Rockets Missiles Rockets have been used in warfare since ancient times when Chinese warriors shot small arrow rockets By the beginning of the 1800s modern armies were using iron-cased rockets The first ones were not very accurate and few hit their targets Some even looped back on their launchers However they did succeed in creating panic among the enemy By World War II WWII rockets had become more complex and were being fired from multiple launchers ships and aircraft They were also more stable in flight but they did not have any form of homing device to guide them accurately to their target 4
The first guided missiles to follow a curved path were also used during WWII These missiles had simple navigation and targeting devices Since the end of WWII missiles have become much more high tech They now have accurate targeting devices that allow them to hit their marks from a continent away They can be launched from pads or even submarines hidden under the sea A Virginia-class submarine test launches a cruise missile from beneath the waves Cruise missiles are guided missiles that can be launched from long distances 5
Napoleonic Wars 1803 1815 Battle of Waterloo The First Rockets During the 1780s and 1790s the first iron-cased rockets were used during the Anglo-Mysore Wars in southern India These rockets were used by the Kingdom of Mysore to help defeat the army of the British East India Company at a battle in 1780 Mysorean rockets had a range of up to 1 2 miles 1 9 km Some would burst in the air and others would bounce along the ground Some had swords attached to skewer the enemy In later battles the British captured some of these rockets and copied them British 6
The Second Rocket Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery is shown firing Congreve rockets during the Battle of Waterloo on June 18 1815 The rockets used sticks to guide them The rockets helped defeat the French and end the Napoleonic Wars inventor William Congreve modeled the rocket named after him on captured Mysorean rockets Congreve rockets were used by the British to burn the White House during the War of 1812 They were also used against the French during the Napoleonic Wars Congreve rockets were used until 1867 when they were replaced by Hale rockets which did not need wooden guidesticks The first rockets used in war were attached to arrows They may have appeared as early as the 900s C E in China The Munjong Hwacha right was used in Korea in 1451 It was one of the first mobile rocket launchers 7
