There was a disregard of industry as the source of a nation’s power well in to the 19th century, as armies and navies were frequently used to measure power. It wasn’t until about 1815 that radical military change and invention started appearing because of the Industrial Revolution. Innovation in military weaponry was mostly based on improvements to existing weapons, most noticeably firearms, artillery and warships. Most of military development came from necessity rather than innovation, greed or from the curiosity that fuelled the Industrial …show more content…
Due to their invention, old technologies such as the rifle and musket were able to take on new characteristics with much more deadly effects. While changing old technology was important during the Industrial Revolution, so were the inventions of new technologies during the era. New inventions such as war rockets and the locomotive are examples of technology that would revolutionize warfare in the late 19th century and beyond.
The idea of projectiles propelled by their own self controlled explosions was not a new idea. Rockets were effectively used by the Chinese dating back to the thirteenth century, but were not utilized or researched for military purposes in Europe until roughly 1799. A scientist by the name of William Congreve witnessed the use of war rockets against the British at the siege of Seringapatam and took them back to the Royal Laboratory in Woolwich. And Using his own money, he improved on the rocket’s design.
The war rocket was first used by the British in the attack on Boulogne in 1806. Mounted on boats, Congreve’s war rockets had a range of 2,000 yards and could be launched 500 at time from 10