Military Revolution - Chronology

Chronology

Roberts placed his military revolution around 1560–1660 as the period in which linear tactics were developed to take advantage of the increasingly effective fire weapons; however, that chronology has been challenged by many scholars.

Ayton and Price have remarked the importance of the “Infantry Revolution” taking place in the early 14th century, and David Eltis has pointed that the real change to fire weapons and the elaboration of a military doctrine according to that change took place in the early 16th century, not, as Roberts defended, in the late 16th century.

Others have defended a later period for the military change, thus Jeremy Black thinks that the key time period was that of 1660–1710, which saw an exponential growth in the size of European armies, while Clifford J. Rogers has developed the idea of successive military revolutions at different periods, first an “infantry revolution” in the 14th century, secondly an “artillery revolution” in the 15th century, thirdly a “fortifications revolution” in the 16th, fourth a “fire weapons” revolution between 1580 and 1630, and finally a fifth revolution, the increase in size of European armies, between 1650 and 1715. Similarly, Geoffrey Parker has extended the period of the military revolution from 1450 to 1800, the period in which Europeans achieved supremacy over the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, some scholars have questioned the revolutionary character of an evolution through four centuries. Clifford Rogers has suggested that the military revolution can best be compared with the concept of "punctuated equilibrium evolution" (a theory originating in biology), meaning short bursts of rapid military innovation followed by longer periods of relative stagnation.