Page 170 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

war and peace—overview 1947

I know not with what weapons World War III will be
fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and
stones. • Albert Einstein (1879–1955)

mounted on horses and armed with short but powerful ogy, which in combination with spreading fortifications
compound bows, steppe peoples made fierce and formi- effectively countered the firepower and mobility that
dable fighters, unconstrained by the need to coddle a were the nomads’ greatest weapons.
class of dependent farmers and unspoiled by the niceties An age of gunpowder weapons extending from
of sedentary life. The mobility and firepower of a large roughly 1400 to 1800 CE is a convenient label for the
force of steppe warriors was hard to beat tactically. next stage in the history of warfare, but the causal sig-
What they often lacked, however, was political cohe- nificance of firearms is the subject of much scholarly
sion, as herding provided too little surplus on which to debate, centered around the related concepts of a “mili-
build stable social hierarchies and state structures, and so tary revolution” in western Europe and the creation of
many steppe forces remained small. Paradoxically, “Gunpowder Empires” in much of Eurasia. Neither con-
nomad coalitions and proto-states grew strongest in cept in fact stands up to close scrutiny. Instead, guns
proximity to rich and powerful sedentary states, as prove to be yet another technology whose impact
nomadic leaders used sedentary goods obtained in trad- depended greatly on the social and cultural context into
ing, raiding, and conquest to build and maintain support. which it was introduced.
The eastern steppe, connected to the west by a narrow Again, basic variations in state strength, elite power,
corridor between deserts and facing the often-powerful and social structure, as well as (increasingly) economic
Chinese state, most often generated such coalitions, and resources, shaped the differences in armed forces in this
movement on the steppe tended therefore to flow from age, and no area could claim a significant advantage in
east to west. military effectiveness until perhaps the last half of the
Nomadic conquests and alliances regularly affected the eighteenth century, when European methods of drill,
sedentary societies near the steppes, at times replacing or organization, recruitment, and logistics began to move
invigorating the ruling class and at times spreading somewhat ahead of the pack. But even that advantage
destruction, and often serving as a conduit for the move- was still limited by technologies of transport and com-
ment of goods and ideas.There were other nomadic fron- munication that prevented the projection of significant
tiers: in Arabia, a more static tribal land that erupted only levels of force much beyond Europe itself. Only at sea was
once, though decisively under Mohammed that one time; the European combination of ships and cannon domi-
to the north of the central Mexican civilizations; in the nant before the nineteenth century.
grasslands south of the Sahara; and in a fragmented
“inner frontier” in India.All were sources of military man- Industry
power and political instability, but the Asian steppes had With the coming of the industrial revolution, though,
the biggest impact. warfare entered a new age, as did every other area of
human endeavor. While technology was central to this
Gunpowder transformation, it was not specific military technologies
The long-term demographic trend ran against the pas- that were crucial to the transformation of warfare and the
toralists and in favor of the agriculturalists, however, and emergence of true European dominance globally in the
after 1500 CE two further developments first reduced and late nineteenth century, though ironclad steamships and
finally eliminated the independent power of the steppe machine guns, among other inventions, certainly played
peoples. First was the shift of Eurasian trade routes important roles. Rather, it was the vastly increased pro-
towards sea-borne commerce, a tendency that accelerated ductive and transport capacities generated by industry
rapidly after the age of da Gama and Columbus and that that, through two centuries of constant innovation and
much reduced the importance of the steppes as an east- improvement, brought to war the same character that it
west link. Second was the spread of gunpowder technol- brought to the economy, politics, and culture: mass.