Military Decline Of East Asia Analysis

Military Decline of East Asia after 1700

“Why was it the Europeans who perfected firearms when it was the Chinese who invented them?” This was the witty question that Kenneth Warren Chase (2003, 1) asked at the very opening of his book, Firearms: A Global History to 1700. Indeed, the question is worth pondering upon, for in the answers rest the history that transformed the European world into a supreme world power of the 1800s and drove the East Asia out from the limelight of world politics and economy. This paper then sheds light on the reasons for the military downfall of the East Asia and in the process covers some factors that eventually led to the rise of the European countries.

The Glorious Era of East Asia Military

The ascendency of

During the Ming Dynasty (1405-1433) when Zheng He served as admiral to Emperor Yongle, the East Asia had the technology to sail around southern Africa towards West Africa and on to Europe. He and Yongle conquered Vietnam and overpowered Japan. Their voyages reached Java, Malacca, Bengal, Sri Lanka, Jeddah, and East Africa (Du Bois 2014, n.p.). They built nine-mastered “treasure ships” which ruins found in the Yangtze River (Brown, n.d., n.p.). He’s expeditions dwarfed any that existed during the era (Du Bois 2014, n.p.). However, with He’s demise stopped all voyages and even the craft of ship-making, as ordered by the succeeding emperor (Du Bois 2014,

China was also divided into six Chinese kingdoms by Qin Shihuang and in the process created scholar-bureaucrats who over time stultified the civilization (Watkins, Valley, and Alley n.d., n.p.). This privileged class were adamant about keeping their power and prevented anyone from disturbing their status quo and thus endangering the system. In the long run, the heavy hands of the bureaucrats reduced the proactive aggression of the dynamic China and drove China to a standstill (Watkins, Valley, and Alley n.d., n.p.). Thus, the ancient flowing of Chinese civilization ended at the hands of the centralized government. Centralization then did not work well for East Asia. All the neighboring states - Japan, Korea, and Vietnam – somehow were expected to send tributary missions to much supreme China (Marks 2007, 69). The need to arm merchant ships was not dire. Thus, trade in the Indian Ocean was generally peaceful. Conversely, Europeans were so accustomed to combat. Andrade (2016, 196) said that when they first sailed into the Indian Ocean, the broadsides of their ships were armed with cannons facing outwards. Europeans came ready for