"Military Revolution" And The Conservative Art Of War In English Civil War(1642-1645)

The English Civil war has always been a hot topic among historians,wide discussions had been set up around its process,influence and essence for decades.Among these topics,the conservative art of war adopted by the commanders on both sides has attracted a lot of attention,and it was traditionally explained to be the outcome of political compromise and speculation.In recent years,many historians,especially military historians,began to question and challenge this theory,that's the context of this article.In the Prelude,the author describes the origin of the topic and reviews the research progress on related issues both at home and abroad.Since 1950s',the enthusiasm of military historians on the“16-17 century Military Revolution" topic has never subsided.Changes in European army and military affairs were studied,improvement in military was linked with social development,new theories and ideas was made,including the relationship between Military Revolution and the extensive being of conservative art of war during the Thirty Years'War.Taking that as the main impetus,this article uses the concept of Military Revolution to interpret the conservative art of war during the early days of English Civil War,trying to clarify the relationship between them.The three following chapters discuss the causes of the conservative art of war and its relation with Military Revolution in detail.Chapter Two focuses on the difficulties brought by the Military Revolution to English Army's supply system.By the end of 16th century,following the steps of the continental countries,England expanded the scale of armed forces on the basis of existing militia to an unprecedented level.However,the logistic system of this country did not catch up with its army.The government was still used to contracting this important job to private even oversea merchants,this bad habit,together with the reluctance of changing longbow into fire-weapons,clipped the wings of the entire logistic system.During the Civil War,both armies always ran into the situation of supply deficiency,which greatly restricts the possible choice of commanders,compelled them to take a gesture of defence,and put the supplying of food and ammunition to the first priority.At the same time,hungry and unpaid soldiers started plunder civilians,this move triggered the anti-war "Club-man" movement in full swing,making the offensive operations much more difficult.Chapter Three describes the relationship between trace-italienne and and conservative art of war.The trace-italienne was another important achievement of the Military Revolution,it brought great advantage to the defending side during a siege,and generals from different kingdoms had reached the agreement that this kind should rather be staved to surrender by a long-term siege than be stormed.During Thirty Years War,the English garrison of Palatinate campaign brought not only this new kind of fortress,but also the continental way of siege back home,So in English Civil War,there were a lot of long-term sieges in which the attacking army had absolution superiority in numbers,this greatly slowed down the pace of war.Beside this,the incompetence of English artillery was also an important cause of this factor,parliamentary army's siege on Pontefract Castle proved that the impulse of storming the place could lead to failure,a patient and prudent siege was the most effective way,although it took much more time.Chapter four analyzes the influence of the new military tactics brought about by the Military Revolution the English Civil War.Between 1590s and 1630s,the tactical level of the European army had been greatly improved,and there was a bloom of new tactics,of which the most influential is the "Netherlands formation".Many tactics,of which the most influential is the "Netherlands formation".Many Englishmen who served in the Netherlands army popularized this kind of tactics among the aristocrats through military books and pamphlet,making them the standard tactic of the English army.However,the "Netherlands formation" is very demanding for the quantity and quality of its cavalry.The cavalry in England is far behind the continental cavalry because of many factors,such as history,society,and so on.That has laid a time-bomb to the English army,and it went off during the Civil war.Commander of both armies were forced to give up the "Netherlands formation",and adopt a more conservative tactic named "German formation" to cover up the short board in the cavalry.The conclusion is the summary and expansion of the whole article's viewpoint.In this chapter,the author summarizes and refines the repeated views in the three previous chapters,that the conservative art of war should not be equated with the negativity and capitulation.It is "a wise move in predicament",a more stable and more operational path for the military elites to choose under the unfavorable conditions.Although it could not bring quick and thorough victory to ether side,conservative art of war can bring its user to a more advantageous position and avoid disastrous consequences if properly handled.At the same time,from the perspective of the localization of the achievements of the Military Revolution,the author briefly analyses how the New Model Army overcame the "conservative" in three aspects and further confirmed and deepened the theme of the article.