Description
Book SynopsisThis important volume traces the interaction between state and capital in the organization of warfare in the Dutch Republic. Combining deep theoretical insight with a thorough examination of original source material Brandon provides a sweeping new interpretation of the rise and fall of the Dutch Republic as a hegemonic power within the early modern capitalist world-system.
Trade Review"This groundbreaking book provides a fascinating and knowledgeable case-study of the actual interplay of three of the main driving forces in the history of the early modern era: capitalism, state-formation and war and has major implications for many general claims that have been made with regard to their history and the history of the Dutch Republic." —Prof. dr. Peer Vries, University of Vienna "The publisher should be commended for making this study available to a large English-speaking audience, which it certainly deserves. Brandon's contribution is a type of economic history that has unfortunately fallen out of favor in recent decades, replaced by reams of cultural history, so one can only hope that this notable study will inspire similar social science research into the complex symbiosis of states and capital accumulation elsewhere. Every university's history department should acquire a copy for its own library collections."—Eric Mielants, Science & Society, Vol. 48:4 (2018): 592-594 "Brandon’s study is not only well researched, it is highly convincing and will undoubtedly lead to a reconsideration of the forces at play in the development of the early modern state."—Donald J. Harreld, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. LXX:3 (2017): 1122-1123 "War, Capital, and the Dutch State (1588-1795) is a highly innovative piece of scholarship which successfully binds together the main debates relevant to understand the role of capital and war in state formation. Its value therefore reaches out far beyond the Netherlands."—Louis Sicking, Forum Navale, Vol. 73:4 (2017): 131-133 "This research clearly makes an important contribution to our thinking about warfare and state formation."—Christiaan van Bochove, Continuity and Change, Vol. 32:2 (2017): 289-291
Table of ContentsList of Charts and Tables Translations of Frequently Used Dutch Terms Note on Currency Introduction Dutch War-Making and State-Making: Three Solutions to a Riddle Typologies of the Early Modern State Form The Dutch Cycle of Accumulation The Federal-Brokerage State and its ‘Historic Bloc’ Content and Structure of the Book . Chapter 1 The Making of the Federal-Brokerage State 1.1 The Dutch Revolt and the Establishment of the State 1.2 Types of Brokerage 1: Merchant Warriors 1.3 Types of Brokerage 2: Merchants as Administrators 1.4 Types of Brokerage 3: Financial Intermediaries in Troop Payments 1.5 Political and Ideological Foundations of the Federal-Brokerage State Conclusions Chapter 2 Merchant Companies, Naval Power, and Trade Protection 2.1 The Naval Revolution and the Challenge to Dutch Trade 2.2 A Unified State Company for Colonial Trade? 2.3 The VOC and the Navy from Symbiosis to Division of Labour 2.4 The WIC between Private Trade and State Protection 2.5 European Commercial Directorates as Protection Lobbies 2.6 Protection Costs and Merchant Interests Conclusions Chapter 3 Production, Supply, and Labour Relations at the Naval Shipyards 3.1 Capitalist Rationality, Accounting, and the Naval Revolution 3.2 Personal Networks and Market Practices 3.3 Different Products, Different Systems of Supply 3.4 Naval Shipyards as Centres of Production 3.5 Shipyards and their Workforce 3.6 Admiralty Boards and the Labour Market 3.7 Combination, Coordination, and Control 3.8 Of Time, Theft, and Chips 3.9 Neptune’s Trident and Athena’s Gifts Conclusions Chapter 4 Troop Payments, Military Soliciting, and the World of Finance 4.1 From Disorder to Regulation 4.2 A Golden Age of Military Soliciting 4.3 Two Careers in Military Finance 4.4 The Daily Affairs of a Financial Middleman 4.5 Networks of Credit and Influence 4.6 Military Soliciting in the Age of Financialisation Conclusions Chapter 5 The Structural Crisis of the Federal-Brokerage State 5.1 The Rise and Limits of Reform Agendas 5.2 Warring Companies and the Debate over Free Trade 5.3 Admiralty Boards at the Centre of the Storm 5.4 From Citizens’ Militias to the Batavian Legion 5.5 The Afterlife of the Federal-Brokerage State Conclusions Conclusion Annex 1 Holland Members of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board Annex 2 Zeeland Members of the Zeeland Admiralty Board Annex 3 Income and Expenditure of the Amsterdam Admiralty: Steps from Figures in ‘Borderel’ to Reconstruction Sources and Bibliography Index
