The Military Revolution
Overview
War is a characteristic of virtually every human society and civilization in nearly every era of human history for which some sort of records exist. However, until the fifteenth century most military conflicts were fought using largely the same weapons and tactics as those of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.). Several inventions between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries changed this, leading to a revolution in the way wars were fought. This set in motion many trends in warfare that have continued to this day, such as the concept of total war, the almost exclusive use of guns, and tactics better suited for the age of guns.
Background
Mankind is almost unique among animals in consciously waging war. Through all of recorded human history, accounts of warfare are common, and archeological evidence exists confirming the presence of warfare deep in prehistory. For most of human history, in fact, until the fifteenth century, warfare changed very little. Men armed with sharp objects (typically swords, arrows, or pikes) would try to kill each other. Whichever side lost so many men that it could no longer fight cohesively would lose the battle. The major innovations in warfare were the use of chariots by the Romans and the use of cavalry by many powers.
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