The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (108 page)

1.
W. H. McNeill,
A World History
(London, 1979 edn.), p. 295; idem,
The Rise of the West
(Chicago, 1967), p. 565; J. M. Roberts,
The Pelican History of the World
(Harmondsworth, Mdssx., 1980), p. 519; G. Barraclough (ed.),
The Times Atlas of World History
(London, 1978), p. 153.

2.
For surveys of international relations in Europe around 1500, see
The New Cambridge Modern History
(hereafter
NCMH)
, vol. 1,
The Renaissance 1493–1520
, ed. G. R. Potter (Cambridge, 1961), espec. chs. 7–14; vol. 2,
The Reformation 1520–1529
, ed. G. R. Elton (Cambridge, 1958), chs. 10–11 and 16; G. R. Elton,
Reformation Europe 1517–1559
(London, 1963), ch. 2; G. Mattingly,
Renaissance Diplomacy
(Harmondsworth, Mddsx., 1965), pp. 115ff.

3.
There are succinct accounts of Ming China in McNeill,
Rise of the West
, pp. 524–34; and Roberts,
History of the World
, pp. 424–44. For more detail, C. O. Hucker,
China’s Imperial Past
(Stanford, Calif., 1975), pp. 303ff; J. A. Harrison,
The Chinese Empire
(New York, 1972); W. Eberhard,
A History of China
(2nd edn., London, 1960), pp. 232–70; M. Elvin,
The Pattern of the Chinese Past
(London, 1973).

4.
Y. Shiba,
Commerce and Society in Sung China
(Ann Arbor, Mich., 1970); J. Needham,
The Development of Iron and Steel Technology in China
(London, 1958); L.-S. Yang,
Money and Credit in China
(Cambridge, Mass., 1952); and espec. W. H. McNeill,
The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Forces and Society Since 1000 A.D
. (Chicago, 1983), ch. 2.

5.
The great source (in English) for the above is J. Needham,
Science and Civilization in China
, vol. 4, pt. 3,
Civil Engineering and Nautics
(Cambridge, 1971), espec. pp. 379–536; but see also Lo Jung-pang, “The Emergence of China as a Sea Power During the Late Sung and Early Yuan Periods,”
Far Eastern Quarterly
, vol. 14 (1955), pp. 489–503; C. G. Reynolds,
Command of the Sea: The History and Strategy of Maritime Empires
(New York, 1974), pp. 98–104.

6.
For what follows, see McNeill,
World History
, pp. 254–55; Needham,
Science and Civilization in China
, vol. 4, pt. 3, pp. 524ff; R. Dawson,
Imperial China
(London, 1972), pp. 230ff; Lo Jung-pang, “The Decline of the Early Ming Navy,”
Orient Extremus
, vol. 5 (1958), pp. 149–68; and Ho Ping-Ti, “Economic and Institutional Factors in the Decline of the Chinese Empire,” in C. C. Cipolla (ed.),
The Economic Decline of Empires
(London, 1970), pp. 274–76, although in general the picture given is less gloomy than other accounts. See also the careful comparisons in J. Needham,
The Grand Titration: Science and Society
in East and West
(London, 1969), passim; and in E. L. Jones,
The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia
(Cambridge, 1981).

7.
Jones,
European Miracle
, ch. 9; F. Braudel,
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2
vols. (London, 1972), vol. 2, pp. 661ff; P. Wittek,
The Rise of the Ottoman Empire
(London, 1938); H. Inalcik,
The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600
(New York, 1973); M. A. Cook (ed.),
A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730
(Cambridge, 1976); M.G.S. Hodgson,
The Venture of Islam
, vols. 2 and 3 (Chicago/London, 1924); C. M. Kortepeter,
Ottoman Imperialism During the Reformation
(London, 1973).

8.
A. C. Hess, “The Evolution of the Ottoman Seaborne Empire in the Age of the Oceanic Discoveries, 1453–1525,”
American Historical Review
, vol. 75, no. 7 (December 1970), pp. 1892–1919; Braudel,
Mediterranean
, vol. 2, pp. 918ff; Reynolds,
Command of the Sea
, pp. 112ff; and the comments in J. F. Guilmartin,
Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century
(Cambridge, 1974).

9.
Jones,
European Miracle
, pp. 176ff; Cook (ed.),
History of the Ottoman Empire
, espec. pp. 103ff; B. Lewis, “Some Reflections on the Decline of the Ottoman Empire,” in Cipolla (ed.),
Economic Decline of Empires
, pp. 215–34; H.A.R. Gibbs and H. Bowen,
Islamic Society and the West
, vol. 1, 2 pts. (London, 1950 and 1957), pt. 1, pp. 273ff.; pt. 2, pp. 1–37. See also H. Inalcik,
The Ottoman Empire: Conquest, Organization and Economy: Collected Studies
(London, 1978), chs. 10–13.

10.
Jones,
European Miracle
, p. 182.

11.
For the gloomy side, see ibid., ch. 10; Roberts,
History of the World
, pp. 415–23; W. H. Moreland,
From Akbar to Aurangzeb: A Study in Indian Economic History
(London, 1923); M. D. Morris, “Values as an Obstacle to Economic Growth in South Asia,”
Journal of Economic History
, vol. 27 (1967), pp. 588–607. For a brighter presentation, A. J. Qaisar,
The Indian Response to European Technology and Culture, A.D. 1498–1707
(Delhi, India, 1982), passim; and, for a slightly later period, C. A. Bayley,
Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars
(Cambridge, 1983).

12.
McNeill,
Rise of the West
, pp. 645–49; Jones,
European Miracle
, pp. 157–59; R. Bendix,
Kings or People: Power and the Mandate to Rule
(Berkeley/Los Angeles, 1978), pp. 431ff; G. B. Sansom,
The Western World and Japan
(London, 1950), pp. 3–208; idem,
A History of Japan
, vols. 2–3 (London, 1961 and 1964); C. R. Boxer,
The Christian Century in Japan 1549–1650
(Berkeley, 1951); J. W. Hall,
Government and Local Power in Japan
(Princeton, 1966); D. M. Brown, “The Impact of Firearms on Japanese Warfare,”
Far Eastern Quarterly
, vol. 7 (1947), pp. 236–45; R. P. Toby,
State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan
(Princeton, N.J., 1984).

13.
McNeill,
World History
, pp. 328–43; Bendix,
Kings or People
, pp. 491ff; I. Wallerstein,
The Modern World System
, vol. 1,
Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century
(New York/London, 1974), pp. 301–24; G. Vernadsky,
The Tsardom of Muscovy 1547–1682
(New Haven, Conn., 1969); R. H. Fisher,
The Russian Fur Trade 1550–1700
(Berkeley, Calif., 1943); M. Florinsky,
Russia: A Short History
(New York, 1964), chs. 3–9; R. J. Kerner,
The Urge to the Sea
(New York, 1971 reprint); T. Szamuely,
The Russian Tradition
(London, 1974); L. Kochan and R. Abraham,
The Making of Modern Russia
(Harmondsworth, Mddsx., 2nd edn., 1983), chs. 3–6.

14.
See Roberts,
History of the World
, p. 585: “So little was Russia known even in the [seventeenth] century that a French king could write to the Tsar, not knowing that the prince whom he addressed had been dead for ten years.” Note
also the condescending remarks of English traders in Russia in Kochan and Abraham,
Making of Modern Russia
, pp. 56–57.

15.
This is the title, of course, of E. L. Jones’s impressive book. It, and the important work by W. H. McNeill,
The Pursuit of Power
, have strongly influenced my argument in the following paragraphs. See also McNeill,
Rise of the West
, passim; Wallerstein,
Modern World System;
D. C. North and R. P. Thomas,
The Rise of the Western World
(Cambridge, 1973); J. H. Parry,
The Establishment of the European Hegemony 1415–1715
(3rd edn., New York, 1966); S. Viljoen,
Economic Systems in World History
(London, 1974), passim; P. Chaunu,
European Expansion in the Later Middle Ages
(Amsterdam, 1979).

16.
H. C. Darby, “The Face of Europe on the Eve of the Great Discoveries,” in
NCMH
, vol. 1, pp. 20–49; N. J. G. Pounds and S. S. Ball, “Core-Areas and the Development of the European States System,”
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
, vol. 54 (1964), pp. 24–40; R. G. Wesson,
State Systems: International Relations, Politics and Culture
(New York, 1978), p. 111; Jones,
European Miracle
, ch. 7.

17.
N. J. G. Pounds,
An Historical Geography of Europe 1500–1840
(Cambridge, 1979), ch. 1; C. Cipolla,
Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy 1000–1700
(2nd edn., London, 1980), passim; C. Cipolla (ed.),
The Fontana Economic History of Europe
, vol. 1,
The Middle Ages
(London, 1972), ch. 7; E. Samhaber,
Merchants Make History
(London, 1963), pp. 130ff.; Waller-stein,
Modern World System
, vol. 1, pp. 42ff.; Braudel,
Mediterranean
, vol. 1, pp. 188–224.

18.
Roberts,
History of the World
, pp. 505–6; J. H. Parry,
The Age of Reconnaissance
(2nd edn., London, 1966), pp. 60ff.

19.
Quoted in Jones,
European Miracle
, p. 235.

20.
McNeill,
Pursuit of Power
, ch. 3; J. U. Nef,
War and Human Progress
(New York, 1968 edn.), ch. 2; R. A. Preston, S. F. Wise, and H. O. Werner,
Men in Arms
(London, 1962), ch. 7; C. Cipolla,
Guns and Sails in the Early Phase of European Expansion 1400–1700
(London, 1965), passim; and R. Bean, “War and the Birth of the Nation State,”
Journal of Economic History
, vol. 33 (1973), pp. 203–21.

21.
One is bound to put quotation marks around the word “national,” since so many men in the French army were mercenaries: see V. G. Kiernan, “Foreign Mercenaries and Absolute Monarchy,”
Past and Present
, vol. 11 (1957), p. 72. For the general comments above, see McNeill,
Pursuit of Power
, ch. 3; H. Thomas,
History of the World
(New York, 1979 edn.), ch. 24; M. E. Mallet,
Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy
(London, 1976); and J. R. Hale, “Armies, Navies and the Art of War,”
NCMH
, vol. 2, espec. pp. 486ff; idem,
War and Society in Renaissance Europe 1450–1620
(London, 1985), ch. 2.

22.
Cipolla,
Guns and Sails
, passim; Nef,
War and Human Progress
, pp. 46ff.

23.
C. Duffy,
Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494–1660
(London, 1979), chs. 1–2; McNeill,
Pursuit of Power
, ch. 3; Wesson,
State Systems
, pp. 112ff; Braudel,
Mediterranean
, vol. 2., pp. 845ff; J. R. Hale, “The Early Development of the Bastion: An Italian Chronology c. 1450—c.1534,” in Hale et al. (eds.),
Europe in the Later Middle Ages
(London, 1965), pp. 466–94.

24.
For what follows, see Parry,
Age of Reconnaissance, c
h. VII; Reynolds,
Command of the Sea
, pp. 106ff; P. Padfield,
Guns at Sea
(London, 1973), pt. 1; G. V. Scammell,
The World Encompassed: The First European Maritime Empires, c. 800–1650
(Berkeley, Calif., 1981), which places the fifteenth-century voyages in the broader sweep of European expansionism.

25.
Jones,
European Miracle
, p. 80. The importance of “efficient economic organization”
is also repeatedly stressed in North and Thomas,
Rise of the Western World
, p. 1 and passim.

26.
This is the thrust of Guilmartin’s excellent study,
Gunpowder and Galleys
, passim.

27.
For the Portuguese experience, see Parry,
Age of Reconnaissance;
P. Padfield,
Tide of Empires: Decisive Naval Campaigns in the Rise of the West
, vol. 1,
1481–1654
(London, 1979), ch. 2; C. R. Boxer,
The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415–1825
(London, 1969); V. Magalhaes-Godinho,
L’économie de l’Empire Portugais aux XV
^e
et XVI
^e
siècles
(Paris, 1969); B. W. Diffie and C. D. Winius,
Foundations of the Portuguese Empire 1415–1580
(Minneapolis, 1977); Waller-stein,
Modern World System
, p. 325ff; Braudel,
Mediterranean
, vol. 2, pp. 1174–76; Scammell,
World Encompassed
, ch. 5.

28.
P. M. Kennedy,
The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery
(London/New York, 1976), p. 18.

29.
Padfield,
Tide of Empires
, vol. 1, p. 49.