The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800 / Edition 2

by Geoffrey Parker

Overview

Well before the Industrial Revolution, Europe developed the superior military potential and expertise that enabled her to dominate the world for the next two centuries. In this attractively illustrated and updated edition, Geoffrey Parker discusses the major changes in the military practice of the West during this time period—establishment of bigger armies, creation of superior warships, the role of firearms—and argues that these major changes amounted to a "military revolution" that gave Westerners a decided advantage over people of other continents. A new chapter addresses the controversies engendered by the previous edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521479585
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/18/1996
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	273,279
Product dimensions:	6.81(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The military revolution revisited; 2. Supplying war; 3. Victory at sea; 4. The 'military revolution' abroad; 5. Beyond the revolution; Afterword; Notes; Bibliographical guide; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...this is a genuinely admirable book, and every student of military history, whatever his specialization, ought to read it cover to cover....Re-reading Parker's Military Revolution I am again struck by its brilliance, range and craft; by ambition fulfilled....A second, updated edition of Geoffrey Parker's The Military Revolution deserves a warm and thoughtful welcome by all historians. An author of rare linguistic range and command of primary sources, his masterful ability to construct comparisons and unearth new data has compelled many who would not call themselves military historians to take the "Military Revolution" paradigm (and military history) seriously...a seminal work." The Journal of Military History

"...this is a generally admirable book, and every student of military history, whatever his specialization, ought to read it cover to cover. Nobody has succeeded as well as parker in portraying the growth of European military power in the Early Modern Epoch." Thomas M. Barker, The Journal of Military History

"Re-reading Parker's Military Revolution I am again struck by its brilliance, range and craft; by ambition fulfilled....I am more than impressed by the insights, scope and scholarship of Parker's book; it is a work that has inspired much of my interest in the subject." Jeremy Black, The Journal of Military History

"I strongly commend this book to all historians. I can only wish others, reading The Military Revolution for the first time, will find it as stimulating as I found Geoffrey Parker's works when I first encountered them." Weston F. Cook, Jr., The Journal of Military History

From the Publisher