Key military developments occurred in the Early Modern period, during which armies evolved from troops of medieval knights to Napoleon's mass levies. Firearms impelled change, necessitating new battlefield tactics and fundamentally altering siege and naval warfare. The size and cost of military forces expanded enormously, and new standing armies underpinned the growing absolutist power of princes. Academic experts from both sides of the Atlantic review these developments, discussing the medieval legacy, Spain, the Ottoman Turks, the Thirty Years War, Prussia, the ancien régime and the Napoleonic Wars, together with sea power, the American Revolution and warfare outside the West.

This book presents a collection of essays charting the developments in military practice and warfare across the world in the early modern period. It also considers the nature and role of technological change, and the relationship between military developments and state-building.

This book studies the changes that have marked war in the Western World since the thirteenth century.

Military institutions have everywhere and always shaped the course of history, but women’s near universal participation in them has largely gone unnoticed. This volume addresses the changing relationships between women and armed forces from antiquity to the present. The eight chapters in Part I present broad, scholarly reviews of the existing literature to provide a clear understanding of where we stand. An extended picture essay documents visually women’s military work since the sixteenth century. The book’s second part comprises eight exemplary articles, more narrowly focused than the survey articles but illustrating some of their major themes. Military history will benefit from acknowledging women’s participation, as will women’s history from recognizing military institutions as major factors in molding women’s lives. Contributors include Jorit Wintjes, Mary Elizabeth Ailes, John A. Lynn, Barton C. Hacker, Kimberly Jensen, Margaret Vining, D’Ann M. Campbell, Carol B. Stevens, Jan Noel, Elizabeth Prelinger, Donna Alvah, Karen Hagemann, Yehudit Kol-Inbar, Dorotea Gucciardo and Megan Howatt, and Judith Hicks Stiehm.

"Covering the years between the end of the Hundred Years War and the beginning of the Thirty Years War, this book explains the part played by war in the lives of individuals in the early modern phase of European history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This book offers a substantial reconsideration of early modern warfare and its relationship to the power of the state.

This is a history of warfare, wars and the armed forces of Europe from the military revolution of the mid-17th century to the Napoleonic wars.; This book is intended for broad-based undergrad courses on 18th century Europe/Britain and the Ancien Regime. 2nd and 3rd year thematic courses on warfare in the modern period, and students of war studies.