International Journal of Academic Research
ISSN: 2348-7666 Vol.1 Issue.3, September, 2014
Lingaraju, Asst. Professor in History, Government College (Autonomous), Mandya District, Karnataka
Tipu Sultan wrote a military manual called in which 200 rocket men were assigned to each Mysorean "cushoon" (brigade). Mysore had 16 to 24 cushoons of infantry. Mysorean Rockets were the first iron cased rockets that were successfully deployed for military use. Hyder Ali, the 18th century ruler of Mysore, and his son and successor, Tipu Sultan used them effectively against the British East India Company. Their conflicts with the company exposed the British to this technology, which was then used to advance European rocketry with the development of the Congreve Rocket (Narasimha Roddam 1985) The Congreve Rocket was a British military weapon designed and developed by Sir William Congreve in 1804. SirWilliam Congreve, 2nd Baronet (20 May 1772 – 16 May 1828) was an inventor and pioneer of rocket artillery distinguished for his development and deployment of rockets popularly called as Congreve rockets.
The rocket was developed by the Royal Arsenal following the experiences of the Second, Third and Fourth Mysore Wars. The wars fought between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore in India made use of rockets as a weapon. After the wars, several Mysore rockets were sent to England, and from 1801, William Congreve set on a research and development programme at the Arsenal's laboratory. The Royal Arsenal's first demonstration of solid fuel rockets was in 1805. The rockets were used effectively during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Work to produce a British weapon was unsuccessful at first until the project was taken up by Colonel Congreve at the Royal Laboratory Woolwich. By 1805 the British had introduced the first reasonably effective military rocket to European warfare. These early weapons were designed as incendiaries made up of layers of paper at first but later of sheet iron. In 1806, 200 rockets were fired from 18 boats in 30 minutes at Boulogne. In 1807 a massive 40,000 rocket attack did tremendous damage to Copenhagen mainly from fire (some sources suggest that far fewer rockets were used at Copenhagen - only slightly more than at Boulogne). The rockets soon developed in sophistication with the fire rockets being used for sieges. A hollow iron head was developed which could be loaded with shell or rounds and the larger types with canister (musket balls with a charge behind them) Those used by the field artillery came in 4 sizes 6, 9, 12 and 18lbs. Although other nations did develop rockets after the British model only the British used them in action, with 2 rocket troops being shown as part of the Royal Horse Artillery (due to their speed) in 1813. The military use of rockets was in its infancy but the Congreve rockets, although of somewhat limited effectiveness in a field battle, paved the way for future developments which were to have a tremendous impact on modern warfare.
There was an increasing attempt by Europeans to imitate eastern pyrotechnics while applying economic and scientific principles to reform pyrotechnic production.
Congreve
viewed his rockets as ‘rational’,
operated via an experimental system that
dispensed with the need for any skilled
labour, save Congreve's own inventive
capacities. But when rockets were put to
the test, naval officers, artisans and other inventors all disputed this claim, and
this article shows how their various
skills proved indispensable in making
the rocket work. The refined innovation
of Congreve rockets highlighted the Indian
skills behind European invention. As the
concept of Imperial expansion ushered,
exploring new technologies was necessary & it was a contingency of
imperial enterprise. New places became
colonies & conquests superseded
colonial pursuits. The rocket innovation
was just handy as it was necessary to prove
political eminence. British imperialism
was more contingent and collaborative
during this phase. It was facing
recurrent obstacles over its
expansionist policy, The reliance on
existing local military skills and
traditions to build new institutions of
fiscal, governmental, technical and
scientific control in colonial settings was a farce dream as this was
not possible without new weaponry.
Geographical divisions between Europe and the East were challenged. As Indian subcontinent played host to British and French enmities, the Indian knowledge of warfare was taken a guide to Europeans' efforts in holding the subcontinent powerfully. Thus Congreve's innovations were identified with an elongated tradition of British efforts to restructure fireworks as useful and profitable commodities & assist colonial warfare. The timing of Congreve's imitation of Indian rocket technology emerged in parallel with European attitudes to eastern pyrotechnics .The European imperial war concepts sought justification for commercial and imperial campaigns into India and China through superior war technology.
A
series of reforms were undertaken at
Woolwich Arsenal in London in the
second half of the eighteenth century, led by Congreve's father. Reformers sought to reduce labour costs and bring gunpowder and artillery production and management under the exclusive control of the Royal Artillery. The imitation of
Indian rocket technology closely was
taken away by Congreve & he was hailed for his invention. The European mind never accepted to the excellence of Indian warfare technology. Congreve's rocket programme followed exactly this logic, designed as a ‘system’ under the inventor's control, which would discipline or remove the need for local trained labour and supposedly owed nothing to Indians' skills. His rockets developed during an important era in the history
of pyrotechnics, which saw diverse
attempts to make traditional fireworks
more ‘philosophical’.
From the Renaissance to the mid eighteenth century, courts across Europe staged grand displays of ‘artificial fireworks’ as potent demonstrations of princely power. Typically set off around elaborate allegorical decorations, court displays included spinning wheels, fiery candles, star-filled bombs, and rockets, the latter used originally in warfare but primarily in festive fireworks from about 1600. Performed to music, fireworks typically ended in a great ‘girandola’ or burst of several thousand rockets at once. In the eighteenth century, critics, particularly in Britain, increasingly attacked court fireworks as expensive and wasteful, while others offered alternative uses for fireworks. Simultaneously, Europeans entangled imperial projects .Imperial ventures returned novel forms of pyrotechnics to Europe. An important precedent for Congreve rockets was the ‘Bengal Fire’ or ‘Blue Light’ made with sulphur and antimony by Indian troops and used to illuminate enemies at night. French and British troops dismissed these flares on first encountering them in India, but by the late 1750s ‘Bengal lights’ were advertised in Europe, first as festive pyrotechnics, then as military.
Europeans often considered Chinese and Indian fireworks superior to their own, but attitudes had changed by the early nineteenth century. Opinions fitted broader oriental attitudes, claiming that eastern culture was stagnant in comparison with European progress. The change reflected transformations in European empires and economies. Efforts by the British and French to control territory and trade in the East coincided with metropolitan attempts to imitate and substitute imports of eastern luxury goods, until Europeans identified their own goods and production processes as being superior to those of Chinese, Japanese and Indians, whose work was represented as ‘rude’: static, caught in the past, and lacking the inventiveness and scientific literacy of Europeans.
The initiatives of the British to duplicate Indian rocket technology werefostered by several issues ranging from philosophical to confrontational. The opinions of the political leaders surpassed all other argumentations in emulating rocket technology. This was incumbent because there was no preference for Briton, other than this in maintaining numero Uno position as a colonial superpower. While under estimating anything Indian, they disdained this rocket concept also.
This was essential for Britain to prove its hegemony & colonial pursuit. Tipu sultan was combated because of the superiority of war skill than territorial enmity.
1. Narasimha Roddam (2 April b1985) Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750–1850 A.D., bNational Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560017 India, Project Document DU 8503,[1]