The Military Revolution and Political Change

The Military Revolution and Political Change PDF Author: Brian Downing
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691222185
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Get Book

Book Description
To examine the long-run origins of democracy and dictatorship, Brian Downing focuses on the importance of medieval political configurations and of military modernization in the early modern period. He maintains that in late medieval times an array of constitutional arrangements distinguished Western Europe from other parts of the world and predisposed it toward liberal democracy. He then looks at how medieval constitutionalism was affected by the "military revolution" of the early modern era--the shift from small, decentralized feudal levies to large standing armies. Downing won the American Political Science Association's Gabriel Almond Award for the dissertation on which this book was based.

The Military Revolution and Political Change

The Military Revolution and Political Change PDF Author: Brian Downing
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691222185
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Get Book

Book Description
To examine the long-run origins of democracy and dictatorship, Brian Downing focuses on the importance of medieval political configurations and of military modernization in the early modern period. He maintains that in late medieval times an array of constitutional arrangements distinguished Western Europe from other parts of the world and predisposed it toward liberal democracy. He then looks at how medieval constitutionalism was affected by the "military revolution" of the early modern era--the shift from small, decentralized feudal levies to large standing armies. Downing won the American Political Science Association's Gabriel Almond Award for the dissertation on which this book was based.

The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050

The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 PDF Author: MacGregor Knox
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521800792
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book

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

The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300–2050

The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300–2050 PDF Author: MacGregor Knox
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107393809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book

Book Description
The Dynamics of Military Revolution aims to bridge a major gap in the emerging literature on revolutions in military affairs, suggesting that there have been two very different phenomena at work over the past centuries: 'military revolutions', which are driven by vast social and political changes; and 'revolutions in military affairs', which military institutions have directed, although usually with great difficulty and ambiguous results. By providing both a conceptual framework and a historical context for thinking about revolutionary changes in military affairs, the work establishes a baseline for understanding the patterns of change, innovation, and adaptation that have marked war in the Western World since the thirteenth century - beginning with Edward III's revolutionary changes in medieval warfare, through the development of modern Western military institutions in seventeenth-century France, to the cataclysmic changes of the First World War and the German Blitzkrieg victories of 1940. This history provides a guide for thinking about military revolutions in the coming century, which are as inevitable as they are difficult to predict.

Recognizing and Understanding Revolutionary Change in Warfare: The Sovereignty of Context

Recognizing and Understanding Revolutionary Change in Warfare: The Sovereignty of Context PDF Author: Colin S. Gray
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428916210
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 67

Get Book

Book Description
"Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA) was the most widely used, and abused, acronym in the U.S. defense community in the 1990s. Subsequently, "transformation" has superceded it as the preferred term of art. For the better part of two decades, American defense professionals have been excited by the prospect of effecting a revolutionary change in the conduct and character of warfare. In this monograph, Dr. Colin S. Gray provides a critical audit of the great RMA debate and of some actual RMA behavior. He argues that the contexts of warfare are crucially important. Indeed so vital are the contexts that only a military transformation that allows for flexibility and adaptability will meet future strategic demands. Dr. Gray warns against a transformation that is highly potent only in a narrow range of strategic cases. In addition, he advises that the historical record demonstrates clearly that every revolutionary change in warfare eventually is more or less neutralized by antidotes of one kind or another (political, strategic, operational, tactical, and technological). He warns that the military effectiveness of a process of revolutionary change in a "way of war" can only be judged by the test of battle, and possibly not even then, if the terms of combat are very heavily weighted in favor of the United States. On balance, the concept of revolutionary change is found to be quite useful, provided it is employed and applied with some reservations and in a manner that allows for flexibility and adaptability. Above all else, the monograph insists, the contexts of warfare, especially the political, determine how effective a transforming military establishment will be.

A Military Revolution?

A Military Revolution? PDF Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1349113611
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 121

Get Book

Book Description
In this radical reassessment, Jeremy Black challenges many of the established assumptions about the so-called Military Revolution of 1560- 1660. He argues that it is far from clear that a military revolution did occur during this period. Indeed there is more evidence to suggest that the description could be applied more accurately to the following hundred years. This book also re-examines the relationship between military strength and domestic stability. Rather than seeing the latter as the consequence of the former, Dr Black argues that it makes more sense to see the former as a result of the latter.

Europe in 1830

Europe in 1830 PDF Author: Clive H. Church
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000534758
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Get Book

Book Description
This book, first published in 1983, is a valuable corrective to the lack of academic research on the events of 1830 – a year of revolutions across the continent of Europe. Social protests and political changes are examined to note the causes of the political turmoil and revolution in 1830, and then the results of the revolutions’ developments are analysed, as general European social, political and diplomatic crises as well as a series of individual outbreaks. The book also turns to comparative study to look at the hows and wherefores of the revolutions, as the dynamics, participants and effects of revolution are examined in turn.

The Military Revolution Debate

The Military Revolution Debate PDF Author: Clifford J Rogers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429964811
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book

Book Description
This book brings together, for the first time, the classic articles that began and have shaped the debate about the Military Revolution in early modern Europe, adding important new essays by eminent historians of early modern Europe to further this important scholarly interchange.

The Military Revolution

The Military Revolution PDF Author: Geoffrey Parker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521376808
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
Well before the Industrial Revolution, Europe developed the superior military potential and expertise that enabled her to dominate the world for the next two centuries. In this attractively illustrated and updated edition, Geoffrey Parker discusses the major changes in the military practice of the West during this time period--establishment of bigger armies, creation of superior warships, the role of firearms--and argues that these major changes amounted to a "military revolution" that gave Westerners a decided advantage over people of other continents. A new chapter addresses the controversies engendered by the previous edition.

Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction

Revolutions: a Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Jack A. Goldstone
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197666302
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Get Book

Book Description
"In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--

Life as Politics

Life as Politics PDF Author: Asef Bayat
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080478633X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Get Book

Book Description
Prior to 2011, popular imagination perceived the Muslim Middle East as unchanging and unchangeable, frozen in its own traditions and history. In Life as Politics, Asef Bayat argues that such presumptions fail to recognize the routine, yet important, ways in which ordinary people make meaningful change through everyday actions. First published just months before the Arab Spring swept across the region, this timely and prophetic book sheds light on the ongoing acts of protest, practice, and direct daily action. The second edition includes three new chapters on the Arab Spring and Iran's Green Movement and is fully updated to reflect recent events. At heart, the book remains a study of agency in times of constraint. In addition to ongoing protests, millions of people across the Middle East are effecting transformation through the discovery and creation of new social spaces within which to make their claims heard. This eye-opening book makes an important contribution to global debates over the meaning of social movements and the dynamics of social change.