Bert Hall delves deep into the technological history of Renaissance warfare and demonstrates both how much and how little new technologies have changed the face of battle. It deftly combines both a technical understanding of how those technologies were made with Mr. Hall's detailed understanding of the military history of that period.
The work is primarily focussed on the effects of gunpowder and firearms, but begins in the pre-gunpowder era of the late middle ages. By demonstrating how wars in this period were waged, the author shows the reader just how little the first gunpowder technology changed the way wars were fought. In essence, he shows how commanders faced with the new technology tried to fit it into traditional roles previously occupied by the longbow and crossbow and how it did not immediately eclipse those weapons in such roles.
From there, the author goes on to show how the peculiar advantages and disadvantages of the increasingly sophisticated gunpowder technology came to revolutionize strategic and tactical thought.
It is a rare work that considers topics ranging from the way in which the differing "recipes" that existed for gunpowder vastly altered the explosive potential of the substance to the tactical innovations and battles of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba. Mr. Hall handles both technological and historical matters with equal ease and effectively demonstrates how deeply the two are intertwined.
It is a tremendously engaging and enlightening work, and very well documented in its more than 800 endnotes. Perhaps surprisingly for an historical work, it was a real page-turner. When forced to set it down, I found myself counting the hours until I could get back to it. I will definitely be looking for additional books by this author.
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