CIVILIANS IN WARFARE 00-178) Civilians have always suffered in warfare, and Early Modern Europe was no exception. But they contributed to war as well, through their taxes, their victuals and their bodies. Jeremy Black explores the relationship between civilian and military. HE ERIPPLED, protagonist, dependent on begging, in Harlequin Returning from the Wars (c.1742), a painting by the mid- eighteenth century Florentine artist Giovanni Ferretti, was as stic an image of war euN-rorinc is the jumphal celebrations, mi thanks to God and man, that quently greeted victory. Even if the vag unending struggle to safeguard nd flocks and the in~ cessant threat of accidents or dis: ease were the pre-emis nties of life for most people, netheless the state impacted ay life, never more so an through war, both in its capability for destruction, and in the burden of supporting it with money, manpower and materiel Across Early Modern Europe, governments were preoccupied With maintaining and supplying paneing them was a crops armies, and. major problem for both state and subject. While it is common to think of civilians, we must also consider the impact of civilians on warfare and, indeed, we should question how helpful itis to weat civilian and mil Y as separate categories in this cater willing and killing than we find in the West today. Lev: els of violence could also be very high in daily life, while killing was accepted as necessary, both for civil society ~ as a punishment for crim heresy and disorder ~ and in interna- tional relations, Further throughout society, violence seen as the acceptable way to defend personal worth, in the form of hon- our. It conformed to social norms. 10 History Tony Mav 2006 in Returning from the Wars’, by Giovanni Ferretti (¢.1742). War itself seemed necessary and natural, the best means by which to defend interests and achieve goals, The idea that such objectives might be better achieved through diploma: cy enjoyed limited purchase in a soci ety that took conflict for granted There was a longstanding Christian critique of unjust wars and a related call to fight the non-believer, but the God-given nature of violence appeared demonstrated by the Bible, and church congregations hé quent reference to the martial Old Tes from the Book of Kings. Traditional military historians have sometimes assumed that the state monopolized force through its regular troops, and that the actions 1d fre a rulers of Israel in readings of these troops constituted mili- tary history. To such historians ly modern socalled military revolution of 1560-1660 and, concomitantly, the absolutism, held to characters ize governmental aspirati the late seventeenth century, increasing and expressing the power of the state. This interpre- tation of the state questionable, partly because ofits teleological character and partly ecause it fails to address the high levels of dependence of the government on ils prominent citi zens for suppc Ics also pertinent to suggest a chronological dimension to the relationship beween war and 9, but the categories of civil ian and military are so elusive they are difficult to track through time, especially as the Reforma eatly altered the causes and purposes of warfare, Before the Reformation, warfare had been mainly a matter of dynastic conflict, bout the stakes were raised when the extirpation of heresy became a goal of the state. Now it was necessary not simply to defeat opposing armies but also to destroy heretical civil soci- eties. This, for example, lay behind the harshness with whieh Spanish forces treated opposition during the Dutch Revolt, as well as the treat ment of religious opponents duri the French Wars of Religion. The lat ter began with am which sd grievously: on March Ist, 1562, at Vass}, the Catholie Due de Guise was involved ina dispute with a Huguenot congre- gation that led to the massacre of the lar. In $0 far as total war meaning in terms of the period, the lengthy blockade of La Rochelle in jiod saw the1627-28 was such an action, hitting civilians as hard as soldiers. The city was starved into surrender with near ly half the population dying. The fall of the fortress city demoralized the Huguenots and helped push them to accept royal terms in June 1629. The towns had been discouraged from sack of Privas, Th resistance by the event demon: strated the extent to which civilians aves dre lace at eld ashe fered but the chilians also suffered greatly The tested of Drogheda By Oliver Cromwell's Forces 1640 prised daoiber catiple af th The Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) i vansentionaly #0 tix be the lst Tteawed terrible devastation in Ger many. although the exact im the conflict on that society has long been controversial, It is important to distinguish between tation wrought by military action and the attendant pressures of the con flict. For many, the first stage of the war was most damaging due to the kipperseit, a widespread and distup- tive curreney inflation, The financial pressures that stemmed from the ye actual devas conflict included not only the contri butions system by which food and money wats extorted from civilians for armies, but also a more general extension of, and rise in, taxation This culminated after the war itself was over, with the need for money to pay off the various armies, especially “The Pillage of a Village’, by the Flemish yee (1573-1647). The harsh reality of the arriva of an army was cruelly exacer religious warfare CCVIUANS Int WARFARE 1500-1789 those of Sweden which maintained i 1654 to nt. Alongside the war's garrisons in Germany ui ensure payn more obvi 1s disruption of commer cial and credit networks, this taxa tion hit purchasing power and depressed lemand. The reduction of religious tension after 1648 did not prevent such ten: sion from continuing to play a role in conflict, with attendant conse quences for civilians. Other issues, however, came to the fore. In many states - particularly France, Austria and Russia = the century 1660-1760 saw a marked increase in the size of in both peace This led to a greater imposition on soci ety. As the overall popula omy of Europe remained static the real burden rose jon and at this time appreciably, leading (© pressures 01 both home countries and on foreign areas in which they operated, in the May 2006 HisroxvToosy LLform of raised taxes and enforced Constant streams were needed to ma permanent armies and navies these can be seen as crucial 10 a shift contributions, Fevemte ain nd in governance towards a focus on predictable revenue-raising. This mil itary expansion also affected society in other ways, particularly where (as in Eastern Exrope) conscriptior with its concomitant regulation and data gathering, was erucial in chang. ing the relationship beuween state and people. In Western Europe, in contrast, there was less conscription, serfelom and labour control, Conscription sheds much light on social politics and the wider issues of relations bewween civilians and war For example, the will ernments to arm their o han th Training in the use of gness of gov- n people is hesitation, arms was given to the most ttnreli- able members of the community some of them with criminal back: Russia hand Hess labourers grounds, Crown serfs ed over vagrants, la and other unwanted members of their villages to the army as a first stage in meeting their conscription The fact that governments were will 12 Hisrowy Tony May 2006 most marginal members of the co munity shows their confidence in the stability of the social ordler = as echoed in the faith of the armed forces in the ability of discipline wo direct fidence was vindicated: mutinies in oth army and navy w Across much of E tion and attitudes, This ec rope, conscrip Armies frequently spread disease, sexta for otherwise. This bas-relief of the plague is by Pierre Puget (1620-94), Endless columns of disabled and dlisplaced civilians on the move Low Countries, in “War Scene’ by Sebastian Vranex. tion was conducted in an arbitrary fashion. In Britain, the leading naval power from the 1690s, the navy was dependent on impressments by pressgang, a system that was both arbitrary and only ful. European armies used similar methods, including the recruitment of criminals, as by the Danes in 17) Prussian recruiters would appear at Sunday church services and seize the men afterwards, It was also common for strong powers to reeruit troops, often forcibly, from weaker neigh- bours, One neg these recruitment practices was seri ‘ous desertion, Of the Saxon infantry in 1717-88, no fewer than 42 per cent deserted. Partly in response to the draw backs of forcible reeruitmen he artially sucess: as to the need for larger armies or for sustaining a force through long wars, states exp systematic methods of recruitment, These entailed considerable regu tion of the populace, which required the co-operation of the nobility, The mented with more