The European conquest

Robert Fulford:
Why Europe conquered the world
He thinks European innovations in the use of the Chinese invention of gun powder was mainly responsible along with a competitive environment of many small states.   That is certainly a part of the the reasons but there were other factors.

The Europeans designed ships that could be sailed around the world.  Before the development of the large sailing ships, most sea going vessels were limited to coastal waters where they could be rowed by a large crew.  The sails freed the Europeans from their coast and allowed manpower to concentrate on firing the canons that used the gun powder.

The Protestant reformation also led to more questioning of orthodoxy and and also more migration to places where people would be free to worship.  The Europeans at about that time also began studying the history of warfare used by the Greeks and Romans.  They began using modern weapons along with articulating forces ( i.e. maneuver warfare) and combined arms operations to overwhelm enemies.

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