Pondering the beginnings of WWI

[Grey_Wolf]

If the technology of the Chinese powder-propelled rocketry had been rediscovered in the early 20th Century, and furthermore the British had developed these weapons with nitroglycerin-filled bomblets in the warhead, and if these rockets had been massproduced, for the use of Allied troops during the very start of the First World War would they, in fact, have worked to stem the tide of the attacking German forces.

[Mari]

Lots of ifs in there, GW.
IF that had been re-discovered, then both sides are bound to have had that technology in no time and made it deadlier, resulting MAYBE in an even more horrible war.
Too many ifs for me to make up something plausible though, sorry.

[Earniel]

There are a number of issues I can think of. Firstly, Chinese powder (if I got my English terms right) was rather outdated by the beginning of the First World War. There had been all sorts of gun powder, cordite and other, better, more efficient propellants developed and mass-produced by then.

Secondly, nitroglycerine is a very dangerous substance! Highly sensitive and difficult to handle because of that. I do believe it was used in production of explosives at the time, but I highly doubt nitroglycerine, as a pure product, was ever used on a World War battlefield. It needs specific temperatures for storage and use too, if I recall correctly. So its uses on the battlefield would have automatically have been limited.

Thirdly, I believe much, if not all of the rockets used in the First and Second World War detonated on impact. I don't know for sure, but I doubt bombs could be triggered to explode in the air by remote control or a timer. In that light I highly doubt the technology even existed to load several charges of explosives as today's cluster bombs carry. So regardless of how many nitroglycerine bomblets you loaded in a warhead, they'd only go off once, together.

[Grey_Wolf]

Thanks for ur responses.

[Earniel]

What, that's it? No possible refutation, no defense of your original scenario, no correction or adaptation of some technique might have worked instead?

I feel cheated.

[Mari]

Hehe, true.

[Grey_Wolf]

Im sorry, didnt mean to thus cut it short.

Well, as for adaption perhaps missiles with simple explosives in the warheads would be better suited for the purpose - as for the timing - they did have timing devices in those days - so that would not have been so difficult to produce.

[Coffeehouse]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf

If the technology of the Chinese powder-propelled rocketry had been rediscovered in the early 20th Century, and furthermore the British had developed these weapons with nitroglycerin-filled bomblets in the warhead, and if these rockets had been massproduced, for the use of Allied troops during the very start of the First World War would they, in fact, have worked to stem the tide of the attacking German forces.

The answer is no, but not because of any technological inhibition. The Germans simply had too much of a headstart (with their blitz-like Schlieffen Plan) when they plowed through the Benelux nations.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf

Well, as for adaption perhaps missiles with simple explosives in the warheads would be better suited for the purpose - as for the timing - they did have timing devices in those days - so that would not have been so difficult to produce.

Alright, so the British had explosives to load missiles and timers to set them off at the right time. Which means... they just should have carried on as they did in reality. Seems like they were doing to best they had, then.

[HOBBIT]

There was Chinese technology that the western world didn't know about in 1914? News to me.

[Grey_Wolf]

I didnt mean that the West didnt know about it in the early 20th century - I meant using and adapting the rocket technology to their special needs at the start of the conflict.