{"product_id":"the-gunpowder-age-china-military-innovation-and-the-rise-of-the-west-in-world-history","title":"The Gunpowder Age: China  Military Innovation  and the Rise of the West in World History","description":"\u003cp\u003eA first look at gunpowders revolutionary impact on Chinas role in global history  The Chinese invented gunpowder and began exploring its military uses as early as the 900s  four centuries before the technology passed to the West. But by the early 1800s  China had fallen so far behind the West in gunpowder warfare that it was easily defeated by Britain in the Opium War of 183942. What happened? In The Gunpowder Age  Tonio Andrade offers a compelling new answer  opening a fresh perspective on a key question of world history: why did the countries of western Europe surge to global importance starting in the 1500s while China slipped behind?  Historians have long argued that gunpowder weapons helped Europeans establish global hegemony. Yet the inhabitants of what is today China not only invented guns and bombs but also  as Andrade shows  continued to innovate in gunpowder technology through the early 1700smuch longer than previously thought. Why  then  did China become so vulnerable? Andrade argues that one significant reason is that it was out of practice fighting wars  having enjoyed nearly a century of relative peace  since 1760. Indeed  he demonstrates that Chinalike Europewas a powerful military innovator  particularly during times of great warfare  such as the violent century starting after the Opium War  when the Chinese once again quickly modernized their forces. Today  China is simply returning to its old position as one of the worlds great military powers.  By showing that Chinas military dynamism was deeper  longer lasting  and more quickly recovered than previously understood  The Gunpowder Age challenges long-standing explanations of the so-called Great Divergence between the West and Asia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44965021417525,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691135975","price":46.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691135977.jpg?v=1770486988","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-gunpowder-age-china-military-innovation-and-the-rise-of-the-west-in-world-history","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}