Matchlocks to Flintlocks

Warfare in Europe and Beyond, 1500–1700

William Urban

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781781599426
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia militare e marittima

"A big picture view of how changes in the way war was waged between 1500 and 1700 affected the world at large... an exemplary book." —War in History In the early modern world three dominant cultures of war were shaped by a synergy of their internal and external interactions. One was Latin Christian western Europe. Another was Ottoman Islam. The third, no less vital for so often being overlooked, was east-central Europe: Poland/Lithuania, Livonia, Russia, the freebooting Cossacks, a volatile mix of variations on a general Christian theme. William Urban's fascinating narrative is an integrated account of early modern war on the ground: of campaigns and battles, soldiers and generals. Temporally it extends from the French invasion of Italy in 1494 to Austria's Balkan victories culminating in the 1718 Treaty of Peterwardein. Geographically it covers ground from the Low Countries to the depths of the Ukraine. That narrative in turn focuses Urban's major analytical points: the replacement of "crowd armies" by professionals, and the professionals' integration into crown armies: government-supervised, bureaucratized institutions. The key to this process was the mercenary. Originally recruited because the obligations of feudal levies were too limited, mercenary forces evolved operationally into skilled users of an increasingly complex gunpowder technology in ever more complex tactical situations. By the end of the seventeenth century, soldiers were identifying with the states and the rulers they served. "This book will have a particular appeal for arms and armor collectors because it is written from the soldier's perspective. It charts the fighting man's transition from warrior to soldier and from soldier to servant of the state." —Classic Arms and Militaria

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• CHAPTER ONE - Warfare in Europe and the Mediterranean in 1500
• CHAPTER TWO - Armies and Personnel
• CHAPTER THREE - Technology, Weapons and Fortresses, and the Growth of Empires
• CHAPTER FOUR - The Gunpowder Revolution from Sweden and Germany to Turkey and Beyond
• CHAPTER FIVE - National Cultures, Courts and the Nature of Warfare
• CHAPTER SIX - Years of Intense Conflict
• CHAPTER SEVEN - The Process of Change Accelerates
• CHAPTER EIGHT - The Turkish Wars
• CHAPTER NINE - Summary The Evolution of Warfare
• Notes
• Readings
• Index