I came by this analogy by Dan Carlin. He was talking about "Germania" but the same applies to Sweden. When Sweden was christianized around 1000 AD this was basically equivalent to "being connected to the internet". Suddenly the vast resources (intellectual and communicational) of the catholic church where available to the (now christian) elite, giving them a huge advantage.
> In 1592, the Japanese general Hideyoshi invaded Korea, transporting over 160,000 troops on approximately seven hundred ships. He eventually mobilized half a million troops, intending to continue on to conquer China. Over sixty thousand Korean soldiers, eventually supported by over one hundred thousand Ming Chinese forces, defended the Korean peninsula. After six years of war, the Japanese retreated, and Hideyoshi died, having failed spectacularly in his quest.
> The Imjin War "easily dwarfed those of their European contemporaries" and involved men and material five to ten times the scale of the Spanish Armada of 1588, which has been described as "the greatest military force ever assembled" in Renaissance Europe. [2]
> [2] The Spanish armada consisted of thirty thousand troops on 130 ships and was defeated by twenty thousand English troops.
The Korean peninsula is about 86,000 square miles. Japan is about 146,000. (Modern) Spain is 195,000 square miles.
The fragmentation of Europe had really severe effects on the resources it was able to muster.
