"Jim Wilkins" on Tue, 5 Nov 2019 17:26:15 -0500
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
"pyotr filipivich" wrote in message
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"Jim Wilkins" on Mon, 4 Nov 2019
19:10:33 -0500

The question comes: why did (the English especially) Western
Europe get not just the "science" but the technological advances?
Starting with gun-powder. The Chinese had it, but firearms never
became "big".

--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although far too often, Age travels alone."

https://www.learnchinesehistory.com/...nnons-history/

"Xena" showed pretty good examples of that Chinese artillery, although
they couldn't resist adding in an apparent nuke.

Western guns (gonnes) were similarly crude in that era and didn't fit
the ethic of the heroic knight.

But, once they got the major kinks worked out, musketeers were
easier to train than archers. "Quaintly has its own quality."

I remember James Burke in his series "Connections" point out that
after the Burgundian wars in the mid 15th C, the Swiss pike formation
revolutionized warfare, because a pike formation could stop Knights,
for a whole lot less.
Later, as the handgonnes got more reliable, the "bayonet" was
invented, allowing you to outfit a "combined arms" (guns and pikes)
for less. Etc, etc.
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although far too often, Age travels alone."