"Doctors of the Military Discipline": Technical Expertise and the Paradigm of the Spanish Soldier in the Early Modern Period

1996 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Gonzalez de Leon
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Technical Expertise ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Discipline

Towards an Analytical Model of Military Effectiveness for the Early Modern Period: the Military Dynamics of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-316
Author(s):  
Daniel Szechi
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Analytical Model ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Military History ◽  
Military Effectiveness ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglophone World ◽  
British State ◽  
The Military

Abstract Early modern European rebellions have long been of interest to military historians, yet, with the exception of the 1745 rebellion led by Charles Edward Stuart, the military history of the Jacobite rebellions against the English/British state is little known outside the Anglophone world. Likewise, though there have been many analyses of particular rebellions no analytical model of rebel military capabilities has hitherto been proposed, and thus meaningful comparisons between early modern rebellions located in different regions and different eras has been difficult. This article accordingly offers an analysis of the military effectiveness of the Jacobite rebels in 1715-16 structured by a model adapted from the ›Military Effectiveness‹ framework first advanced by Allan Millett and Williamson Murray. This is with a view to stimulating military-historical interest in Jacobite rebellions other than the ’45, and promoting more systematic discussion of the military effectiveness of early modern European rebel armies.

scholarly journals Myths of military revolution: European expansion and Eurocentrism

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.C. Sharman
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
European Expansion ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Western Expansion ◽  
Military Revolution ◽  
Military Innovations ◽  
The Military ◽  
Social Root

This article critiques explanations of the rise of the West in the early modern period premised on the thesis that military competition drove the development of gunpowder technology, new tactics, and the Westphalian state, innovations that enabled European trans-continental conquests. Even theories in International Relations and other fields that posit economic or social root causes of Western expansion often rely on this “military revolution” thesis as a crucial intervening variable. Yet, the factors that defined the military revolution in Europe were absent in European expeditions to Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and conventional accounts are often marred by Eurocentric biases. Given the insignificance of military innovations, Western expansion prior to the Industrial Revolution is best explained by Europeans’ ability to garner local support and allies, but especially by their deference to powerful non-Western polities.

Civil Autonomy and Military Power in Early Modern Ireland

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 31-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheál Ó Siochrú
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Urban Society ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Military Force ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
The Military

AbstractThe transformation of Irish towns in the early modern period (from bastions of English loyalism, to centers of Catholic resistance, to stridently Protestant colonial outposts) has received relatively little attention from historians. Instead, scholars have focused on the major land transfers of the seventeenth century, but the change in urban settlement patterns proved even more dramatic and was closely related to the positioning of civic communities in relation to the military struggles of the 1640s and 1650s. The central argument is that the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland marked a crucial and irrevocable transformation in both the possibilities of civic militarism and the nature of urban society and politics more generally. It demonstrates that during the 1640s, the citizens of Ireland’s major provincial cities participated in the troubles through strategic neutralism and the retention (or careful negotiation) of military force, acting with the fortunes of the citizenry in mind. This approach continued a tradition of relative civic autonomy, which was probably more embedded and accentuated in Ireland than either Scotland or England.

scholarly journals Česká vojenská příručka z roku 1618

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 44-52
Author(s):  
Klára Andresová
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
The Military

In the early modern period, only a few military handbooks were printed in the Czech language in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The first of them was a translation of Kriegs Discurs written by Lazarus von Schwendi, which was published by Daniel Carolides in Prague in 1618 as Discurs o běhu válečném [A Discourse on the Course of War]. The book was translated from German by Bartoloměj Havlík of Varvažov and edited by his son Jan Havlík of Varvažov. It was published only six months after the beginning of the Bohemian Revolt, which started the Thirty Years’ War. It is possible that this handbook was printed because its originators wanted to support the Bohemian Revolt. The book was dedicated to one of the main figures of the revolt – Albrecht Jan Smiřický, who however died only a few days after the publication of the title. Discurs o běhu válečném presented military thoughts from the 1550s together with some later ideas from the 1570s. The publication discussed the military organisation, various military ranks and offices and the obligations of soldiers. The book has been published in Czech only once, but there are at least four editions in German.

scholarly journals ‘The Military Mirror of Kai’: Swordsmanship and a Medieval Text in Early Modern Japan

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wert
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Japanese History ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
Cultural Arts ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Medieval Text ◽  
Modern Japan ◽  
The Military

AbstractSwordsmanship emerged as a new field of knowledge in early modern Japan (1600–1868), a time of relative peace. During the most violent periods of Japanese history, the latter half of the medieval period (1185–1600), samurai conducted warfare mostly on horseback, using the bow and arrow, or by leading massive armies filled with soldiers who used pikes, halberds, and even firearms. In this paper, I will trace the origins of early modern swordsmanship to the late 16th century during the transition between the medieval and early modern periods, when teachers of swordsmanship and their sword ‘styles’ first appeared in texts. Of these texts I will focus on ‘The Military Mirror of Kai’, purportedly written during the late 16th century, and a widely-read text among samurai of the early modern period. A mix of fact and fiction, the ‘Mirror’ became a source of fantasy and inspiration for samurai and non-samurai alike. It is also the earliest source of writing about swordsmanship, which was influenced by, and grew alongside, other medieval cultural arts such as

Far Behind the Front

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claes Pettersson
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
War Effort ◽  
The Military ◽  
Battlefield Archaeology

The ascent of Sweden as a major military power in Northern Europe in the seventeenth century is forever connected to the Thirty Years War. The story of King Gustavus Adolphus, and battles like Breitenfeld, Lech, Lützen, and Nördlingen mark the real beginning of the Swedish Age of Greatness. In recent decades battlefield archaeology has proved important in describing these events, widening our understanding of the military actions and their effects on local populations. This chapter focuses on Jönköping, a Swedish town where the early modern period has been examined archaeologically over three decades. This town can be used as a metaphor for Sweden during the seventeenth century as the inherent weakness of the new empire becomes evident. Events here exemplify both the visions held by the absolutist state and their consequences for ordinary people. The chapter also provides a background to the mobilization of local resources and logistics that made the Swedish war effort of 1627–48 possible.

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