Why Did Europe Conquer the World?

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

• 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

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