Why Did Europe Conquer the World?

Between 1492 and 1914, Europeans conquered 84 percent of the globe. But why did Europe establish global dominance, when for centuries the Chinese, Japanese, Ottomans, and South Asians were far more advanced? In Why Did Europe Conquer the World?, Philip Hoffman demonstrates that conventional explanations--such as geography, epidemic disease, and the Industrial Revolution--fail to provide answers. Arguing instead for the pivotal role of economic and political history, Hoffman shows that if certain variables had been different, Europe would have been eclipsed, and another power could have become master of the world. Hoffman sheds light on the two millennia of economic, political, and historical changes that set European states on a distinctive path of development, military rivalry, and war. This resulted in astonishingly rapid growth in Europe's military sector, and produced an insurmountable lead in gunpowder technology. The consequences determined which states established colonial empires or ran the slave trade, and even which economies were the first to industrialize. Debunking traditional arguments, Why Did Europe Conquer the World? reveals the startling reasons behind Europe's historic global supremacy.

One of Bloomberg Businessweek's Best Books of 2015, chosen by Barry Eichengreen "Brilliant."--Edward Rothstein, Wall Street Journal "[Why Did Europe Conquer the World?] is a very interesting addition to the flourishing history of the world genre."--Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist "History and counterfactuals blend into a fluent thesis, underpinned by diverting tables of data."--Martin Vander Weyer, Daily Telegraph "Fascinating."--G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs "A confident and sure-footed book."--Robert Fulford, National Post "Big-picture economic history at its best. Hoffman's answer: chronic military conflict that gave European leaders incentives to harness widely known gunpowder technologies more effectively than leaders in other parts of the world. Also a good reminder of what economic history brings to today's economic and political table."--Barry Eichengreen, Bloomberg Businessweek "A hugely ambitious book and one that no scholar analyzing transitions in global history can overlook. It is a daunting task to attempt such an endeavor, let alone succeed as Hoffman has. [How Did Europe Conquer the World?] will change interpretations of European warfare, the financing of conflicts, transitions in other regions of the world, the causes of the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Divergence--topics that are at the forefront of history, economics, and political science today... Impressive and persuasive... [T]his book is a classic of economic history, which should be required reading."--Jari Eloranta, EH.net "Impressive."--Jan De Vries, American Historical Review "A powerful argument that resonates strongly with recent work in international political economy (Herman Schwartz) and political science (Ned Lebow)."--Survival

Philip T. Hoffman is professor of business economics and professor of history at the California Institute of Technology.