More than a decade ago, when I first heard “The Star Spangled Banner”, the lines—”The Rockets’ Red Glare”—intrigued me. I wondered about what rocket was Francis Scott Key’s referring to back in 1814 when the poem was written? Even though I was curious, at the time there was no Wikipedia at hand for reference, and over the years, I never really took time to look up more about this question.

But, strangely enough yesterday, after watching a video on YouTube about the Taj Mahal, I chanced upon a video about Tipu Sultan, The Tiger of Mysore, and there it was; the answer to the mysterious rockets in The Star Spangled Banner.

The story goes back to the three decade long Anglo-Mysore wars of 1766 to 1799, when first Haidar Ali and later his Son Tipu Sultan kept the invading British and neighboring princely states at bay. The main weapon which gave Tipu Sultan and his father the edge were rockets.

Even though rocket artillery were used by the Chinese, Mongols, Turks—and later found its way in to Europe; its use was limited. It was Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan who took it to the next level. Instead of the traditional bamboo casing, they used iron casings, with sharp blades and iron point attachments, making Tipu’s rockets a lethal and effective weapon.

The British received an unpleasant surprise in 1780 when Hyder Ali brought into action the Guntur iron-cased rockets weighing more than 12 pounds each, mounted a 10-ft bamboo pole, that had a range of nearly half a mile

Eventually, the relentless British defeated Tipu Sultan, seized some of his rockets and shipped them back to Britain for further scrutiny:

These experiences eventually led to the Royal Woolwich Arsenal’s beginning a military rocket R&D program in 1801, their first demonstration of solid-fuel rockets in 1805 and publication of A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System in 1807 by William Congreve [31], son of the arsenal’s commandant. Congreve rockets were soon systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and their confrontation with the US during 1812-14. These descendants of Mysore rockets find mention in the Star Spangled Banner.

So there you have it, the story of the rockets in The Star Spangled Banner. A fascinating example of how precisely things had to happen in history to have affected the present and the future, and how a single word in a national anthem could have a story of epic proportions.

Even though I am glad I know this now, I am a little saddened too, for India has forgotten this wonderful part of her history. I remember learning about Tipu Sultan and the Mysore Wars in school, but I have never heard about his rockets and his brigades of rocket men being mentioned. But, the British have kept this history alive, and Tipu’s rockets can be seen on display at the Royal Artillery Museum in London.

PHOTO CREDIT: juvertson | NASA