When did gunpowder start to become really prevalent in European

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Seems reasonable in general for the mass adoption handheld firearms, though it varies a bit with which war and so on. Siege artillery would be a bit earlier, so say 15th century I guess. You get a really good look into many of the hows, whens and whys of the transition to gunpowder in "Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe" by Bert S. Hall.

>>35009994
More like second half of the 15th century.

When Constantinople fell

>>35009994
Ottoman conquests? I know one thing that really pushed Europe's shit in was the fact they employed firearms on a much grander scale than anything seen in Europe.

Europe ended up adopting the idea, but with much better cast iron (one thing the religious zeal was good for was the endless race to make bigger and better bells... a very useful skill for good cannons down the line).

>>35009994
Hussite wars.

>>35010054
I wonder if anyone back then tried making a handheld recoilless gun or launcher.

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>>35010155
Adding onto that, as in on the shoulder, not just a firework on a stick.

>>35010155
Probably not. The problem is that you'd have to do it with loose powder and that's... hard.

>>35009994

Early 15th Century m8. Look at the 100 years war.

>>35009994
large cannons started to become pretty popular during the 1300s and rendered trebuchets and medieval style castles with thin, high walls obsolete by the late 1400s.

Handgonnes were developed more or less concurrently and had evolved into the arquebus by 1500. Bows and crossbows declined rapidly during the late 1400s and lasted until around the mid 16th century before falling out of favor for military use.

Plate armor became thicker and covered less and less of the body, gradually resembling modern body armor which usually protects only the torso and head. It was worn by infantry through the 17th century before the firepower of improving guns rendered it too heavy to be practical. Some cavalry units continued to wear body armor until WWI. During WWI, steel body armor was issued to some infantrymen but was rarely worn due to its weight.

Outside Europe, many people did not adopt gunpowder weapons en masse until much later. Bows and spears continued to be common hunting tools weapons throughout parts of Africa, Asia, and South America and remain so to this day.

>>35010111
Trips of truth. That was the moment that really sealed the ascent of gunpowder weapons.