The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century

Headrick explains what allowed imperialism to happen and how the ability furthered the motivation. I found the best passage in the book to be, "What the breechloader, the machine gun, the steamboat and steamship, and quinine and other innovations did was to lower the cost, in both financial and human terms, of penetrating, conquering, and exploiting new territories." The lowering of the cost of colonial expansion, a debate that "raged" within the ruling circles of Britain and continental Europe, is remarkably demonstrated by the invention and application of the crucial technologies outlined above.
The best example of this used in The Tools of Empire is prophylactic quinine's prevention of African malaria. Although there was a strong desire to enter Africa, few attempted this nearly suicidal venture because it almost certainly meant death from malaria or yellow fever. When it was discovered-by trial and error, rather than by scientific experiment-that prevention of malaria came from quinine prophylaxis, explorers and soldiers began to conquer the continent. Headrick's point is that the imperialist motive, already extent by factors he declines to discuss, was ineffective until technology advancement enabled it to be carried out. Headrick does not debate why the imperialists wanted to conquer, simply that technology allowed them to do so.

Even given such incontrovertible support for his theme, Headrick shies from proclaiming technologies determinism. He attributes much of the success of colonial expansion to the technologies that carried the white European into the previously impenetrable expanses of interior Africa and Asia, the medicines that allowed them to survive in those harsh environments, and the weapons that facilitated ease with which they defeated indigenous peoples, but not the cause. Most enlightening were his explanations of the failed attempts to breach Africa and India; Headrick was able to reveal exactly how each technology overcame that obstacle to expansion that denied previous explorers and colonists access. Headrick correctly sites technology in its social context in this book.

Daniel R. Headrick received a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins, and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. He taught at Tuskegee Institute (1968-75) and at Roosevelt since 1975 and was a visiting professor at Hawaii Pacific University in 2000. He has written The Tools of Empire (1981), The Tentacles of Progress (1988), and The Invisible Weapon (1991). He has also co-authored a textbook entitled The Earth and its Peoples: A Global History. His most recent work, When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700-1850, was published by Oxford University Press in 2000. Current projects include lectures at Southwestern College in Texas, University of Rochester, M.I.T., and Yale University. He is also writing a book on technology in world history for Oxford University Press.


Answers why the explosion of Colonialism in 19th Century   July 28, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Daniel Headrick explains his purpose, "to argue that both the motives [for imperialist expansion] and the means [to facilitate it] changed [in the 19th century], and both caused the event," in the opening chapter of his 210-page book. He does this by "analyzing the technological changes that made imperialism happen, both as they enabled motives to produce events, and as they enhanced the motives themselves." Through a wealth of both primary and secondary sources, well documented in end-of-chapter notes, a bibliographical essay, and an index, Headrick demonstrates not only what people were doing, but also the thought process and motivation for their actions. Primary sources were convincing; as contemporary accounts of what was happening during the nineteenth century, they established what people believed. Rather than staking a technological claim as a "cause" of imperialism, Dr. Headrick demonstrates technologies primary role as an enabler.

Headrick explains what allowed imperialism to happen and how the ability furthered the motivation. I found the best passage in the book to be, "What the breechloader, the machine gun, the steamboat and steamship, and quinine and other innovations did was to lower the cost, in both financial and human terms, of penetrating, conquering, and exploiting new territories." The lowering of the cost of colonial expansion, a debate that "raged" within the ruling circles of Britain and continental Europe, is remarkably demonstrated by the invention and application of the crucial technologies outlined above.
The best example of this used in The Tools of Empire is prophylactic quinine's prevention of African malaria. Although there was a strong desire to enter Africa, few attempted this nearly suicidal venture because it almost certainly meant death from malaria or yellow fever. When it was discovered-by trial and error, rather than by scientific experiment-that prevention of malaria came from quinine prophylaxis, explorers and soldiers began to conquer the continent. Headrick's point is that the imperialist motive, already extent by factors he declines to discuss, was ineffective until technology advancement enabled it to be carried out. Headrick does not debate why the imperialists wanted to conquer, simply that technology allowed them to do so.

Even given such incontrovertible support for his theme, Headrick shies from proclaiming technologies determinism. He attributes much of the success of colonial expansion to the technologies that carried the white European into the previously impenetrable expanses of interior Africa and Asia, the medicines that allowed them to survive in those harsh environments, and the weapons that facilitated ease with which they defeated indigenous peoples, but not the cause. Most enlightening were his explanations of the failed attempts to breach Africa and India; Headrick was able to reveal exactly how each technology overcame that obstacle to expansion that denied previous explorers and colonists access. Headrick correctly sites technology in its social context in this book.

Daniel R. Headrick received a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins, and a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. He taught at Tuskegee Institute (1968-75) and at Roosevelt since 1975 and was a visiting professor at Hawaii Pacific University in 2000. He has written The Tools of Empire (1981), The Tentacles of Progress (1988), and The Invisible Weapon (1991). He has also co-authored a textbook entitled The Earth and its Peoples: A Global History. His most recent work, When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700-1850, was published by Oxford University Press in 2000. Current projects include lectures at Southwestern College in Texas, University of Rochester, M.I.T., and Yale University. He is also writing a book on technology in world history for Oxford University Press.


Informational, but fails to motivate the reader to read it   May 3, 2002
 3 out of 19 found this review helpful

A very dry book that is written in an easy to read style. That's great, but it is so relaxing that it can put you to sleep within a few pages. Granted, he had a tough topic to create excitement out of, but this reads like one of those textbooks that you dreaded receiving the first day of classes.
He talks about the motivation of European imperialism. He should have remembered to motivate the reader to care.


Pioneer work on technology in world history [4 1/2 stars]   March 12, 2002
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Though the subject will not interest everyone (thus 4 1/2 stars), "Tools of Empire" is still a fine example of sound research made accessible for a student/general audience by gifted writing. Headrick shows that, even though the will to dominate existed for a long time previously, Europe's chance to conquer most of the globe only came in the second half of the 19th century.

The technological changes associated with the transition from the First to the Second Industrial Revolution helped create this opportunity. Major innovations such as modern firearms, steamships, railroads, anti-malarial quinine and the telegraph made it much safer for Europeans to live and travel in the tropics, and also easier to attack the indigenous people there. The author gives special attention to developments in India, China and Africa.

Headrick's later works lack the sparkle of this groundbreaking text, but are still worthwhile in bringing the story closer to our own time. The more recent titles have rather more coverage of technology transfer---non-Western peoples' use of introduced technologies---in contrast to "Tools of Empire's" focus on the ways they were used against them. [Michael Adas, "Machines As the Measure of Men" is a stimulating look at Europeans' moral judgements about other societies based on their relative technological proficiency.]