How has gunpowder made an impact on society, warfare, technology, history, general everyday life etc.?
Gunpowder has literally had immeasurable influence on history. Before gunpowder, warfare was an up close and personal affair. Archers were the primary way of striking at a distance, and they were rarely accurate or effective at much more than a hundred yards or so(some types of archers could reach further, but overall 100 yards is a good average). Towns, cities, and castles built walls that generally offered significant resistance to even the heaviest trebuchets, catapults, and other mechanical machines designed to bombard them. With gunpowder, that all changed. Musketeers and riflemen were easier to train than good quality archers, and over time the rate of fire and reach were superior to those archers. Gunsmithing quickly improved to where the best plate armor could be pierced, spelling the end of the age of lance and shield as the decisive weapon on the battlefield. IT became a race for nations to field and equip large numbers of men rather than relying on smaller armies supplemente
