In the book, Guns Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond attempts to answer questions of conquest, such as why Eurasia conquered the Americas, and not the other way around. Diamond is a biologist by trade, and both impressed and disappointed the academic world with his new historian side. He believes the answer to western dominance lies in geography and the spread of guns, germs and steel. His theories had led him to be heavily critiqued by historians everywhere, including environmental historian J.R McNeil and Professor of Anthropology and Geography James Blaut. While Diamond provides solid ideas relating to the conquest of the New World, he often uses his scientistic background loosely with unclear supports forgetting other historical factors that
GSR is short for gun shot residue; the residue is created from a firearm being discharged. Residue is deposited on the hand or the clothes of the individual who discharged the firearm. The residue is made up of burnt and unburnt particles from the bullet and the cartridge case. GSR residue helps investigators to determine who fired the firearm and what type of firearm was used. In some cases it helps investigators know the distance of the shot that was fired based on the residue
Gunpowder became a revolutionary weapon that helped siege warfare in Ancient China, acting as a
In PBS’s episode one entitled Out of Eden of the series Gun’s Germs, and Steel, Professor Jared Diamond attempts to answer the question of “why you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little.” (Cassian Harrison, 2005) Professor Diamond’s begins his research by exploring history from 13,000 years ago, pre-dating civilizations, during a time period equivalent to New Guinea’s present day. Professor Diamond delves into the origins of traditional societies and tracks their evolution into modern times, searching for an explanation for why some societies have expanded and modernized while others remain frozen in an earlier time. Professor Diamond theorizes that the reason behind the inequality between the people of New Guinea as compared to “white men” societies is due to geography and what the land has produced.
History of the Catapult Catapults possibly the most well-known weapon in medieval warfare, some with the ability to shoot a rock or body over 1,300 ft. into enemy lines. However catapults date back a lot further than medieval times, and came in many more styles than you might think. The catapult was the ultimate long range weapon until the 14th century when gun powder and canons were introduced. The first documented catapults originated in the 3rd and 4th century BC in China.
congruent with the institutions and feelings of the period were invented.” Mead in this quote is saying that inventions do not happen because of right or wrong but rather because of what the time period is prepared for. However, Gun powder not only started physical explosions it also started a new era of intellectual and social explosions. This invention led natural philosophers and soldiers alike to ask questions such as what happens to the cannonball after it leaves the cannon. This question took four hundred years and whole new fields of science to answer (Kelly 136).
In the 904AD the army used the gunpowder in the form of crude rockets [1]. They would insert small stone cannonballs inside the bamboo tree tubes and blast them out by igniting the gunpowder at the end. The Chinese emperors had tried to keep the discovery of gunpowder as a secret weapon, but before the 1100s AD their secret spread to other nations such as the Islamic Empire and the Roman Empire. The knowledge about gunpowder spread out very fast throughout the word in the 13th century due to the Mongol Conquests.
Emperor Akbar was the ruler of a gunpowder Empire, allowing him to conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, which is what I believe he will be remembered for. Equally important, Akbar created new policies to have non-Muslims support him, some policies like removal of taxes on pilgrims along with non-Muslims, he became interested in other religions, to the point of complete toleration as well as inviting Christian missionaries to talk to him about their religion. Surprisingly, even though he supported and had his court made of poets, artists and scholars he never learned to read or indite.
In modern society, guns are seen as a form of control. Those who have guns are able to overpower those who do not. This trend was set when guns were first invented and has stayed the same throughout history. The one place where guns are not a symbol of power and control is in literature, specifically “The Old Gun” and Hamilton. In Mo Yan’s short story “The Old Gun”, the protagonist is a hungry boy who does not even know how to use the titular firearm.
As spoken of by Cal State Fullerton, “a group of Daoist monks… mixed saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal… they discovered that it would burn and explode” (Orleans). This is a reasonable explanation to why gunpowder was created since the time it came from was full of inventing and discovering. Gunpowder also has some hints to its uses since the “Chinese word for gunpowder… literally means ‘Fire Medicine’” this goes to show that the Chinese somewhat knew what they were doing when naming it (Culture). The fire part of this terminology comes from the fact that gunpowder explodes, as you read earlier, from the mixture of substances it’s made from. It’s also related to fire because it takes a flame to light it and it produces smoke when it burns or explode.
American artillery has under gone a large evolution and many changes since its Colonial birth in 1775. The Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Mexican War also brought many significant experiences to the Department of the Army. Mainly as to the important impact that American artillery holds on the stronghold of America and to the future of field artillery. On June 17, 1775, Colonist fought against British occupying soldiers, which started the American Revolutionary War.
“We know as early as 1350, a hand cannon was developed that would fire projectiles with the aid of gunpowder. Gunpowder is basically a substance that when ignited through a spark or other means, explodes or basically, more technically burns creating a tremendous amount of gasses and pressure that’s ideal for pushing a projectile down a long tube or a barrel, as they evolved” (Hershberger , "Guns: The Evolution of Firearms"). Although China was the first to create and use gunpowder, it was the Europeans that began to develop and create the sophisticated firearms that propelled the usefulness of gunpowder on the battlefield. “It [gunpowder] took a while for it to travel to the west and find a home in Europe and it was through the introduction of gunpowder to the Europeans that firearms began
During the 19th century world, there were many technological advancements including guns, which had significantly created an influence along with later advancements. However, the use of guns created brutal slaughters of unarmed villagers and let cruel empires strike fear into the hearts of the locals. This technological advancement enabled people to strike back with ease which then allowed them to rise and prosper. Guns during that era
Although gunpowder was not introduced until the Mongols got their hand first. Mongols were working closely with Chinese to fight against the Europeans. As soon as the Europeans come to know about gunpowder they started making weapons to expand their trade networks and empires. Now that cannons were the weapon to have in medieval era. Now that cannons were common Chinese stepped up their use of gunpowder to hand help weapon known as guns.
“Tea is the ultimate mental and medical remedy and has the ability to make one’s life more full and complete.” As a long-standing tradition of Japanese culture, matcha is the highest quality of green tea available. Made from the fresh tips of nutrient-rich shade-grown green tea leaves, matcha has numerous health benefits, making it a trend across Asia and expanding to the West. What is matcha?
