Sowa, Jan Jerzy. One more time about tactics and weaponry

Published Date:

For citation: Sowa, Jan Jerzy. One more time about tactics and weaponry, in Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2021. № 2. Pp. 170-174. DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu19.2021.212

Title of the article One more time about tactics and weaponry
Authors

Sowa, Jan Jerzy — PhD in Law, Assistant Professor, University of Bialystok, Poland, Orc ID 0000-0002-9507-7574; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In the section  Recensiones / Reviews
Year 2021 Issue 2 Pages 170-174
Type of article RAR Index UDK; BBK UDK 94(4), 355/4; BBK 63.3(0)5+68.35 Index DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu19.2021.212 
Abstract

This paper was written as part of a research project funded by the National Science Centre, Poland, OPUS-16, contract no. UMO-2018/31/B/HS3/00846 «Social and economic importance of military camps and garrisons in the Polish-Lithuanian state (16th–18th cc.)»

Mark W. Shearwood’s study is devoted to the use of plug bayonets in the English army in the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The author has shown that the plug bayonet was a more universal weapon than the socket bayonet. He rightly emphasizes in the conclusions of his work that when studying the history of military weaponry, especially in the pre-industrial period, specific dates for weaponry changes in particular armies and units cannot be provided. The conclusion is right that the plug bayonet was not supposed to replace pikes completely as was originally assumed by the then commanders; initially, the bayonets were used to equip troops of dragoons and grenadiers, i. e. the soldiers that did not have pikes on their equipment before. This study on the rearmament of individual armies is of interest to historians dealing with Central and Eastern Europe. It is connected with the important question of the continuity in the field of weapons between the West and Central and Eastern Europe at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. It seems that on the basis of the preserved source base it is not possible to jump at any conclusions concerning the use of the plug bayonet going further than those presented by the author.

Keywords English army, plug bayonet, socket bayonet, infantry, pike, military revolution, military tactics, armaments, historiography
Full text version of the article. Article language  English
Bibliography

Aksan, Virginia H. Ottoman Wars 1700–1870: An Empire Besieged. Abingdon; New York: Taylor & Francis Publ., 2007. XX + 599 p.

Jacob, Frank; Visoni-Alonzo, Gilmar. The Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe: A Revision. London: Palgrave Macmillan Publ., 2016. V + 101 p.

Megorsky, Boris. The Russian army in the Great Northern War 1700–21: Organisation, Matériel, Training and Combat Experience, Uniforms. Warwick: Helion & Company Publ., 2018. 270 p.

Rogers, Clifford J. The Military Revolution in History and Historiography, in Rogers, Clifford J. (ed.). The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military transformation of Early Modern Europe. Boulder: Westview Press Publ., 1990. Pp. 1–10.

Shearwood, Mark W. The Perfection of Military Discipline: The plug bayonet and the English army 1660–1705. Warwick: Helion & Company Publ., 2020. 167 p.

Wagner, Marek. Logistyka w regimentach piechoty koronnej w latach 1683–1696 [Logistics in the Polish Crown Infantry Regiments, 1683–1696], in Wagner, Marek. W cieniu szukamy jasności chwały: Studia z dziejów panowania Jana III Sobieskiego (1684–1696) [In shadow we seek the light of glory: Studies from the history of John III Sobieski’s reign (1684–1696)]. Siedlce: Wydawnictwo Akademii Podlaskiej Publ., 2002. Pp. 35–41. (in Polish).

Wagner, Marek. Zmiany w uzbrojeniu wojsk polskich na początku XVIII wieku [Changes in weaponry of the Polish army in the beginnig of the 18th century], in Matusak, Piotr; Piłatowicz, Józef (eds). Technika a wojna X–XX w. [Technology and war, 10th–20th century]. Siedlce: Instytut Historii Akademii Podlaskiej w Siedlcach Press, 2000. Pp. 123–155. (in Polish).

 

Tags: historiography, military history, RECENSIONES / REVIEWS, early modern history, 18th century , 17th century, armament, SOWA J. J., armor

  • Hits: 623