ARMS AND THE ASIAN. REVISITING EUROPEAN FIREARMS AND THEIR PLACE IN EARLY MODERN ASIA武器與亞洲人：歐洲槍砲以及它們在近代初期亞洲的位置
The article reexamines the so-called "paradox" of European warfare—between the promise of technological superiority and logistical, tactical, and institutional contingencies—by investigating the place of firearms on the Asian continent between roughly 1500 and 1800. In dialogue with the "Military Re...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
April 2008
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40026/3655 |
| Summary: | The article reexamines the so-called "paradox" of European warfare—between the promise of technological superiority and logistical, tactical, and institutional contingencies—by investigating the place of firearms on the Asian continent between roughly 1500 and 1800. In dialogue with the "Military Revolution Debate," the authors argue that the effectiveness of European weapons in Asia cannot be explained by a linear transfer of technology, but rather by local dynamics that include military organization, supply infrastructure, fortress design, and forms of adaptation on the part of different powers. Methodologically, the text articulates a comparative and transregional approach, analyzing how artillery, handguns, and fortifications interrelated across diverse political and military contexts, contrasting the global European experience (from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean routes) with trajectories of change within Europe itself. As a result, it is argued that firearms functioned as selective catalysts: in certain conjunctures they contributed to tactical imbalances and to the offensive, while in others they were neutralized by defensive adaptations, material limitations, and strategies that restored the advantage of defenders. Thus, the "military revolution" must be understood as a historically situated process, rather than as a universal explanation of European power. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |