Notable Military Technology and Its Usage in Northern Song Dynasty

Northern Song Dynasty

Period: 960 to 1127

This timeline focuses exclusively on the Militaristic innovations and inventions of the Northern Song Dynasty, of which there are many, as opposed to the Southern. This is because the vast majority of these innovations occurred during the Northern Dynasty. There could be a few reasons for this, but the most likely is that the Southern Dynasty was characterized by constant war and conflict, giving little time to innovate.

Formation of the Army

965

The general construction and policy of the military forces of the time were different when compared to other notable armies of the same time. The land the Song Dynasty was situated on was poor for rearing horses and so they bought some forty thousand horses every year and maintained a specialized "horse butchering" infantry for their enemies. They also employed local tribes to supplement their numbers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Song_dynasty#/media/File:SONG_guards.jpg

The "Gunpowder Arrow"

969

"Fire Arrows", or arrows with gunpowder incendiaries strapped to them, were utilized before the Song dynasty. However in this year two Song generals made an advancement on the traditional ammunition by using gunpowder tubes to fire the arrows. This discovery was rewarded greatly, and lead to a switch in the use of arrows, with the norm now being to fire them as if they were rockets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Song_dynasty#/media/File:Manual_Fire_Arrow.jpg

The Flamethrower

976

While not mentioned as frequently as some other weapons, the flamethrower was no less important across the many various confrontations the Song partook in. In this noted interaction on the Yangtze River, the Song used their flamethrowers to fend off a fleet of ships from the Southern Tang. The Tang tried to do the same, but apparently winds blew their fire back into their own boats and were consumed by it. https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a9350a8df526f80ae801e71ab508856c-lq

Crossbows

1005

Crossbows and their operators, Crossbowers or Crossbow-Men, were considered by military leaders of the Song to have been underutilized during the periods preceding theirs. However, Song armies made full use of the crossbows. In the Jin-Song wars they used a technique called volley fire to apparently great effect by raining arrows down upon the enemy continuously, described as being thick as rain. https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/695634/1668592/restricted

First Known Record of Gunpowder Formula

1044

This year is origin of the first known written documentation of the chemical formula for gunpowder. Obviously gunpowder was an extremely vital resource to the fighters of the Song Dynasty. Interestingly, the formula is in a manual called Complete Essentials for the Military Classics, which served as a documentation of antiquated or obsolete weaponry. This implies that at the time of writing, gunpowder was an old invention. https://tinyurl.com/33n4byh8

Construction of Naval Shipyards

1090

Up until approx. the year 1077, the Song's naval army was little more than an antiquity, used for entertainment. This changed after the end of a war, and the government began asking for more ships from sailors. Then in this year, two shipyards were constructed and tasked with the construction of 600 ships annually, marking a notable increase in government support for their naval forces. https://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/miltech/warship.htm

Explosives and the Jin-Song War

1126

The first battle of the Jin-Song wars was also the first (and one of the most detailed) accounts of the use of explosives during a real large-scale battle. The Jin expected this particular battle to be easy, but found they were actually outmatched. This was due to the use of a new weapon called the "thunderclap bomb", a sort of early combination of a shrapnel bomb and a flashbang. It produced an earth-shattering BOOM upon use, sending the enemy into great confusion. https://tinyurl.com/2p93tuhf

Hand-Cannons and So-Called "Eruptors"

1128

One of the final but perhaps most influential militaristic technologies to come from the Song were what are considered by many to be some of the earliest weapons we could call "guns". This specific date represents the earliest known depiction of a Song warrior carrying what is likely a sort of hand cannon. The song developed a plethora of firearms, including what could be considered a very early Gatling gun. http://picturesifound.blogspot.com/2015/06/precursor-machine-gun-china-invention.html

Fire Lance

1132

The fire lance is considered by some to be the earliest kind of gun, or perhaps a proto-gun. It was rather straightforward, a long spear or lance with a gunpowder tube affixed to the shaft, usually containing pellets. This year of 1132 is the first known usage of this device in "the siege of De'an". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Song_dynasty#/media/File:Fire_lance.jpg

Naval Bombs

1159

Gunpowder became important not just to terrestrial but naval battles as well, starting in the year 1129 when the Song government decreed that all their Naval ships would be builty with trebuchets for firing gunpowder bombs, such as thunderclap bombs. This technology brought the Song many decisive victories on the water, such as this year 1159, when Song military caught a Jin fleet anchored offshore a peninsula, and rained bombs and fire upon them. https://tinyurl.com/4k5ftwbp

Hard-Shelled Explosives

1189

Iron bombs that would be more recognizable to us were also utilized by the Song empire, though these came about much later in the dynasty's lifetime. Interestingly, the invention of these kinds of hard-shelled bombs were sometimes attributed to a man that appears to have only existed in a rather far-fetched tale of sorts, where he used the bombs to carefully scare foxes into cages he had set up. https://tinyurl.com/2p8h2thb