Military revolution, navies, and states

This book-reading segment gives a compact historiography lesson on how naval history fits inside broader military history. Michael Roberts emphasizes drill, permanent forces, and the administrative demands of larger armies, while Geoffrey Parker shifts attention toward artillery, trace italienne fortifications, and the worldwide spread of European military power. Jeremy Black instead questions a single transformation and identifies separate periods of change, including the late-seventeenth-century growth of permanent armies and navies. The passage contrasts arguments that tactical or technical change drove state growth with arguments that political bargains and elite cooperation made larger armed forces possible. Navies therefore appear as part of state formation rather than as isolated collections of ships.