Gina > Recent Status Updates

"Europeans were able not only to explore the world but to dominate it. They did so thanks to the relentless advances in military and naval technology that provided an unassailable advantage over the populations they came into contact with."

FIRST OF ALL, the technology was not significantly advanced compared to populations they came into contact with. This is a huge myth. Guns weren't that good yet. Uuuuuuuugh

I get that this book is a world history and covers a huge swath of time but my survey classes are more in-depth than this and I often find the pace of those a little frustrating, so the whole skimming rapidly over centuries of politics and conflict is...interesting...

“Their presence on the great roads and in the by-ways, in towns and villages, in fields and woods, gives an impression of a general swarming that can be felt at a distance of two centuries by anyone who looks into the manuscripts that speak of them. They were a France unanimously rising against the ‘tyrants.’ They knew why they were fighting, and were ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.”