Book Review: The Hundred Years War for Morocco: Gunpowder and the Military Revolution in the Early Modern Muslim World. By Weston F. Cook, Jr. West View. 1994. xix + 332 pp. ISBN 0 8133 1435 6

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-242
Author(s):  
Jeremy Black
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Hundred Years War ◽  
Military Revolution ◽  
The Military

The Consequences of the Military Revolution in Muscovy: A Comparative Perspective

1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall Poe
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
World History ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Military Revolution ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

What has been called the early modern military revolution may be described most simply as the replacement of small cavalry forces by huge gunpowder infantry armies. The revolution was a diffusionary process with a relatively well-understood chronology and geography. The innovations at its core began in northern Italy in the later fifteenth century and spread throughout central, northern, and eastern Europe in the three centuries that followed. Seen in this way, it was a unique and unitary phenomenon. Thus we speak ofthemilitary revolution, an episode in world history, instead of several different revolutions in the constituent parts of Europe. Nonetheless, the course and impact of the revolution were different in the regions it eventually affected.

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.

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