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Paper short abstract:

Since the Cold War's end, war finance and supply have become reminiscent of early-modern warmaking. This presentation introduces a future study of the daily lives of quartermasters in the army of the Holy Roman Empire during the 30 Years War.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation introduces a future book project exploring the daily lives of minor officers responsible for supply and finance in the Imperial army during the 30 Years War (1618-1648).

War has frequently resisted geographical confinement, especially the pan-European conflicts of the early seventeenth century. Early-modern European fiscal-military states relied on the interaction of state and non-state actors to raise money and resources, and to promulgate war. Complex networks of supply and finance crossed borders of state, region, religion, and language. While the boundaries between formal/informal or public/private now seem to be breaking down, then they did not yet exist.

Existing explorations of the military economies of the 30 Years War focus on the administrative level. In contrast I propose a social history of military finance and transport, focusing on minor officers like quartermasters and fouriers. This analysis will explore their interactions with common soldiers, their own administrations, and local civilians. I will also explore their interactions with their physical environment.

I will also address continuity and change in low-level Imperial military finance throughout the 30 Years War. Discussions of war finance in the Empire either begin or end with administrative reorganizations and political developments in the mid-1630s. In contrast I plan to study the entire war, using this longer perspective to problematize the effects of these events on the daily practice of supplying and housing troops in the field.

This presentation will invite feedback on areas like the location of primary sources or comparisons with other periods.