First of all, this is an interesting book. Professor Lorge is surely correct to lament the lack of historical knowledge western (mainly American) students and history-interested readers have with regard to Asia. So, for that, his effort to write a 800-year precis on military development in Asia (focused principally on China, but addresses also Korea, Japan, India, Indonesia, and South-east Asia) is welcome, even necessary. His argument is clear -- the so-called Military Revolution that was made famous by Michael Roberts and Geoffrey Parker, which centered around gunpowder weaponry developed in western Europe, did not produce the world's first revolution in modern military affairs. In fact, the Chinese has employed gunpowder weapons and correspondingly "modern" tactics as early as the 12th century. Furthermore, the other aspects of the European-centric military revolution (increase in army size, governmental expansion and taxation, conscription, fortification, artillery proliferation, etc.) all had Chinese antecedents. Lorge goes so far as to suggest that the military revolution that opened the modern age actually began in China, centuries before the Europeans brought their guns and ships and politics to the East.
These are all positive aspects and the narrative of military development with its attendant political and social effects is interesting. There is much to learn here. However, the author's thesis is strained. Part of the problem is the overwhelming empathy he has for the subject. Lorge cannot speak of European or American colonialism with any objective detachment. He is very concerned that readers have subscribed to technological determinism, which relegates Asian culture to the background and privileges all things "high-tech" and therefore "Western." Often he asserts (without much detail) that European military technology prior to the 20th century was never far advanced over the Asian. Ominously, and with a touch of smugness, he claims that the age of the West may even now be in eclipse and that Asia is once again rising to its rightful place as the midwife of the modern world (pp 176-82).
My problem with this line of argument is that it is ahistorical. The world is what it is. European military technology was in fact superior to its Asian opponents. Lorge is right that political factionalism and other issues amplified the impact of gun-toting Europeans. But let's be honest -- to be relevant strategically, you've got to survive tactically. Asian societies fell to European domination because they couldn't complete tactically. Yes, they had guns and gunners, but as Lorge acknowledges, very often the guns were European purchase, and the gunners were European renegades or mercenaries. What does this say about cultural acceptance or openness? In my view, a lot. Even today, for all its technological prowess China does not field an indigenous tank, rifle, ship, or missile. They have purchased, borrowed, reverse engineered, or stolen every bit of modern military technology they have. They have all of the equipment that any superpower could want, but because they did not materially (by that I mean culturally) invest themselves in it, how good can their military expect to be? An ignorant pilot (meant in the broadest cultural sense) strapped into a so-called "5th generation" fighter plane is not going to be an agent for the next military revolution.
None of this is to say that Asian culture is "backward" "stunted" or "wrong." It is to say that the author perhaps puts too much weight on trying to argue the negative, that Asian culture is not inferior to Western. Maybe its an impossible thesis to prove. In any event, it is clear the author is committed to educating, which is a good thing.
Lastly, the book is aimed at the undergraduate student. However, it employs vocabulary beloved of academics (lacuna, milieu and -- my personal favorite -- adumbrate) that will challenge any but the most advanced student. It might even put them off sufficiently that they will miss the critical gem: the early modern military revolution did start in Asia, but it was hijacked and brought to frighteningly effective fruition by the West.
ISBN-13:
978-0521846820
ISBN-10:
052184682X
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