Part IV
When Technology Changed the Rules
How energy, industry, transport, communication and demography transform the possible scale of power.
The reading path
Chapters in this part
- 15When Knowing You Do Not Know Becomes an AdvantageThe Scientific Revolution enters our story because better measurement, prediction and testing create new capacities to navigate, build, govern and fight.14 min read
- 16Why Did the Industrial Revolution Begin There?Britain industrialised first through a combination, not one cause. Concentrated energy, markets, capital, institutions and innovation transformed production, war and empire.13 min read
- 17How Do You Make a Thousand Kilometres Disappear?Distance does not disappear, but it changes scale. Railways and steamships speed up goods and armies; the telegraph makes information almost independent of the messenger's speed.13 min read
- 18Why Living Longer Also Changes PoliticsVaccines, germ theory, public health and synthetic fertilisers change mortality, population, agriculture and the capacity of states. Medicine enters the story only where it shifts the balance of power.11 min read
- 19Why Does Everyone Suddenly Want a Nation?Print, literacy, bureaucracy, school and military conscription allow millions of people to imagine themselves as part of the same ‘us’, profoundly transforming European and world politics.12 min read