ABSTRACT
War is often seen as a forcer of innovation, technical in the form of new weaponry, governmental and social in the shape of the demands created by the burdens of major conflicts. A new emphasis on expertise in command led to a greater stress on formal education, offering a set of priorities that did not correspond directly to those of the social hierarchy. Efforts to improve officer training in the eighteenth century, mainly in the latter half, were an important innovation and one of the main pointers to the future of that age. A warfare of scientific professionalism was implied by the formal education that was provided increasingly. Military education was most developed for artillery, engineering and naval officers; far less so for infantry and cavalry officers. Britain and France established naval academies in 1729 and 1752 respectively; the Dutch an artillery school in 1735; France an engineering academy at Mézières in 1748.
