The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb

by Peter A. Lorge

• ISBN13: 9780521609548
• ISBN10: 0521609542
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Records show that the Chinese invented gunpowder in the 800s. By the 1200s they had unleashed the first weapons of war upon their unsuspecting neighbours. This extraordinarily ambitious book traces the history of that invention and its impact on the surrounding Asian world - Korea, Japan, South East Asia and South Asia - from the ninth through the twentieth century. As the book makes clear, the spread of war and its technology had devastating consequences on the political and cultural fabric of those early societies although each reacted very differently. The book, which is packed with information about military strategy, interregional warfare and the development of armaments, also engages with the major debates and challenges traditional thinking on Europe's contribution to military technology in Asia. Articulate and comprehensive, this book will be a welcome addition to the undergraduate classroom and to all those interested in Asian studies and military history.

Author Biography

Peter Lorge is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee

Table of Contents

List of maps	p. vi
Acknowledgments	p. vii
Chronology	p. viii
Glossary	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
China through the Yuan	p. 24
Japan and the wars of unification	p. 45
The Chinese military revolution and war in Korea	p. 66
Southeast Asia	p. 88
South Asia to 1750	p. 112
The military revolution in South Asia, 1750-1850	p. 133
The arrival and departure of the West	p. 154
Conclusion	p. 176
Index	p. 183
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