Preview

Did the Development in European Warfare During the Sixteenth Century Amount to a ‘Military Revolution’?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2124 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Did the Development in European Warfare During the Sixteenth Century Amount to a ‘Military Revolution’?
Did the development in European warfare during the Sixteenth Century amount to a ‘Military Revolution’?

By the Sixteenth century, Luther had successfully challenged the Catholic Church from 1517 and Copernicus had declared a solar- centric universe in 1543. These are both historical events in early modern Europe. The dramatic changes in Military warfare are also seen as key to European developments in separating the medieval society from the Modern. The military developments change that art and organisation of warfare effecting the development of the early modern European state. The Sixteenth Century brings about new technology, weapons, tactics and armies that some see a resulting in a European ‘Military Revolution’.

The Sixteenth Century brought a change in warfare compared that of the previous hundred years. Knights lost their value and gave way to infantry and artillery as a result of the development of pike and musket warfare. Military engineers also designed stronger defensive fortifications, trace italienne, therefore leading longer siege warfare. Generals became the standard leaders of armies as warfare became more technical and strategic. As tactically warfare became standard, infantry also became more discipline, trained to march in step and drill in formations of rank and files. Along with these military developments there was also an increase in the importance of military education and military academics such as Maurice of Nassau.

The Military revolution of early Modern Europe is said to have taken place in many different areas of warfare. Technological developments such as pike and gunpowder firearms by 1520 changed the format of war itself. An important European military development of the sixteenth century was the use of Gunpowder and muskets on the battlefields. It brought new excitement, power and dangers to the European battlefield. Although gunpowder was not a necessary a new development as it was used in China, India and the Middle



Bibliography: T A Brady, H Oberman, JD Tracy eds, ‘Handbook of European History 1400-1600’, vol. 1, chps. 16 & 17 Arnold, T ‘ The Renaissance at War’ (Great Britain 2001) Hale, J.R,’ War and Society in Renaissance Europe 1450-1620’ (Great Britain 1985) (mainly chp 2) Parker, G, ‘Empires, War and Faith in Early Modern Europe’ (2002) Roberts, M, ‘The Military Revolution 1560-1660’ (1957) Rogers, C .J. (ed), ‘ The Military revolution Debate’ (1995) Schulze, W, ‘The emergence and consolidation of the tax state’ in R. Bonney (ed.), Economic Systems and state Finance (1995) Tahett, F, ‘War and Society in early Modern Europe 1495-1715’ (1992) (mainly chp 1 &

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    European History Essay

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Merriman, John. A history of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the age of Napoleon. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. London: W.W.Norton and Company Inc., 2010. N. pag. Print.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    [ 5 ]. William Chester Jordan, Europe in the High Middle Ages (Penguin 2003) p.207…

    • 2243 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Renaissance is known as a period of advancements in trade and art and as a time where people of different backgrounds gathered together, clashing overall ways of life. One aspect that is often overlooked, however, is the effect the Renaissance had on the clashing of swords. Before the Renaissance, soldiers stood on opposites ends of each other and charged like barbarians with swords and sticks, or whatever they could scrounge together to fight. The Renaissance brought a change to the literal concept of how battles were fought. The movement away from barbaric types of warfare and towards more refined ways of fighting is demonstrated through several contributing three key facets. The factors that led to significant military advances for Europe during the Renaissance were the movement towards swifter, more durable ships that could defend themselves on the high seas and the creations that derived from gunpowder, and how it made the military weapons used before it obsolete. Ultimately, the most significant military advancement of the European Renaissance is how the Reformation created the…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women in the Renaissance

    • 1366 Words
    • 4 Pages

    McKay, John P., Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler. "European Society in the Age of the Renaissance." _A History of Western Society_. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.…

    • 1366 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In tackling this question it should first be asserted that these dates are commonly known to be the end of the Middles Ages (1500) and the beginning of the French Revolution (1789.) To determine whether this period characterises the term ‘early modern’, it must be more substantial than a set of dates, factors of a imperial, cultural, religious, political and economic nature must be investigated. This will discern if Europe underwent a period of “modernisation.” Moreover they must be assessed in a broader context to conclude how much change happened different to the Middle Ages and how much they shaped the future.…

    • 1911 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    To call the 18th century the age of limited warfare would be to imply that it was mild and restrained. Limited can be assumed to refer to the small-scale, cautious tactics and limited goals of the warfare of the time; generally, whole societies did not need to be mobilized, and whole nations were neither conquered nor annihilated. Armies were the property of monarchs rather than countries, and subject only to their intents and purposes of war were not yet the concern of the masses. The wars of the eighteenth century were largely fought for material, rather than ideological, reasons: generally specific territory or resources.…

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The gunpowder revolution saw many advancements beginning in the mid-fifteenth century. With the French invasion of Italy in 1494, France demonstrated that the exploitation and advancement of a technology could give one side an extreme advantage over the side which did not advance as quickly. France developed lighter and more mobile cannons, made from bronze, with handles on the sides that allowed them to be mounted to horse-drawn carts. These cannons could be easily traversed up or down, right or left, allowing for better aiming techniques. The French army also developed better propellant and ammunition by concentrating gunpowder, first introduced to Europe in the thirteenth century, through a process known as “corning.”…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Thirty Years’ War from 1618-1648 was a major turning point in European history, seen from a military revolution, by gaining larger armies, a religious revolution, through Catholicism no longer being the predominant religion, and the rise of France, through becoming the dominant nation in Europe.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The current field of research into the cause of the downfall of the knightly class generally agrees that it was primarily a result of the introduction of gunpowder weaponry, but some recent scholarship suggests otherwise.…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Honig, Jan Willem. “Reappraising Late Medieval Strategy.” War in History 19 (2012): 123-151. Accessed September 26, 2013 on Academic One File.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    An adequate theory of representation must take into account the culturally specific circumstances in which visual images function. . . . Works of art embody the collective psychology of entire nations and epochs in perceptible form. --Claire Farago The topic of Renaissance art often draws to mind the master figures of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; with their sweeping effects on their own time and influence on artists who followed, they left behind some of the world 's most beloved and appreciated pieces of art. Though certainly lesser known, two seventeenth-century Dutch artists each created a respectable body of work in the Renaissance period as well: Pieter Gerritsz and Pieter Claesz.…

    • 2844 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Middle Ages is attributed to great human innovations and inspiration whereby most of the modern innovations originated during this historical period. Ranging from the time of the William the Conqueror invasion in 1066 to the commencement of the Tudor dynasty around 14th century which experienced a lot of wars that in turn led to the development in science and technology, medicine, weaponry among other inventions (Gies & Gies, 1995). Although The Middle Ages experienced constant warfare, it resulted to some changes in the approach in which wars were conducted and the tools used during the wars by the troops. There was outbreak of pestilence and plagues facilitated the invention of medicine.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    White, on the other hand, believed that new technologies played crucial roles in the rise of feudalism and agricultural and manufacturing productivity in the late Middle Ages. His work, Medieval Technology and Social Change, was so influential that it has had an impact beyond scholarly circles. His descriptions of these technologies and their affects on medieval life appear regularly in European History textbooks, for example, William McNeill's The Rise of the West.1 One of White's strengths is that he does not merely support his own theories with facts, but rather he expands on the views of others, incorporating his ideas of technology. For instance, when reviewing the origin of feudalism, he first presents the theory of Heinrich Brunner who believed that feudalism was a military outfit designed to support the development of a large cavalry force. Brunner tied together evidence about the growth of cavalry forces and the confiscation of Church lands, to show that, between the battle of Poitiers in 733 and the battle of the Dyle in 891, the Franks changed their military forces. Originally consisting of primarily foot soldiers, the Franks changed to a heavy emphasis on…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Enlightenment refers to an important cultural and intellectual movement of the 18th century, whose goal was to establish knowledge based on an enlightened rationality. Enlightened Absolutism or Enlightened Despotism as it is more often called can be defined as a form of government strongly influenced by the wide propagation of ideas and the political philosophy of the Enlightenment. It is a term first used by the Philosophes in the second half of the 18th century that manifested to describe a particular phase in the development of absolutism. The term ‘Enlightened Despot’ refers to those 18th century monarchs who were familiar with the ideas of the Enlightenment and distinguished themselves from regular despots by the way they governed. The title of Enlightened Despot has been bestowed on many monarchs such as Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine II of Russia and Maria Theresa and Joseph II of Austria. Their policies vary in general because each enlightened despot took very different views of their position and thought of enlightened rule in very different terms. However, there are certain distinctive features, which mark the regimes of almost all enlightened despots. These include the implementation of religious tolerance, reforms in the education system, improvements in legal procedure, rationalization and centralization of the administration, the raising of the standard of living of the working classes and the improvement of the economic situation of the country.…

    • 2566 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Merriman, John Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present W. W. Norton (1996) ISBN 0-393-96885-5.…

    • 5475 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Good Essays