Gunpowder Empires In Paul Kennedy's The Rise Of The West

Tim Blanning wrote a book called The Pursuit of Glory in which he discusses “revolutions that made modern Europe.” Mark Greengrass wrote a book called Christendom Destroyed in which he discusses topics as evidence Christendom has broken apart between the years 1517-1648 in Europe. The meaning of Christendom is unity in the landmass of modern Europe. Mark Greengrass alludes to the idea that one can see that Christendom broke apart through evidence of change in demography and social patterns of now modern Europe. Blanning discusses revolutions in communication, people, and trade and manufacturing that led to modern Europe. Based on reading The Pursuit of Glory by Tim Blanning and Christendom Destroyed by Mark Greengrass there is some continuation of the patterns seen upon reading Greengrass’ book and The Pursuit of Glory.

The revival of trade and commerce during the middle ages impacted European Society in many ways but it is important to know how and what caused the revival of trade and commerce and then how it really changed the future European Society.

WHG 6.1.5 Interpreting Europe’s Increasing Global Power – Describe Europe’s increasing global power between 1500 and 1900, and evaluate the merits of the argument that this rise was caused by factors internal to Europe

According to the lecture, “Technology made the new imperialism possible”. Telegraph, the steamboat, breech-loading rifles, and their medicine for preventing or curing diseases such as malaria are only a few examples of European’s technological advances. Before nineteenth century, the places that later became the colonies of Europe were regarded

Much of Europe placed effort into their quest for global influence, and subsequently, domination in the 18th century. However, like many things in life, it was not an easy feat. They constantly faced challenges from diplomatic agreements and peaceful negotiation for rights in both foreign and domestic forces. Also, with new territory came struggles with the native people and their consequent allies. Finally, we must also take into consideration the facts that there were foreign nations involved. Their willingness to cooperate or fight with each other was an important dynamic as well as their role in trade. These factors contributed to the painful and long struggle for power in 18th century Europe.

Global systems continuously change over the course of time, but there is one section of history in particular where technological, political, economic, military, and cultural developments have developed quite drastically. Starting with the Renaissance in Europe and continuing until the beginning of World War One, we saw dramatic changes of multiple systems across the globe and that is what we will be analyzing here in this essay.

In contrast to an area with tropical areas and isolated countries with a lower population, Europe’s much larger population allows it to expand and exceed its limits of trade and farming. This division of labor allowed them to complete work more efficiently and quickly, allowing the economy to prosper with the fast production rates and easily outdo its rivaling countries and continents. This improvement of production allowed them to trade quicker and more easily and better spread their influence throughout the rest of the

In Europe during 1250-1350, the major technological advancement, firearms, was significant in influencing Europe’s rulers. Although created between the mid 13th and 14th century, firearms, such as cannons and muskets, weren’t fully developed to be efficient and reliable in warfare until the mid 1400’s. Due to an increase in firearms, rulers began to create centralized, fiscal-military states to finance their strategic shift to firearm bearing infantries (542,). Rulers also began to implement imperialism, extending a country’s power and influence through military force, which had been a dormant policy for decades. The reason for reverting was a result of developing commonwealths between the competing realms, consisting of the religious civilizations of Islam and Christianity. The people who led the expansion of Islamic rule, first over the Eastern Orthodox Christians and eventually over the Western, the Ottomans, frequently attempted to raise immense amounts of currency in silver and gold purely for the sake of obtains firepower in the hopes of world ruling. But as Abu- Lughod would reason, that was a long shot to begin with.

At first, the European advantage began with massed archers and organized musketry. As army sizes grew, strategies advanced, and technology grew with it. Artillery became the focus rather than sheer man power and strategies evolved to direct assault to attrition. Long range cannons became the standard and the seas were European dominated. Navies shifted from having light guns on their ships of larger numbers to heavier ships with heavier and deadlier guns, allowing for sturdier ships and more firepower. Thus, the West moved ahead in power and grew to dominate the Eastern countries. This superiority over the Eastern powers relates to an increase in violence, an example being the Napoleonic Wars. As Western technology became more battle specific and deadlier, wars became more prevalent and lasted longer, e.g. the many battles and many years of the Napoleonic Wars. More specific case studies prove the domination of West over East and in turn, prove that modernity rested on

Many people think that a world economic system didn’t develop until the 1500s CE. People are often focused on the areas and times of their ancestry, so they only acknowledge the developments during those times. Dr. Janet Abu-Lughod uses her book Before European Hegemony to refute those views. Contrary to popular belief, in years before 1500, there was a world economic system already emerging, due to interdependent balance between regions throughout the

History involves several moments in time that contributed to the world’s rapid transition and transformation into the leading global culture. Europe’s development of present-day Europe resulted from the relationships between various moments, movements, cultures, and people that proved highly significant to the “big picture” of European history. Each and every period in time had its own importance and function that tied into the larger system of the global community. Five key moments that influenced the development of present-day Europe include the rise of religion, Protestant Reformation, Age of Enlightenment, nationalism, and World War II.

The period surrounding the late and early 20th century was the most dramatic era in modern history. It was a period where Western ideals were pushed by motivated empires with ambitions of wealth and expanding territory and, while impossible to distinguish the most influencing factor that led to the Westernization of nations on a global scale, it is easy to determine key points that played important roles in world history. With Western cultures emerging with both technological and military advantage over secluded and obsolete empires, it was only a matter of time before the West inspired and impacted subjugated nations to build an empire of their own. Countries such as Japan, Russia, as well as Europe’s scramble for Africa are prime examples of existing legacies from the imperialistic era of the late 19th century and onto the early 20th century. A balance of imperial expansion and their eventual collapse were the key components utilized by Western nations to modernize and westernize the world between the periods of 1850 and 1950.

In a context of strong religious and political tensions, a simple incident in Bohemia (1618) triggers an internal war to the Empire will become European by successive interventions. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648), greatest war of the seventeenth century, had an influence on the political evolution of the Empire, religious weight and balance of great powers. At its end, the Empire proved to be a field of ruins and France became the most powerful European

The world of 1851 differed on a significant scale from that of 1500 for both Asia and Europe. Until the 1800s, Asia was considered the centre of the world in many aspects such as trade, innovation, wealth, manufacturing and territorial influence and expansion. In contrast, Europe was disunited and divided at the core of its superpowers due to massive political reforms and religious warfare. Yet, and from these reforms, the continent was well within a new age of discovery and improvements. It was undoubtedly the success of this era and its breakthroughs (technology, pace, unification…) that allowed the European powers to surpass their Asian contenders and reach unchallenged dominance around the 1800s.

This new global system, with the conquest of the Americas at its core, gradually and greatly enriched Western European powers. From an economic perspective, Europeans were able to reap the benefits of extremely cheap labor, free and abundant land, rich natural resources, and abundant markets around the world to sell their products. The conquest and settlement of the Americas is the key starting point for understanding the rise of European economic and imperial power. The newfound wealth of the Americas clearly set the stage for the economic ascendance of Western Europe beginning in this era of