Introduction

In the fall of 2011, Jerry Bentley shared with me an early draft of Richard Eaton and Philip Wagoner’s article on the Military Revolution in early modern India. It was the first article for a planned cluster that Jerry envisioned as “Globalizing the Military Revolution.” It is fitting that this forum is finally a reality and that it launches The Journal of World History’s twenty-fifth anniversary. It would be impossible to imagine the anniversary of the Journal without Jerry Bentley making a contribution to it.

The idea of having a special issue examining the potential of a global military revolution began at a workshop at George Mason Uni versity in April 2011. Both the article from Eaton and Wagoner and Gábor Ágoston found their origins there. Later in 2012, Tonio Andrade, Hyeok Hweon Kang, and Kirsten Cooper sent in their article examining the topic with new evidence from Korea, and the forum was finally a reality.

Sadly, “Globalizing a Military Revolution” is also Jerry’s last editorial contribution to the journal. It is, however, a fitting testament to his continuing enthusiasm for the field of world history. In Jerry’s first email to me after Eaton and Wagoner submitted their draft, his excitement was palpable. Jerry wrote: “This article by Dick and Philip strikes me as absolutely stupendous. What I like about it is that it brings new research, including the authors’ physical observations of architectural remains, into conversation with Big Issues such as the military revolution. If the other contributions are similar, the collection will be absolutely dynamite.” Though Jerry did not have a chance to read the final versions of the articles, I have no doubt his prediction for the collection will be shared by all.