Early modern warfare: Difference between revisions

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[[File:The Battle of Pavia, 1525 (by Rupert Heller) - Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.jpg|thumb|350px| right|The [[Battle of Pavia|1525 Battle of Pavia]] in Northern Italy. Fighting in this era became more dreadful as cannons were improved upon their medieval counterparts such as being able to destroy larger fortified walls, fire more shots with greater accuracy and repel incoming enemy charges effectively. The [[Investment (military)|deadly entrapment]], [[Force concentration|concentration]] and [[No quarter|slaughter]] of troops in [[Visconti Park]] rendered it uninhabitable as is the bad omen of warfare.]]
 
This period saw the size and scale of warfare greatly increase. The number of combatants involved escalated steadily from the mid 16th century and dramatically expanded after the 1660s. For example, [[Henry II of France]], even in the dawn of [[French Wars of Religion|religious unrest and inevitable violence]], could amass an impressive 20,000 men in total for [[Italian War of 1551–1559|his 1550 decade of war against Habsburg Spain]], but [[Louis XIV|Louis XIV, Sun King]] with the highest population in the [[Kingdom of France]] and by extension Europe could deploy up to 500,000 men into the field by 1700 in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] with [[Spanish Empire|more at stake]]. Moreover, wars and subsequent battles became increasingly deadly and pyrrhic in this period. The [[Battle of Fontenoy]] with advanced presence of [[King Louis XV]] and despite a French victory managed 20,000 casualties, almost half of which were French and France herself did not keep Dutch territory gained as [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|peace was desired for the bankrupt kingdom]], a layman translation meaning 10,000 deaths were for nothing just 3 years later with [[War of the Austrian Succession|very few battles left in the Austrian conflict]]. Cities that took months to [[siege]] could fall in mere days. European monarchs with bitter rivalries would put so much resources into intense warfare which often resulted in mass death and destruction of innocent populations such as the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Habsburg Sack of Rome]] where the [[Pope Clement VII|Supreme Pontiff's]] life was endangered, a symbolic attack against God and Christendom. The [[Italian Wars]] alone would [[Suleiman the Magnificent|threaten Europe's very existence]]. This may in part be attributed to improvements in weapons technology and in the techniques of using it (for example infantry [[volley fire]]).
 
However, the main reason was that armies were now much bigger, but logistical support for them was inadequate. This meant that armies tended to devastate civilian areas in an effort to feed themselves, causing famines and population displacement. This was exacerbated by the increasing length of conflicts, such as the [[Thirty Years' War]] and [[Eighty Years' War]], which fought over areas subjected to repeated devastation. For this reason, the wars of this era were among the most lethal before the modern period.