Gunpowder and the Printing Press: The History and Legacy of the Inventions that Modernized Europe

In addition to the wheelbarrow, the seismograph, the waterwheel, deep drilling, suspension bridges, and ship rudders, among countless other life-changing contraptions, the Chinese developed what were later dubbed the “Four Great Inventions of China.” Two of those were gunpowder and printing, which both spread through South Asia and the Middle East before making it to Europe.

For a time, gunpowder was a mere curiosity, but its destructive power and military potential would be realized quick...