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Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400- 1700
European expansion was essentially a commercial venture, and the fact that the colonial policies of the European powers had a very pronounced mercantile tone was the natural consequence of the basic motives behind that expansion. A wide range of opportunities magnetized the Europeans overseas. Religion supplied the pretext and gold was the motive.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Carlo M. Cipolla
85 books103 followersCarlo M. Cipolla (August 15, 1922 – September 5, 2000) was an Italian economic historian. He was born in Pavia, where he got his academic degree in 1944.
As a young man, Cipolla wanted to teach history and philosophy in an Italian high school, and therefore enrolled at the political science faculty at Pavia University. Whilst a student there, thanks to professor Franco Borlandi, a specialist in Medieval economic history, he discovered his passion for economic history. Subsequently he studied at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics.
Cipolla obtained his first teaching post in economic history in Catania at the age of 27. This was to be the first stop in a long academic career in Italy (Venice, Turin, Pavia, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Fiesole) and abroad. In 1953 Cipolla left for the United States as a Fulbright fellow and in 1957 became a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Two years later he obtained a full professorship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M....
As a young man, Cipolla wanted to teach history and philosophy in an Italian high school, and therefore enrolled at the political science faculty at Pavia University. Whilst a student there, thanks to professor Franco Borlandi, a specialist in Medieval economic history, he discovered his passion for economic history. Subsequently he studied at the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics.
Cipolla obtained his first teaching post in economic history in Catania at the age of 27. This was to be the first stop in a long academic career in Italy (Venice, Turin, Pavia, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Fiesole) and abroad. In 1953 Cipolla left for the United States as a Fulbright fellow and in 1957 became a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Two years later he obtained a full professorship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M....
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 15, 2023
Технологические инновации сводятся к исследованию влияния артиллерии на войны. Но почему русские смогли, а китайцы не смогли догнать европейцев в артиллерии убедительно не объяснено
April 24, 2022
Ottimo libro sui fattori che portarono gli stati europei a essere determinanti nel commercio mondiale. Come sempre Cipolla è interessante, non scontato e ben documentato. Analisi del periodo dal quale si origina e si concretizza la superiorità tecnologica militare navale dell' Occidente.
February 24, 2019
Un altro fantastico libro di Cipolla, dopo il saggio sulla stupidità e quello sull'importazione del pepe in Europa. I suoi saggi non hanno la pretesa di storici più affermati ma propongono delle angolature molte volte sorprendenti. In questo caso, Cipolla spiega con semplicità e chiarezza, senza scadere nel semplicismo, come il progresso tecnologico europeo in campo di armi da fuoco e navigazione abbia rappresentato un punto di svolta nel dominio europeo dal XV secolo in poi. Sia chiaro, per Cipolla il progresso non è l'unico fattore, è bensì il mezzo che ha permesso ad un "motivo" di diventare "realtà". Inoltre l'autore, per nulla positivista, rende bene la differenza tra progresso tecnologico e civilizzazione, mostrando come le due non vadano per forza a braccetto.
Un libro aperto a tutti, appassionati di storia e non, semplice nel linguaggio e nell'esposizione delle idee ma profondissimo nella sua ricerca delle fonti (vedere il corposo e dettagliato numero di note).
Buona lettura.
Un libro aperto a tutti, appassionati di storia e non, semplice nel linguaggio e nell'esposizione delle idee ma profondissimo nella sua ricerca delle fonti (vedere il corposo e dettagliato numero di note).
Buona lettura.
June 25, 2015
Carlo M. Cipolla was one of the earlier historians trying to grapple with how specific European powers (chiefly, in his case, the Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish) became global powerhouses by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He also completed this volume before Geoffrey Parker's The Military Revolution offered a more complex view of technological innovation and military change on the continent. Cipolla's thesis is fairly straightforward: the Europeans achieved hegemony on the world's oceans because they were the first to harness cannon effectively for ocean warfare and that, combined with the transition from the oar to the sail in ocean-going vessels, allowed European ships to harness inanimate energy and reserve human energy more exclusively for offensive capabilities.
Cipolla divides his short volume into two parts. First, he discusses, in great detail, the gradual development of guns (that is, cannon) for field artillery and naval artillery. This includes a discussion of the various bottlenecks that confounded European engineers for centuries—for example, how to cast cheaper iron guns in ways that matched the efficiency and reliability of more expensive bronze cannon. There is much excellent detail here, although it will likely bore most readers who aren't enthusiastic about the intricacies of developing the earliest cannon. The second part of his volume, and more problematic in a twenty-first century context, endeavors to trace the proliferation of gunpowder technology from Europe to the Muslim and Asian worlds.
Cipolla's narrative of how non-Western powers "failed" to mimic European ocean-going vessels and cannon relies extensively on various cultural arguments that are now mostly debunked. For example, Confucian China disparaged skilled artisans, were apprehensive of foreign influence, and possessed "prevailing cultural traits that were not favourable to innovation." These explanations for why China did not develop European-styled navies or cannon are too simplistic and are is now replaced by Kenneth Chase's nuanced argument about Chinese steppe warfare in his book Firearms. Cipolla's attempts to grapple with Ottoman, Mamluk, Indian, Japanese, and Korean warfare are also very brief and therefore simplistic.
For 1966, however, Cipolla's book was quite innovative because it practically targets all the major components of what military historians now call the "military revolution" some two decades before Geoffrey Parker developed the concept in his lectures.
3 stars primarily because this book is dated, although the section on gunpowder development still offers excellent details for military historians.
Cipolla divides his short volume into two parts. First, he discusses, in great detail, the gradual development of guns (that is, cannon) for field artillery and naval artillery. This includes a discussion of the various bottlenecks that confounded European engineers for centuries—for example, how to cast cheaper iron guns in ways that matched the efficiency and reliability of more expensive bronze cannon. There is much excellent detail here, although it will likely bore most readers who aren't enthusiastic about the intricacies of developing the earliest cannon. The second part of his volume, and more problematic in a twenty-first century context, endeavors to trace the proliferation of gunpowder technology from Europe to the Muslim and Asian worlds.
Cipolla's narrative of how non-Western powers "failed" to mimic European ocean-going vessels and cannon relies extensively on various cultural arguments that are now mostly debunked. For example, Confucian China disparaged skilled artisans, were apprehensive of foreign influence, and possessed "prevailing cultural traits that were not favourable to innovation." These explanations for why China did not develop European-styled navies or cannon are too simplistic and are is now replaced by Kenneth Chase's nuanced argument about Chinese steppe warfare in his book Firearms. Cipolla's attempts to grapple with Ottoman, Mamluk, Indian, Japanese, and Korean warfare are also very brief and therefore simplistic.
For 1966, however, Cipolla's book was quite innovative because it practically targets all the major components of what military historians now call the "military revolution" some two decades before Geoffrey Parker developed the concept in his lectures.
3 stars primarily because this book is dated, although the section on gunpowder development still offers excellent details for military historians.
April 28, 2021
I read this book for research that I’m doing and absolutely loved it. The only thing that kept it from achieving a fifth star from me was the annoying habit of the the author to write entire sentences there and again in various foreign languages without translation. I admit that I am not fluent in reading French, Spanish, and a few others, as I’m sure most anyone that’s not Dutch is. Please don’t let that hold you back from reading this though, because the rest is superb. And if you are interesting in the subject and you do happen to be Dutch and speak six languages, than you’ll probably love it even more.
November 12, 2007
This book made me know far too much about cannons. Well written.
August 1, 2020
Breve ma figo come quasi sempre accade con i libri dell'irraggiungibile Carlo M. (che non vuol dire Maria) Cipolla. Vi verrà voglia di costruire un galeone, o di prendere a cannonate la casa di fronte.
October 13, 2017
Uma analise solida e bem estruturada sobre o inicio dos Impérios Europeus que se vão estabelecer com base no domínio dos mares.
May 7, 2019
The endless footnote/citations got in the way, and in many ways the appendex was more enjoyable than the book.
Read
September 9, 2019Fa temps que me'l vaig llegir i l'hauria de repassar.
September 19, 2022
The author managed to make an essay on the development of early artillery and its use by European powers into an attractive and memorable narrative. Five stars.
July 31, 2016
Certo che la traduzione fa proprio pena. Il Mulino avrebbe potuto spendere qualche lira in più per un editor... Inoltre ci sono un sacco di riferimenti a delle presunte immagini che però nell'edizione italiana non ci sono. Ragazzi, capisco che il libro è antico ma un po' più di cura...
Ci ho messo parecchio a leggerlo ma più a causa del lavoro che del contenuto. Stanca com'ero, leggevo un paragrafo e mi prendeva un sonno tremendo. Certo, mi ha aiutato a fare tanti sonnellini sul divano ma forse non è questo lo scopo di un libro.
Si parla ancora di storia moderna, non solo in Europa ma anche in Asia e nelle Americhe. Uno sforzo di ricerca incredibile e per questo l'autore ringrazia tutti i suoi ex studenti che lo hanno aiutato.
Si parla di cannoni e di artiglieria all'inizio. Di come l'arrivo della polvere da sparo abbia cambiato il modo di fare la guerra ma anche di come tanti personaggi si siano opposti a questo modo di fare la guerra che non era nobile. Poi si passa al cambiamento nei modi di navigazione che favorisce la Gran Bretagna e l'Olanda a scapito dei paesi mediterranei che non riescono a vedere che l'innovazione potrebbe cambiare le loro vite.
L'ultima parte si concentra sui paesi extra-europei: Cina, Giappone, le Americhe e l'India. Spiega come gli europei fossero in vantaggio nei combattimenti marittimi ma perdessero spesso quando si trattava di combattimenti sulla terra ferma. Di come, nonostante tutto, i cannoni europei fossero sempre e comunque meglio di quelli costruiti dalle altre parti.
Cipolla continua a piacermi molto come autore. Sto imparando molto leggendo i suoi libri che, grazie al suo stile molto semplice e un po' cinico, sono molto scorrevoli. Il prossimo sarà Istruzione e sviluppo. Il declino dell'analfabetismo nel mondo occidentale.
Ci ho messo parecchio a leggerlo ma più a causa del lavoro che del contenuto. Stanca com'ero, leggevo un paragrafo e mi prendeva un sonno tremendo. Certo, mi ha aiutato a fare tanti sonnellini sul divano ma forse non è questo lo scopo di un libro.
Si parla ancora di storia moderna, non solo in Europa ma anche in Asia e nelle Americhe. Uno sforzo di ricerca incredibile e per questo l'autore ringrazia tutti i suoi ex studenti che lo hanno aiutato.
Si parla di cannoni e di artiglieria all'inizio. Di come l'arrivo della polvere da sparo abbia cambiato il modo di fare la guerra ma anche di come tanti personaggi si siano opposti a questo modo di fare la guerra che non era nobile. Poi si passa al cambiamento nei modi di navigazione che favorisce la Gran Bretagna e l'Olanda a scapito dei paesi mediterranei che non riescono a vedere che l'innovazione potrebbe cambiare le loro vite.
L'ultima parte si concentra sui paesi extra-europei: Cina, Giappone, le Americhe e l'India. Spiega come gli europei fossero in vantaggio nei combattimenti marittimi ma perdessero spesso quando si trattava di combattimenti sulla terra ferma. Di come, nonostante tutto, i cannoni europei fossero sempre e comunque meglio di quelli costruiti dalle altre parti.
Cipolla continua a piacermi molto come autore. Sto imparando molto leggendo i suoi libri che, grazie al suo stile molto semplice e un po' cinico, sono molto scorrevoli. Il prossimo sarà Istruzione e sviluppo. Il declino dell'analfabetismo nel mondo occidentale.
November 1, 2013
Rapid read, well-documented, and mostly unarguable, so long as you don't overextend the argument. It is quite clear that the linking of cannons and sailing ships represented a quantum leap forward in terms of European capabilities vis-a-vis the rest of the world. It remains unclear where that factor stands in the pantheon of factors that resulted in the so-called Rise of the West, but Cipolla's case is clear.
June 11, 2015
This short, detailed work, based on European sources, shows the development of the key technologies that allowed the west to rise to temporary world dominance. Of the three title subjects, guns get the most discussion, though there is solid coverage of the development of European naval and merchant ships. The sections on the reactions of non-European cultures to European innovations (or adaptations) are dated, but useful. A good read.
May 25, 2009
The text of the book was interesting enough - but I remember most distinctly the stunning abundance, one might say superfluity, of footnotes. Never again have I seen so many pages so exclusively occupied by footnotes! I imagine talking to Prof Cipolla may similarly devolve into tangents, then tangents upon tangents, for hours!
Read
December 4, 2015Costretta a studiarlo per l'esame di Storia Moderna, devo dire che alla fine è risultato interessante e scritto bene. Questo nonostante l'argomento (sì, avete capito bene, parla esattamente di VELE e CANNONI....capiamoci.)
February 19, 2013
Bellerrimo, uno dei miei preferiti di Cipolla. Rilettura perché, ahimé, nessun cassetto che sputi fuori nuovi saggi...
October 14, 2015
Book recommended by Paul Graham https://twitter.com/paulg/status/5681...
December 10, 2018
I enjoy very much. Well researched. It shows how Europe was so strong in Asia.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews