The Military in the Early Modern World

A Comparative Approach

Markus Meumann, Andrea Pühringer, Markus Meumann, Andrea Pühringer

• Publisher: V&R Unipress
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783847110132
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783847010135
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

When looking at the early modern period (c. 1500–c. 1800), we often speak of "the military" or "the army". But what exactly do we mean when using these terms? The forms and structures of the armed forces have not only changed between 1500 and 1800, but also varied throughout different regions of the world and even within Europe. The contributors to this volume examine twelve early modern examples of armed forces in the Holy Roman Empire, Western and Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia and North America and paint a multifarious and even disparate picture during this period. The findings suggest that modern notions of the armed forces common in the early modern period should be used more prudently to avoid prevalent implications of non-existing continuity and uniformity.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Markus Meumann: The Military in the Early Modern World: A Critical Assessment
• Body
• I – The Empire
• Martin P. Schennach: Introduction and Commentary
• Andrea Pühringer: Between Stagnation and Expansion. The Military and Society in the Habsburg Monarchy from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century
• Carmen Winkel: Eighteenth-Century Military and Princely Rule. Brandenburg-Prussia as a Prime Example?
• Stefan Kroll: The Lifeworld of Soldiers in Eighteen-Century Saxony
• II – Western Europe
• Ronald G. Asch: Introduction and Commentary
• Enrique García Hernán: Christian Military and Muslim Civilians in Hafsí Tunis, 1572–1574. An Approach to the Problem of Coexistence and Segregation
• Olaf van Nimwegen: The Pitfalls of Modern Perceptions of the Early Modern Dutch Army
• Hervé Drévillon: “Secondary Heroes”. War and the Making of the Individual in Eighteenth-Century France
• III – North-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
• Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg: Introduction and Commentary
• Mikko Huhtamies: The Archipelago Fleet in Early Modern Sweden – New Military History in a Different Context
• Daria Starčenko: The Devil is Sneaking on a Čajka. Cossack Logic of Loot and Violence in the Black Sea Region in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
• Rhoads Murphey: Long-Term Changes in Janissary Service Ethos and Self-Perception in Response to the Shift from Expanding to Stable Imperial Frontiers in the Period 1600 to 1800
• IV – East Asia and North America
• Marian Füssel: Introduction and Commentary
• Shinko Taniguchi: The Military Raison d'Etre in Peacetime: The Characteristics of Bushido (the Way of the Samurai) in Early Modern Japan
• Kiyohiko Sugiyama: A Chinese Dynasty or a Manchu Khanate? The Qing (Ch'ing) Empire and its Military Force
• Daniel Krebs: Warfare in Colonial North America – a Review of Historiographical Trends
• Index of Names
• Geographical-political Index