Military History

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Military History

• The Western Way of War
• Mr. Odren

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Western Way of War5 Principle Foundations

• Superior Technology
• Discipline
• Military Tradition
• Change and Response
• Financial Dominance

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1 Superior Technology

• Superior technology usually compensated for
  inferior numbers.
• West has not always enjoyed Universal
  technological superiority until the advent of
  musketry volleys and field artillery in early
  17th c.
• Not all advanced technology originate in West.
• Many vital innovations, including the stirrup and
  gunpowder, came from eastern adversaries.

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1 Superior Technology

• New military technology is usually borrowed by
  every society, because penalty for failing to do
  so can be immediate and fatal.
• West seems to be preternaturally receptive to new
  technology whether from its own inventors or from
  outside.
• Technological innovation and vital ability to
  respond and use it, soon became feature of
  Western Warfare.

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2 Discipline

• Technological edge has rarely been sufficient to
  ensure victory. Superiority of armament may
  increase the chances of success in war, but does
  not in itself win battles.
• Western military practice has always exalted
  Discipline rather than kinship, religion or
  patriotism as primary instrument to turn bands of
  individuals fighting into organized units.
• Drill and long-term service important.

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2 Discipline

• Ability to stand fast in the face of the enemy,
  whether attacking or being attacked, without
  giving way to the natural impulses of fear /
  panic.
• Repeated group activities (combat or drill) all
  have the effect of creating artificial kinship.
• Whether defending Europe / defeating Aztecs,
  without superior discipline West loses.
• Alexander the Great defeating Persian empire.

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3 Military Tradition

• Reinforcing Technology and Discipline is
  continuity of Military Theory/Tradition.
• Published military strategy thru time.
• Ancient theorists and modern practitioners of war
  shared love of precedent and conviction that past
  examples could influence present practice.
• Western theory of decisive victory that brings
  about unconditional surrender / total defeat and
  destruction of the enemy. This contrasted with
  military practice in many societies (native
  americans/west africa)

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4 Change and Response

• West developed unique ability to change as well
  as to conserve its military practices as need
  arose.
• Areas contested by multiple polities saw the need
  for military innovation and could become
  extremely strong.
• Competing states that were both numerous and
  institutionally strong, the challenge and
  response dynamic could become self-sustaining
  (growth begetting growth/competition). Europe

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5 Financial

• Introduction of gunpowder weapons and defense
  systems, the coast of war increased
  significantly.
• Creating the means to fund such expensive forms
  of warfare clearly served to enhance the power of
  the state in the West which was economically
  advanced.
• Every change in size or equipment of armed forces
  required both new efforts to extract resources
  from population and expanded govt structure.
• The less developed the economy, the less easily
  the cost of military preparedness could be
  absorbed even within the West.

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5 Financial

• West developed more sophisticated structure of
  credit.
• Use of taxes to fund military (American
  Revolution)
• The ability to organize long-term credit (and
  therefore the existence of a secure and
  sophisticated capital market) to fund public
  borrowing in wartime represented a crucial
  secret weapon in the West.
• Relatively few states proved able to remain in
  the race for too long.

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Dominant Military Tradition

• Superior Technology
• Discipline
• Military Tradition
• Change and Response
• Financial Dominance