Overview
In War, Capital, and the Dutch State (1588-1795), Pepijn Brandon traces the interaction between state and capital in the organisation of warfare in the Dutch Republic from the Dutch Revolt of the sixteenth century to the Batavian Revolution of 1795. Combining deep theoretical insight with a thorough examination of original source material, ranging from the role of the Dutch East- and West-India Companies to the inner workings of the Amsterdam naval shipyard, and from state policy to the role of private intermediaries in military finance, 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. Winner of the 2014 D.J. Veegens prize, awarded by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities. Shortlisted for the 2015 World Economic History Congress dissertation prize (early modern period).
Full Product Details
Author: Pepijn Brandon
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Volume: 101
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.835kg
ISBN: 9789004228146
ISBN 10: 9004228144
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 27 August 2015
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
War, Capital, and the Dutch State (1588-1795) has the potential to become a highly influential book. - Dr. Gijs Rommelse, International Journal of Maritime History, 28(3):606-607. For the moment, ... Brandon's work probably provides the last word on these issues, and the decision to publish it in English will hopefully secure for it the wide circulation that it undoubtedly deserves. - Dr. Aaron Graham, The Economic History Review, 69, 4 (2016):1389-1390. How could the Dutch Republic that was so unlike the ideal of a powerful, centralized state play a crucial role for so long in the war-torn state-system of early-modern Europe? For Pepijn Brandon the explanation resides in the fact that it was a `federal-brokerage state'. Dutch state-makers continued to devolve power downwards towards local and provincial institutions rather than to create national administrative bodies and to favour brokerage over bureaucracy. They mediated between merchants oriented toward the world market and more local interest groups and could thus draw on the impressive resources of the Dutch economy. It was only late in the eighteenth century that internal limits of this parcellized state structure became patent. To show its major strengths and its finally emerging weaknesses the author provides a very lucid in-depth analysis of three areas of interaction between the state and capitalists in the organization of warfare. 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
War, Capital, and the Dutch State (1588-1795) has the potential to become a highly influential book. - Dr. Gijs Rommelse, International Journal of Maritime History, 28(3):606-607. For the moment, ... Brandon's work probably provides the last word on these issues, and the decision to publish it in English will hopefully secure for it the wide circulation that it undoubtedly deserves. - Dr. Aaron Graham, The Economic History Review, 69, 4 (2016):1389-1390. How could the Dutch Republic that was so unlike the ideal of a powerful, centralized state play a crucial role for so long in the war-torn state-system of early-modern Europe? For Pepijn Brandon the explanation resides in the fact that it was a 'federal-brokerage state'. Dutch state-makers continued to devolve power downwards towards local and provincial institutions rather than to create national administrative bodies and to favour brokerage over bureaucracy. They mediated between merchants oriented toward the world market and more local interest groups and could thus draw on the impressive resources of the Dutch economy. It was only late in the eighteenth century that internal limits of this parcellized state structure became patent. To show its major strengths and its finally emerging weaknesses the author provides a very lucid in-depth analysis of three areas of interaction between the state and capitalists in the organization of warfare. 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
How could the Dutch Republic that was so unlike the ideal of a powerful, centralized state play a crucial role for so long in the war-torn state-system of early-modern Europe? For Pepijn Brandon the explanation resides in the fact that it was a 'federal-brokerage state'. Dutch state-makers continued to devolve power downwards towards local and provincial institutions rather than to create national administrative bodies and to favour brokerage over bureaucracy. They mediated between merchants oriented toward the world market and more local interest groups and could thus draw on the impressive resources of the Dutch economy. It was only late in the eighteenth century that internal limits of this parcellized state structure became patent. To show its major strengths and its finally emerging weaknesses the author provides a very lucid in-depth analysis of three areas of interaction between the state and capitalists in the organization of warfare. 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
Author Information
Pepijn Brandon, Ph.D. (2013), University of Amsterdam, is a prize-winning historian of the Dutch Republic. He has held positions at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the International Institute of Social History, and is currently based at the University of Pittsburgh.
