The Western military trajectory finds many of the impetuses for a military revolution stemming from non-Western stimuli. Innovations such as the composite bow (introduced by the Hyksos), cavalry (accredited to Assyria and Persia), the stirrup (attributed to China), gunpowder (China), crossbow (China), and cannons (China) have been attributed to non-Western regions; however, it is the Western militaries that exploited these innovations to their full deadly potential and in the process created military revolutions. This paper will discuss how some of these exploitations affected the Western military trajectory during the Gunpowder and First Industrial Revolutions, most often leaving the non-Western militaries lagging behind. It will also …show more content…
The French invasion of Italy was not only an early part of the Gunpowder Revolution and the beginning of the modern age of warfare, but it was one of the first attempts at building nation-states. At the time, Italy was divided into several city-states, sovereign regions formed by a city and its surrounding territories. Due to the small size of many city-states, their defense was turned over to mercenary captains, condottieri. The paid men who formed compagnie (companies) under the condottieri were most often foreigners who lacked loyalty to their paymasters. On the other hand, as France expanded and took over city-states such as Armagnac, Burgundy, Provence, Anjou, and Brittany, they would become a part the French nation and its military. As such, King Charles VIII became the leader of the most powerful state in Europe by advancing the nation-state instead of city-states. Nearly one and a half centuries later, Swedish King Gustavus II Adolphus would further advance the French artillery techniques and make modern modifications to the formation and maneuver of his troops during the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631 against Count Johann Tilly, an Imperial commander. Tilly formed his forces in seventeen tercios, large formation of pikemen and musketeers fifty men abreast and thirty men deep. This formation was deadly for everything in its forward path, but it did
The Napoleonic wars did have a large impact on industrialization in Britain, the United States and Europe as a result of realizations and actions taken to better their countries after the Napoleonic wars. Although the Industrial Revolution began in Britain during the 1700's it was boosted in the early 1800's after the Napoleonic wars because of reform that was needed. Industrialization then started spreading throughout Europe and into North America in the early 1800's. By the mid-1800's industrialization was widespread. This was all a result, somewhat indirectly of the Napoleonic wars.
instrument they used is described as an iron tube or vessel that was filled with a powder or
During the American Revolution, South Carolina militia used guerilla warfare and some strategies to defeat their enemies. Back in the 1770's weapons used were muskets, rifles, pistols, swords, cannon, bayonets, knives. Some of the strategies planned included sneak-attacks, straight lines across the field, marching forward etc. In the film The Patriot, the soldiers are portrayed using the same weapons as in the 1770's but the skills are way to perfect. After completing research on the tactics and weapons in the American Revolution, it is clear the movie, The Patriot, was only somewhat accurate. Weapons and tactics were close to reality in the movie, but the skills portrayed by the soldiers were not accurate.
Modernizing war became easier when new weapons were developed. The American Civil War was the first place that weaponry began to change. The infantry carried new handheld guns such as rifles with breech loading and shells that exploded. The range of fire with the rifles was now unlimited so soldiers could hit anything they could see. Cannons were no longer in battle because of the invention of rifles. The rifles were more accurate than the other guns; therefore, the men that were shooting the cannons could easily be killed. The Battle of Gettysburg is a prime example of how these weapons changed the way wars were fought. The Gettysburg battle was fought with ninety thousand union soldiers and seventy-five thousand confederate soldiers. The
I understand - you still might be wondering why anyone would want to get into this sort of thing. Why make gunpla? To be honest, this question took me quite some time to be able to articulate a good answer. For me, gunpla is an innate, pleasurable thing to do. Perhaps it’s because of the fact that the actual gundam the gunpla is based off of was shown in the most “badass” way in a certain Gundam series I watched. Perhaps it’s because of the enjoyment I get from constructing something with my own two hands and calling it my own.
The discovery of gunpowder changed war from being fought with medieval weaponry and battle tactics to more modern day weapons and tactics because the gunpowder powered weapons are more deadly. Weapons that use gunpowder to launch projectiles have a greater range than melee weapons and are more powerful than bow and arrows. Also, cannons are more powerful and have a greater range and accuracy than catapults and they also can be reloaded faster than catapults. Gunpowder weapons changed war because they are stronger, more accurate, have a greater range and are able to be reloaded faster than medieval weaponry.
Following the Napoleonic Wars, there was a great amount of diplomatic instability within Europe, and in the Italian states there was a call to unify every state into one nation, Italy (text, 717). A leader of the unification movement, Camillo di Cavour (1810-1861) wanted to prevent chaotic revolutions to unite Italy, rather he wanted to unify the Italian states by promoting the economic developments of the Italian states (text, 717). Cavour was a prime minister of the Piedmont-Sardinia territory, he was a great leader who pushed for the advancement and increase of the region’s economic and military powers, which he believed would help promote a unified Italy (text, 717). Cavour’s territory had much to gain from a unified Italy including a larger amount of available labor, and also a
Yet for the past 2,500 years— even in the Dark Ages, well before the “Military Revolution,” and not simply as a result of the Renaissance, the European discovery of the Americas, or the Industrial Revolution— there has been a peculiar practice of Western warfare, a common foundation and continual way of fighting, that has made Europeans the most deadly soldiers the history of civilizations. (Hanson 5-6)
The western way of war consists of five foundations that have shaped a significant amount of military cultures; the foundations are superior technology, discipline, a finance system, innovation, and military tradition. Perhaps people believe that discipline is not one of the most important foundations of the western way of war, since people tend to emphasize technology. However, discipline is the key to maximizing the other four foundations before and during conflict. Historian Geoffrey Parker agrees that technology can give a military advantage, but it is not sufficient without superior discipline. That is because discipline consists of the ability of armies to act within battle plans even when not supervised, obey orders, exercise loyalty, and restrain their fears when faced with danger. Discipline as a western way of war has influenced military cultures from the Roman Empire to today’s militaries. Discipline shaped military cultures by how they prepared for war, effectively giving them the ability to act during combat and expanding commander’s operational reach, thus aiding in conflicts throughout history and increasing the likelihood of defeating the adversary.
Marshal Ney made a threefold of mistakes; Firstly Ney noticed that a portion of British troops appeared to be retreating over the ridge in the center of Wellington’s army, seeing this as an opportunity, Ney dispatched his remaining cavalry and “makes a series of cavalry charges against Wellington's forces on the ridge … but there are many problems with this charge … the British forms into squares … making it very difficult of the cavalry to charge through …”. Marshal Ney’s First mistake is seen in the exemption of ordering infantry attacks along with his cavalry, this though a forgivable mistake was compounded once his other mistakes are made. Infantry and cavalry are so often used in tandem precisely because when cavalry attacks infantry alone, the infantry has only to form strategic “squares” and the cavalry is easily repelled, this however the formation of squares is easily prevented with the use of infantry, rows of infantry can easily shoot down a square with little to no
The French revolution has destabilized the economic sector of United States. The declaration of United States started the trade of the country.
Continuing on this path of history, from the thirteenth century to the fifteenth-sixteenth century the bow is now the main weapon for English army, but as the firearm was invented around the
Cavour was a very important, if not key player in the reunification of Italy in the 1800s. His role in Italian unification is widely debated, as are is aims and underlying motives. Many hold contrasting views as to whether he was an Italian nationalist or merely a Piedmontese expansionist, and the subject is still a controversial one to this day. The existence of many wide-ranging sources which often challenge each other on the subject does not make the task of determining what drove Cavour any easier for scholars. It is often agreed, however, that Cavour was a very important catalyst in the unification of Italy, wittingly or not. In this essay I shall examine Cavour's role in Italy in the period between 1852 and 1861, and attempt to
A military revolution started in sixteenth century in Europe with the introduction of firearms (Stavros 243). Before the military revolution, Japan was divided in region and controlled by different warlords and the country was politically unstable. However, after the arrival of firearms from the West, Japan has changed dramatically. The result of the military revolution was the development of a strong central power, which helped Japan become a modern nation (McNeill and McNeill 197). Oda Nobunaga, a military leader, and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was able to unify Japan under a single powerful, central government and brought political stability (Brown 238). This essay will explore political impact of firearms as well as economic and
Obviously, the newly united Italian state was greeted with much celebration. Unfortunately, it was also only a start. In truth, fundamental problems still plagued the country and had to be addressed if complete hegemony was to be achieved: firstly, the new Kingdom of Italy suffered from extreme backwardness and secondly, it was still deeply divided. The new Italy was split between north and south, between cities and countryside, between regions, between cities and localities,