Skip to content
Register Sign in Wishlist

Firearms
A Global History to 1700

$34.99 (G)

  • Date Published: February 2008
  • availability: Available
  • format: Paperback
  • isbn: 9780521722407

$ 34.99 (G)
Paperback

Add to cart Add to wishlist

Other available formats:
Hardback, eBook


Looking for an examination copy?

This title is not currently available for examination. However, if you are interested in the title for your course we can consider offering an examination copy. To register your interest please contact collegesales@cambridge.org providing details of the course you are teaching.

Description
Product filter button
Description
Contents
Resources
Courses
About the Authors
  • Kenneth Chase traces the history of firearms from their invention in China in the 1100s to the 1700s, when European firearms had become clearly superior. In Firearms, Chase asks why it was the Europeans who perfected firearms, not the Chinese, 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 incompatible with firearms. 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 lasting consequences. After earning his doctorate from Harvard in the area of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and traveling extensively in Asia, Kenneth Chase pursued a career in the law. His interest in history endures unabated, however, and after nine years of research on firearms, he is now working on a history of international trade in the Indian Ocean region in the 1300s and 1400s.

    • Was the first global history of firearms in English written by a specialist in non-European history
    • Extensive discussion of China, Japan, and the Islamic world as well as Europe
    • Transcends the military revolution debate
    Read more

    Reviews & endorsements

    "The gun (cannon, musket, rifle, machinegun, etc.) has been the prime tool of war for most of a thousand years. The Chinese invented it, but it was the Europeans who refined it and made it an instrument of world hegemony. That mysterious migration of technology and obsession from east to west is the subject of Kenneth Chase's insightful book, along with what firearms did to and for Turks, Mughals, Japanese, and all the rest of us."
    - Alfred W. Crosby, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin

    "Kenneth Chase's book is indeed a delight and a great achievement. His central claim is that each of the major agrarian governments of Eurasia used gunpowder weapons in a rational way, and that difference depended on geographical circumstances, not on cultural traditions or soldiers' stubborn affection for horses. The breadth of information and the precision of his interpretation are exhilarating. Chase unites extraordinary learning with even more extraordinary wisdom and presents them to us in easy, graceful prose."
    - William H. McNeill, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago, author of The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force and Society Since A.D. 1000(1982)

    "The particular value of this wide-ranging and well-written work on a crucial period in military history is its author's strong grasp of the situation in East Asia. It is unusual to have such a specialist write more widely on the topic, and this gives Chase a distinctive voice. His particular concern is the relationship of nomads to firearms and he carefully links this to the respective success and failure of individual military systems. Chase's book will play a major role in the discussion of early-modern military history."
    - Jeremy Black, Professor in History, Exeter University

    "A tour de force of scholarship that should become a fundamental text and resource for all interested in world and Asian history."
    - Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

    "Few works on military history do what Chase manages to do here, develop a specific theory in its widest possible context."
    - Technology and Culture, Robert Smith

    "As a whole, this book is a remarkable tour de force and should become required reading for students of military history.
    - Sixteenth Century Journal, James R. Smither, Grand Valley State University

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

    See more reviews

    Customer reviews

    Not yet reviewed

    Be the first to review

    Review was not posted due to profanity

    ×

    , create a review

    (If you're not , sign out)

    Please enter the right captcha value
    Please enter a star rating.
    Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

    How do you rate this item?

    ×

    Product details

    • Date Published: February 2008
    • format: Paperback
    • isbn: 9780521722407
    • length: 310 pages
    • dimensions: 227 x 153 x 19 mm
    • weight: 0.43kg
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    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.

  • Author

    Kenneth Chase
    Kenneth W. Chase is an attorney at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton. He received his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Related Books

Sorry, this resource is locked

Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org

Register Sign in
Please note that this file is password protected. You will be asked to input your password on the next screen.

» Proceed

You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.

Continue ×

Continue ×

Continue ×
warning icon

Turn stock notifications on?

You must be signed in to your Cambridge account to turn product stock notifications on or off.

Sign in Create a Cambridge account arrow icon
×

Find content that relates to you

Join us online

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more Close

Are you sure you want to delete your account?

This cannot be undone.

Cancel

Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.

If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.

×
Please fill in the required fields in your feedback submission.
×