Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the text
- List of abbreviations
- Maps
- 1 ‘Then was then and now is now’: an overview of change and continuity in late-medieval and early-modern warfare
- 2 Warfare and the international state system
- 3 War and the emergence of the state: western Europe, 1350–1600
- 4 From military enterprise to standing armies: war, state, and society in western Europe, 1600–1700
- 5 The state and military affairs in east-central Europe, 1380–c. 1520s
- 6 Empires and warfare in east-central Europe, 1550–1750: the Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry and military transformation
- 7 Ottoman military organisation in south-eastern Europe, c. 1420–1720
- 8 The transformation of army organisation in early-modern western Europe, c. 1500–1789
- 9 Aspects of operational art: communications, cannon, and small war
- 10 Tactics and the face of battle
- 11 Naval warfare in Europe, c. 1330–c. 1680
- 12 Legality and legitimacy in war and its conduct, 1350–1650
- 13 Conflict, religion, and ideology
- 14 Warfare, entrepreneurship, and the fiscal-military state
- 15 War and state-building
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - From military enterprise to standing armies: war, state, and society in western Europe, 1600–1700
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the text
- List of abbreviations
- Maps
- 1 ‘Then was then and now is now’: an overview of change and continuity in late-medieval and early-modern warfare
- 2 Warfare and the international state system
- 3 War and the emergence of the state: western Europe, 1350–1600
- 4 From military enterprise to standing armies: war, state, and society in western Europe, 1600–1700
- 5 The state and military affairs in east-central Europe, 1380–c. 1520s
- 6 Empires and warfare in east-central Europe, 1550–1750: the Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry and military transformation
- 7 Ottoman military organisation in south-eastern Europe, c. 1420–1720
- 8 The transformation of army organisation in early-modern western Europe, c. 1500–1789
- 9 Aspects of operational art: communications, cannon, and small war
- 10 Tactics and the face of battle
- 11 Naval warfare in Europe, c. 1330–c. 1680
- 12 Legality and legitimacy in war and its conduct, 1350–1650
- 13 Conflict, religion, and ideology
- 14 Warfare, entrepreneurship, and the fiscal-military state
- 15 War and state-building
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In 1633 the European conflict that had begun in 1619 was entering its fifteenth year. After the savagely fought battle of Lützen in November 1632, which had claimed the life of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden but had failed to undermine Swedish military power in the Empire, the following campaign proved a lacklustre affair. Neither the imperial army under Albrecht Wallenstein nor the Swedish–German army wanted to risk another major encounter. The imperial army ended the 1633 campaign in winter quarters on the territories of its Habsburg overlord, Emperor Ferdinand II. Early in January 1634, forty-seven senior officers, each the colonel-proprietor of at least one regiment, assembled at Pilsen, south-west of Prague, to discuss orders from the court at Vienna. The most significant instruction was to decamp into quarters in adjoining German territories, tantamount to fighting a winter campaign against the Swedish troops presently occupying these areas. Following the repudiation of the court directives, dismissed as operationally impractical, the assembled officers each signed a document in which they subscribed to an oath of unconditional obedience to Wallenstein.
At the time, and in the debates that have persisted ever since about Wallenstein's ‘treason’, the significance of this oath has been linked to the fact that Wallenstein had created the largest mercenary army ever seen in Europe. In early 1634 it had an effective strength of around 45,000, and at its peak in 1629 it had numbered over 100,000 soldiers on paper.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- European Warfare, 1350–1750 , pp. 74 - 95Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
- 3
- Cited by