OLD DUFFER'S
BOOK CORNER

The Military Revolution Debate

edited by Clifford Rogers for Westview

When is a military revolution not a military revolution? When it is not your doctorate thesis period! Eleven academic brawlers come out for the Renaissance Reformation World Wrestling Federation on the topic of that Military Revolution. You know that you've been tangoed when you see the first section is called Paradigms. Michael "Big Daddy" Roberts' original lecture is here to give us a slow and easy target to beat up. Roberts' (like me a keen Abba fan) belonged to the "Stupid Spaniards/Smart Swedes" School and reckoned much of the revolution was a leap from medieval battels to modern battalions.

Geoffrey Parker then steams in boot high (in a very fetching Spanish comb-morion) to argue there was no tactical revolution in the 1630s but one needed to look back to the trace italienne (lovely girl!) in the previous century with its movement in favour of the defence. The Editor stirs it all up by examining the military revolutions of the Hundred Years War (the success of infantry and of England demonstrating a major change). Finally, Jeremy "The Man in..." Black argues for the true Revolution being the increase in army sizes under Le Roi Soleil.

While the main protagonists are adjusting their posing pouches in come the supporting cast. John " Bayonets of the Republic" Lynn has two pieces on the real increase in French strength 1610-1715 and the growth in army sizes and the trace italienne. Thomas Arnold takes the case that the trace italienne favoured the large state (usually supported by Sienese experience) and counter-argues from the Gonzaga experience in Montferrat and Mantua. (Keen fans of The Flashing Blade will remember the interminably siege of Casale). Colin Jones discusses the professionalisation of the French Army through Le Roi Soleil's reign. I.A.A. Thompson looks at the increase in costs to the Spanish monarchy of waging war. John "Gunpowder and Galleys" Guilmartin tests the theses of military superiority in South America. Simon Adams dwells on the Habsburg hegemony. Finally, in the best of what is a very good collection David Parrott presents an excellent analysis of strategy and tactics of the Thirty Years War.

If you believed Lion of the North, try reading this collection. Eminently poptastic, and thoroughly recommended even for those of you who love the smell of napalm in the morning.

More Book Corner:

Back to Perfidious Albion #95 Table of Contents
Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1997 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com