"heaven quaking thunder". The
             instrument they used is described as an iron tube or vessel that was filled with a powder or
             drug meaning they used gunpowder. Some people think the "thunder" was a real cannon.
             However it was most likely really nothing more than some kind of metal bomb filled with
             gunpowder and was thrown at the Mongols by the defending Chinese.
             Only a few decades after this time, the Mongols completed their conquest of the
             greatest land empire ever known to man, not only including all of China, but also most of
             the rest of Asia and Eastern Europe as far west as Poland and Hungary. Because of this
             empire existing, it was possible for Europeans like Marco Polo (however it's not been
             proven if Marco Polo himself ever traveled as far East as China) to travel freely to the Far
             East, and for many new things gotten there to be brought by them back to Europe. It is
             most likely although not completely proven that gunpowder was among some of the
             products which were introduced to Europe this way.
             If all of that is true then the use of gunpowder for cannons is more or less
             completely a development from Europe. In historical documents here cannons are referred
             to in Italy, France, England, and other countries from about 1330 onward. Which goes to
             show that while the Chinese most likely invented gu
             ...