Western European War Case Study

1. Of the explanations for European conquest that were discussed, I found Hoffman’s argument to be the most convincing. His argument, like Chase’s and Parker’s, hinges around the idea that faster military and political development allowed Europe to conquer the world. However, Hoffman’s argument differs from Chase’s and Parker’s in that it explains the outcomes of parts of Eurasia other than western Europe and China. In Hoffman’s tournament model, the conditions necessary for military and political improvement were all met in western Europe. His first condition for frequent war was very clearly present. Many of the countries in western Europe were similarly-sized, both economically and physically. Countries in Europe faced similar fixed costs of war due to nearly equal tax revenues. The prizes of glory and territory greatly outweighed the cost of mobilizing resources, so war was encouraged. The second condition for lavish spending on war was also met, due again to the high value of the
If the players in a conflict do not have the same idea of peace in mind during negotiations and these concerns are not made known, peace will never last. In Firearms, Chase describes that the Japanese and Chinese agreed to different versions of the same peace treaty in 1593 (Chase 188). Due to the ulterior motives of the envoys involved in peace negotiations, the Chinese and Japanese terms of the treaty were very different. Once Hideyoshi realized that he had been tricked, the peace treaty fell through entirely. A second invasion of Korea quickly began and the sought peace was lost. This example demonstrates that peace cannot be achieved if communication between the sides of a conflict is not airtight. Because the envoys who negotiated the peace lied to Hideyoshi, either to advance their own ends or just to bring a stop to the drawn-out negotiation process, the peace was doomed to