The Business of War: Military Enterprise and Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe

by David Parrott

Overview

This is a major new approach to the military revolution and the relationship between warfare and the power of the state in early modern Europe. Whereas previous accounts have emphasised the growth of state-run armies during this period, David Parrott argues instead that the delegation of military responsibility to sophisticated and extensive networks of private enterprise reached unprecedented levels. This included not only the hiring of troops but their equipping, the supply of food and munitions, and the financing of their operations. The book reveals the extraordinary prevalence and capability of private networks of commanders, suppliers, merchants and financiers who managed the conduct of war on land and at sea, challenging the traditional assumption that reliance on mercenaries and the private sector results in corrupt and inefficient military force. In so doing, the book provides essential historical context to contemporary debates about the role of the private sector in warfare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521514835
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/08/2012
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

David Parrott is a Fellow and Lecturer at New College, University of Oxford. His previous books include Richelieu's Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624–1642 (Cambridge, 2001).

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Foundations and Expansion: 1. Military resources for hire, 1450–1560; 2. The expansion of military enterprise, 1560–1620; 3. Diversity and adaptation: military enterprise during the Thirty Years' War; Part II. Operations and Structures: 4. The military contractor at war; 5. The business of war; 6. Continuity, transformation and rhetoric in European warfare after 1650; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"David Parrott's sparkling and deeply-considered study is a seminal contribution to the history of warfare and government in all periods, and reveals that "military outsourcing" was normal long before the Iraq War brought it into the headlines. Highly original in argument and notably lively in presentation, it will become a modern classic."
Hamish Scott, University of Glasgow

"David Parrott deftly explores the various shades of grey in the public private partnership between early modern state and military entrepreneurs. He proves that more often than not private enterprise simply did perform more efficiently than the state."
Lothar Höbelt, University of Vienna

"… the present volume offers an eloquent, fresh interpretation of the military revolution and the relationship between warfare and nation-state development in early modern Europe."
Jamie L. H. Goodall, EH.Net

"Essential."
Choice

"A ground breaking study of mercenaries and military entrepreneurs in early modern Europe."
StrategyPage

"The book is well crafted, articulate, and painstakingly researched."
David Anderson, Military Review

"… Parrott has written a refreshing work, replete with evidence that may be new to many readers of early modern military history."
David R. Lawrence, Michigan War Studies Review

"His scholarship draws on literature in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with touches of scholarship in Swedish, Danish and Dutch. Few scholars have his Braudellian sweep, or the technical chops to bring together this mass of material into a cogent argument praising the efficiency of private capital in the military realm."
Gregory Hanlon, European History Quarterly

"Now it is evident that The Business of War will become our new reference point. However, this book is something more than a summary of recent research on the subject. This is the first major study that is free from old prejudices and examines facts at their face value."
Anton Tomsinov, Strife

From the Publisher