TY - BOOK ID - 83736885 TI - Firearms : a global history to 1700 PY - 2003 SN - 0521822742 0521722403 1316345092 051180668X PB - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Firearms KW - 355.014 KW - 623.44 KW - 355.014 Bewapening KW - Bewapening KW - History KW - Hand weapons. Firearms. Small arms. Side arms. Protective equipment KW - History. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:83736885 AB - This book is a history of firearms across the world from the 1100s up to the 1700s, from their invention in China to the time when European firearms had become clearly superior. It asks why it was the Europeans who perfected firearms when it was the Chinese who had invented them, and answers this question by looking at how firearms were used throughout the world. Early firearms were restricted to infantry and siege warfare, limiting their use outside of Europe and Japan. Steppe and desert nomads imposed a different style of warfare on the Middle East, India, and China - a style with which firearms were incompatible. By the time that better firearms allowed these regions to turn the tables on the nomads, Japan's self-imposed isolation left Europe with no rival in firearms design, production, or use, with consequences that are still with us today. ER -