Tonio Andrade: 4 books

The Chinese invented gunpowder and began exploring its military uses as early as the 900s, four centuries before the technology passed to the West. But by the early 1800s, China had fallen so far behind the West in gunpowder warfare that it was easily defeated by Britain in the Opium War of 1839–42....

中國和歐洲強權勢均力敵的狀態為何被打破， 就此進入武力上的「大分流時代」？ 挑戰傳統軍事史觀 引發學界熱議論戰 漢學大師歐陽泰 改寫中西軍事革新史的關鍵之作 「中國發明了火藥、槍砲與炸彈， 但何以西方人會在十九世紀超越、擊敗並且羞辱了中國？」 －－《槍炮、病菌與鋼鐵》、《大崩壞》作者...

During the seventeenth century, Holland created the world's most dynamic colonial empire, outcompeting the British and capturing Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Yet, in the Sino-Dutch War--Europe's first war with China--the Dutch met their match in a colorful Chinese warlord named Koxinga. Part samurai,...

Sea Rovers, Silver, and Samurai traces the roots of modern global East Asia by focusing on the fascinating history of its seaways. The East Asian maritime realm, from the Straits of Malacca to the Sea of Japan, has been a core region of international trade for millennia, but during the long seventeenth...