Lending to the Sound of Cannon

This chapter discusses wartime spending and the rise of the fiscal-military state. The need to borrow was intimately related to the cost of war. After 1500, a “military revolution” transformed warfare in Europe. The invention of gunpowder meant that old medieval city walls no longer offered protection. The increasing use of cannon therefore required an entirely new set of protective walls. These new fortifications meant that wars became longer, with many sieges lasting more than a year. Then, the rise of firearms translated into a need to train soldiers. All these changes—the arms used, the rise of permanent, large armies and navies, new fortifications, and high frequency and great length of conflict—made wars vastly more expensive. Success in war therefore depended in the early modern period on financial resources. Eventually, states run by a successful military-fiscal complex dominated the map of Europe.