War would never be the same.
This was the year Chinese forces employed gunpowder -- used for centuries primarily for fireworks -- for a new and deadly purpose: the world's first rifle.
Gunpowder had found its way onto the battlefield the previous century, introduced by Mongol invaders who packed the explosive into vessels to fashion grenades. They also converted bamboo poles into "fire lances," effective flame throwers that could burn for five minutes.
But it was a Song Dynasty army that took the next, crucial step of adding scrap metal and broken porcelain to the fire lances to create the first hand-held projectile weapons. Historians variously date this battle against invaders as taking place in 1126, 1132, or 1150, but there is little disagreement over its significance in history.
"That was the realization of gunpowder's potential to play a decisive role in world history," said Paul Levinson a Fordham University communications professor and author of six books on history and the impact of technology.
It would be 200 years before gunpowder reached its full potential. in Europe, the first cannon was produced around 1318 and castle walls became moot in battle. Technology's quest for smaller, better weapons led to the harquebus, the wick-fired matchlock, and the flintlock musket, and eventually to today's handguns and artillery.
