P. J. MARSHALL
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199226665
- eISBN:
- 9780191706813
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226665.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Political History
Hostilities between Britain and France began in North America in 1754. British expectations were initially that the French would be contained by the troops of the thirteen colonies. Early reverses ...
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Hostilities between Britain and France began in North America in 1754. British expectations were initially that the French would be contained by the troops of the thirteen colonies. Early reverses for the British-American forces, however, brought about a great increase in the deployment of regular British troops. Ultimately, French Canada was subjugated, and French and Spanish settlements in the West Indies were taken. Throughout the war the British were critical, not always with much justification, of the level of the contributions being made by the American colonies. Attempts to coerce them into providing men and money were not pressed, and Americans ended the war seeing themselves as equal partners in a great war for empire. Misgivings in British official circles remained, however, and led to new policies after the war to strengthen British authority.Less
Hostilities between Britain and France began in North America in 1754. British expectations were initially that the French would be contained by the troops of the thirteen colonies. Early reverses for the British-American forces, however, brought about a great increase in the deployment of regular British troops. Ultimately, French Canada was subjugated, and French and Spanish settlements in the West Indies were taken. Throughout the war the British were critical, not always with much justification, of the level of the contributions being made by the American colonies. Attempts to coerce them into providing men and money were not pressed, and Americans ended the war seeing themselves as equal partners in a great war for empire. Misgivings in British official circles remained, however, and led to new policies after the war to strengthen British authority.
Bob Harris
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199246939
- eISBN:
- 9780191714566
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246939.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter reconstructs debates about foreign affairs and Britain's participation in war during the mid-18th century. It explores the ways in which the country's shifting military and international ...
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This chapter reconstructs debates about foreign affairs and Britain's participation in war during the mid-18th century. It explores the ways in which the country's shifting military and international fortunes were registered in public debate in this period, as well as the ways in which different elements of the political nation responded to these wars. War and rivalry with France became an unfolding drama on to which Britons projected their hopes and anxieties not just about the standing and identity of their nation, but also deeper-lying concerns about the state of society, the political system, overseas trade, popular morals, and religion. The Seven Years War was not just about whether Britain would remain, or fulfil her destiny as, a great power; it was also a war in which fears about the morals and courage of the landed elites pressed hard on contemporary perceptions of the conduct of Britain's military forces; it was a war too in which Scotland particularly, but also Ireland, sought to demonstrate their value and contribution to the cause of Britain and British power overseas.Less
This chapter reconstructs debates about foreign affairs and Britain's participation in war during the mid-18th century. It explores the ways in which the country's shifting military and international fortunes were registered in public debate in this period, as well as the ways in which different elements of the political nation responded to these wars. War and rivalry with France became an unfolding drama on to which Britons projected their hopes and anxieties not just about the standing and identity of their nation, but also deeper-lying concerns about the state of society, the political system, overseas trade, popular morals, and religion. The Seven Years War was not just about whether Britain would remain, or fulfil her destiny as, a great power; it was also a war in which fears about the morals and courage of the landed elites pressed hard on contemporary perceptions of the conduct of Britain's military forces; it was a war too in which Scotland particularly, but also Ireland, sought to demonstrate their value and contribution to the cause of Britain and British power overseas.
Hedley Bull, Benedict Kingsbury, and Adam Roberts (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198277712
- eISBN:
- 9780191598890
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198277717.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), ‘the miracle of Holland’, was famous as a child prodigy, theologian, historian, poet, jurist, Dutch political figure, escaped political prisoner, and finally as Sweden's ...
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Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), ‘the miracle of Holland’, was famous as a child prodigy, theologian, historian, poet, jurist, Dutch political figure, escaped political prisoner, and finally as Sweden's ambassador to France. He is especially known for his major books on international law and practice, Mare Liberum (1609) and De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625).This book critically reappraises his contributions both to international law (called ‘the law of nations’ in his day) and to international relations. His contributions are examined in relation to his predecessors and in the context of the wars and controversies of his time. This book also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what is often called a ‘Grotian tradition’ of thought about international law and relations—one which accepts the sovereignty of states, but at the same time stresses the existence of shared values and the necessity of rules.This collection illuminates enduring problems of international relations: the nature of international society and its institutions, the equality of states, the role of natural law, the lawfulness of war (jus ad bellum), the means of pursuing war (jus in bello), collective security, military intervention, the rights of the individual, and the law of the sea.While first and foremost a study in the field of international relations, this is also a significant contribution to the history and theory of international law; and to the history of the early seventeenth century, when the Dutch Republic, and the European states system generally, were emerging in their modern forms, and when the Thirty Years War impressed on Grotius and others the need for restraint in war.Less
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), ‘the miracle of Holland’, was famous as a child prodigy, theologian, historian, poet, jurist, Dutch political figure, escaped political prisoner, and finally as Sweden's ambassador to France. He is especially known for his major books on international law and practice, Mare Liberum (1609) and De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625).
This book critically reappraises his contributions both to international law (called ‘the law of nations’ in his day) and to international relations. His contributions are examined in relation to his predecessors and in the context of the wars and controversies of his time. This book also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what is often called a ‘Grotian tradition’ of thought about international law and relations—one which accepts the sovereignty of states, but at the same time stresses the existence of shared values and the necessity of rules.
This collection illuminates enduring problems of international relations: the nature of international society and its institutions, the equality of states, the role of natural law, the lawfulness of war (jus ad bellum), the means of pursuing war (jus in bello), collective security, military intervention, the rights of the individual, and the law of the sea.
While first and foremost a study in the field of international relations, this is also a significant contribution to the history and theory of international law; and to the history of the early seventeenth century, when the Dutch Republic, and the European states system generally, were emerging in their modern forms, and when the Thirty Years War impressed on Grotius and others the need for restraint in war.
Colin G. Calloway
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340129
- eISBN:
- 9780199867202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340129.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
Warfare dominates much of Scottish and Native American history. The British and the Americans considered tribal peoples to be “natural warriors,” and employed them and treated them as such. This ...
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Warfare dominates much of Scottish and Native American history. The British and the Americans considered tribal peoples to be “natural warriors,” and employed them and treated them as such. This chapter examines the experiences of Highland Scots and American Indians in fighting colonial powers and fighting alongside and against each other, especially in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution. It shows how Britain, having defeated the Jacobites and tried to dismantle the militarism of Highland society, then encouraged and harnessed that militarism in the service of the Empire. The United States later followed similar policies in recruiting and employing Indian allies.Less
Warfare dominates much of Scottish and Native American history. The British and the Americans considered tribal peoples to be “natural warriors,” and employed them and treated them as such. This chapter examines the experiences of Highland Scots and American Indians in fighting colonial powers and fighting alongside and against each other, especially in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution. It shows how Britain, having defeated the Jacobites and tried to dismantle the militarism of Highland society, then encouraged and harnessed that militarism in the service of the Empire. The United States later followed similar policies in recruiting and employing Indian allies.
Sheila Delany
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109887
- eISBN:
- 9780199855216
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109887.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations ...
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This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations of history and literature in this particularly turbulent period in English history, beginning with The Wars of the Roses and moving on to the Hundred Years War. The book examines the first collection of all female saints' lives in any language: Legends of Holy Women composed by Bokenham between 1443 and 1447. The book is organized around the image of the body—a medieval procedure becoming popular once again in current attention to the social construction of the body. One emphasis is Bokenham's relation to the body of English literature, particularly Chaucer, the symbolic head of the 15th century. Another emphasis is a focus on the genre of saints' lives, particularly female saints' lives, with their striking use of the body of the saint to generate meaning. Finally, the image of the body politic, the controlling image of medieval political thought is given, and Bokenham's means to examine the political and dynastic crises of 15th-century England. The book uses these three major concerns to explain the literary innovation of Bokenham's Legend, and the larger and political importance of that innovation.Less
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations of history and literature in this particularly turbulent period in English history, beginning with The Wars of the Roses and moving on to the Hundred Years War. The book examines the first collection of all female saints' lives in any language: Legends of Holy Women composed by Bokenham between 1443 and 1447. The book is organized around the image of the body—a medieval procedure becoming popular once again in current attention to the social construction of the body. One emphasis is Bokenham's relation to the body of English literature, particularly Chaucer, the symbolic head of the 15th century. Another emphasis is a focus on the genre of saints' lives, particularly female saints' lives, with their striking use of the body of the saint to generate meaning. Finally, the image of the body politic, the controlling image of medieval political thought is given, and Bokenham's means to examine the political and dynastic crises of 15th-century England. The book uses these three major concerns to explain the literary innovation of Bokenham's Legend, and the larger and political importance of that innovation.
Anne Curry
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199608638
- eISBN:
- 9780191731754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608638.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The Hundred Years War offers an opportunity to consider strategy in the context of medieval European warfare in general, while also considering the specifics of the Anglo‐French conflict of the ...
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The Hundred Years War offers an opportunity to consider strategy in the context of medieval European warfare in general, while also considering the specifics of the Anglo‐French conflict of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Between 1337 and 1453, English armies invaded and occupied France with the ostensible aim of enforcing the English kings' claim to the French throne. In Chapter 4, Anne Curry explains why certain strategies were chosen at particular points, noting that strategic decisions in medieval warfare often appeared to result from personal choices by kings and princes at particular moments in time, with little attention to theory or to ‘lessons of history’. Throughout the period, rulers and commanders viewed warfare not simply as action against armies, with the ultimate goal of prevailing in battle. Instead, they also sought to demoralize the population, reduce economic sustainability, and weaken political authority through shifting alliances with continental rulers.Less
The Hundred Years War offers an opportunity to consider strategy in the context of medieval European warfare in general, while also considering the specifics of the Anglo‐French conflict of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Between 1337 and 1453, English armies invaded and occupied France with the ostensible aim of enforcing the English kings' claim to the French throne. In Chapter 4, Anne Curry explains why certain strategies were chosen at particular points, noting that strategic decisions in medieval warfare often appeared to result from personal choices by kings and princes at particular moments in time, with little attention to theory or to ‘lessons of history’. Throughout the period, rulers and commanders viewed warfare not simply as action against armies, with the ultimate goal of prevailing in battle. Instead, they also sought to demoralize the population, reduce economic sustainability, and weaken political authority through shifting alliances with continental rulers.
David Parrott
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199608638
- eISBN:
- 9780191731754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608638.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of ...
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The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of conflicts that merged together rather than a single war. David Parrott argues that the Thirty Years War reflected different, albeit interconnected, sets of aims and security concerns: the struggle over the political form of the Holy Roman Empire, focused upon the reach and influence of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy; the conflict between the Spanish Habsburg monarchy and the breakaway United Provinces; and the hostility between the French monarchy and the Habsburg Imperial system. Other concerns, especially mounting religious tensions, gravitated around these political issues, leading to the successive involvement of additional states. While some warring parties periodically sought compromise within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, military victories led to political opportunism that prolonged the war.Less
The Thirty Years War, one of the most destructive episodes in European history, devastated central Europe in general and Germany in particular. Waged between 1618 and 1648, it was a series of conflicts that merged together rather than a single war. David Parrott argues that the Thirty Years War reflected different, albeit interconnected, sets of aims and security concerns: the struggle over the political form of the Holy Roman Empire, focused upon the reach and influence of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy; the conflict between the Spanish Habsburg monarchy and the breakaway United Provinces; and the hostility between the French monarchy and the Habsburg Imperial system. Other concerns, especially mounting religious tensions, gravitated around these political issues, leading to the successive involvement of additional states. While some warring parties periodically sought compromise within the framework of the Holy Roman Empire, military victories led to political opportunism that prolonged the war.
P. J. MARSHALL
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199226665
- eISBN:
- 9780191706813
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226665.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Political History
‘Empire’ in this book is interpreted as the imposition of rule by a state over territory and people overseas. In the mid-eighteenth century, the British state greatly increased its ambitions to make ...
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‘Empire’ in this book is interpreted as the imposition of rule by a state over territory and people overseas. In the mid-eighteenth century, the British state greatly increased its ambitions to make its claims to rule overseas effective. By then the British state was quite a formidable one by contemporary standards. It had a high capacity to raise money by taxes and borrowing to enable it to wage war on land and sea. Its ability to supervise the administration of overseas affairs was less developed. American and West Indian colonies were largely self-governing and British interests in India were in the hands of the chartered East India Company. The stresses of the Seven Years War brought about strong pressures for increasing the role of the state in the management of overseas possessions.Less
‘Empire’ in this book is interpreted as the imposition of rule by a state over territory and people overseas. In the mid-eighteenth century, the British state greatly increased its ambitions to make its claims to rule overseas effective. By then the British state was quite a formidable one by contemporary standards. It had a high capacity to raise money by taxes and borrowing to enable it to wage war on land and sea. Its ability to supervise the administration of overseas affairs was less developed. American and West Indian colonies were largely self-governing and British interests in India were in the hands of the chartered East India Company. The stresses of the Seven Years War brought about strong pressures for increasing the role of the state in the management of overseas possessions.
Jeremy Black
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199608638
- eISBN:
- 9780191731754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608638.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Jeremy Black focuses on British policy and strategy in the so‐called ‘long’ eighteenth century, beginning with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and ending with the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Chapter ...
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Jeremy Black focuses on British policy and strategy in the so‐called ‘long’ eighteenth century, beginning with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and ending with the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Chapter 7 provides a contextual debate on the relationship between policy and strategy, discussing the dynamics between strategy and dynasticism, the complexity of strategic culture, the character of British imperialism, and the concept of power, with the associated challenges of reach and overreach. These factors collectively explain what the author refers to as the limitations to strategic planning. Black next describes the dynamics between strategy and policy in three case studies—the Seven Years War (1756–63), the American War of Independence (1775–83), and the French Revolution (1789–99)—and briefly analyses the Napoleonic Wars. Each conflict exhibited important geopolitical and strategic continuities as well as important political differences, and was shaped by Britain's domestic conditions and priorities.Less
Jeremy Black focuses on British policy and strategy in the so‐called ‘long’ eighteenth century, beginning with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and ending with the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Chapter 7 provides a contextual debate on the relationship between policy and strategy, discussing the dynamics between strategy and dynasticism, the complexity of strategic culture, the character of British imperialism, and the concept of power, with the associated challenges of reach and overreach. These factors collectively explain what the author refers to as the limitations to strategic planning. Black next describes the dynamics between strategy and policy in three case studies—the Seven Years War (1756–63), the American War of Independence (1775–83), and the French Revolution (1789–99)—and briefly analyses the Napoleonic Wars. Each conflict exhibited important geopolitical and strategic continuities as well as important political differences, and was shaped by Britain's domestic conditions and priorities.
Thomas E. Kaiser
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265383
- eISBN:
- 9780191760433
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265383.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
When during the French Revolution the deputies of the National Assembly pondered the reasons for France's decades-long decline as a world power, many attributed it to the Franco-Austrian alliance of ...
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When during the French Revolution the deputies of the National Assembly pondered the reasons for France's decades-long decline as a world power, many attributed it to the Franco-Austrian alliance of 1756, which had allegedly produced the humiliating outcome of the Seven Years' War. This chapter demonstrates how, why, and with what political effects the alliance was represented by its critics from its inception as the work of a powerful pro-Austrian ministerial lobby willing to sacrifice the interests of the nation to those of the dynasty and the Habsburgs. Reinforcing this view was the repeated appointment of incompetent military commanders loyal to the lobby supporting the alliance. At a time of rising national consciousness, the tale of infidelity, defeat, and impotence told by the alliance's many critics helped convince the general public that France was in desperate need of a new, nationally centred foreign policy as part of its general regeneration.Less
When during the French Revolution the deputies of the National Assembly pondered the reasons for France's decades-long decline as a world power, many attributed it to the Franco-Austrian alliance of 1756, which had allegedly produced the humiliating outcome of the Seven Years' War. This chapter demonstrates how, why, and with what political effects the alliance was represented by its critics from its inception as the work of a powerful pro-Austrian ministerial lobby willing to sacrifice the interests of the nation to those of the dynasty and the Habsburgs. Reinforcing this view was the repeated appointment of incompetent military commanders loyal to the lobby supporting the alliance. At a time of rising national consciousness, the tale of infidelity, defeat, and impotence told by the alliance's many critics helped convince the general public that France was in desperate need of a new, nationally centred foreign policy as part of its general regeneration.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter introduces the debate on war and state formation in early modern Europe, and describes the societies and governments of Tudor England and the Habsburg Netherlands. It analyses the ...
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This chapter introduces the debate on war and state formation in early modern Europe, and describes the societies and governments of Tudor England and the Habsburg Netherlands. It analyses the legacies of the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses for England, and the formation of the Burgundian state for the Netherlands. It briefly narrates the reigns, wars, and peace treaties of the period 1477-1559. In these, England and the Netherlands both repeatedly fought France, but other polities such as Scotland, Guelders, and the German Protestant principalities, and other peoples such as the Gaelic Irish and the Frisians were drawn into a web of dynastic warfare, civil wars, and rebellions.Less
This chapter introduces the debate on war and state formation in early modern Europe, and describes the societies and governments of Tudor England and the Habsburg Netherlands. It analyses the legacies of the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses for England, and the formation of the Burgundian state for the Netherlands. It briefly narrates the reigns, wars, and peace treaties of the period 1477-1559. In these, England and the Netherlands both repeatedly fought France, but other polities such as Scotland, Guelders, and the German Protestant principalities, and other peoples such as the Gaelic Irish and the Frisians were drawn into a web of dynastic warfare, civil wars, and rebellions.
Donald Bloxham
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208723
- eISBN:
- 9780191717017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208723.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter shows why the trials did not alter pre-existing conceptions of German criminality. It argues that trials were conceptually flawed as didactic tools, and that their shortcomings were ...
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This chapter shows why the trials did not alter pre-existing conceptions of German criminality. It argues that trials were conceptually flawed as didactic tools, and that their shortcomings were magnified by the political discourses of the post-war years. The analysis focuses particularly on the trials, and debates around those trials, of regular German soldiers. With the passage of time after the end of the war, such debates accommodated and were accommodated by broader international discourses about Germany's position vis-à-vis the USSR, the ‘west’ versus the ‘east’, civilization versus barbarism and the Christian order versus totalitarianism. They contributed eventually to significant distortions in each country of the nature of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, and more generally to sweeping diminishments of the breadth of German guilt, as the supposed innocence of the German soldier was transposed to the whole of the German population.Less
This chapter shows why the trials did not alter pre-existing conceptions of German criminality. It argues that trials were conceptually flawed as didactic tools, and that their shortcomings were magnified by the political discourses of the post-war years. The analysis focuses particularly on the trials, and debates around those trials, of regular German soldiers. With the passage of time after the end of the war, such debates accommodated and were accommodated by broader international discourses about Germany's position vis-à-vis the USSR, the ‘west’ versus the ‘east’, civilization versus barbarism and the Christian order versus totalitarianism. They contributed eventually to significant distortions in each country of the nature of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, and more generally to sweeping diminishments of the breadth of German guilt, as the supposed innocence of the German soldier was transposed to the whole of the German population.
Stephen Conway
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199253753
- eISBN:
- 9780191719738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253753.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Eighteenth-century armed conflicts have been identified by some historians as one of the ingredients which promoted a popular sense of Britishness. Linda Colley, in particular, has pointed to the ...
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Eighteenth-century armed conflicts have been identified by some historians as one of the ingredients which promoted a popular sense of Britishness. Linda Colley, in particular, has pointed to the ways in which war helped to bring together the various peoples of Britain, subordinating narrower patriotisms, and even papering over the cracks caused by social and political tensions. Britishness seems to have been embraced more readily in the Seven Years War than in the War of the Austrian Succession, suggesting a movement towards the adoption of a new and broader national identity. It would be a mistake, however, to assume from this a simple process of linear progression, reaching its culmination in the great struggles of 1793-1815. There was no relentless upward trajectory, but rather a jagged faltering movement forward.Less
Eighteenth-century armed conflicts have been identified by some historians as one of the ingredients which promoted a popular sense of Britishness. Linda Colley, in particular, has pointed to the ways in which war helped to bring together the various peoples of Britain, subordinating narrower patriotisms, and even papering over the cracks caused by social and political tensions. Britishness seems to have been embraced more readily in the Seven Years War than in the War of the Austrian Succession, suggesting a movement towards the adoption of a new and broader national identity. It would be a mistake, however, to assume from this a simple process of linear progression, reaching its culmination in the great struggles of 1793-1815. There was no relentless upward trajectory, but rather a jagged faltering movement forward.
Juliane Fürst
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199575060
- eISBN:
- 9780191595141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575060.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter sets the scene in which Stalin's last generation grew up. It looks at the devastating and long-lasting impact of war, both on the children who lived through it and on the environment and ...
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This chapter sets the scene in which Stalin's last generation grew up. It looks at the devastating and long-lasting impact of war, both on the children who lived through it and on the environment and social structures which socialized them. The post-war ‘brokenness’ of both system and people was an important precondition for many of the new social phenomena described in later chapters.Less
This chapter sets the scene in which Stalin's last generation grew up. It looks at the devastating and long-lasting impact of war, both on the children who lived through it and on the environment and social structures which socialized them. The post-war ‘brokenness’ of both system and people was an important precondition for many of the new social phenomena described in later chapters.
P. J. MARSHALL
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199226665
- eISBN:
- 9780191706813
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226665.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Political History
Anglo-French worldwide rivalry extended to India, where both nations traded through their East India companies. This rivalry, which had led to almost continuous warfare since the 1740s, merged into ...
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Anglo-French worldwide rivalry extended to India, where both nations traded through their East India companies. This rivalry, which had led to almost continuous warfare since the 1740s, merged into the rivalry of the Indian powers that were emerging as independent successor states from the breakdown of the Mughal Empire. The Europeans formed alliances with Indian princes. These alliances gave the British and French a potentially commanding influence over some of the Indian states. This influence led to total British control over Bengal in the events that followed the overthrow of the local ruler at the battle of Plassey in 1757. In the south, the British were able to defeat the French, but their position was weaker. Even so, by the end of the war the British East India Company had become a major territorial power in India, closely allied to the British state.Less
Anglo-French worldwide rivalry extended to India, where both nations traded through their East India companies. This rivalry, which had led to almost continuous warfare since the 1740s, merged into the rivalry of the Indian powers that were emerging as independent successor states from the breakdown of the Mughal Empire. The Europeans formed alliances with Indian princes. These alliances gave the British and French a potentially commanding influence over some of the Indian states. This influence led to total British control over Bengal in the events that followed the overthrow of the local ruler at the battle of Plassey in 1757. In the south, the British were able to defeat the French, but their position was weaker. Even so, by the end of the war the British East India Company had become a major territorial power in India, closely allied to the British state.
Thorlac Turville-Petre
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122791
- eISBN:
- 9780191671548
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122791.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and ...
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This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and explores how English writers in the half-century leading up to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War expressed their concepts of England as a nation, and how they exploited the association between nation, people, and language. At the centre of this work is a study of the construction of national identity that takes place in the histories written in English. The contributions of romances and saints' lives to an awareness of the nation's past are also considered, as is the question of how writers were able to reconcile their sense of regional identity with commitment to the nation. A final chapter explores the interrelationship between England's three languages, Latin, French and English, at a time when English was attaining the status of the national language. Middle English quotations are translated into modern English throughout.Less
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and explores how English writers in the half-century leading up to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War expressed their concepts of England as a nation, and how they exploited the association between nation, people, and language. At the centre of this work is a study of the construction of national identity that takes place in the histories written in English. The contributions of romances and saints' lives to an awareness of the nation's past are also considered, as is the question of how writers were able to reconcile their sense of regional identity with commitment to the nation. A final chapter explores the interrelationship between England's three languages, Latin, French and English, at a time when English was attaining the status of the national language. Middle English quotations are translated into modern English throughout.
Joachim Whaley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199693078
- eISBN:
- 9780191732256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693078.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The accession of Frederick the Great as king of Prussia in 1740 has been regarded as the start of Austro-Prussian dualism and the beginning of the end of the Reich. The years 1740-1763, culminating ...
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The accession of Frederick the Great as king of Prussia in 1740 has been regarded as the start of Austro-Prussian dualism and the beginning of the end of the Reich. The years 1740-1763, culminating in the Seven Years War, were dominated by Austria's unsuccessful efforts to regain Silesia, but these conflicts strengthened the Reich. After the short and disastrous rule of the Bavarian emperor Charles VII, the princes turned to the Habsburgs again and elected Maria Theresa's husband as Francis I; he restored equilibrium in the Reich. Joseph II's efforts to reform the Reich and plans to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria aroused intense opposition. A league of princes (Fürstenbund) opposed him but Prussia was unable to exploit this. The Reich's central and intermediate institutions (Reichstag, Kreise, law courts) functioned well; this inspired S.J. Pütter to define the Reich as a state ‘composed of other particular states’.Less
The accession of Frederick the Great as king of Prussia in 1740 has been regarded as the start of Austro-Prussian dualism and the beginning of the end of the Reich. The years 1740-1763, culminating in the Seven Years War, were dominated by Austria's unsuccessful efforts to regain Silesia, but these conflicts strengthened the Reich. After the short and disastrous rule of the Bavarian emperor Charles VII, the princes turned to the Habsburgs again and elected Maria Theresa's husband as Francis I; he restored equilibrium in the Reich. Joseph II's efforts to reform the Reich and plans to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria aroused intense opposition. A league of princes (Fürstenbund) opposed him but Prussia was unable to exploit this. The Reich's central and intermediate institutions (Reichstag, Kreise, law courts) functioned well; this inspired S.J. Pütter to define the Reich as a state ‘composed of other particular states’.
Barbara Donagan
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199285181
- eISBN:
- 9780191713668
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285181.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter focuses on English views about war. Despite its absence from English soil, war was present in English minds through stories about political and military operations, and the horrors and ...
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This chapter focuses on English views about war. Despite its absence from English soil, war was present in English minds through stories about political and military operations, and the horrors and atrocities committed in the continental war. English knowledge of the continental war formed expectations as to the nature of war and contributed to the anxiety and nervousness of civilians as war approached home. Sensational news from Germany may have conditioned the English public to a heightened response to reports of cruelty, sexual outrage, and broken taboos, and contributed to the violence of the reaction to the Irish rebellion of 1641, which in turn cast a long shadow over the civil war years.Less
This chapter focuses on English views about war. Despite its absence from English soil, war was present in English minds through stories about political and military operations, and the horrors and atrocities committed in the continental war. English knowledge of the continental war formed expectations as to the nature of war and contributed to the anxiety and nervousness of civilians as war approached home. Sensational news from Germany may have conditioned the English public to a heightened response to reports of cruelty, sexual outrage, and broken taboos, and contributed to the violence of the reaction to the Irish rebellion of 1641, which in turn cast a long shadow over the civil war years.
S. J. Connolly
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198208167
- eISBN:
- 9780191716546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208167.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, rose to power, first as England's client in Ulster, but subsequently as the main opponent of the extension there of the crown's authority. His rebellion in alliance with ...
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Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, rose to power, first as England's client in Ulster, but subsequently as the main opponent of the extension there of the crown's authority. His rebellion in alliance with other Ulster lords, often referred to as the Nine Years War, represented the century's most serious challenge to English rule. Although O'Neill's initial aim was to preserve his regional autonomy, his decision to seek the support of Spain led him to put himself forward as a champion both of Catholicism and of an Irish patriotism. Edmund Spenser has been presented as the spokesman for a new policy of ruthless repression that determined the way in which the war was prosecuted by government forces. It is argued that English attitudes were more divided, and the shift in policy less dramatic than this implies. Following his defeat, O'Neill was in fact restored to his estates, but his departure into exile five years later (the Flight of the Earls) prepared the way for a more radical restructuring of Ulster society.Less
Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, rose to power, first as England's client in Ulster, but subsequently as the main opponent of the extension there of the crown's authority. His rebellion in alliance with other Ulster lords, often referred to as the Nine Years War, represented the century's most serious challenge to English rule. Although O'Neill's initial aim was to preserve his regional autonomy, his decision to seek the support of Spain led him to put himself forward as a champion both of Catholicism and of an Irish patriotism. Edmund Spenser has been presented as the spokesman for a new policy of ruthless repression that determined the way in which the war was prosecuted by government forces. It is argued that English attitudes were more divided, and the shift in policy less dramatic than this implies. Following his defeat, O'Neill was in fact restored to his estates, but his departure into exile five years later (the Flight of the Earls) prepared the way for a more radical restructuring of Ulster society.
David Lederer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153599
- eISBN:
- 9781400845248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153599.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter explores the relationship between fears and crises by focusing on the Thirty Years War. It considers how the war evoked a universal fear response and highlights expressions of ...
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This chapter explores the relationship between fears and crises by focusing on the Thirty Years War. It considers how the war evoked a universal fear response and highlights expressions of preexisting apocalyptic fears in the material context of a long-term crisis. It also examines universal and traditional elements in contemporary portrayals of fear aroused by the specific events of the war. During the Thirty Years War, the body politic often appeared twisted, contorted, or monstrous in form, suggesting a fearful condition affecting society as a whole. In other words, the body functioned as a repository of fear during the conflict. The chapter argues that the linchpin of the relationship between crises and fear during the Thirty Years War was their literal embodiment by contemporary political culture and a peculiar understanding of history.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between fears and crises by focusing on the Thirty Years War. It considers how the war evoked a universal fear response and highlights expressions of preexisting apocalyptic fears in the material context of a long-term crisis. It also examines universal and traditional elements in contemporary portrayals of fear aroused by the specific events of the war. During the Thirty Years War, the body politic often appeared twisted, contorted, or monstrous in form, suggesting a fearful condition affecting society as a whole. In other words, the body functioned as a repository of fear during the conflict. The chapter argues that the linchpin of the relationship between crises and fear during the Thirty Years War was their literal embodiment by contemporary political culture and a peculiar understanding of history.
