Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:08:21.889Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Technology and the Era of the Mass Army

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2014

Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato ,
Kenneth Scheve  and
David Stasavage
Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca, Piazza San Ponziano 6, 55100 Lucca, Italy. E-mail: [email protected].
Kenneth Scheve
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Political Science, Stanford University, 616 Serra Street, Encina Hall West, Room 409, Stanford, CA 94305-6044. E-mail: [email protected].
David Stasavage
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Politics, New York University, 19 W. 4th Street, New York, NY 10012, Canada. E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigate how technology has influenced the size of armies. During the nineteenth century, the development of the railroad made it possible to field and support mass armies, significantly increasing the observed size of military forces. During the late twentieth century, further advances in technology made it possible to deliver explosive force from a distance and with precision, making mass armies less desirable. We find support for our technological account using a new data set covering thirteen great powers between 1600 and 2000. We find little evidence that the French Revolution was a watershed in terms of levels of mobilization.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 449 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We thank Bernd Beber, Pablo Beramendi, Oeindrila Dube, Jim Fearon, Peter Gourevitch, Peter Katzenstein, Bob Kaufman, David Lake, Josh Ober, Maggie Peters, Pablo Querubin, Dan Reiter, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, Jack Snyder, two anonymous reviewers, and seminar participants at Columbia, Stanford, Yale, UCLA, Michigan, Minnesota, Duke, Cornell, the LSE, Namur, the Paris School of Economics, the Juan March Institute, Sciences-Po, NYU Abu Dhabi, Alicante, and EPSA 2012 for comments on a previous draft. We also thank Erdem Aytac, Quintin Beazer, Nikhar Gaikwad, Young Joe Hur, and Yiming Ma for excellent research assistance and Sonke Ehret, John Lynn, Jim Snyder, and Bruce Russett for helpful advice. We are grateful for financial support from the MacMillan Center for International & Area Studies, and the Institution for Social and Policy Studies. David Stasavage thanks the Sciences-Po economics department for inviting him as a visitor. The replication data and programs for the analysis presented in this article are archived at http://thedata.harvard.edu/dvn/dv/massarmy. The Online Appendix to this article is available with the replication archive and at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=JEH.

References

REFERENCES

Aghion, Philippe, Persson, Torsten, and Rouzet, Dorothee. “Education and Military Rivalry.” Working Paper, Harvard University 2012.Google Scholar
Atkinson, Anthony, and Piketty, Thomas. Top Incomes over the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Bai, Jushan, and Perron, Pierre. “Computation and Analysis of Multiple Structural Change Models.” Journal of Applied Econometrics 18, no. 1 (2003): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bean, Richard. “War and the Birth of the Nation State.” The Journal of Economic History 33, no. 1 (1973): 203–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellows, Henry Adams. “Moving and Army of Five Million Men.” The Bellman 24 (1918): 711–22.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Persson, Torsten. “The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation, and Policy.” American Economic Review 99, no. 4 (2009): 1218–44.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Persson, Torsten Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Bogart, Dan. “Nationalizations and the Development of Transport Systems: Cross-Country Evidence from Railroad Networks, 1860–1912.” The Journal of Economic History 69, no. 1 (2009): 202–37.Google Scholar
Boix, Carles, and Rosato, Sebastian. A Complete Data Set of Political Regimes, 1800–1999. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2001.Google Scholar
Brodie, Bernard. “War in the Atomic Age.” In The Absolute Weapon: Atomic Power and World Order, edited by Brodie, Bernard et al. ., 21–70. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1946.Google Scholar
Cederman, Lars-Erik, Sornette, Didier, and Warren, Camber. “Testing Clausewitz: Nationalism, Mass Mobilization, and the Severity of War.” International Organization 65, no. 4 (2011): 605–38.Google Scholar
Chevalier, Michel. Cours d'Economie Politique fait au Collège de France. Paris: Capelle, Libraire Editeur, 1841.Google Scholar
Cohen, Eliot. “A Revolution in Warfare.” Foreign Affairs 75, no. 2 (March/April 1996): 37–54.Google Scholar
Colley, Linda. Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707–1837. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Comin, Diego, and Hobijn, Bart. “The CHAT Dataset.” NBER Working Paper No. 15319, Cambridge, MA, September 2009.Google Scholar
Correlates of War Project. National Material Capabilities Data Version 4.0, 2010.Google Scholar
Costa, Dora, and Kahn, Matthew. Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Darden, Keith. Resisting Occupation: Mass Schooling and the Creation of Durable National Loyalties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Donaldson, Dave. “Railroads and the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure.” MIT Department of Economics, 2010.Google Scholar
Fearon, James. “The Offense-Defense Balance and War Since 1648.” Presented at the Annual Meetings of International Studies Association, Chicago, February 21–25, 1995.Google Scholar
Fischer, Marie-Joseph. Comment Dura La Guerre: Souvenirs et Reflexions sur l'Entretien des Armées Francaises au Moyen des Chemins de Fer de 1914 à 1918. Paris: Charles-Lavauzelle, 1925.Google Scholar
Floud, Roderick, Wachter, Kenneth, and Gregory, Annabel. Height, Health, and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750–1980. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Fuller, J. F. C. Armament and History: The Influence of Armament on History from the Dawn of Classical Warfare to the End of the Second World War. Jackson, TN: Da Capo Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Gennaioli, Nicola, and Voth, Hans-Joachim. “State Capacity and Military Conflict.” CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP8699, December 2011.Google Scholar
Graff, Harvey. The Legacies of Literacy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Hallion, Richard P. “Precision Guided Munitions and the New Era of Warfare.” Air Power Studies Centre Paper Number 53, Fairbairn, Australia, 1995.Google Scholar
Hinsley, F. H. Power and the Pursuit of Peace: Theory and Practice in the History of Relations Between States. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Philip. “Prices, the Military Revolution, and Western Europe's Comparative Advantage in Violence.” Economic History Review 64, no. S1 (2011): 39–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Philip “Why Was It Europeans Who Conquered the World.” The Journal of Economic History 72, no. 3 (2012): 601–33.Google Scholar
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers. 1860 (168). Navy. Available online at http://parlipapers.chadwyck.com/home.do.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Philip 1914–1916 (96). Navy. Appropriation account, 1913–1914. Available online at http://parlipapers.chadwyck.com/home.do.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Philip 1928/29 [Cmd. 3253]. Board of Trade. (In conjunction with the Ministry of Labour and the Registrars-General.) Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom for Each of the Fifteen Years from 1913 to 1927. Seventy-second number. Available online at http://parlipapers.chadwyck.com/home.do.Google Scholar
Huisken, Ronald. The Origin of the Strategic Cruise Missile. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1981.Google Scholar
International Institute for Strategic Studies. Military Balance. London: Routledge Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Jacquemin, Francois-Prosper. Les chemins de fer pendant la guerre de 1870–1871. Paris: Falaize et Girod, 1872.Google Scholar
Jervis, Robert. “Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma.” World Politics 30, no. 2 (1978): 167–214.Google Scholar
Krepinivich, Andrew. “The Military-Technical Revolution: A Preliminary Assessment.” Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2002.Google Scholar
Levi, Margaret. Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Levy, Jack. War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495–1975. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1983.Google Scholar
Liddell Hart, B. H. Strategy. New York: Praeger Paperbacks, 1954.Google Scholar
Litton, Leonard. “The Information-Based RMA and the Principles of War.” Air and Space Power Chronicles (2000): 1–12.Google Scholar
Lynn, John. “International Rivalry and Warfare.” The Eighteenth Century: Europe, 1688–1815. Edited by Blanning, Timoth C. W, 178–217. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Maddison, Angus. The World Economy: Historical Statistics. Paris: OECD, 2003.Google Scholar
Mahnken, Thomas. “Weapons: The Growth and Spread of the Precision Strike Regime.” Daedalus (Summer 2011): 45–57.Google Scholar
McNeill, William H. The Pursuit of Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R. British Historical Statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R. International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750–2005, 6th edition. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007a.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R. International Historical Statistics: The Americas, 1750–2005, 6th edition. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007b.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R. International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia, & Oceania, 1750–2005, 5th edition. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007c.Google Scholar
Mokyr, Joel. The Lever of Riches: Technology, Creativity, and Economic Progress. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Murray, Williamson, and Knox, MacGregor. “Thinking About Revolutions in Warfare.” In The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300–2050, edited by Knox, Macgregor and Murray, Williamson, 1–15. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
National Center for Education Statistics. 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 1993.Google Scholar
National Defense Industrial Association. “Feasibility of Third World Advanced Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, Volume 2: Emerging Cruise Missile Threat.” National Defense Industrial Association, Systems Assessment Group Report, 1999.Google Scholar
Pamuk, Sevket. “Estimating GDP per Capita for the Ottoman Empire in a European Comparative Framework, 1500–1820.” Paper presented at the XVth World Economic History Congress, 2009.Google Scholar
Parker, Geoffrey. “The ‘Military Revolution’ 1560–1660: A Myth?” The Journal of Modern History 48, no. 2 (1976): 195–214.Google Scholar
Pigeard, Alain. La conscription au temps de Napoléon. Paris: Bernard Giovanangeli, 2003.Google Scholar
Piketty, Thomas. Les hauts revenus en France au XXème siècle. Paris: Grasset, 2001.Google Scholar
Posen, Barry. “Nationalism, the Mass Army, and Military Power.” International Security 18, no. 2 (1993): 80–124.Google Scholar
Pratt, Edwin. The Rise of Rail Power in War and Conquest, 1833–1914. London: P.S. Kin and Son, 1916.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. Democracy and Development. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Renouard de Sainte-Croix, Félix. Des chemins de fer considérés comme moyen de défense du territoire francais. Paris: Imprimerie de Guiraudet et Ch. Jouast, 1837.Google Scholar
Roberts, Michael. “The Military Revolution, 1560–1660.” Belfast: M. Boyd, 1956.Google Scholar
Ropp, Theodore. War in the Modern World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1959.Google Scholar
Sagan, Scott. “1914 Revisited: Allies, Offense, and Instability.” International Security 11, no. 2 (1986): 151–75.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth, and Stasavage, David. “The Conscription of Wealth: Mass Warfare and the Demand for Progressive Taxation.” International Organization 64, no. 4 (Fall 2010): 529–61.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth, and Stasavage, David “Democracy, War, and Wealth: Lessons from Two Centuries of Inheritance Taxation.” American Political Science Review 106, no. 1 (2012): 81–102.Google Scholar
Shimshoni, Jonathan. “Technology, Military Advantage, and World War I: A Case for Military Entrepreneurship.” International Security 15, no. 3 (1990): 187–215.Google Scholar
Sidgwick, Henry. The Development of European Polity. London: Macmillan, 1903.Google Scholar
Singh, Sonali, and Way, Christopher. “The Correlates of Nuclear Proliferation: A Quantitative Test.” International Organization 48, no. 6 (1903): 859–85.Google Scholar
Snyder, Jack. “Civil-Military Relations and the Cult of the Offensive, 1914 and 1984.” International Security 9, no. 1 (1984): 108–46.Google Scholar
Snyder, Jack From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.Google Scholar
Stasavage, David. States of Credit: Size, Power, and the Development of European Polities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Stasavage, David “When Distance Mattered: Geographic Scale and the Development of European Representative Assemblies.” American Political Science Review 104, (2010): 625–44.Google Scholar
Thompson, William R., and Rasler, Karen. “War, the Military Revolution(s) Controversy, and Army Expansion: A Test of Two Explanations of Historical Influences on European State Making.” Comparative Political Studies 32, no. 1 (February 1999): 3–31.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. “Reflections on the History of European State Making.” In The Formation of National States in Western Europe, edited by Tilly, C, 3–83. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles Coercion, Capital, and European States. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1990.Google Scholar
Titmuss, Richard. Problems of Social Policy. London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1950.Google Scholar
Titmuss, Richard “War and Social Policy.” In Essays on the Welfare State, edited by Titmuss, Richard, 75–87. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1958.Google Scholar
Tomyar, Charles. L’état et les chemins de fer. Paris: Librairie Militaire de J. Dumaine, 1882.Google Scholar
Troyansky, David G., Cismaru, Alfred, and Andrews, Norwood Jr., eds. The French Revolution in Culture and Society. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991.Google Scholar
van Creveld, Martin. Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
van Creveld, Martin Technology and War from 2000 B.C. to the Present. New York: The Free Press, 1989.Google Scholar
van Evera, Stephen. “The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of the First World War.” International Security 9, no. 1 (1984): 58–107.Google Scholar
van Evera, Stephen “Offense, Defense, and the Causes of War.” International Security 22, no. 4 (1998): 5–43.Google Scholar
von Clausewitz, Carl. On War. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1968 [1832].Google Scholar
Walt, Stephen. “Revolution and War.” World Politics 44, no. 3 (1992): 321–68.Google Scholar
Werrell, Kenneth. The Evolution of the Cruise Missile. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Westwood, John. Railways at War. San Diego: Howell North Books, 1980.Google Scholar
White, Lynn. Medieval Technology and Social Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Wolmar, Christian. Engines of War: How Wars Were Won and Lost on the Railways. New York: Public Affairs, 2010.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Onorato Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Onorato Supplementary Material(File)
File 341.5 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Onorato Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Onorato Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 137.5 KB