A Comparison Of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, And Steel
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Unbeknownst to the victors at the time, 1532 would mark the end of a ruling empire and a victory securing a nation’s global dominance. In “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Jared Diamond depicts the demise of the Incan people at the hands of the Spaniards. During the Spanish conquest of the Incas of the New World, the Spaniards would eventually come to realize that they were armed with strength and knowledge that would bring an entire civilization to its knees. The major victory was antecedent to the ultimate success of the Europeans’ conquest of the Americas.
Unlike the Incan peoples, the Spaniards already had vast knowledge in farming methods, weaponry, transportation and many other factors of the modern world. One advantage was animal domestication, specifically of horses. Imported from the Arabians, the Spaniards were adept in horseback riding for transportation and more importantly, warfare. The Incans were primitive in all facets of agriculture with only llamas to transport commodities and…show more content… For centuries, the Spaniards were bred in a war-like mindset having been in continuous battles with other nations. Comparatively, the Incans have never faced a conflict as great as this. Equipped with clubs ingrained with obsidian stones and other stone tools, a defining factor in the fall of the Incas was their lack of metal-working knowledge. The Europeans have experimented and mastered this art producing weapons such as guns and rapiers – foreign items to the primitive peoples of the New World. Unrivaled and incomparable, the clubs used by the Incans merely shattered upon contact of their steel swords and armours. These weapons, alongside the Spaniards’ combat tactics, were a distinct and defining characteristic of the Europeans. Masters in combat and warfare, the Europeans could leave the battlegrounds