Submitted Abstract
Title:Stände, Staat und Militär. Versorgung und Finanzierung der Armee in den Österreichischen Niederlanden 1715-1795Dealing with the Austrian Netherlands (1715-1795), the present study inquires into the connections between army and state formation. It parts on the hypothesis that financing formed the essential link. Behind this investigation lays the question if and how the Habsburg Sovereigns succeeded in generating enough money and troops out of their Belgian provinces to support the power policy of the monarchy. The first chapter establishes the strategic importance of the southern Netherlands during 18th century. Chapter two shows the role fortresses played in the defense system and the financial and technical means necessary to maintain them. Chapter three analyses the evolution of the army strength, considering particularly recruitment and desertion. The fourth chapter presents the organization and working processes of the military administration and its relationship to the civil authorities. In a fifth step military expenditures are discussed, how the financial resources were extracted and what was their destination. Chapter six focuses on the supply system, mostly based on private entrepreneurship. Feeding the soldiers with bread appears as a major challenge for the early modern state. The last two chapters offer a case study on one Belgian province, the duchy of Luxembourg. It underlines the contribution of the provincial estates to the supply and financing of the army and gives insights in the functioning of the grain market. The state-building process was not only carried further by the central government but also by the estates, an institution that showed a remarkable efficiency especially in times of crisis.