Why Did Europe Conquer the World?

Between 1492 and 1914, Europeans conquered 84 percent of the globe. But why did Europe establish global dominance, when for centuries the Chinese, Japanese, Ottomans, and South Asians were far more advanced? In Why Did Europe Conquer the World?, Philip Hoffman demonstrates that conventional explanations - such as geography, epidemic disease, and the Industrial Revolution - fail to provide answers. Arguing instead for the pivotal role of economic and political history, Hoffman shows that if certain variables had been different, Europe would have been eclipsed, and another power could have become master of the world. Hoffman sheds light on the two millennia of economic, political, and historical changes that set European states on a distinctive path of development, military rivalry, and war. This resulted in astonishingly rapid growth in Europe's military sector, and produced an insurmountable lead in gunpowder technology. The consequences determined which states established colonial empires or ran the slave trade, and even which economies were the first to industrialize. Debunking traditional arguments,

About the author

Philip T. Hoffman

Summary

Between 1492 and 1914, Europeans conquered 84 percent of the globe. But why did Europe establish global dominance, when for centuries the Chinese, Japanese, Ottomans, and South Asians were far more advanced? In Why Did Europe Conquer the World?, Philip Hoffman demonstrates that conventional explanations--such as geography, epidemic disease, and the

Additional text

"Hoffman makes an exceptionally stimulating intervention in the long-running debate on the ‘great divergence’ . . . . Thought-provoking, deeply informed and marvellously readable, [this] is a major contribution to the still pioneering field of comparative global history."---John Darwin, English Historical Review

Report

"Fascinating."--G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

Product details

• Authors: Philip T. Hoffman, Hoffman Philip T.
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2017
• EAN: 9780691175843
• ISBN: 978-0-691-17584-3
• No. of pages: 288
• Series: Princeton Economic History of the Western World; Princeton Economic History of; The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; Europe, European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, HISTORY / World, General & world history, Colonialism & imperialism, Economic history, c 1500 onwards to present day, Colonialism and imperialism, General and world history, Modern Period, C 1500 Onwards