VMG Week 7: Politiek en Bestuur II, 1650-1800

Explain the role of tech and logistics in war?

Technology and logistics · Technology did not determine the status of European powers or the results of wars, bc it was shared by states · Having the ability to use the tech is about as important as having it o Ottomans were much better at mobilizing before 18thc than Europeans o But it reversed as Ottoman army became more privatized

What was the most important book on court life?

· Baldesar Castiglione's Book of the Courtier o Basid education for those who sought to make their way at court o Marked out the court as a pre-eminent site of political and cultural power in Early Modern Europe

In what ways can we look at courts as a distinct culture?

· Court as distinctive culture o Microcosm of political society o More and more attention to the rituals that shaped courts o Role of women o Role of arts, leisure and entertainment

Explain the debate around the military revolution

Warfare and state formation: The military revolution debate · Roberts & Parker o Roberts § Introduction of musket has led to a revolution of tactics 1560s-1660 § Highlights exponential growth of armies across Europe, the development of strategies to mobilize larger armies and the impact of war on society o Parker § Yes but technology>tactics as driver of change § From 1450-1700 · Increased preference to use a naval revolution to explain relationship between warfare and state formation · Lane o EM states became proudcers of protection · Glete o Integration of rulers, merchants and others in the rise of permanent navies is an important stage in the development of states- fiscal military states based on navy like NL, England · But don't forget state fragmentation

What did most courts look like?

· Court culture reflected the personal tastes of monarchs and subjects · Economic and territorial limitations determined the size and personnel · Common features o Monarch, settled in a principal residence o Attracts nobility who came in assiduous fashion o Diverse community of royal family, officers of the crown, University-educated bureaucrats, etc o Set the tone for culture, manners and noble conduct

How did conflicts change? How did this affect schatkisten?

o Conflict would become global conflict- more and more wars fought on imperial and colonial grounds § Colonies could be strategically important · Trade barriers, mercantile system § Ability to conduct global warfare depended on the ability to finance them § Great powers were becoming Fiscal-military states

Epilogue: Economic developments 1500-1800

o Development of a global economy o Larger population, more living in towns o France and GB as most vigorous economies (not IR, but intl trade more important)

Epilogue: Enlightenment and public sphere 1500-1800

o Expansion urban sector, growth of literacy, improvements of communications, rise of newspapers, appearance of coffee houses o Habermas being destroyed, public sphere was not created here, but expanded o Lowering temp of religious debate o Emergence deism and mechanistic world view o Looking for "scientific' explanations of society o Montesquieu, Smith o Measuring- happiness, value o Continuing importance of classics, rhetoric and Latin

How was the balance of power shifted? What happened when Napoleon stepped in?

o French power grew- by the late 1790s the rest of Europe was dominated by France o Austria, Prussia and Russia took advantage of international mayhem and completed the partition of Poland in 1793-95 o Massive land gains went some way towards compensating for France's collapse as a global power o The initial phases of French expansion had shown respect for a new principle in international law: self-determination § 'war on castles, peace towards cottages' § Many of the liberal and egalitarian reforms of the Revolution such as the abolition of feudalism, religious reforms and the introduction of a constitution were introduced into areas brought under French control · Did not always go down well in Catholic Europe o Napoleon took it back to the ancien régime values § Land empire across Europe § But other powers had started to regroup at the time, and made their return, defeating Napoleon

How did the phenomenon of "the court" change from the Middle Ages up to 1800

o MA- emerging of court as location for entourages of sovereigns o In Renaissance became central structure within royal power, the focus of attention from all levels of society and a vital point of contact between the government and the localities o Great nobles lived in and around the court, seeking and occupying its great offices o Patronage extended the reach of the court to all levels of government o Papal court in Rome through petitions (curia)

Epilogue: Social structure 1500-1800

o Numbers, wealth, political importance and social standing of those engaged in European commerce, banking and industry were undoubtedly greater than they had been in 1500 o But politically, nobility and gentry played the main role in politics o Peasants majority of population o Serfdom still existed in some regions o Women more respected, but still lower standing than men

Epilogue: Political life 1500-1800

o Overthrowing of monarchies o Destruction HRE 1806 o Crown as British, and the increasing importance of parliament o Civil and military establishments vastly more extensive o Civil bureaucracy growing o Global conflicts between France and England o Rise of Russia o Rise of the British Empire later

Epilogue: Role of Religion 1500-1800

o The existence and importance of Protestantism o Less power CC bc of enlightenment thinking and FR in France o Dechristianization campaign

What were main justifications for war? How did they change in this time?

o Warfare lost its religious character- it was more secular and materialist § But ideology could still count- e.g. opposing tyranny (French Revolutionary Wars) § But before 1792 mainly traditional dynastic considerations

Which countries were the major powers around 1750?

§ France § England § Austria § Prussia § Russia

How was the balance of power supposed to be preserved? What caused it to be under strain after the 1750s?

· After PoW the idea developed that European politics revolved around the notion of "Balance of power" now involving the states of eastern and Western Europe o It was fragile o Preserved by diplomacy and if necessary concerted action to reduce power of any over-mighty state o Thus the dynastic interest of individual states could be inflected by wider considerations of the European power equilibrium · From 1750s the BoP came under strain o Power struggle France and England o Seven Years War o Revolutionary War US o Revolution 1789 etc

Explain the role of militias, mercenaries and entrepreneurs in the development of the armies of Europe

· Early modern armies consisted of: o Militias o Mercenaries § Could be done if wars were short o Forces by entrepreneurs § Growing dependence on these by NL, FR · Historians skeptical of effectiveness militia, prefer to dee origins of later armies in the large mercenary forces of the 17th century o But there is also the vies that these militias wer the basis of state-raised, financed and administered standing armies · Had to be supported by elite

How did the court encourage cultural patronage

· Especially the Renaissance found its roots here- with the artistic patronage of a multiplicity of city-states and principalities · Artists, writers, schoalrs and craftsmen looked to the court for patronage, turning it into a permanent workshop for artistic creation · Francesco Redi (1626-97) · Scientific patronage attracted princely interest o Though 18th rulers were usually figureheads, not scholars themselves o Increasingly independent centres of power- along with expansion of power and global trade

Name impacts of the French Revolution on the European continent

· It revolutionized the conduct, reach and significance of European warfare · By the end of the 1790s, the French had reached a hegemony in Continental Europe · It was ideological enthusiasm in defense of revolutionary values rather than bureaucratic efficiency which produced the new quantum leap in army size · Levée en masse · The mass military call-up formed part of a larger process of political mobilization · The Jacobin faction within the assembly introduced a package of measures-price freezes, land sales, welfare schemes, etc to boost popular morale · Ideology back on the battlefield o Ancien régime armies were highly drilled o New massed hordes of revolutionary troops had time for neither training nor temporization o It was designed for export- and a war of national defence transmuted into a war of territorial expansion

Explain how war affects different parts of society. Why is it hard to find out experiences of war?

· Lack key info o Mortality levels o Number of troops o Economic data · Different types of war cause different experiences of war · Geographical effects · Social classes · Problems with accounts- e.g. hindsight · Jacques Callot- miseries of war

What was the role of elites in war?

· Support of elites essential o They provide leadership, troops and ship-owners made war at sea possible o It was financial, but also motivated by cultural and social esteem

How was the PoW 1648 supposed to change Europe? What were the actual consequences? How did armies change?

· There were hopes that the PoW of 1648 would diminish warfare, but it was not so · Heavy war mortality was linked to significant growth in army size o Recruiting, maintaining and equipping huge armed forces constituted one of the most striking achievements of the powerful bureaucratic states which emerged over the 18th century o Navy grew too · Standing armies · Armies were the heaviest financial burden governments had to bear

How did wars stimulate a public sphere?

· These global wars stimulated a public sphere- for news o People economically invested especially o They claimed powers to debate and discuss state policy and to measure it against a notion of greater good o Promoted national identities · The fiscal-military state thus ran alongside a more traditional state in which authority was dispersed and negotiated at local level

What was the role of ceremony in courts? What was the power relation between Ruler and Courtier?

· Where the iconography of monarchy was displayed and developed, for foreign and not-foreign eyes · To be a courtier was a form of work which consisted in participation in monarchical rituals and benefitting from the privileges accorder by the king, distinguishing tohose who were authorized to enter the king's chamber or to dine with him · Increasingly, the ritual life at court has been read as a dialogue between the monarch and their subjects, through which the latter could approach and advise their rulers at the same time as seeking favour and advancement o Characterized by cooperation rather than conflict o SO more nuanced than the oppressive atmosphere that Norbert Elias suggested