Power over Peoples by Daniel R. Headrick - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review: Power over Peoples by Daniel R. Headrick (2010) The two faces that characterised the Western Imperialism were the First Phase, generally referred to as the Old Empires and the New Imperialism Phase. The author defines technology as the use of readily and locally available materials and energy found within the environment in order to make work easier as opposed to using their bodies for delivery of skills (Headrick 3). There is quite a positive relationship between technology and imperialism in that states with the biggest technological advancement especially during the Old Empires Phase had the biggest opportunity to control nature and manpower in general. Superior technology basically is the nature of technological advancement that grants its users an added advantage over nature and this involves increased life expectancy following breakthroughs in medical technology in addition to increased efficiency in killing when necessary during conquests that followed European Scramble and Partition for African. There were two basic sources of innovativeness in the West and the first source was the Western culture which was characterised by a strong will to invest in research related to science including experimentation, and capitalism (5). The other source is the competitive nature of all states in Europe which always struggled for dominance over each other. Imperialism is the tendency of the stronger nations or states especially in terms of technology to apply a ruling force to the weaker nations while at the same time taking advantage of their manpower and available materials (6) The connections that exist between technological innovation and western imperialism are Western arrogance and the strong wish to conquer and enforce control on other societies. The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which technological advancement fuelled the global expansion of the Imperial Western Countries for the last six hundred years (9). Chapter Analyses Portugal lacked shipbuilding technology that would help them travel overseas and achieve their diverse goals as explorers, Christian missionaries and trade masters (11). This isolated Portugal as one of the unlikely sea-borne empires. However, as time went by, the Portuguese advanced a great deal in the technologies of building ships large enough to stay on the sea for quite a long period of time (12). Henry the navigator was a Portuguese prince, son of King Joao, between 1394 and 1460 and he was very core in the explorations by Portugal towards West Africa since he literally sponsored the explorations (20). The reason why he played a great role in the exploration is because through this sponsorship, Portugal became the leading empire in Geographical research among the European nations. He was able to send out more than 50 expeditions despite the fact that he was not able to go for one by himself (33). The English had lots of technological advancement including the development of steam engines during the industrial revolution era and this technology was couple to their well-organized royal navy which led them to increase in prowess. Moreover, the Dutch were greatly advantaged in terms of shipping skills and trade; they had one of the biggest breakthroughs in the development of proper sized ships in addition to having efficient technological skills in trade which created an added advantage for their success in exploration (47). The main motivation of the second wave of exploration was enlightenment and the desire to invest majorly on scientific research and this explains why the French and British governments spend heavily in funding such scientific research. Basically, what made this motivation possible was the funding made by the governments which made the exploration costs affordable (51). Apart from mastering the sea, it was also necessary for the Europeans to be aware of the existence of each other since the various empires were fighting for dominance and if one state failed to manage to be at the top of the competition, it would easily be faced out (59). At first, there were no threats of other ships for the Portuguese to deal with, but with time they had to be prepared for attacks from other ships sailing on the same seas. The Europeans were also supposed to be ready to face environmental challenges on arrival to the coastal regions and also be ready to face the challenges of new diseases such as malaria associated with other countries that were their targets during the Imperial expansion (63). At the coastal regions, the Portuguese met Ottoman, the Chinese and the Indians who also wanted to acquire the African regions as their colonies hence the Portuguese had a difficult task in dealing with them. The Portuguese were well equipped with weaponry, but on the other hand, the Ottomans were well equipped with tactful movements, skill and organization. Here, the author tries to convince the readers that technology is not only established on machinery, but also in the acquired skills and using them nicely to the advantage of the user. In this regard, the Portuguese were well equipped with weapon technology, but at the same time, the Ottomans had a bigger advantage in organization and skill as their mode of technology (69). Despite the fact that the Portuguese men were few and also had less ship as compared to the other empires, the Portuguese were very successful. This basically was because the Portuguese had the skills of proper organization which were more useful at that time as compared to having strong weaponry. This is because almost all other empires equally possessed the same weaponry; hence the Portuguese had to stand out if they were to register success against their adversaries (77). Their success came through their use of tactics and their good organization which was a challenge to their enemies. A stalemate existed between the Portuguese and the Ottomans at the coastal region because in as much as the Portuguese were organized and possessed weaponry of high power, the Ottomans had also spend some time at the coastal region and gotten used to the region. The coastal region was characterised by diseases, especially malaria, a condition that the Portuguese had not come across. The Portuguese lacked technological approaches to the harshness of the coastal region, leaving the Ottomans at an advantage. Since the Ottomans had gained enough technology on how to deal with such coastal diseases, they managed to face the Portuguese with enough confidence. Finally the battle appeared to be at a draw level since the Portuguese could struggle to use their weapons and organization, but would succumb to diseases, but this was not the case for the Ottomans (81). The Dutch began to trade and explore in the South West Asia since they were in search of a ready market for their goods and products while at the same time they were seeking for raw materials which would be used in their countries. By so doing, the Dutch ended up establishing indirect rule on the better part of the South West Asia. As compared to Iberian Kingdoms, the Dutch were more vibrant in their quest for exploration in addition to being more powerful in terms of political power. Moreover, the Dutch had a bigger orientation of trade as seen in their procession to South West Asia in order to find market for their goods and products while at the same time looking for raw materials for use in their industries. The industrial revolution played a major role in earning the Dutch a chance to explore Asia and at the same time have control over portions of Asia as their colonial masters. It was during this time Europe had technological advances in the use of steam engines and more sophisticated weapons which assured the Dutch some bit of man power and control over the people (85). Moreover, since the Dutch had improved industries for manufacture of goods as compared to Asia during that time, this technology earned them an economical advantage over their adversaries. To outcompete the Portuguese, the Dutch only needed to bring new commodities into the market and because their manufacturing industries were more advanced as compared to those of the Portuguese, then the Dutch started snatching customers from the Portuguese. This happened despite the fact that the Portuguese had arrived in Asia earlier than the Dutch who came much later following establishment of trade links between the Portuguese and the Asians. The Dutch had the best spice to offer during the trade, and in addition to the technological skills in trade possessed by the Dutch, the Portuguese could not keep up the competition brought up by the Dutch and they had to slowly be forced out of the market. The English were more successful than the Dutch because of failure of the Dutch to build feudal manors in the Dutch colonies (87). The first approach of the Portuguese was fairly successful since Portugal was able to start up trade with the Chinese under the leadership of Tome Pires. Moreover, the Portuguese were very successful in obtaining new converts from Japan led by Francis Xavier. As if this is not enough, the Portuguese also had a great success in establishing trade relationships between Portugal and Japan since the Portuguese were very useful to the Japanese in that the Japanese obtained silk products from the Portuguese. These silk products were obtained from the Chinese as the Japanese could not be allowed by the Chinese to stop their ships in the Chinese harbours. At the same time, the Japanese exchanged their silver products which would be exchanged in China by the Portuguese, strengthening the control of Portuguese over the Japanese in terms of trade (89). The thesis statement of chapter three of this book is an expression of how new technologies to the Westerners would help in the conquest of their adversaries, the technologies of which included both horses and weapons made of steel (96) The Spaniards had several advantages over the Indians, for instance, while the Indians were at a risk of contracting foreign diseases, the Spaniards had no fear since they were already immune to diseases such as small pox. Another advantage is that the military tactic possessed by the Spaniards was strong, incorporating a divide and rule system which enabled the army to easily conquer both the native Americas and the Indians. In addition to these, the Spaniards also were advantaged with possession of the best weapons made of steel and also firearms so when it came to technological advancement in weaponry, they were ready for it (102). For the Spaniards to be able to take over Aztecs and Incas, they incidentally introduced smallpox into their territory which is believed to have killed the kings (119). The death of the kings consequently brought up a struggle for succession between Atahualpa and Huascar, a civil war which led to a general weakness of the empire making it easy for the Spaniards to easily take over and rule over them. The Spaniards simply took advantage of the civil war and used the divide and rule system to win the war in Aztecs and Incas (127). The Spaniards were however not able defeat the people of Northern Mexico, the Great Plains and Southern South America until the nineteenth century since this states were able to unite against the Spaniards. The natives of these states used bows and arrows and other very common weapons to enable them to fight the great battle with the Spaniards (131). The Europeans were not very much able to explore and conquer the interior of Africa majorly because of coastal diseases such as malaria which the Europeans had a tough time getting to manage, until the science came up with malarial prophylactic drugs, which was a great advancement in the medical and health technology (141). The British were finally able to conquer India following their realization of the use of prophylactic drugs which would protect them from diseases such as malaria even before they could land into Africa and India. Military revolution is referred to as the change in organizational tactics during the early age which greatly affected the organization in military that exist presently (159). It was greatly fuelled by the emergence of new firearms for use in war that enable the Europeans to achieve global expansion; military organization was majorly used by the Dutch and Swedish. At first, the British achieved some initial success in Afghanistan, managing to buy the traditional rulers of the Afghans with bags of gold as an exchange for royalty. However, after some time hundreds of British were massacred in Afghanistan while trying to flee away from defeat, including the beheading of their leader. The British failed a second time when they tried to rule over the Afghans and disappeared till recently (163) The French attempted to enforce their rule on the Algerians twice before they were defeated; however, later they captured the king although this did not imply an end of revolts from the Algerians who continued fighting for their land. It was the improvement in war tactics utilized by the Russians that led to the defeat of the natives of Caucasus. In summary, these incidences prove that the war of imperialism did not only depend on the possession of highly technological equipment, but also the use of skill and revolutions in the military organization (169). Several advances in technology during the Industrial Revolution gave the Europeans an added advantage leading to expansion of their territories (177). Such technologies included the development of steamboats, breakthroughs in medical technologies and firearms. It was especially the technological advances in medicine that led to the conquest of the North America by the Spaniards who introduced diseases to the natives, but they had managed to acquire immunity themselves through science and technology (200). Moreover, the Europeans were able to conquer South Asia, China and Niger especially because of these new advancements in the use of firearms, medical preparedness and the use of steamboats to easily approach their targets. A conclusion remark from this chapter is that it is impossible to overlook the importance of technology in the imperial expansion of Europe (215). Technological advances in the field of medicine, especially the isolation of prophylactic drugs for malaria led to conquest of the interior of Africa since the Europeans were no longer afraid of contracting diseases such as malaria (227). Empirical knowledge entails the belief in existing truths but scientific knowledge is acquired through testing of the existing truths and proving them beyond reasonable doubt (241). Scientific theories are very important, especially in testing for the presence of the causative agent of disease in an individual, so as to be able to administer the right medication (245). The governments opted to create awareness on the control of epidemics, but this took a longer time to be implemented because of language barriers. Public health could not be shared by all since it only benefited the whites in some territories while the blacks were left for the mercies of God (251). The third advantage in technology that made the new imperialism possible was the use of sophisticated firearms in places where only olden weapons were used (258). What fuelled the development of the weapons was the competitive nature of the European states and their desire to find market for their ready made goods and search for raw materials for their industries (278). In Africa, North America, Argentina and Chile, the Europeans were able to prosper in imperialism since they were advantaged by the use of highly technological weapons and instilled fear to the subjects. However, the case of Ethiopia was different because Ethiopia had their weapons and were much more organized to be able to fight back the Europeans (289). Airpower gave the Europeans added advantages since they were losing some battles on the ground and hence could operate from above, isolating themselves from simple weapons of target territories on the ground and also isolation from the severity of diseases (300). The airpower technology was first used in Hiroshima in Japan and the plane craft was used to release a bomb. The doctrine of Major Giulion Douhet implied that it was possible that the enemy could easily be defeated if an early target by aircraft is made to the enemy’s centre while those on the ground dealt with the enemies at the ground level (311). Air control was attractive because not so many soldiers were required hence was cheap and it made it easy to access the enemies territories with ease and could deliver detrimental and destructive missiles to eliminate the enemy within a short period of time (325). The book ends with a post war paradox that power over nature provided by superior technology does not automatically guarantee control of those with less technological advancement (328). The use of airpower in Vietnam, Algeria, Afghanistan and Iraq led to the civilians acquiring the skill, which helped them to turn against their adversaries and finally defeat them in battle (329). The author concludes the book by highlighting the fact that possession of more advanced technology does not actually translate to direct control of those people whose technologies are less advanced. He however commends on the possession of such highly technological advancements and suggests that if a state possesses such high advancements in technology, it would be more than willing to express control over other people. This argument is persuasive enough to convince the reader, since all along the book it is evident that the weapons and technology possessed by the Europeans played a very major role in the conquest of other territories in order to expand their own territories. Work Cited Read More