The Military Revolution thesis posited by Michael Roberts and expanded upon by Geoffrey Parker places the trace italienne style of fortification of the early modern period as something that is a novel creation, borne out of the minds of Renaissance geniuses. Research shows, however, that the key component of the trace italienne, the angled bastion, has its roots in Greek and Roman writing, and in extant constructions by Roman and Byzantine engineers. The angled bastion of the trace italienne was yet another aspect of the resurgent Greek and Roman culture characteristic of the Renaissance along with the traditions of medicine, mathematics, and science. The writings of the ancients were bolstered by physical examples located in important trading and pilgrimage routes. Furthermore, the geometric layout of the trace italienne stems from Ottoman fortifications that preceded it by at least two hundred years. The Renaissance geniuses combined ancient bastion designs with eastern geometry to match a burgeoning threat in the rising power of the siege cannon.

The premise of this dissertation is straight-forward – the U.S., as hegemon, acts unilaterally given the power disparity between it and the rest of the world. In solving the puzzle of why presidents make the “wrong” decision to act alone, I organize international conflict literature along traditional lines – international and domestic explanations – and use Gilpin’s (1981) hegemonic stability theory to test a theory of unilateral use of force decision making. In order to overcome a lack of scientific study on unilateralism, I devise a definition and coding rules for unilateral use of force, develop a sequential model of presidential use of force decision making, and construct a new, alternative measure of military power, a Composite Indicator of Military Revolutions (CIMR). I then use three methods – a statistical test with a heckman probit model, an experiment, and case studies – to test U.S. crisis behavior since 1937. I find that presidents are realists and make an expected utility calculation to act unilaterally or multilaterally after their decision to use force. The unilateral decision, in particular, positively correlates with a wide military gap vis-à-vis an opponent, an opponent located in the Western hemisphere, and a national security threat.

This thesis attempts to challenge the way military historiography deals with the state of the Ottoman army between 1683 and 1792 and the military reform attempts prior to the Nizam-i Cedid army. Western military historians have ascribed to the inferiority of the Ottoman military technology the waning of the Ottoman military power in the post-1683 period. Any attempt at reform was allegedly obstructed by religious reaction against borrowing European methods and technology. This thesis argues that technology was not the decisive factor in the Ottoman failure against the Austrians and Russians since those two were not too far ahead of the Ottomans with regards to the level of military technology to justify such a conclusion. The comparison with the Russian army, the archenemy of the Ottomans in the period under question, reveals that the Russian success in such departments as conscription, logistics, military leadership and continuous tactical adjustments made to accommodate the needs of steppe warfare, rather than outright application of Western methods of warfare, resulted in victories against the Ottomans. The Ottomans in the meantime were bothered by instability at the Porte, which could neither provide the necessary leadership on the battlefield nor carry out the military reforms. As a result, the vestiges of the Ottoman military organization in its classical form continued to take up economic resources and block any attempts at reform. Religion in this process served as nothing more than a rallying cry for a certain group who vied for power in Istanbul at a time of state formation.

This thesis studies the political role of the Chilean military during the years 1780-1826. Beginning with the last decades of the eighteenth century and ending immediately after the last royalist contingents were expelled from the island of Chiloé, this thesis does not seek to give a full picture of the participation of military men on the battlefield but rather to interpret their involvement in local politics. The main categories deployed in this study are 1) armies, 2) politics and 3) revolution, and the three are presented with the purpose of demonstrating that, as Peggy K. Liss has claimed, after 1810 Spanish American public life ‘became militarized; and the military, privileged’. I argue that, notwithstanding the sometimes tense relationship between civilians and the armed forces, the Chilean military became privileged because the demise of the Spanish monarchy in 1808 made them protagonists of the decision-making process. In so doing, this thesis aims to make a contribution to the understanding of Chile’s revolution of independence, as well as to discuss some recent historiographical contributions on the role of the military in the creation of the Chilean republican system. Although the focus has been placed on the career and participation of Chilean revolutionary officers, this thesis also seeks to provide an overview of both the role of royalist armies and the influence of international events in Chile.

The Gulf War showed the world how powerful the modern military forces are, and it caused the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) led by U.S. government. Due to the advance of technology, RMA is a chain reaction of changes, on the doctrines, training, organizing and operational methods. Both PLA and its traditional strategic thought of ¡¨People War¡¨ are not able to keep out of impacts brought by RMA, to against High Tech War in the future. Thus, PLA brings this slogan¡¨ RMA with Chinese Characteristics¡¨ in, and devotes itself into military reform, in order to reach the goal of¡¨ Winning High Tech Local War¡¨. PLA hopes to accelerate its step for constructing military information platform, and, at the same time, to reinforce army mechanization. In the end, PLA wants to be as strong as U.S. troops in the year of 2050. In the age of Chinese Reform, Chinese economy is growing incredibly fast, and this economic power turns and pours into its military budget, for constructing modern army forces and transforming military structure. It is obvious to observe, especially taking Chinese Navy¡¦s strategy which changed from¡¨ coastal defense¡¨ to¡¨ offshore defense¡¨ and the pinpoint¡¨ consolidating naval and air supremacy and executing strategic counter attack¡¨ in China¡¦s White Paper on National Defense for two examples, China is seeking to expand its naval capability and to realize its plan for modernization, in order to reach the goal of 2050. PLA Navy (PLAN) understands that there is a huge gap between Chinese Navy and U.S. Navy, however, but they believe that they can make it up through RMA. This essay discusses the influence on modernization for PLAN from 4 aspects, which are: technology and weapon, regime, operational theory, and training, and also analysis relations between PLAN¡¦s modernization and cross-strait security.

In 1991 Persian Gulf war US has used the innumerable high-tech weapons, not only wins Iraq, but also lets various countries broaden the outlook.Thus it urges various countries military national defense to present the revolutionary change.The massive information technology skill is utilized at the military war, by the information military national defense concept primarily, launched rapidly. Receiveing this military revolution as well as the economic growth and the high-tech industry's rapidly expanding. The PLA starts to impel that it constructs the information troops and develops high-tech weapons systm including space technology. The PLA uses the information warfare to enter each kind of information attack, affect government's effective operation and the society stable without the world consensus pressure. It could relieve Taiwan rapidly and achieves it¡¦s political and the military purpose before other country military interference. This research's discovery is that compareing with mainland China, Taiwan is a highly information society. Facing the PLA¡¦s information menace, we should grasp the information superiority , strengthen the protection work, promot modernization armament, maintain the defense capability effectively and national information security by the outstanding information ability. In oder to achieve the prevention of war and the defense goal, now providing the following suggestion¡G 1¡BSelecting the outstanding talent and promoting the national troops quality. 2¡BExpaning crosswise Military organization and storing up the information defense ability. 3¡BEstablishing information strategy instruction and strengthening all the people defense education. 4¡BConstructing the information security system and establishing the information infrastructure. 5¡BStrengthening the information psychological warfare, the law warfare, sedan chair controversy. 6¡BUsing the folk technical force strengthens national defense whole.

The dissertation seeks to modify, update and bring back the tradition of political theory which based its understanding of political in the state and the society mainly on the perspective of the military dimension. The dissertation argues this forgetfulness creates serious obstacles when trying to understand contemporary military changes and their wider implications. Historical turn of political science is seen as a way to make this update real. Historical notion of Military revolution is seen as specific conceptual “tool” that will make this turn. Using historiographical analysis development of military revolution, changing character of war, transformation of armed forces and development of American civil-military, military and police relations are discussed. American case is analysed because by being the most militarily advanced Western state this country had to felt first the effect of changes in state and society caused by military transformation. / Disertacijoje siekiama išsiaiškinti, kodėl buvo užmiršta mastymo tradicija, kuri politinius veiksmus valstybėje ir visuomenėje aiškina remdamasi karine perspektyva. Ši mastymo tradicija gali būti „atrasta“ pasitelkus istorinę perspektyvą bei istorikų pasiūlyta Karinės revoliucijos (angl. military revolution) idėja. Darbe apžvelgiama „karingų“ politikos teorijų raida ir priežastys, kodėl jos buvo užmirštos aptarimui. Pasitelkus istoriografinę analizę yra detaliai aptariama Karinės revoliucijos idėjos raida, karo pobūdžio kaita, karinės organizacijos transformacija. Istoriškai valstybės karinėje srityje kopijuodavo dominuojančios, paradigminės valstybės karines (technologines, konceptualines, socialines) praktikas. Todėl darbe yra aptariama JAV kariškių ir civilių santykių bei Amerikos kariuomenės ir policijos institucijų sąveikos būklė, nes manoma, jog būdamos stipriausia karinė galybė pasaulyje JAV anksčiau už kitas Vakarų valstybes patiria pokyčius, aptariamus šioje disertacijoje.

Disertacijoje siekiama išsiaiškinti, kodėl buvo užmiršta mastymo tradicija, kuri politinius veiksmus valstybėje ir visuomenėje aiškina remdamasi karine perspektyva. Ši mastymo tradicija gali būti „atrasta“ pasitelkus istorinę perspektyvą bei istorikų pasiūlyta Karinės revoliucijos (angl. military revolution) idėja. Darbe apžvelgiama „karingų“ politikos teorijų raida ir priežastys, kodėl jos buvo užmirštos aptarimui. Pasitelkus istoriografinę analizę yra detaliai aptariama Karinės revoliucijos idėjos raida, karo pobūdžio kaita, karinės organizacijos transformacija. Istoriškai valstybės karinėje srityje kopijuodavo dominuojančios, paradigminės valstybės karines (technologines, konceptualines, socialines) praktikas. Todėl darbe yra aptariama JAV kariškių ir civilių santykių bei Amerikos kariuomenės ir policijos institucijų sąveikos būklė, nes manoma, jog būdamos stipriausia karinė galybė pasaulyje JAV anksčiau už kitas Vakarų valstybes patiria pokyčius, aptariamus šioje disertacijoje. / The dissertation seeks to modify, update and bring back the tradition of political theory which based its understanding of political in the state and the society mainly on the perspective of the military dimension. The dissertation argues this forgetfulness creates serious obstacles when trying to understand contemporary military changes and their wider implications. Historical turn of political science is seen as a way to make this update real. Historical notion of Military revolution is seen as specific conceptual “tool” that will make this turn. Using historiographical analysis development of military revolution, changing character of war, transformation of armed forces and development of American civil-military, military and police relations are discussed. American case is analysed because by being the most militarily advanced Western state this country had to felt first the effect of changes in state and society caused by military transformation.

Vítězslav Prchal War, Arms, and Armour in the Representative Strategies of Bohemian and Moravian Aristocracy, 1550-1750 dissertation thesis, 2012 In Czech historical writing, history of aristocracy has been on a rise ever since the turbulent days of 1990s. It has always been characterized by application of various methods borrowed form different other fields, such as cultural or social history as well as historical anthropology, and its primary goal was to understand the mentality of the specific social class that is early modern aristocracy. Throughout time, several approaches emerged form the initial probing: first, study of political culture and power; second, study of aristocratic courts and residences; and, third, study of aristocratic family and its life-cycle. All this research was originally focused on 16th century aristocracy; however, it also successfully tackles topics of late 17th and 18th century in recent years as well. Study of aristocratic residences especially has quite a long tradition in Czech historiography, following the lines of socially interpreted art history. On the other hand, as military history is a rather neglected part of writing on the early modern era, this problem transpires into the connection of warfare and aristocracy in 16th to 18th century. For example, not...

English Abstract This Master Degree (Mgr.) thesis, takes up the topic of so called Military Revolution theory debate, focusing on historical and social developmental process, unfolding in the Early modern Europe. Military revolution is conceptualised as a source of far reaching societal change, having a civilisational dimension, contributing to overall weberian rationalisation process, happening in the Occident. In this text, military revolution is theoretically approached as a non-substantional developmental process and its structure and dynamics are analyzed using customized version of actor-network-theory of Bruno Latour. In this attempt, usual assumptions of natural ontological continuity, totality and developmental character of social realm are critically suppressed. Theoretical outcome of this thesis, based upon historical evidences, confirms, that even using this profoundly critical approach, military revolution possesses a distinctive quality of a developmental process and it can serve as a strong cognitive instrument of social sciences for researching Early modernity in Europe. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)