Firearms
A Global History to 1700

This book asks why Europeans perfected firearms when the Chinese had invented them by looking at how firearms were used throughout the world.

Kenneth Chase (Author)

9780521722407, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 February 2008

310 pages
22.7 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.43 kg

"The comparative breadth of the analysis is commendable." - Jonathan Grant, Florida State University

This book is a history of firearms across the world from the 1100s up to the 1700s, from their invention in China to the time when European firearms had become clearly superior. It asks why it was the Europeans who perfected firearms when it was the Chinese who had invented them, and answers this question by looking at how firearms were used throughout the world. Early firearms were restricted to infantry and siege warfare, limiting their use outside of Europe and Japan. Steppe and desert nomads imposed a different style of warfare on the Middle East, India, and China – a style with which firearms were incompatible. By the time that better firearms allowed these regions to turn the tables on the nomads, Japan's self-imposed isolation left Europe with no rival in firearms design, production, or use, with consequences that are still with us today.

Introduction: The Oikoumene
The Steppe
The Desert
Logistics
Cavalry
Firearms
China to 1500: The invention of firearms
The rise of the Ming
The Ming military
The Hongwu campaigns
The Yongle campaigns
Vietnam
The South Seas
Tumu
Europe: The introduction of firearms
Sieges and battles
Geography
Guns and horses
Guns and ships
Guns and bows
Eastern Europe
The Americas
Western Islamdom: Turkey
The Ottoman military
The Balkans
The Mediterranean
Ottoman success
Egypt
The Mamluk military
Mamluk warfare
Marj Dabiq
Mamluk failure
The Maghrib
Sub-Saharan Africa
Eastern Islamdom: Iran
The Safavid military
Azarbayjan
Khurasan
Safavid success or failure?
India
The Afghans
The Mughals
The Portuguese
Southeast Asia
China From 1500: Foreign firearms
New Chinese firearms
Institutional change
Japanese pirates
The Great Wall
Wagons
The fall of the Ming
The Qing dynasty
Korea and Japan: Korea
Japan
Tanegashima
Nobunaga
Unification
The first invasion of Korea
The Korean response
The second invasion of Korea
The Tokugawa
Conclusion: Firearms after 1700
The world after 1700
Wagons and pikes
Firearms and nomads.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], African history [HBJH], Asian history [HBJF], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG]