ABSTRACT
The rise of European states to a position of power across the oceans and around much of the globe was the military/political change that most deserves the description of a military revolution but, when the thesis was advanced, it was one that was neglected in favour of changes in European land warfare. The single most influential concept in studies of early modern warfare has been that of a military revolution. It was based on a lecture by Michael Roberts delivered in 1955 and published the following year. The Roberts thesis is, however, questionable on a number of grounds, both methodological and empirical, more particularly as a description and analysis of what happened in 1560–1660 and because of what Roberts implies about the periods on either side. Parker, and especially Roberts, link broad military and societal change to changes in tactics and military technology, and argue that these were both revolutionary and innovative.
