1st Edition

Warfare and Empires Contact and Conflict Between European and Non-European Military and Maritime Forces and Cultures

Edited By Douglas M. Peers Copyright 1997

    It is commonplace that warfare was integral to the European expansion, pitting the superiorities of the European against the inferiorities of the ’native’. The aim of this book is to look deeper, and to examine the technological, political and economic structures and capacities of the competing forces that shaped their ability to wage war, and the impact that colonial wars had on European and non-European states and societies alike. Questions of the extent to which one side could adapt its military institutions, tactics and technology to those of its opponents figure prominently. This was far from an inevitable one-way process, and environment and disease remained vital factors. The studies also situate these conflicts within the broader debate concerning the so-called military revolution, and show that our ideas of this need to be reconsidered in the light of what was happening outside Europe.

    Contents: Introduction; Armed forces and the expansion of Europe: Ideology and conflict: the wars of the Ottoman Empire, 1453-1606, John F. Guilmartin, Jr.; The French King wakes up in Detroit: ’Pontiac’s War’ in rumour and history, Gregory Evans Dowd; Fortifications and the ’idea’ of force in early English East India Company relations with India, I. Bruce Watson; Military revolution or military evolution: Saint Barbara’s legion: Portuguese artillery in the struggle for Morocco, 1415-1578, John Vogt; The art of war in Angola, 1575-1680, John K. Thornton; Balance and military innovation in 17th-century Java, Merle Ricklefs; Notes on early European military influences in Japan, 1543-1853, C. R. Boxer; Indigenous assistance and indigenous resistance: Indigenous assistance in the establishment of Portuguese power in Asia in the 16th century, G. V. Scammell; Crisis and failure: war and revolt in the Ambon Islands, 1636-1637, Gerrit J. Knaap; The Company army and rural society: the invalid Thanah army, 1780-1830, Seema Alavi; Social structure of the Túpac Amaru army in Cuzco, 1780-1781, Leon G. Campbell; Adapting to conditions: tactics, technology, medicine: Changing military technology among the Indians of southern New England, 1600-1677, Patrick M. Malone; The import of firearms into West Africa, 1750-1807: a quantitative analysis, J. E. Inikori; Resources and techniques in the second Maratha War, John Pemble; Wellington and the Marathas in 1803, Randolf G. S. Cooper; Combatting the invisible enemy: health and hospital care in the army of New Spain, 1760-1810, Christon I. Archer; Colonial experience and European military reform at the end of the 18th century, Peter Paret; Index.

    Biography

    Douglas M. Peers, University of Calgary, Canada John F. Guilmartin Jr., Gregory Evans Dowd, I. Bruce Watson, John Vogt, John K. Thornton, Merle Ricklefs, C. R. Boxer, G. V. Scammell, Gerrit J. Knaap, Seema Alavi, Leon G. Campbell, Patrick M. Malone, J. E. Inikori, John Pemble, Randolf G. S. Cooper, Christon I. Archer, Peter Paret.

    'European and Non-European Societies and Christianity and Missions along with the other volumes in An Expanding World should become a standard collection for any academic library. The invaluable bibliography, the variety of themes, and the historical problems will engage students of all levels, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral, in many aspects of early modern and world history for years to come.' Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. XXX, No. 1