The period 1350-1750 saw major developments in European warfare, which not only had a huge impact on the way wars were fought, but also are critical to long-standing controversies about state development, the global ascendancy of the West, and the nature of 'military revolutions' past and present. However, the military history of this period is usually written from either medieval or early-modern, and either Western or Eastern European, perspectives. These chronological and geographical limits have produced substantial confusion about how the conduct of war changed. The essays in this book provide a comprehensive overview of land and sea warfare across Europe throughout this period of momentous political, religious, technological, intellectual and military change. Written by leading experts in their fields, they not only summarise existing scholarship, but also present new findings and new ideas, shedding new light on the art of war, the rise of the state, and European expansion.

Frank Tallett is Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Reading and co-Director of its Centre for the Advanced Study of French History. His previous publications include War and Society in Early Modern Europe, 1495-1715 (1992, 2nd edn 2002), Priests, Prelates and People: A History of European Catholicism since 1750 (with N. Atkin, 2003) and, as co-editor, The Right in France from the Revolution to Le Pen (2003). D. J. B. Trim is Research Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Reading. His previous publications as editor and co-editor include The Chivalric Ethos and the Development of Military Professionalism (2003), Cross, Crown and Community: Religion, Government and Culture in Early Modern England 1400-1800 (2004), Amphibious Warfare 1000-1700: Commerce, State Formation and European Expansion (2006) and Persecution and Pluralism: Calvinists and Religious Minorities in Early-Modern Europe, 1550-1700 (2006).