620 



more and more elaborate institutions for its use and control. On the 

 world scene, technology is a source of national strength and wealth; 

 it can advance a nation's foreign policy objectives ; but it is often un- 

 predictable and sometimes injurious in its effects. The purpose of this 

 section is to trace briefly the emergence of technology in the Western 

 World, and chiefly in the United States, to provide an overview of 

 the national and international role of teclmology as an aspect of na- 

 tional culture and power. 



In general, it may be said that technology has contributed both 

 divisive and cohesive factors to the spectrum of international politics. 

 The development of military weaponry has increased the power in- 

 ventory of nations; yet, vigorous development of military hardware 

 by leading protagonists has merely tended to stabilize the balance of 

 power between them. The application and pui^uit of technology 

 expands national frontiers, but the quest for resources abroad has 

 tended to stimulate closer economic relations with remote territories. 

 Uneven growth of teclmology in developing countries has raised 

 living standards, but has also generated tensions as hmnan expectations 

 have outrun rewards. 



The Industrial Revolution as a Glohal Process 



Early in the industrial revolution, a race began for both overseas 

 markets for manufactured goods and supplies of needed raw materials. 

 In this race the process was one of commercial penetration, followed by 

 military enforcement of commercial rights. It is described as follows : 



Ckmscious of their unassailable position, merchants demanded commercial 

 privileges, and disputes over them often led to wars. From military victories 

 followed the necessity to assume administrative and political authority. Thus, 

 granted the immense European naval and military superiority, European control 

 of the Far East was an almost inevitable consequence of Europe's commercial 

 intrusion in the fifteenth century. Conquest, like missionary effort, was an 

 aspect of the boundless energy of the west. 



It was the western ascendancy in warlike affairs, ship-building, and naviga- 

 tion that first impinged upon the East [Products of artistic quality and crafts- 

 manship did not emerge from the application of western technology.] . . . The 

 huge, basic steps in technological progress seem to be linked with the satisfaction 

 of the most elementary and insatiable human needs. Water- and wind-power 

 were first applied to the grinding of corn, then to fulling cloth, then to mining 

 and metallurgy. Steam-power went first to the mines, then to the mills. Mass- 

 production methods appear first in ship-building yards, then in armament 

 factories. Modern chemical industry begins with the 'heavy' chemicals, and so 

 on. . . . The superiority of the West lay in its greater use of power and machinery, 

 in its chemical industry, and, in a few respects, in its applications of natural 

 science. These advantages enabled Europe to produce more goods more cheaply, 

 and so gradually to raise its standard of living to an unprecented level, while 

 dominating the commerce of the world and drawing to itself every necessary 

 raw material.^ 



British and German Technological Supremacy 



From the close of the Napoleonic Wars to about 188.5, England 

 remained dominant technologically and industrially over the other 

 nations of Europe, and indeed the rest of the world. Factors behind 

 this leadership included : the proximity of coal and iron at the outset 

 of the age of steam ; superior flexibility in the availability of acciunu- 

 lated capital for investment ; and early developments in machine tools 



■^ Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, eds. "A History 

 of Technology." Vol. Ill : From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, 1500 — 

 1750. (New York, Oxford University Press, 1957), pages 709-711. 



