The Military Revolution Analysis

The Military Revolution was a notion first introduced by Michael Roberts in an inaugural lecture at Queens University, Belfast in 1956. In this lecture; entitled The Military Revolution, 1560 – 1660, Roberts outlines a series of military advances that lead to an upheaval of European society (Roberts 1967). The change that this so called “revolution” instigated drastically reconfigured the understanding and experience of war for Europeans. Storrs and Scott noted this particularly in the context of the European Nobility. They advocate that the elites of European society benefited tremendously from the Revolution (Storrs and Scott 1963). Parker is a firm supporter of Roberts’s hypothesis, he build on and expands the ideas of change that Robert …show more content…
These larger armies (300% in the case of Sweden) composed of many multitudes of tactical units that had been reduced in size . Naturally the each unit required a subaltern, the young noblemen fill these positions. These put many young officer in the front lines during battle; many died. In addition to the increase in junior officer the senior office corps were swollen with nobles, all adhering to a new strict command chain that the revolution brought about. A command structure that was only possible in the state centralised armies. Storrs and Scott argue that this centralisation greatly reduced that feuding between rivals as the private armies of the nobles were pressed into service of state. This change in structure and command of armies changed the meaning of war for noble; gone where the days of “violent housekeeping” the revolution ushered in a new nationalised motive for war. Parker seeks to re-examine the key ideas of Roberts’ Military revolution. In the revised view Roberts’ idea Parker comments on the transformation experienced by Europeans of war through the progression of the revolution. Parker notes the