Later, other Europeans would come along with other advantages, and they would conquer India, Persia, Vietnam, etc., evidence that while disease was a contributing factor (I certainly am not denying it helped!) it wasn’t so important a factor as to render my conclusion invalid (my conclusion, again, is that a moderate technological and strategic advantage can enable a small group to take over a large region.)
Europeans conquered places such as India, but that was centuries later, after they had a large technological advantage, and they also didn’t come with just a few warships either: they came with vast armadas. I don’t see why that supports the point that a small group can take over a large region?
The vast armadas were the result of successful colonization, not the cause of it. For example, a key battle that the British EIC won (enabling them to take over their first major territory) was the battle of Plassey, and they were significantly outnumbered during it.
Fair point about the large technological advantage, but… actually it still wasn’t that large? I don’t know, I’d have to look into it more, but my guess is that the tech advantage of the EIC over the Nawab at Plassey, to use the same example, was smaller than the tech advantage of Cortes and Pizarro over the Americans.
I should go find out how many men the EIC had when it conquered India. I’m betting that the answer is “Far fewer than India had.” And also, yeah, didn’t the British steal rocket technology from India? (Mysore, I think?) That’s one military important technology that they were actually behind in.
Europeans conquered places such as India, but that was centuries later, after they had a large technological advantage, and they also didn’t come with just a few warships either: they came with vast armadas. I don’t see why that supports the point that a small group can take over a large region?
The vast armadas were the result of successful colonization, not the cause of it. For example, a key battle that the British EIC won (enabling them to take over their first major territory) was the battle of Plassey, and they were significantly outnumbered during it.
Fair point about the large technological advantage, but… actually it still wasn’t that large? I don’t know, I’d have to look into it more, but my guess is that the tech advantage of the EIC over the Nawab at Plassey, to use the same example, was smaller than the tech advantage of Cortes and Pizarro over the Americans.
I should go find out how many men the EIC had when it conquered India. I’m betting that the answer is “Far fewer than India had.” And also, yeah, didn’t the British steal rocket technology from India? (Mysore, I think?) That’s one military important technology that they were actually behind in.