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Improvised Explosive Devices pp 1–18Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

From the Gunpowder Revolution to Dynamite Terrorism

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Abstract

This chapter provides a short history of the early use of explosives in warfare beginning with the emergence of gunpowder and moving to the employment of dynamite, paying particular attention to the evolution of early improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the USA and Crimea.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Butalia, Romesh C. 1998. The Evolution of the Artillery in India: From the Battle of Plassey (1757) to the Revolt of 1857. Allied Publishers. Pg 17.

  2. 2.

    Partington, J. R. 1960. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. JHU Press.

  3. 3.

    Brown, G. I. 1998. The Big Bang – A History of Explosives. Stroud, Glos: Sutton Publishing Limited.

  4. 4.

    Mayor, Adrienne. 2003. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World. Woodstock, New York, and London: Overlook Duckworth.

  5. 5.

    Brown, G. I. The Big Bang.

  6. 6.

    Mayor. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs. Pg 242.

  7. 7.

    Partington. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Pg 26.

  8. 8.

    Brown, G. I. The Big Bang.

  9. 9.

    Creveld, Martin L. Van. 1989. Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present. Collier Macmillan. Pg 82.

  10. 10.

    Needham, Joseph. 1986. Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge University Press. Pgs 156–161.

  11. 11.

    Needham. Science and Civilisation in China. Pg 163.

  12. 12.

    Needham. Science and Civilisation in China. Pg 169.

  13. 13.

    Needham. Science and Civilisation in China. Pg 163.

  14. 14.

    Stone-cut explosive mines, for example, used carved stones, hollowed out and pack with gunpowder, and capped with a fuse. These devices would be “buried and hidden underground, and this is what can be used for ground thunder”. Huo Lung Ching, cited in: Needham. Science and Civilisation in China. 196.

  15. 15.

    Needham. Science and Civilisation in China. Pg 199.

  16. 16.

    Youngblood, Norman. 2006. The Development of Mine Warfare: A Most Murderous and Barbarous Conduct. Westport CT: Praeger Security International.

  17. 17.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare.

  18. 18.

    Beretta, Antonio Ballesteros. 1963. Alfonso X El Sabio. First edit. Salvat Ed. Pg 315.

  19. 19.

    Brown. The Big Bang.

  20. 20.

    Roland. “Science, Technology, and War.” Pg 562.

  21. 21.

    Buchanan, Brenda J. 2006. Gunpowder, Explosives and the State: A Technological History. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Pg 2.

  22. 22.

    Iacopo, Mariano Di. 1430. “Underground Mine Causing a Fortress to Collapse.” In De Machinis. Institute and Museum of the History of Science. http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=LIR&xsl=manoscritto&lingua=ENG&chiave=100557.

  23. 23.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare. Pg 10.

  24. 24.

    Several sources refer to this event as the first use of explosive mines, although this remains contested with Partington suggesting this was in fact misreported as an incendiary mine. Partington. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Pg 172.

  25. 25.

    Duffy, Christopher. 2013. Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494–1660. Routledge. Pg 11.

  26. 26.

    See Duffy. Siege Warfare Pg 11 & 238; Turnbull, Stephen. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East: AD 960–1644. Osprey Publishing. Pg 44.

  27. 27.

    Motley refers to several examples of underground mining in efforts to destroy fortifications, including the sieve of Steenwyk in 1592 when “Four mines, leading to different points of the defenses, were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and twenty-five hundred pounds of powder”. See Motley, John Lothrop. 1888. History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years’ Truce--1609. New York: Harper & brothers.

  28. 28.

    Foley, Vernard, Steven Rowley, David F Cassidy, and F Charles Logan. 2015. “Leonardo, the Wheel Lock, and the Milling Process” 24 (3).

  29. 29.

    Partington. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Pg 170.

  30. 30.

    Samuel Zimmermann. 1587. “Dialogus.” Augsburg.

  31. 31.

    Davies, Roger. 2013. “A Booby Trap IED from 1630.” Standing Well Back. http://www.standingwellback.com/home/2013/1/5/a-booby-trap-ied-from-1630.html.

  32. 32.

    Partington. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Pg 176.

  33. 33.

    Many have questions whether this could in fact have been a conspiracy of the government against Catholics designed to discredit the Catholic community, and indeed there are a number of outstanding questions and holes which have yet to be addressed, such as where the group were able to acquire 36 barrels of gunpowder? Brown. The Big Bang.

  34. 34.

    As stated by Professor Mark Nichols IN: BBC. 2015. “Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot.” UK: BBC 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mhwfn.

  35. 35.

    Likar, Lawrence E. 2011. Eco-Warriors, Nihilistic Terrorists, and the Environment. ABC-CLIO. https://books.google.com/books?id=mAZYZgZTBBsC&pgis=1. Pg 59.

  36. 36.

    Davis, John Paul. 2013. Pity For The Guy: A Biography of Guy Fawkes. Peter Owen Limited.

  37. 37.

    Carrington, Damian. 2003. “Gunpowder Plot Would Have Devastated London.” New Scientist, November.

  38. 38.

    See: Jones, Ian. 2004. Malice Aforethought: The History of Booby Traps from World War One to Vietnam. Greenhill. Pg 12; Partington. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Pg 170; Davies, Roger. 2014. “Things That Have Happened before.” Standing Well Back. http://www.standingwellback.com/home/2014/6/18/things-that-have-happened-before.html.

  39. 39.

    Motley, John Lothrop. 1863. The Rise of the Dutch Republic: Complete in One Volume. Strahan. Pg 888.

  40. 40.

    Palgrave, Reginald Francis Douce. 1890. Oliver Cromwell, the Protector: An Appreciation Based on Contemporary Evidence. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. https://ia700508.us.archive.org/7/items/olivercromwellpr00palguoft/olivercromwellpr00palguoft.pdf. Pg 284.

  41. 41.

    Roger Davies has alluded to how, over the course of the Dutch independence wars, what is perhaps the first synchronised roadside bombing of a convoy occurred when Dutch rebels seemingly used a command-detonated wheel-lock mechanisms to detonate a number of buried barrels of gunpowder decimating a passing Spanish troop convoy. Yet, as Davies notes it is difficult to verify this event with any certainty. Davies, Roger. 2011. “Complex IED Attack circa 1584.” Standing Well Back. http://www.standingwellback.com/home/2011/10/4/complex-ied-attack-circa-1584.html.

  42. 42.

    Rutt, John Towill, ed. 1828. “A Brief Relation of the Late Dangerous Plot for the Destruction of His Highness’s Person.” In Diary of Thomas Burton Esq: Volume 2, April 1657–February 1658. London: H Colburn. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/burton-diaries/vol2/pp483-488.

  43. 43.

    Giambelli has been variously spelt “Gianibelli”, “Genebelli”, “Genibelli” or “Jenibell” in different texts.

  44. 44.

    Motley. History of the United Netherlands. Pg 190.

  45. 45.

    Motley. History of the United Netherlands. Pgs 190, 191.

  46. 46.

    Davis, Paul K. 2003. Besieged: 100 Great Sieges from Jericho to Sarajevo. Oxford University Press. Pg 120.

  47. 47.

    There is some disagreement over the whether the ship was named the “Hoop” or the “Hope”.

  48. 48.

    Motley. History of the United Netherlands. Pg 191.

  49. 49.

    There are some discrepancies in relation to the number of deaths caused in the Hoop attack with numbers ranging from 800 to 1000.

  50. 50.

    Davies, Roger. 2011. “Hellburner Hoop.” Standing Well Back. http://www.standingwellback.com/home/2012/10/2/big-ieds-in-ships.html.

  51. 51.

    Martin, Colin, and Geoffrey Parker. 1999. The Spanish Armada: Revised Edition. Manchester University Press. Pg 54.

  52. 52.

    The British Orders and Awards claim that Giambelli “showed us how to use them” see Gordon, Lawrence L. 1968. British Orders and Awards. Kaye & Ward. Pg 104.

  53. 53.

    Davies, Roger. 2014. “USS Intrepid – Another Ship-Borne Massive IED.” Standing Well Back. http://www.standingwellback.com/home/2014/5/26/uss-intrepid-another-ship-borne-massive-ied.html.

  54. 54.

    Mattingly, Garrett. 1987. The Armada. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Pg 325.

  55. 55.

    Brodie, Bernard, and Fawn McKay Brodie. 1973. From Crossbow to H-Bomb. Indiana University Press. Pg 68.

  56. 56.

    Childs, David. 2009. Tudor Sea Power: The Foundation of Greatness. Seaforth Publishing. Pg 83.

  57. 57.

    See Feldhaus, Franz Maria. 1910. Ruhmesblätter Der Technik von Den Urerfindungen Bis Zur Gegenwart. F. Brandstetter. https://ia802706.us.archive.org/2/items/ruhmesbltterder00feldgoog/ruhmesbltterder00feldgoog.pdf. Pg 170–172. Thanks to Kai Ilchmann for assistance with translation.

  58. 58.

    Roland. “Science, Technology, and War.”

  59. 59.

    Brodie & Brodie. From Crossbow to H-Bomb. Pg 107.

  60. 60.

    Simon, Jeffrey D. 2008. “The Forgotten Terrorists: Lessons from the History of Terrorism.” Terrorism and Political Violence 20 (2): 195–214. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09546550801907599.

  61. 61.

    Davies, Roger. 2012. “The Felix Orsini Bomb.” Standing Well Back. http://www.standingwellback.com/home/2012/12/30/the-felix-orsini-bomb.html. Cropley, David H., and Arthur J. Cropley. 2013. Creativity and Crime: A Psychological Analysis. Cambridge University Press. Pgs 182 & 183.

  62. 62.

    Cropley & Cropley. Creativity and Crime. Pgs 182 & 183.

  63. 63.

    See, for example, Bushnell’s IED employed in August 1777 along rivers and developed with barrels of gunpowder, rope upon which a ship would snag itself, and gunlocks.

  64. 64.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare.

  65. 65.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare.

  66. 66.

    O’Connell, Robert L. 1989. Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression. Oxford University Press, USA. Pg 188.

  67. 67.

    Earl St Vincent remarked that Prime Minster Pitt “was the greatest fool that ever existed to encourage a mode of war that which they who control the seas did not want and which, if successful, would deprive them of it”. O’Connell. Of Arms and Men. Pg 188.

  68. 68.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare. Pg 19.

  69. 69.

    British interest waned with the end of conflict with France, and sea mines, which had the potential to offset the British monopoly of control over the seas, were likely viewed with both disdain and trepidation.

  70. 70.

    Dudley, William S., and Michael J. Crawford. 1985. The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. Government Printing Office. Pg 147.

  71. 71.

    Lundeberg, Philip K. 1974. Samuel Colt’s Submarine Battery – The Secret and the Enigma. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Pg 22.

  72. 72.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare. Pg 29.

  73. 73.

    Delafield, Richard. 1860. “Report on the Art of War in Europe in 1854, 1855, and 1856.” Washington, DC. Pg 109.

  74. 74.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare. Pg 31.

  75. 75.

    Maury’s wife is reported as stating it was “barbarous to blow up men without giving them the chance to defend themselves”. Betty Maury as cited in: Perry, Milton F. 1965. Infernal Machines. Louisiana State University Press. Pg 8.

  76. 76.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare. Pg 38.

  77. 77.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 6.

  78. 78.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pgs 10–16.

  79. 79.

    President Jefferson Davis, as cited in Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 14.

  80. 80.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 6.

  81. 81.

    Other duties included the purchasing of warships for the confederacy. Perry. Infernal Machines. Pgs 10–16.

  82. 82.

    Youngblood. The Development of Mine Warfare. Pg 38.

  83. 83.

    See the short bio of Rains in: Rains, Gabriel J., and Peter S. Michie. 2011. Confederate Torpedoes: Two Illustrated 19th Century Works with New Appendices and Photographs. Edited by Herbert M Schiller. McFarland. Pgs 4, 5, 6; Singer, Jane. 2005. The Confederate Dirty War: Arson, Bombings, Assassination and Plots for Chemical and Germ Attacks on the Union. McFarland.

  84. 84.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 24.

  85. 85.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 21.

  86. 86.

    “Torpedoes” was a term widely used for explosive devices and mines in the American Civil War and indeed in late nineteenth-century Europe but without necessarily any linkage with the concept of “torpedoes” as currently understood as maritime explosive weapons propelled towards their target.

  87. 87.

    Blair, William. 2000. “The Seven Days and the Radical Persuasion.” In The Richmond Campaign of 1862: The Peninsula and the Seven Days, edited by Gary W. Gallagher. University of North Carolina Press. Pg 168.

  88. 88.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 25.

  89. 89.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 25.

  90. 90.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 25.

  91. 91.

    Confederate States of America. 1862. Public Laws of the Confederate States of America. Edited by James Matthews. Gale Cengage Learning. Pg 51.

  92. 92.

    Viktor von Scheliha. 1868. A Treatise on Coast Defence: Based on the Experience Gained by Officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Army of the Confederate States. London: E & F.N Spon. Pg 220.

  93. 93.

    Viktor von Scheliha. (1868) Ibid. Pg 220.

  94. 94.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 31.

  95. 95.

    Coal Torpedoes were developed by Thomas Courtenay and employed by the Confederate Secret Service to sabotage naval vessels and later by special operations personnel of various nationalities in the First and Second World Wars. United States. Naval War Records Office. 1914. “Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion; Series I – Volume 26: Naval Forces on Western Water.”

  96. 96.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 38.

  97. 97.

    Schneck, William C. 1998. “The Origins of Military Mines: Part I.” Engineering Bulletin. http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/980700-schneck.htm.

  98. 98.

    Perry. Infernal Machines. Pg 38.

  99. 99.

    Whelehan, Niall. 2012. The Dynamiters: Irish Nationalism and Political Violence in the Wider World, 1867–1900. Cambridge University Press. Pg 142.

  100. 100.

    Larabee, Ann. 2004. “A Brief History of Terrorism in the United States.” In Technology and Terrorism, edited by David Clarke, 244. Transaction Publishers. Pg 25.

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    James Revill

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Revill, J. (2016). From the Gunpowder Revolution to Dynamite Terrorism. In: Improvised Explosive Devices . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33834-7_1

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