No summary can do justice to McNeill… An excellent book covering military history the way I feel it should be; not as a tiresome list of battles and tactics, but as the evolution of armed force as the interaction of technology, economics and culture. … reservists called back to duty for a few weeks or months found something enormously exhilarating about … running risks, experiencing hardship, and testing personal prowess … consequently, warfare shed most of its sinister meanings among the immediately ensuing generations254 – military chain of command preserved a human pattern of unquestioning submission to a social superior … paradoxical as it may sound escape from freedom was often a real liberation, especially among young men living under very rapidly changing conditions256 – Larger and larger armies, built around a system of short-term conscription followed by a period of service in the reserves, came to dominate the scene on the continent of Europe.257 – An amazing fact of world history is that in the nineteenth century even small detachments of troops, equipped in up-to-date European fashion, could defeat African and Asian states with ease.260 – As far as western Europe was concerned, therefore, by about 1850 … prosperity, free trade, and private property attained greater plausibility than before or since. The metamorphosis of Greece since World War II, by William H. McNeill. … such a policy might cost the state dearly by diminishing tax revenue in future years … but large-scale commercial and industrial enterprises were vulnerable to decay for the same reasons that had caused them to burgeon .. changes of tax rates or of prices paid by the government could choke off production33 – information is too fragmentary to permit anyone to figure out exactly what happened … but it is clear that governmental policy was always critically important. Haiku. Last chapters leave the historical for contemporary analysis as written in Cold War times, a nice freeze frame of (intelligent) thinking at the time if more speculative postulating than the prior chapters' more detached analysis. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, a ground for wiser action. The Rise of the West, winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor.In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, "a ground for wiser action". Perhaps I just need more time to chew on it, but the first paragraph of the preface paints a more direct picture than I personally experienced. Yeah, but McNeill pulls it off, explaining how technology, markets, and command authority have combined again and again to win wars, and create modern society. ISBN 10: 0226561577 / ISBN 13: 9780226561578. . … in the second half of the eighteenth century, sharp challenges to existing political-military patterns … one fundamental factor … rapid population growth147 – Any human skill that achieves admirable results will tend to spread from its place of origin by taking root among other peoples who encounter the novelty and find it better than whatever they had previously known or done.148 – The rise of such march states to dominance over older and smaller polities located near a center where important innovation first concentrated is one of the oldest and best-attested patterns of civilized history. 1690 is when the bayonet is develope, Nation states substitute taxation for plunder. ISBN: 9780226561585. Start by marking “The Pursuit of Power” as Want to Read: Error rating book. 1690 is also when the British musket appears and stays basically unchanged until 1840. ISBN-10: 0226561585 Exquisite detail from the birth of gunpowder in western Europe until the present day. If there's any weakness in the book, it's that it skims WW2 and the Cold War, and treats innovation and technology as an autonomous force, but for a comprehensive military history, it's amazing. . We’d love your help. MacKenzie, Inventing Accuracy. Save for Later. In the first place that again McNeill offers us a real pioneering work: nothing less than a study on the relationship between political, military and social developments, especially in the 2nd millennium, an approach that – as far as I know - no one has ventured before. No summary can do justice to McNeill's intricate, encyclopedic treatment. Chapter 7 – The Initial Industrialization of War 1840-84224 – The pioneers sometimes sought private profit, sometimes the welfare of the poor, and sometimes more efficient warfare. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, a ground for wiser action. Centralized Control/ Decentralized Execution. Such feats, quite impossible in any earlier age, demonstrated once again the vital importance of industrial capacity for waging a new kind of war.253 – Obviously, mass mobilization was the basis of Moltke’s success. aka William Hardy McNeill was a historian and author, noted for his argument that contact and exchange among civilizations is what drives human history forward, first postulated in The Rise of the West (1963). In addition, McNeill has not limited himself to the specified time period, that is, from the year 1000 AD, but actually starting with the first civilizations. Plato called those who were entrusted with the physical defense of the community, and nothing else, Guardians. Buy The Pursuit of Power by William H McNeill for $101.99 at Mighty Ape Australia. Used Condition: Very Good Hardcover. William H. McNeill William H. McNeill is the Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of History, University of Chicago 60637. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, a ground for wiser action. Was interested mostly in the historic perspective of war but the book goes on to also cover the politics and other possible reasons for all these many conflicts. This sets out the theme of the book, which looks at the relationship between economics and military force. In 1969, McNeill became the Robert A. Milikan Distinguished Service Professor of History. Blends an impossibly broad scope of time with incredibly rich detail on the role of military technology and organization in shaping the sweep of history and society. Pretty good intro on modern war/technology progress and effects, especially on Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. Chapter 1 – Arms and Society in Antiquity7 – Dependence on distant supplier who were not firmly subject to imperial words of command constituted a limit upon the management of ancient empires … most of the commodities really important for maintenance of armies and administrative bureaucracies—the twin pillars of Xerxes’ and every other great king’s power—were available from within the boundaries of the state … of these, food was by far the most important.9 – Transport and provisioning were, therefore, the principal limits ancient rulers and armies confronted17 – Two currents of population displacement resulted from the cavalry revolution. Free shipping for many products! (Keynesian free trade! By inventing administrative methods for controlling soldiers and tying their self-interest more and more closely to continued service with the same employer, these cities altered the incidence of instability inherent in market relationships. . . If Machiavelli wrote the how-to book, this is the story of its use. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, a ground for wiser action. Buy a discounted Paperback of The Pursuit of Power online from Australia's leading online bookstore. Its very "Chicago", an examination of how military competition drove technological and social change across civilizations, it goes on your list of "desert island books". … The English, in effect, went the opposite way, inventing an efficient centralized credit mechanism for financing war by founding the Bank of England in 1694.179 – French warships were nearly always better built than their British counterparts, but in the last decades of the eighteenth century, the Royal Navy pioneered two important technical advances—copper sheathing for ships’ bottoms, and the use of short-barreled, large caliber guns, known as carronades.184 – all humankind is still reeling from the impact of the democratic and industrial revolutions, triggered so unexpectedly in the last decades of the eighteenth century. The Pursuit of Power, William H. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, "a ground for wiser action. This is a very hybrid work, as the subtitle (Technology, Armed Force & Society since AD 1000) suggests. … Speed, mass, and momentum, in turn, depended on skillful use of railroads … numbers required an army of conscripts reinforced in time of war by reservists … machinery for the mass production of small arms had made the cost of equipping vast citizen armies affordable. . One of the most widely read and respected historians in America pursues the possibility that coordinated rhythmic movement -- and the shared feelings it evokes -- has been a powerful force in holding human groups together. Click download or read online button and get unlimited access by create free account. Prices for editions of The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society Since A.D. 1000, by William H. McNeill The Pursuit of Power, Libro in Inglese di McNeill William H.. Spedizione gratuita per ordini superiori a 25 euro. Be the first to ask a question about The Pursuit of Power. ), Prefacevii – Alterations in armaments resemble genetic mutations of microorganisms in the sense that they may, from time to time, open new geographic zones for exploitation, or break down older limits upon the exercise of force within the host society itself.viii – A well-equipped and organized armed force, making contact with a society not equally well organized for war, acts in much the same way as the germs of a disease-experienced society. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Pursuit of Power : Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A. D. 1000 by William H. McNeill (1984, Trade Paperback, Reprint) at the best online prices at eBay! Welcome back. "—Portland Book Review "A massive and masterful account . This is one of the best books on history I've read in a long time, possibly the best since Janet Abu-Lughod's Before European Hegemony. The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society Since A.D. 1000 | William H. McNeill | ISBN: 9781597402903 | Kostenloser Versand für alle Bücher mit Versand und Verkauf duch Amazon. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. We all know about the Rape of Nanking, but why was Japan there? . It focuses on technology, on military developments and on social developments. . The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, "a ground for wiser action." Anti-intellectualism in the Russian, British, and Austrian armies was almost as intense. Posted on 05 11, 2020 - 12:57 PM 05 11, 2020 - 12:57 PM by William Hardy McNeill. Chapter 2 – The Era of Chinese Predominance 1000-150025 – New forms of management and new modes of political conduct had to be invented to reconcile the initial antipathy between military power and money power; and the society most successful in achieving this act of legerdemain—western Europe—in due season came to dominate the world.29 – What seems to have happened was that with the improvement of transport … allowed even the very humble to specialize their production … proliferating market exchanges—local, regional, and trans-regional—allowed spectacular increases in total productivity.31 – Yet the vigorous pursuit of private advantage in the marketplace, especially when it allowed upstart individuals to accumulate conspicuous amounts of wealth, ran counter to older Chinese values.32 – Confiscatory taxation of ill-gotten gains always smacked of justice and retribution. Rise of the West." Acquistalo su libreriauniversitaria.it! The Pursuit Of Power summary: (btw mc does not get wishes cos of good karma)In the beginning, there was nothing, until Chaos appeared and ended the period of emptiness. A brief summary of the book including the author’s thesis. William Hardy McNeill (October 31, 1917 – July 8, 2016) was a historian and author, noted for his argument that contact and exchange among civilizations is what drives human history forward, first postulated in The Rise of the West (1963). . Finance increases it’s power over politics in Europe while in China the opposite happened. Height of Cold War, prior to the resurgence of China and Japan as global economic forces, Scope. . The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, "a ground for wiser action." "No summary can do justice to McNeill's intricate, encyclopedic treatment. Nation states substitute taxation for plunder. McNeill, William H., The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000 . ", So smart it makes you hurt with envy. . Interesting to learn the development from Bombards to Cannon. Your review should include the following:. Prices for editions of The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society Since A.D. 1000, by William H. McNeill I was "forced" to read McNeil as I was Keegan and Horne as an essential piece to commissioning as an U.S. Army Officer. . McNeill traces the social history, technology and military history in one strand showing the path of war and power across the span of Europe and then beyond. Why was the book written . Click here for the lowest price! The distrust and suspicion with which officials habitually viewed successful entrepreneurs meant that any undertaking risked being taken over as a state monopoly. William Hardy McNeill (October 31, 1917 – July 8, 2016) was a historian and author, noted for his argument that contact and exchange among civilizations is what drives human history forward, first postulated in The Rise of the West (1963). McNeill, The Pursuit of Power. No summary can do justice to McNeill's intricate, encyclopedic treatment. No summary can do justice to McNeill's intricate, encyclopedic treatment. It focuses on technology, on military developments and on social developments. . 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