The seventeenth century has long been seen as a period of 'crisis' or transition from the pre-modern to the modern world. This book offers a chance to explore this crisis from the perspective of war and military institutions in a way that should appeal to those doing global history. By placing 17th century warfare in a global context, Black challenges conventional chronologies and permits a reappraisal of the debate over what has been seen as the Military Revolution of the early-modern period. The book discusses war with regard to strategic cultures, assesses military capability in terms of tasks and challenges faced and attaches styles of warfare to their social and political contexts. Genuinely global in range, this up-to-date and wide-ranging account provides fresh historiographical insights into this crucial period in world history. 'He does what no other scholar I know of can do in presenting the full range of global military history.' Peter Lorge, Vanderbilt University, USAIntroduction Sixteenth-Century Background Conflict, 1590-1615 Conflict, 1616-1650 Conflict, 1650-1683 The Expansion of Europe Conflict 1683-1707 Naval Capability and Warfare Warfare, Social Contexts and State Development Conclusions: Beyond the Military Revolution? Selected Further Reading