The Rise of the West: 🧵
You are told a myth about the rise of the west, that the scientific revolution, industrial revolution, the discovery of civil rights, liberty and freedom happened because Europeans started doing "science" out of nowhere.
1/
This is a myth. The actual reasons for the rise of the west were endless wars and conflicts which led to advances in military technologies, strategies, which led to more bloody wars, which led to more advancement in weaponry which helped Europeans in global domination.
2/
The ship building projects carried out by England, Portugal and The Netherlands are cases in point.
(This is called fluyts, a cargo ship by the Dutch)
3/
In Europe, where wars would extend to decades and centuries, like the Hundred Years War, Eighty Years War, Thirty Years War, and later on WW1 and WW2 are the latest examples of the long running history of war and violence which is ingrained into the consciousness of Europe.
4/
The unparalleled aggression and violence in Europe was unmatched by any region of the world.
In fact, wars became the staple feature and defining characteristic of Europe.
Only a European would have said that the nature of Man is to be in constant state of violence -Leviathan
4/
This is why at the time when millions of paintings and great architectural designs were being built, guns were also manufactured in exponential numbers.
5/
In the same vein some of the most important works of Newton and Galileo was the study of trajectory of projectiles and the causes of deviation in artillery.
Scientific advancements went hand in hand with military technological advancement
6/
It was for this reason that guns had become so refined and accurate that a handful of Portuguese conquistadors wiped out the native Americans who were numerically superior to them.
7/
The wealth stolen from the natives was showered on the Northern European countries, which led to patronage for science and arts, and more instability because now there was more to fight for, which led to more bloody wars and decades long conflicts.
8/
It was not that the native Americans were primitives and uncivilised. In fact they were more Civilized than their European counterparts.
The inca empire had a sophisticated system of law and order, tax, and a high culture. The only reason they were dominated is because...
9/
...they were inferior in weapon technology.
10/
Map of all the recorded battles in history of the past 2,000 years.
11/
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.