Guns Germs And Steel Summary

The documentary of Guns Germs And Steel – Conquest tells the history of the Spanish conquistadors and the empire of the Inca. It begins in 1532 when Francisco Pizarro, the general of a group of 168 Spanish soldiers reaches the new world and comes in contact with a tribe. The tribe today is known as the Inca, they were an empire who were located in modern day Peru who had never seen a horse, and that taught the Spanish were gods. They had never seen these animals according to Jared Diamond because of Geography, he states in (8:21) of the video of a land known as the Fertile Crescent located in a part of the middle east that spread crops and animals all along long Eurasia, but not all the way to South America. They explain how Atahualpa the Inca emperor, had a plan to set a trap for the Spaniards at Cajamarca but what he didn’t realize is that the soldiers had the best weapons in the world. This was his demise, on November 15th, 1532 not knowing what writing was Atahualpa took the bible of the Spanish and believed it had no power. The Spanish retaliated by killing 7,000 Incas with a surprise attack strategy and kidnapping the Emperor and

keeping him for 8 months until he gave them over 20 tons of gold and silver, He ended up being garroted to death by the Spanish, who went back to Spain victorious and rich with only 168 men.
Jared Diamonds cause for all this European success is simply geography, He states it throughout the whole video that they were advance in weaponry and strategy due to the Fertile Crescent.

I do not believe this was the most crucial advantage the Europeans had in their success. I believe that the most crucial advantage the Europeans had at their disposal was their intelligence. The video states in (20:22) that making the rapier the swords that the conquistadors used to defeat the Inca was “high point in a very sophisticated metal working technology” The Europeans mastered how to make these swords perfectly not too brittle but not soft. This was already a sign of higher intelligence to be able to master such a difficult practice and apply it in the battlefield was genius. Geography doesn’t play a part here it natural

intelligence.
Video Quotes (41:55) “The Spanish’s horses, strategy, and swords have proven to be decisive.” All these deciding factors of this battle were due to the Europeans intelligence. They Trained their horses the Jineta style horses weren’t born with that. They realized in the battle with the Inca that they were outnumbered by a massive amount and that a sneak attack from previous battles would be the best strategy, both of those deciding factors don’t come down geography but the IQ the Europeans had.
At the conclusion of the video it states (53:10) “By the 19th century Europeans had colonized Africa, Australia, and much of Asia” Now Jared had stated that the Fertile Crescent had spread along Europe, Asia, Middle East, and North Africa, if their advantage seized to be Geography why didn’t the other nations have the same success? Why is it that the Europeans had the major success in the 19th century and colonized even those in the Fertile Crescent area? Simple, they were more intelligent, they always evolved their battlefield technology, they were the best strategists, and mastered difficult crafts better than anyone else.