Guns, Germs and Steel Part 9 of 18

Episode Two : Conquest (Part 3 of 6)

On November 15th 1532, 168 Spanish conquistadors arrive in the holy city of Cajamarca, at the heart of the Inca Empire, in Peru.

They are exhausted, outnumbered and terrified -- ahead of them are camped 80,000 Inca troops and the entourage of the Emperor himself.

Yet, within just 24 hours, more than 7,000 Inca warriors lie slaughtered; the Emperor languishes in chains; and the victorious Europeans begin a reign of colonial terror which will sweep through the entire American continent.

Why was the balance of power so unequal between the Old World, and the New?

Can Jared Diamond explain how America fell to guns, germs and steel?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• guns
• germs
• steel
• jared
• diamond
• pulitzer
• prize
• conquest

[benhuang1000]

the guillotine uses a angled blade to decapitate humans,this is why swords that are curved are better at severing and decapitating,for experiment,take out 2 piece of bread along with kitchen knife, try to slice the first bread horizontaly(not vertically) on its horizontal side of bread, you see that the bread DID cut thru,but took some effort and the bread is mushed,try on the second piece while slicing bread at a slanted angle and you see that is cut thru cleaner without mushing the bread

[benhuang1000]

First of all,the techniques for making katanas started far before medeival times(it came from chinese but japan perfected it),japan was already making weapons out of steel by mixing the right amount of iron(pig iron) with the right amount of carbon to produce a strong durable blade,like what 2:10 - 2:30 mentions,the japanese also follow those steps carefully to prevent sword to break,ever heard of the guillotine? the inventor found out that blades slashing at a slant angle can sever thing better

[benhuang1000]

i shall end this debate once and for all

[711DAS]

@supersmash43 ....because you know we live in a racially obsessed culture; in-group out-group bias.

[MaggieSerendipity]

I swear one of the conquistadors says "my ballsack" at 8:23... I don't mean to be immature, but that's just what I heard. :)

[supersmash43]

@ChaosDynamics Why I am not surprised there would be heated debate on this page about the quality of European vs Asian or more specifically Japanese swords?

[ChaosDynamics]

@evilblades

Are you trying to say that a Katana of that era would be less deadly than a European longsword? I think it's very unlikely. Japanese swords were more flexible, lighter (which aided swift attacks) and stronger (due to the amount of folding) and sharper (when again was aided by the folding which created more layers in the material used). Swords like the Katana were also designed for slashing (so increased change of death/sever immobility on first blow) rather than mere stabbing.

[evilblades]

@ChaosDynamics wrong, the Japaneese swordsmiths could not compare against the steel weapons of europe, of even middle eastern or german Iron. The Japaneese folded their steel by necessity, as their iron was of an inferior quality. they needed excellent swordsmith skills just to reach the European quality of swords. and nowere near the div ersity.

and even then the japaneese adbility to construct forges were at the level of the romans, more than 1000 years behind european smithing.

[evilblades]

@ChaosDynamics Europeans stopped folding metal the moment they invented steel, the japaneese only had access to pig iron. they HAD to fold the metal because pig iron swords break too easily. even the Saxons made folded swords centuries before the Japaneese did, but it was obsoleete with steel, the europeans had better methods, the europeans had superior swords. the "super katanas" are a result of propaganda.

even if you fold pig iron, the quality is lower than good steel.

[ChaosDynamics]

@ImaRageQuitter

Ummm yes actually. Japanese swords were by far the best at this time.