accurate range of less than 100m to 2-300m. The problem was loading a tight fitting lead ball was slow and likely to damage it.
Loading from the muzzle end of the firearm was the standard until (historically) the 1860s. It was obvious that loading from the breach end was better but sealing the breach reliably and safely, given the primitive metallurgy of the time, wasn't possible.
The early nineteenth century saw the final replacement of the flintlock by various systems of percussion cap (a small crushable capsule) using a chemical mix that ignited when compressed.
The development of the Minie bullet in the 1850s finally ended the reign of the smoothbore musket. The great nineteenth century wars (Crimea, Franco-Austria, American Civil War and the Indian Mutiny) were all fought with muzzle loading caplock rifled muskets. By the 1860s metal cartridges containing cap, powder and bullet in one unit were introduced, the 1870's saw the first 'smokeless powders', the 1880s new military ammunition with longer pointed bullets coated with harder metal to survive the new powders and the 1890s saw the magazine repeating rifle and true machine gun becoming military standard.
So, other than background, how does this effect the game? Well there are many possibilities.
Alcohol.
Historically alcoholic beverages were important, and not just to timelost archaeologists; beer and wine contain enough alcohol to kill off bacteria, aided by the acidity. Thus for most of Western history alcohol, usually in the form of weak cloudy ale ('small beer'), was the drink of choice, far less dangerous than contaminated water. Especially in cities.
In fact there are some historians who consider the history of alcohol is the history of civilisation. It's known that the
development of agriculture led to food surpluses, which in turn, led to larger
groups of people living in close quarters (the first town and cities). This led to mass production of beers, along with water supply works, to keep them in drinkable liquid. But, so goes the speculation, what if people invented agriculture in order to ensure a ready supply of booze?
As the Doctor warned above (Sanctuary) distilled ethanol has many potential uses, fuel and incendiary, antiseptic and solvent. The V2 rockets, for example, used ethanol as a fuel. Mixed with sugar and other materials it can be used as a crude incendiary gel. You can, sort of, run a car on it, the Ford Model T was designed for this but most modern cars don't work as well.
And of course once distillation is known it'll be applied to more than just alcohol, a whole host of compounds can be produced and purified. Industrial chemistry in the nineteenth century got its start with the distillates from coal tar.
Oh, and you can drink it too.
Now I was going to go into other simple chemical possibilities that a time traveller with knowledge and some equipment (heat and electricity source, reaction vessels and piping) could do but I think this post is long enough.
Any comments? Any suggestions for future posts? I'm was considering tackling the potential of the Gunpowder Plot in detail or Franklin's Lost Expedition but there are already Who media involving them, so perhaps more simple ways to screw up history.
Black powder and alcohol,
When the states and the cities fall,
When your back is against the wall;
Black powder and alcohol.
Black Powder.When the states and the cities fall,
When your back is against the wall;
Black powder and alcohol.
Gimme charcoal to the measure two:
Send the bullet where you want it to.
Gimme sulphur to the measure three:
Make the powder gonna keep you free.
Gimme saltpetre, measure fifteen:
Sweetest shooting that you've ever seen!
Send the bullet where you want it to.
Gimme sulphur to the measure three:
Make the powder gonna keep you free.
Gimme saltpetre, measure fifteen:
Sweetest shooting that you've ever seen!
Actually 10% sulphur and 15% charcoal is generally preferable, Ms. Fish got it wrong there.
Ah, black powder.... Odd sort of stuff, and not just its properties; militarily useful gunpowder just sort of appears in our history, with a flash and a bang, in the mid-fourteenth century in both China and Europe. Though you can make a case for something being around in China in the eleventh century, depending on how you read the Sung annals.
And of course it changes the world.
Less than 120 years later and the remains of feudalism are dead, replaced by the "Gunpowder Empires" with strong central governmnet monopolies on those expensive, castle smashing, artillery batteries. It's probable that any introduction of black powder that catches on will create a similar dynamic, with whatever centre of wealth building a force of cannon to conquer the suddenly outmoded fortifications of local rivals and expanding outward. Until it cncountereds a simlarly capable force. No longer could feudal magnates retreat behind their castle walls to avoid Royal displeasure.
- So where did gunpowder come from? And why did it appear so abruptly? The mundane explanation is that it, well, just happened. The ingredients were available and some alchemist or monk or apothecary or whatever, had an accident and found the mixture. This is the legend of 'Black Berthold' and variations. But this is the Whoniverse and we don't have to do mundane. Someone introduced it, time or space or dimension traveller.
- Remember The Time Warrior? Was someone paying attention to the Doctor's experiments? At least the materials he used perhaps. Was he responsible?
The second kind of flying fire is made in this way: Take 1 lb of native sulphur, 2 lb of linden or willow charcoal, 6 lb of saltpetre, which three things are very finely powdered on a marble slab. Then put as much powder as desired into a case to make flying fire or thunder. Liber Ignium
So you've got your ingredients. Grind them to a fine powder, mix throughly with a little water (reduces the danger from dust). If you can compress the resulting 'cake' and allow to dry, careful dry heating helps. Grind to size depending on the application, smaller for small arms, larger for blasting and cannon.
- Once you know how black powder is surprisingly simple to make, it took centuries of trial and error (often accompanied by explosions and dead experimenters) to get to this method. One you demonstrate it to the local power brokers, even simple bombs, they will be impressed. It really is quite spectacular.
- And effective. Simple fireworks to overawe the peasants. Gunpowder bombs (perhaps launched by catapults) and mines would break most medieval armies, and reduce fortifications. Even highly motivated or disciplined armies (the Huns and Romans for example) wouldn't stand up to cannon fire.
- Of course, rather than ingratiating yourself with the local power structure they might simply imprison an unwary traveller for the secret rather than sponsor further research. Or kill them.
Once you've got your gunpowder what can you do with it? Well the warlike uses outweigh the peaceful; it's useful for civil engineering and mining, and it can produce some spectacular firework displays but mainly it's good for killing and destroying.
"Nobody can make fireseed but the priests of Styphon," Xentos told him. "That was what I meant when I told you that Styphon's House has great power. With Styphon's aid, they alone can make it, and so they have great power, even over the Great Kings". . . . No wonder this country, here-and-now, was divided into five Great Kingdoms, and each split into a snakepit of warring Princes and petty barons. Styphon's House wanted it that way; it was good for business. H. Beam Piper, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen
One big problem is that it's not a very complicated secret. Once it's introduced it will spread.
Guns.
Moving from simple explosions to actual firearms is tricky, you don't just need gunpowder your need metal for your guns. And historically production of useful metal was small scale until the late Middle Ages. For example the total iron production of the entire Roman Empire in the late first century CE was ~20,000 tonnes. So don't expect to mass produce even matchlock muskets that far back in time.
- For anyone interested in a little reading I recommend Agricola's De re metallica, written in 1556. It can be found here.
Basically a 'gonne' has three parts; the barrel which contains the explosion (actually deflagration) of the powder and channelled the hot gases and bullet, the lock which ignites the powder when desired, and the stock, the the wooden 'furniture' that made the weapon a gun rather than an awkward metal tube.
Historically the first 'handgonnes' used what's called the 'cannon lock', basically a hole near one end of the barrel by which fire (in the form of a burning twig, hot coal et cetera) was applied to the gunpowder. Soon 'match' replaced the twig and within a couple of decades the 'matchlock' was developed. This was an S shaped pieced of metal riveted to the side of the gun, able to pivot, with a piece of match held in the top.
- 'Match' is a form of fuse cord, simply thin rope or cord that's been soaked in nitrates, usually a hot solution of saltpetre in water, and dried. Different formulations burned at different rates; that used for firearms at about 10cm per hour. Quicker burning fuses for bombs burned at 25cm to 4m per minute.
Early in the sixteenth century the 'wheel-lock' was developed, the first fiction ignition system. It's broadly similar to the flint type cigarette lighter, a steel wheel rotates against a piece of iron pyrites and produces sparks, these ignite a small amount of fine gunpowder in a small 'pan' which flashes and ignites the main charge.
- Hence 'flash in the pan' and 'to go off half cocked' entered the language.
- Wheelocks were definitely around by 1515, the story of Laux Pfister demonstrates this. On the 6th of January 1515 (the Feast of Three Holy Kings) in the city of Constance (Konstanz) a young man named Laux Pfister hired the services of a local prostitute (described as a "handsome whore" in court papers). After they were finished he took up a pistol (described as "of the type that makes it's own fire") and began "playing about with it". Naturally the pistol discharged and the bullet struck the woman in the chin, passing through her throat and out the back of her neck. His defense went into firearms history as the first (recorded) 'I didn't know it was loaded' story.
The court required him to pay 40 florins in compensation, in addition to 20 florins per years for the rest of her life. Additional costs to Pfister were ~75 florins, including medical bills totalling 37 florins.
However the matchlock remained the firearm of choice for the wars of the sixteenth century, the Thirty Years War and English Civil War for example. Wheelocks were expensive.
Rifling to improve accuracy had been experimented with for decades; this involves cutting a series of spiral grooves into the inside of the barrel to cause the bullet to spin. This dramatically improves accuracy, from an accurate range of less than 100m to 2-300m. The problem was loading a tight fitting lead ball was slow and likely to damage it.
- The solution to this is the Minie bullet, a blunt cylinder with a hollow base that's easy to load but expands by gas pressure when fired to grip the rifling. Like most simple and obvious inventions this took a long time for anyone to figure out.
- Proper rifling requires a screw-cutting lathe, a highly useful gadget and one of the cornerstones in the progression from craftsmanship to serial production.
Loading from the muzzle end of the firearm was the standard until (historically) the 1860s. It was obvious that loading from the breach end was better but sealing the breach reliably and safely, given the primitive metallurgy of the time, wasn't possible.
- I am now required by the laws of Alternate History to mention the Ferguson Rifle, this is such a popular 'What If'. Patrick Ferguson a British Army and an amateur inventor. He developed a reasonably effective system for breech loading a rifle and had some produced at his own expense. They saw limited use during the American Revolution but after Ferguson was wounded his experimental company was disbanded. The rifle appeared on Stirling's Draka alternate history and was also used by David Weber.
- A possibly more interesting historical divergence was at the Battle of Brandywine (11 September 1777) where Ferguson may have had the chance to shoot George Washington.
The early nineteenth century saw the final replacement of the flintlock by various systems of percussion cap (a small crushable capsule) using a chemical mix that ignited when compressed.
The development of the Minie bullet in the 1850s finally ended the reign of the smoothbore musket. The great nineteenth century wars (Crimea, Franco-Austria, American Civil War and the Indian Mutiny) were all fought with muzzle loading caplock rifled muskets. By the 1860s metal cartridges containing cap, powder and bullet in one unit were introduced, the 1870's saw the first 'smokeless powders', the 1880s new military ammunition with longer pointed bullets coated with harder metal to survive the new powders and the 1890s saw the magazine repeating rifle and true machine gun becoming military standard.
- 'Smokeless' powders aren't, as anyone who's fired a gun knows. But compared to black powder the produce tiny amounts of smoke. Black powder smoke is unforgettable, a greasy, gray-white sulphurous miasma that clings to the mucous membranes of the throat, mouth and nose for hours and causes intense thirst. It's as much a part of the black-powder battlefield as exhaust fumes are today.
So, other than background, how does this effect the game? Well there are many possibilities.
- Just who did invent black powder? Was it a stranded traveller from somewhere else? Or just an experimenter who got luck. Or perhaps his apprentice if the experiment was too vigorous.
- Changing the past 1. While visiting ancient Rome, or some other suitably primitive venue, the travellers notice a lot of activity in stables with manure piles being combed though. An experienced time traveller or historian might wonder what's going on and remember the source of saltpetre. Of course it could be innocuous, a quack remedy for a disease based on the crystals has spiked interest and demand
- Changing the past 2. When visiting the past the travellers here a decree from the local ruler requiring all farmers to cart their manure to a particular site, one that's well guarded.
- Changing the past 3. This time the heroes witness, or just hear of, someone escaping the local ruler's troops using what sounds or looks suspiciously like a primitive gunpowder bomb. Where did it come from? Genius inventor? (and did it spread?) Stranded space/time traveller?
- While few outside the field of chemistry have heard of him Antoine Lavoisier had a huge influence on eighteenth century politics. Even ignoring his chemical researches (he's not called the 'Father of Chemistry' without justification) he revolutionised the French nitrate industry giving that country a huge supply of high quality powder, quite useful given the hostilities with Britain. It's possible that the American Revolution would have failed without his work, as it provided the basis for supplying munitions to the rebellious colonists.
- Historical research 1. As soon as time travel is developed it'll be used for historical research (I've touched on this elsewhere) and the early history of gunpowder is one area that someone will want to research. As anyone with academic experience knows, there will be someone who'll brave the process to study the past ("What do I care of there's only a 20% chance of making it back? My research will, and that's what counts".). This open up possibilities, a time loop with the research ending up introducing gunpowder, mishaps, suspicious locals et cetera.
- Perhaps the most famous use of gunpowder was the 'Gunpowder Plot' of 1605, when 36 barrels of the stuff were placed under the English parliament were the intention (it's assumed) of eliminating King and establishment with one blast. The novel The Plotters is a good source of material on this incident, redolent as it is of corruption, conspiracy and cover-up.
Alcohol.
Gimme water, yeast, and veggie-trash:
Leave it sitting in the slurry-mash.
When it's ready, put it in the still:
If you can't heat it, then the sunlight will.
Draw the alcohol away, and then
Put the slurry back, and start again!
Well more specifically distilled ethanol. Alcohol has been known for millennia but the yeast that excrete the stuff die off when the alcohol content reaches 15-20% (or more) depending on the strain. So it was mainly beer, wine or "winter wine" that had been concentrated by freezing and removing of ice.Leave it sitting in the slurry-mash.
When it's ready, put it in the still:
If you can't heat it, then the sunlight will.
Draw the alcohol away, and then
Put the slurry back, and start again!
- Here's a seed for the present or near future; a geneered yeast strain or bacterium that can produce 80% pure ethanol, something that would revolutionise the use of ethanol as a fuel source. Where did it come from? Who's trying to steal it? And what else does it leave in the mix?
The Doctor froze in mid-step as he passed into the small room which Benny had been assigned. "What," he asked dangerously, "is all this? Obviously explosives are hardly your style, but –"
Benny squeezed past him, having to sidle along the wall to avoid bumping into any of the hollow clay and wooden tubes that formed a compressed jungle gym linking several clay pots and metal bowls, some of which were suspended over small fires. Steam escaped from the crude joints and turns with faint bubbling sounds "Just my contribution to the Roc's lack of supplies and morale," she said, putting on what she knew was a very unconvincing expression of innocence.
"If that was your intention, you should have baked a cake, not set up a still."
"It's for medical purposes – alcohol swabs should help clean up wounds a little better. Of course it's true that it should be drinkable as well, and not true surgical spirit, but that's just a ray of sunshine to brighten up the last days. I mean, we both know these people aren"t going to have time to get cirrhosis of the liver. Any who survive this place will die at Montsegur fairly soon"..." Anyway, what harm can it do?"
"What harm? Perhaps someone who died of blood poisoning here would have gone on to be a merciless dictator. Any anachronistic item of knowledge risks disruption of the flow of history. If someone duplicated this in this timezone, the next thing you know they"d be developing rocket fuel and flamethrowers based on ethyl alcohol derivatives." The Time Lord sat down on a
depleted sack of mildewed grain.
"Can you imagine the Hundred Years War with rocketry?"
"It"d probably be a lot shorter." She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender before he could respond to this. "All right, I"ll smash it before we leave. It'll just look like any other pile of old junk in a storeroom."
Benny squeezed past him, having to sidle along the wall to avoid bumping into any of the hollow clay and wooden tubes that formed a compressed jungle gym linking several clay pots and metal bowls, some of which were suspended over small fires. Steam escaped from the crude joints and turns with faint bubbling sounds "Just my contribution to the Roc's lack of supplies and morale," she said, putting on what she knew was a very unconvincing expression of innocence.
"If that was your intention, you should have baked a cake, not set up a still."
"It's for medical purposes – alcohol swabs should help clean up wounds a little better. Of course it's true that it should be drinkable as well, and not true surgical spirit, but that's just a ray of sunshine to brighten up the last days. I mean, we both know these people aren"t going to have time to get cirrhosis of the liver. Any who survive this place will die at Montsegur fairly soon"..." Anyway, what harm can it do?"
"What harm? Perhaps someone who died of blood poisoning here would have gone on to be a merciless dictator. Any anachronistic item of knowledge risks disruption of the flow of history. If someone duplicated this in this timezone, the next thing you know they"d be developing rocket fuel and flamethrowers based on ethyl alcohol derivatives." The Time Lord sat down on a
depleted sack of mildewed grain.
"Can you imagine the Hundred Years War with rocketry?"
"It"d probably be a lot shorter." She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender before he could respond to this. "All right, I"ll smash it before we leave. It'll just look like any other pile of old junk in a storeroom."
- The first metropolitan water filtration system was installed in London, by James Simpson for the Chelsea Waterworks Company. Mandatory treatment was implemented in 1856, mainly because of John Snow's work on the 1854 cholera outbreak.
In fact there are some historians who consider the history of alcohol is the history of civilisation. It's known that the
development of agriculture led to food surpluses, which in turn, led to larger
groups of people living in close quarters (the first town and cities). This led to mass production of beers, along with water supply works, to keep them in drinkable liquid. But, so goes the speculation, what if people invented agriculture in order to ensure a ready supply of booze?
- Again a perfect opportunity for a few time travelling researchers to get in trouble. Read Timewyrm - Genesis for Ace's opinion on barley beer.
As the Doctor warned above (Sanctuary) distilled ethanol has many potential uses, fuel and incendiary, antiseptic and solvent. The V2 rockets, for example, used ethanol as a fuel. Mixed with sugar and other materials it can be used as a crude incendiary gel. You can, sort of, run a car on it, the Ford Model T was designed for this but most modern cars don't work as well.
And of course once distillation is known it'll be applied to more than just alcohol, a whole host of compounds can be produced and purified. Industrial chemistry in the nineteenth century got its start with the distillates from coal tar.
Oh, and you can drink it too.
Now I was going to go into other simple chemical possibilities that a time traveller with knowledge and some equipment (heat and electricity source, reaction vessels and piping) could do but I think this post is long enough.
Any comments? Any suggestions for future posts? I'm was considering tackling the potential of the Gunpowder Plot in detail or Franklin's Lost Expedition but there are already Who media involving them, so perhaps more simple ways to screw up history.