The Chinese, and later the Europeans who picked it up from them in the eighteenth century, used rockets a little. China didn't just shrug off rockets because they were too important for them, they didn't use them because the tech at the time made them way too unpredictable and therefore useless (just think back to when you've played with bottle rockets and you'll understand what I mean. You can aim that motherfucker, but it'll whistle back around and pop above your head if it feels like it). Rockets before the twentieth century fulfilled a primarily psychological role since they did at least make a lot of noise and explode dramatically. What the twentieth century brought was the ability to guide them enough to make them work.

Also, where the fuck did my siggy go?