Originally Posted by
Raugnaut
Generally, civilations advance for reasons- take the Americas, which, while various peoples were advanced in thier own ways (Aztecs, who were slavers, the, what were they, Incas?), weren't anywhere near as advanced in chemistry/metallurgy. Even IF the indigenous people DIDNT get decimated by the european diseases, they would have eventually been overwhelmed by the huge technological/industrial differences. However, both of the indigenous peoples, Aztecs/Incas, had been existing at the top for, from my understandings, centuries, whereas the Europeans were a relatively new group of cultures, diffusing and each gaining thier own power after the fall of the Roman Empire. Since the Aztecs/Incas didn't really have any competition, they stagnated and didn't advance anywhere near as much. However, I don't think there was ever ONCE "peace" in the european powers- their technologies greatly advanced due to the extreme competition (If you didn't keep up with the rest, you would be conquered, lands taken, people brutalized) so the Europeans acquired a significantly greater amount of both industrial power, and military power.