Warfare: 1500-1700

• Composition of armies


  - Still included cavalry, infantry and artillery, assisted by labourers, engineers and baggage trains

  - Most generals still preferred infantry to cavalry to be 2:1

  - Armies in general became more professional

  - Artillery trains slowly increased in size and importance and field artillery improved
• Size of armies


  For the first 150 years of this period, army sizes didn't change until the last 50 years when they got much bigger

  - Battle of Landen - 130,000
• Role of cavalry


  Continues its specialist role, but no longer the decisive force in battle

  - They harassed the enemy with pistols and skirmished with enemy cavalry

  - Mounted charge was rarely used until it re-emerged during the English civil wars

  - Dragoons (mounted infantry) took on the role of the mounted archer until 1700
• Role of infantry


  Became dominant as result of new weapons and tactics

  - Musketeers gradually replaced archers

  - Armoured pikemen increasingly fought in large, disciplined squares or columns
• The role of government

  Rulers increasingly used taxes to pay for hiring soldiers. The use of mercenaries also increased. Soldiers owed loyalty to the mercenary leader who recruited them, as they had to their feudal lord previously
• Pikemen


  Pikemen could stop a cavalry charge, but were easy targets. Pikemen and musketeers had to act together to be effective

  - It took a lot of training to change formations at need, under cavalry attack, pikemen formed a square around the musketeers. By 1600, squares were replaced by lines of musketeers that provided a volley of fire
• Reasons for the rise of the musket

  - Developments in science and technology

  - Changes in thinking

  - Changes in society
• Developments in science and technology

  New high-carbon steel armour was mostly arrow proof but armour could be pierced by muskets. mass production of bullets meant they were available to issue to any soldier. You could store thousands in a barrel, unlike arrows, which were expensive and highly crafted
• Changes in thinking


  Reports of musketeers defeating pikemen in battle led to changes in tactics
• Changes in society


  Growth of towns and changes in farming methods reduced the number of archers able to train. It took years of practice to make a successful bowman, not so with the musket, which took days
• Pistols


  - Developed in the 1540s as a cavalry missile weapon

  - Less powerful than a musket with shorter range

  - Cavalry armed with pistols and sword replaced heavily armoured cavalry with lance and swords, armour was gradually abandoned as improved firepower made it redundant
• Dragoons


  Mounted infantry, they had arquebuses and later, small muskets, they used cheap horses, no armour, and dismounted to fight on foot

  - Usually used to skirmish in front of the army, and to attack the enemy's flank
• Matchlock musket pros


  Could pierce through armour
• Matchlock musket cons


  - To have anything burning near gunpowder was dangerous and could cause a misfire

  - When raining, the burning match would go out and musketeer could not fire

  - At night you could see the glow of the matches
• Flintlock musket pros


  - No need for a burning match

  - Takes half the time to load
• Flintlock musket cons


  - More expensive to make

  - Delicate
• Plug bayonet


  - Fitted down the barrel of a musket

  - Soldier can't fire when the plug bayonet is fitted
• Ring bayonet


  - Fixed to the outside of the barrel by two rings

  - The soldier can fire when ring bayonet is fitted

  - However the fitting wasn't secure and often broke or slipped off
• Socket bayonet


  Fitted on the outside of the barrel and had a locking system
• Artillery and Fortification


  - Since the 1450s the cannon had been able to smash down the walls of castles and towns

  - Italian military engineers worked out how to make walls that cannons couldn't smash and how to use cannons for defence (Increasingly mobile)
• New style of fortifications

  - Low, thick, earth-filled walls met blows from cannon balls without shattering

  - Walls were angled, so cannon balls would bounce off without damaging them

  - Bastions provided defensive positions for the return of cannon fire (flanking fire)
• Standing army


  A permanent fore of full-time, professional soldier which gave rulers a lot of power and ensured that troops were well trained
• Why did parliament not want a standing?

  - They feared it would make the King too powerful, they wanted to protect the balance of power between the monarch and parliament

  - It was also very expensive which would lead to a massive increase in taxes
• The Tudor System


  The tudors chose to go back to the militia system of 1285, Statute of Winchester

  - All men 16-60 were supposed to serve

  - Provide own weapons

  - General musters every couple years

  - Monarch appointed Lord Lieutenants

  The Tudors changes the system to this way because they wanted a way to recruit the army that did not leave too much power in the hand of the nobles
• Lord Lieutenants


  Role was to run militia
• Pressing


  Was when troops were forced to go overseas to serve
• Trained bands


  A proportion of men from each county who met once a month during the summer to train
• Muster masters


  Professional soldiers that run training

  - Used in the 1590s

  - Trained as England was expecting an invasion from Spain was immanent
• Characteristics of Tudor training

  - Rotation

  - Corruption

  - Contrast

  - Expertise

  - Muting
• Rotation (Tudor training)


  Each rank walked through the gaps in the ranks ahead, to get to the front to fire
• Corruption (Tudor training)


  When there was wars overseas there were few volunteers so the unemployed and prisoners usually went. Men who could afford a bribe weren't chosen
• Contrast (Tudor training)


  105810 men were sent overseas, that's the equivalent to over 1.5 million men today, that's 5 times the total number who served in Afghanistan & Iraq
• Expertise (Tudor training)


  Training bands didn't really train they would just drink (No expertise)
• Muting (Tudor training)


  In wars against Scotland mutinied and deserted which demonstrated a lack of discipline
• Continuity in society


  - Nobility and gentry still thought they had a right to command

  - Both sides pressed much of their infantry, and desertion was a big problem

  - Soldiers became more experienced and professional
• Change: The New Model Army

  1645, parliament raised a national volunteer army, with regular pay, that allowed successful soldiers to be promoted to command positions
• Changes in cavalry: NMA

  - 6600 cavalry were raised from existing forces, a well trained and disciplined force that remained under control in battle

  - Received 24 pence a day but had to provide for themselves

  - They were instrumental in victory, as they held together to charge and finish an attack

  - 1000 dragoons were also raised from existing forces
• Changes in infantry: NMA

  - 14400 infantrymen were raised, half from existing forces and half pressed

  - They received 8 pence a day, the same as a labourer

  - During 1645, desertion rates were high and 14500 men were pressed, yet the army remained under strength

  After the civil wars, the NMA army remained as a normal part of society
• Impact on Civilians (Before civil war)

  - Recruitment

  - Requisitioning

  - Taxes

  - Damage
• Recruitment (Before civil war)

  People conscripted who returned home often returned unemployed and having to rely on charity for food, this disruption has a knock-on-effect for civilians