Why Did Europe Conquer the World?

Philip T. Hoffman is professor of business economics and professor of history at the California Institute of Technology.

One of Bloomberg Businessweek's Best Books of 2015, chosen by Barry Eichengreen "Brilliant."--Edward Rothstein, Wall Street Journal "[Why Did Europe Conquer the World?] is a very interesting addition to the flourishing history of the world genre."--Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist "History and counterfactuals blend into a fluent thesis, underpinned by diverting tables of data."--Martin Vander Weyer, Daily Telegraph "Fascinating."--G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs "A confident and sure-footed book."--Robert Fulford, National Post "Big-picture economic history at its best. Hoffman's answer: chronic military conflict that gave European leaders incentives to harness widely known gunpowder technologies more effectively than leaders in other parts of the world. Also a good reminder of what economic history brings to today's economic and political table."--Barry Eichengreen, Bloomberg Businessweek "A hugely ambitious book and one that no scholar analyzing transitions in global history can overlook. It is a daunting task to attempt such an endeavor, let alone succeed as Hoffman has. [How Did Europe Conquer the World?] will change interpretations of European warfare, the financing of conflicts, transitions in other regions of the world, the causes of the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Divergence--topics that are at the forefront of history, economics, and political science today... Impressive and persuasive... [T]his book is a classic of economic history, which should be required reading."--Jari Eloranta, EH.net "Impressive."--Jan De Vries, American Historical Review "A powerful argument that resonates strongly with recent work in international political economy (Herman Schwartz) and political science (Ned Lebow)."--Survival

• Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 How the Tournament in Early Modern Europe Made Conquest Possible 19 Chapter 3 Why the Rest of Eurasia Fell Behind 67 Chapter 4 Ultimate Causes: Explaining the Difference between Western Europe and the Rest of Eurasia 104 Chapter 5 From the Gunpowder Technology to Private Expeditions 154 Chapter 6 Technological Change and Armed Peace in Nineteenth-Century Europe 179 Chapter 7 Conclusion: The Price of Conquest 205 Appendix A Model of War and Technical Change via Learning by Doing 215 Appendix B Using Prices to Measure Productivity Growth in the Military Sector 228 Appendix C Model of Political Learning 231 Appendix D Data for Tables 4.1 and 4.2 233 Appendix E Model of Armed Peace and Technical Change via Research 234 Acknowledgments 239 Bibliography 241 Index 263