Abstract
The early modern period witnessed the emergence of a number of processes and institutions that were to acquire global scale and have a significant impact on the structure of globalization. In this chapter, we will focus on three processes. The first is related to the invention of the printing press, which triggered the Second Information Revolution in the history of humankind. This dramatically reduced the cost of books, contributing to the democratization of literacy, and also facilitated the mass printing of periodicals, which involved increasing numbers of people into information networks. The second process is the so-called “Military Revolution”—a radical change in military organization, provision, strategy, tactics, and weaponry that resulted in political and administrative changes in many areas of the World System, and led to its major restructuring. The third process is the formation of modern statehood, which prompted the appearance of “global thalassocracies” and a number of modern institutions, whose concepts gradually became integrated worldwide.
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Notes
- 1.
In our opinion, namely this fact explains the difference (emphasized by Max Weber) between the economic achievements of Protestants and Catholics in Europe between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries as opposed to the mystical spirit of capitalism. The latter was considered to be an essential feature of Protestantism. As Weber claimed, “we have no intention whatever of maintaining such a foolish and doctrinaire thesis as that the spirit of capitalism … could only have arisen as the result of certain effects of the Reformation, or even that capitalism as an economic system is a creation of Reformation” (Weber 2005[1930]: 49).
- 2.
The term “revolution” is used here to emphasize the dramatic character of the transformation that took place over several centuries and resulted in significant changes which extended far beyond the military sphere.
- 3.
Glete points out that it is rather complicated to compare the sizes of different armies (Glete 2002: 31). The size of regular armies and armies mobilized for war varied drastically. Sizes could also fluctuate during military campaigns as a result of fierce battles or the arrival of additional forces.
- 4.
One should note, however, that these means were long known in the East.
- 5.
That was when secular and canon law, which regulated the Church, started diverging.
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Zinkina, J. et al. (2019). The Early Modern Period: Emerging Global Processes and Institutions. In: A Big History of Globalization. World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05707-7_7
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